by Henk ter Heide on Friday November 18, 2011
I ran out of story ideas.
Well actually not, but I just get bored from only writing about me.
There should be so many more, more interesting stories to tell.
This afternoon I realized that I’ve become so used to thinking about problems that I can’t think about anything else.
But it stands to reason to expect that if I just stop thinking about problems something else will come up.
I could write about the sun shining through the clouds.
Or I could right about write and left.
I could tell a story about a trek I ones made through the snow to the local shopping mall to buy food and sweets to enjoy during the Christmas days.
Everything was white. About 10 cm of snow had fallen. What is unusual for the Netherlands.
(Funny to think that if you cross the Pacific in a straight line you’ll get to Canada where they have 2 meter of snow every year.)
Anyway. Usually I go by bike. But because of the snow that was impossible. So I walk and it was lovely.
There where a lot of people walking about. Some to do their shopping. Others where enjoying the snow and the ice and the silence.
That was what struck me most.
The silence.
It was as though the city had come to a stand and surrendered to nature. There were hardly any cars and motorbikes on the road. There where a few cyclist but most of them walk with their bikes on there hand.
At the parking lot of the mall a bulldozer was busy clearing the snow.
I’ve never even seen that in the Netherlands.
The super market was filled with people doing their last Christmas shopping.
Usually shopping takes about 10 minutes. This time it took me more then half an hour to find that most of the stuff I wanted was sold out.
The way back was again very peaceful.
I ran into some neighbors who had some difficulty getting through the snow.
But even they loved it.
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by Henk ter Heide on Tuesday March 15, 2011
Day 39
Day 33
Day 38
Jumper portrait
Illuminated baby Lynx
Tunnel vision
More stunning photos by Evan Ludes
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by Henk ter Heide on Wednesday March 3, 2010
The paper tell me that we have more snow this winter then in the last 30 years.
It started a few days before Christmas. I had taken the last few days for Christmas holidays off of work and that turned out to be a good thing. I never would have been able to reach my work because trains and buses didn’t run.
Luckily the snow was predicted, so I had stocked me cupboards with enough food to reach the first day of Christmas.
For the last 15 years my father and I have created the tradition to eat out on the 26the (we call it second Christmas day). So it didn’t seem necessary to stock for more then a few day. Especially because I was planning to order take out for the Sunday after Christmas.
But with both the weather and the weather forecast getting worse, it didn’t seem very likely the me father and I would have our Christmas dinner.
My father is 79 yrs old and is a little afraid that he might fall and break something. So with the kind of snow that was expected he was thinking of staying at home.
So two days before Christmas I decided that I had to go to the shops and restock my cupboards.
By that time we had 30 cm of snow. Which is a lot for the Netherlands. I can’t even remember ever seeing that much snow in the streets.
Since the last time I cycled on a slippery road I broke my hip I decide to walk.
Going out I expected it to be very cold. But despite the cold I found it to be a very nice day.
There are two routes from my house to the shops. One takes my passed two very slippery bridges and the other takes my along a road filled with dozens of cyclist who don’t take kindly to annoying slow moving pedestrians.
Since I didn’t want to fall and break something it seemed wise to take the latter.
But I found that I wasn’t the only one who had decided that cycling was to hazardous. The road was filled with pedestrians. Mostly middle aged and old folks. The kind of people who usually take the car.
By the tracks in the snow I could see that some cyclist had past.
Looking at those tracks in the snow it felt as though I was traveling through some mountaines moon landscape. It looked far more beautiful then I would have expected.
In hindsight I feel it’s a pity that I didn’t take the time to wander around to admire this winter landscape. But that day I just felt cold and wanted to get my Christmas shopping done as soon as possible so I could return to my warm and cosy home
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by Henk ter Heide on Tuesday January 5, 2010
The Netherlands is experiencing a bit of a cold spell at the moment. We even have had some snow.
Actually I can’t remember the last time we had more then 20 cm of snow on one day.
The Dutch railway company has a lot of trouble coping. Two weeks before Christmas I had to take a day off because no trains were available to take me to the Rotterdam Alexander station. But even if had been able to reach the station, I doubt if I could have gotten the bus I need to reach my place of work.
The week before Christmas they had even more problems. During a period of two or three days they advised people to stay at home because it was very unlikely for them reached there destination.
But that didn’t matter much to me because I had taken two weeks off of work.
Today was the first day I went to work after the Christmas holiday. The railway company still had a little problem. They were suffering from a lack of carriages. So instead of 3 trains consisting of a total of 6 carriages every thirty minutes. All those people had to get into one carriage.
So you can imagine that it was a little bit crowded.
With a little luck I positioned myself at the entrance of the first class compartment. Usually I can’t sit there because I have an second class train ticked. But if the train is really crowded you never see a ticked controller. Since most people don’t take the chance and stand second class, it’s the least crowded bit of the train.
At the end of the first class compartment I had a whole meter to myself.
Coming up on Rotterdam Alexander station I realized that I better work myself to the door. Otherwise I would run the risk of being blocked by a stream of people entering the train while I was still trying to exit it.
So I asked a two men and a lady if I could pass them. Then I got to the really crowded part of the compartment. So before trying to pass those people I asked them if they were exiting at the next station. They were.
As I decide that I wouldn’t try the pass them the lady went into a fit. She started yelling “COULDN’T YOU HAVE WAITED UNTIL I LEFT THE TRAIN”. No, how could I have known that you were leaving at this station? “COULDN’T YOU HAVE TAKEN A SHOWER THIS MORNING?” What do say? Didn’t you take a shower?
By this time the whole compartment was paying attention and some people were laughing.
“SMELLY BASTARD. YOU SHOULD PRESS YOURSELF AGAINST YOUR GIRL FRIEND”. No I’d much rather press my body against yours.
Now most of the people in the compartment were laughing. With an other “SMELLY BASTARD” the lady simmered down.
A few minutes later the train reached the station.
Politely I waited for the lady to exit the compartment, but she didn’t. Turned out that she was trying to get a seat of one of the disembarking passengers.
So I wished her a good day. And after a last “SMELLY BASTARD” I left her.
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by Henk ter Heide on Saturday January 17, 2009
A proud old barn
Posted on Flickr by 1 Riverrat
Stately Old Homes of North Wales Borough II
Beautiful old homes built in the late 1800s. This time showing their true colors.
Click here for the duotone version.Posted on Flickr by katiealley
Fire Station, Ohio
Posted on Flickr by Equinox27
Gruft/Crypt
Posted on Flickr by Halsemann.
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