Not a path

Walking with Porter on this gorgeous spring Sunday along the Linge river in Arkel, we came across this pristine new bike path.

NOT!!! If you tried it out on your bike / skeelers / just plain feet, you would sink up to your armpits in muddy ditchwater. Once you manage to drag yourself out (giving up the bike), you'd be covered in tiny red cress leaves.

Democracy safe in Gorinchem

According to an article in today's newspaper (NRC), Dutch local government is threatened with decreasing democracy thanks to ever- larger municipalities. Good news for Gorinchem: we have a below-national average of only 1 councillor per 1,500 inhabitants (thx Wikipedia). National average is 1 councillor per 1,850.

Wonder what the statistics are like in America?

Local elections

As far as I'm concerned, it's a no- brainer: the Greens have a stable-enough backing to provide a good backbone for local politics. Add to that the inevitable preference that one has for people one knows, then I'm for Groen Links!!

... And the two people I know are the omni-present Arjen Rijsdijk, who seems to be photographed opening something every week, and the wonderful Inieuwe Paulus who presided over my wedding and has been a great help with two of our daughters!

So: anlyse that voting motivation how you will, I'm going to be voting Groen Links!

Washday

It's washday: the drying clothes hang on racks and the dried clothes have pretty much all been disposed of. Except for one towel.

Your democratic right..

I'm quite motivated about these local elections: as a non-Dutch resident, I can't vote in national issues, but I can give my 2-cents' worth when it comes to voting for our civic representatives.

I've asked around, but there's apparently no forum whereby I can weigh the pros and cons of one party against the other: my only recourse is the debate Thursday nite in our local theatre. I'll be there: will you?

Carnaval 2014

We in Gorinchem lie at the cusp of celebrating carnaval: south of us is an institution which monopolizes life in preparation for the big event, but here we are dubious about the whole shebang.

Some of us are passionate about making carnaval floats and celebrating with wild costumes and exuberant drinking. Others turn their back to the carnaval- phenomenon and reject the whole shebang.

I am leaning toward the latter group, especially since our window-sills became clogged with confetti: how on earth am I going to clean this up? 

Timeless

One of the effects of the trade-shop here in Gorinchem, the "Geefwinkel", is that a nearly-ten-year-old can experiment with deconstruction!