Changes of scene(ry)

There's not really very much to report from the Flatlands this week, but having said that, I've been very busy work-wise. It's the time of year when students are thinking about the programmes they want to apply for next, and since most masters' degrees are conducted in English here, those wishing to follow one need to prove they have the right language level. For a master's in most of the business subjects, as well as in economics and analytics, they need a C1 in English, which is, theoretically, quite advanced. 

The reality is that as long as they can understand everything we say and they can conduct a conversation on any subject we challenge them with, they can pass as long as they don't make too many mistakes. The idea of the assessments is to elicit what they can do, rather than what they have trouble with, so it's a forgiving system. And indeed, most of the students who've grown up here are fully capable of conversing quite easily in English, the result being that most of them pass. We also assess a written assignment, which in many ways is more important, and I'm often truly impressed by the quality of their writing. Of course, they make mistakes (AI has been excluded from equation), but even so, which of us can write an academic level essay in 45 minutes without a few typos and errors? They really are very good.

When I've been free to get out into the open, I've enjoyed walking with Zoe in the nearby nature reserves. The scenery in the last week has changed from autumnal to wintry, thanks to a major hoolie that blew away the the last leaves that were clinging to the trees. 

The photos below were taken before the storm when I went for a walk along the creek close to the crumbly cottage.

Spot the camouflaged canine

Got her!

Glorious colours in the fallen leaves

And more of them

In the midst of the awful weather, I took a day trip to London. Although not a breeze, it's quite easy to do with the Eurostar from Brussels. I left home at 6.20 a.m., caught a train from Ghent to Brussels at 7.20 and was at the Eurostar waiting area by 8 a.m. The train was due to leave ten minutes before nine, but this time, it was delayed. I'm not sure why. Eventually, we got away and arrived in London at 10.40. My sister was also delayed, but in her case, it was because of floods. Anyway, she met me within ten minutes of my arrival and we then made our way through a chaotic, very crowded London to Trafalgar Square where we went to the Van Gogh exhibition. 

It was such a privilege to be able to go. Van  Gogh is probably my favourite artist of all and I can't thank my sister enough for arranging it. Despite reserving a time to enter, it was incredibly busy with crowds of visitors but such a joy to see Van Gogh's incredibly masterpieces all together. Of course, his series of sunflower paintings was a huge draw. I managed to snap the one below, which I now know is one of the paintings that was recently assaulted with soup during a Just Stop Oil protest. It was apparently undamaged and put back on display just hours after the attack.

The one below with its wheatfield and Cypress trees is one of my personal favourites. He painted it in 1889 and it's still vivid and vibrant in its colours and textures.

This one, The Stevedores, is a new favourite. It depicts a coalboat on the Rhône, but has a more exotic and eastern feel, something Van Gogh was himself aware of as he likened the scene to something by Hokusai, a celebrated Japanese printmaker.

There were so many other wonderful works, but it was impossible to take photos of them all; there were too many people and it was too difficult to get a good view. I also had very little battery life on my phone to spare. My sister did better. Here are two others I loved. They're slightly fuzzy, but still faithful to the originals. Apparently, Van Gogh felt The Sower (the lower picture) was one of his most important works from his time in Arles. I think they're both superb. The Olive Grove is so captivating in its sense of those ancient trees in the heat of summer.

An olive grove

The Sower

After the exhibition, we had lunch with my brother and his wife in a Pizza restaurant on the Strand. It's always good to spend time with my family, even for such a short time, and seeing them was a special bonus. But time flew and then it was time to head to St Pancras station for the return journey home.

Back in the Netherlands again, the weather did an about turn, and from wet, mild and very windy, it is now icy cold, sunny and calm, which I have to say I prefer, so to finish with here are some photos from my walks with Zoe the last two mornings in and around our village and the canal.

The trees on the horizon are along our canal

Again, the canal is on the horizon

Zoe in her winter woollies. She's not fond
of the cold or the wet

Just the village street

Straight into the sun, I know, but still...

I'm hoping the sunny, cold weather will remain for a bit as it's much easier to live with than the gales and soaking rain. Wish us luck for a fine weekend, allemaal and enjoy yours. Till next time.

 

All in the interests of community spirit

It's that time of year in the Netherlands when everyone with young children gets inordinately excited over the arrival of a very ancient, white-bearded bishop from Spain. This gentleman is known as Sinterklaas and his purpose in life is to travel around the country on a horse dispensing gifts to good children and admonishments to the naughty ones. His whole trip culminates on December the 5th when the children receive their gifts on pakjesavond, after which he disappears back to Spain again. How he does this has never been made clear to me, but his arrival by steam boat is always a big event.

Sinterklaas turns up every year in different cities around the country (he's clever like that 😉) and in our area, he comes to the harbour where Vereeniging has her mooring. In fact, this year, he wanted to use Vereeniging's gangplank, so we were asked if we'd move our old lady in time for the grand reception yesterday. In the interests of community spirit, and all, we were happy to oblige and on Friday, in the most perfect conditions (meaning no wind at all–a very rare event), we fired up the engine.

Vereeniging, with Koos's expert help made a perfect manoeuvre and a full turn to land gently against the side of our neighbour, thus leaving a space free for his venerable and ancient lordship to disembark.

Seen from the other side

She's coupled up to the neighbour

 

leaving the gangplank vacant

Just a nice view. Well, I think so!

Our move left the way clear for a tugboat to arrive bearing his nibs, Sinterklaas. To our surprise, the good bishop has moved into the modern era and far from using a traditional steam tug for his tranport, his ship was a rather modern commercial tug, such as we often see working on the waterways here. Anyway, the kids didn't care and traditionalists merely frowned because the crowds that gathered to greet the saintly man were full of good cheer.

Koos went along to take some photos for the record and managed to capture the lively scenes on the shore in some sunshine. As you can see, everyone had a jolly time and the event was well attended.

Today, with all the fun over, we decided to move Vereeniging back to her spot again. Well, that was a different story and something of a comedy of errors. We decided, for some reason best known to neither of us, not to use the engine and just to haul her over with ropes, which wasn't the best decision we've ever made...

Long saga short, the wind was blowing hard and one of us...ahem...forgot to attach a retaining rope from Vereeniging's front end to the barge we were lying alongside, so with only one rope at her stern to pull her across, her bow was blown round and out into the harbour, leaving her at a 90-degree angle to our mooring. Pulling her back in would have put an unshorn Samson to the test, let alone two humans of a certain age, one with dodgy knees and the other with a rickety wrist. That 'ten-minute job' ended up being nearly two hours even with the help of a kind soul who happened to be watching and ended up taking much of the strain. Of course, we won in the end, and we both realised that hindsight is about the only good thing we could have taken from it, especially as we were both shattered by the time we'd sorted all the ropes out and tidied the decks.

Still, Vereeniging is back where she belongs facing out into the canal, which means she's ready to depart for any new adventures. It won't be until next year, of course, but let's hope the winter won't be a long one. Our brief spuddle on Friday got those faring juices going again.

Have a lovely week allemaal, and I hope the weather's kind to you wherever you are.

Estuary shores and sandy paws

Estuary shores are a bit different from real coastal beaches, aren't they? I grew up in London with the Thames not far away, and I remember loving the wildness of the foreshore at low tide. Seeing the mudflats and the birdlife gave me more pleasure than going to play at the pebbly Channel coast. Of course, the Welsh beaches where we spent most of my childhood holidays are incomparable, but even so, there's just something about a river estuary.

The Westerschelde Estuary

We happen to live close to the Westerschelde (Western Scheldt) estuary and it's a lovely place to take the dogs for a walk. The spot where we like going best is just to the west of Terneuzen where it's a cross between beach and tidal marshland. When the tide comes in, the land is mostly flooded but at low tide, there are large areas of grasses, tiny creeks and wild plants – great for doggy snuffles, with their pools and rivulets. You can see a little of what I mean from this Google map satellite view here.

The shady area is the sand and grassy parts mixed. There's
also a big sandbank out in the estuary that shipping needs to be
very careful to avoid 

Last weekend, my daughter and I took our pups there for a good run. It was a lovely morning and the dogs had the best time ever charging about between the rocks and into the undergrowth. I think Zoe ran more than I've ever seen her do and even, almost, got to zoomy stage, something she's not known for at all.

But I think I'll leave the photos to speak for themselves...

The tide was coming in when we were there

Happy dogs

"Hey, Lulu, this here's a good sniff!" "Yeah, Zozo, gimme a load of that!"

There are pebbles too as well as lumps of small stones
apparently glued together with sand

Just a track through the grasses here

The incoming tide brought some lovely pools for the pups

And out in the estuary, a massive container ship heads for Antwerp

To the east, a chemical factory, which I can't help finding quite beautiful

More doggy pics from daughter's perspective

Such good friends

We are now into a spell of grey and gloom and it's cold in that damp way that makes me feel unwell–real November weather. I'm not a fan, so fingers crossed the sun peeps through again soon. I've told the weather gods that cold and sunny is fine, just not this endless misty grey. They really need to do something about it. Anyway, enjoy the rest of your week, allemaal, and the weekend too!