The NAP

What is a NAP? No, it's not a quick snooze, a dashed forty winks or even a good solid kip (as Koos would have said). The thing is that in Holland, you see the word NAP everywhere, and this doesn't mean the cloggies are exceptionally good at sending up zeez. Its meaning is much more serious and important.

Okay, I'll let go the suspenders and tell you what it stands for. NAP actually means Normaal Amsterdam Peil, meaning Normal (right!) Amsterdam (yep!) Level, and it refers to the level of water by which all other levels are measured throughout Europe. Impressive huh? Well, I took this quote from a website I found on the subject:



"Because Amsterdam is largely below sea level, it relies on a system of dikes and dunes to protect it against the sea - the only city in the world that does so. This system is measured in Dutch-invented NAP.
Amsterdam’s water level measurements are set to a fixed point, known as the Normaal Amsterdams Peil (NAP), the Normal Amsterdam Water Level, based on the average level of the River IJ in Amsterdam in the 17th century!! This measurement has become a basis for altitude measurements throughout Western Europe. The current NAP height can be seen in the freely accessible passage between Amsterdam's City Hall and the Muziektheater opera house on Waterlooplein - three glass columns filled with water rising from the floor near the northeast entrance.



Two of the three (columns) indicate the actual water level at the coastal towns of Vlissingen and IJmuiden. At high tide, the water rises well above knee-level. Fortunately, sturdy dikes and dunes along the coast keep the North Sea at maintainable levels. Even more spectacular is the third column, in which the water bubbles up far above your head. That was the height of the North Sea during the flood disaster in the province of Zeeland in 1953.

The real NAP can be seen if you descend the staircase by the water columns: a large bronze plate indicates the exact level of NAP. From Helsinki to Rome, altitude is always measured relative to this bronze mark when roads, houses and bridges are built and, of course, when gauging the water level."


Pic taken by Koos today in Zeeland. NAP is zero, so this shows we were in a polder below sea level

Amazing, isn't it? Well, I find it even more interesting when going for a stroll in the country, you come across small sluices and pumping stations each with their own scale showing the NAP clearly marked. I guess the water level in the 17th century was probably a bit lower than it is today if we are to believe the global warming theories, but nevertheless, I find it rather special that the measurement set in Amsterdam getting on for four hundred years ago is still used as the benchmark not only for every local sluice gate, weir and lock in the Netherlands, but also for great engineering works throughout Europe.

It also makes me appreciate still more how brilliant the Dutch are at water management, and how there is more than just idle boasting to the old saying that "God made the world, but the Dutch made the Netherlands".

This is much more me

Many of you know that a couple of years ago, I bought a flat in Rotterdam after selling my barge in Belgium. Although principally a way of investing in my 'pension' (I have none here in NL), I intended to move into it and use my barge for weekend 'faring', but somehow I never took to the flat. I tried staying there, but was always too conscious of other people living around me. On a barge, you are on your own island and are thus insulated from the noises made by neighbours.



To cut a long story short, I have now sold my flat - very quickly, thankfully, and have bought this little house instead...and I am completely in love with it. It is in a village in the very far south of the Netherlands, which stretches about five kilometres along a dyke. It needs quite a lot of work as it's been sadly neglected over the years, but it's all do-able and I can do it bit by bit.



From the front, I look over the top of just one house opposite and can see straight across to the huge canal from Gent to Terneuzen. This is a sea canal, so very often we watch huge transport ships going past - a somewhat surreal experience as they look as if they are just sitting in the fields. The photo above is one that Koos took recently.



This is the view from the kitchen window at the back of the house. There is a beautiful creek, which is a nature reserve, and the fields usually have sheep and/or chickens pottering around and contentedly munching. Not just now, though.



And one of the things I love about the house is that it suits my taste for old country furniture and knick-knacks so well. The pine kist here is one I gave my mother many years ago, and I inherited back in a rather sorry state of repair. It's been great to nurture it back to glowing glory again. The ewer and basin is a 'find' from a local charity shop, and I think it's really pretty. I've also found a lovely old bookcase, an amazing clock and a gorgeous old wood burning stove (still to be installed), all bought for a song....and I didn't even have to sing them either ;-)

What this all means is that Koos and I still live on our barges in Rotterdam during the week, but most weekends from now on, we'll be absconding to the country and being village people..haha...even better, it is only a couple of kilometres from the Belgian border, so we can spend as much time as we like walking and exploring new parts of our favourite country..Ah yes, life can be sweet.

One more favourite thing

I don't know why in particular, but I love this image. It has that pearly light that is so special to the Netherlands.

These are a few of my favourite things

Bright painted tractors and rusty old street cars
Chuffing old steam trains with rock falls and dramas
Scenes of my Africa warm with the sun
This is indeed what I really call fun

More of Margie and Paris

I promised I would publish some more pics of our wonderful day in Paris with Margie and her fabulous family, so here they are.



In the photos above and below are the rest of the fab four, with Madelaine, her super talented and gentle James and Sophie, the youngest, but looking to be the tallest of the three girls- another sweetie too.



Below, a rather nice pic of the very special Colin.



And an unusual take of 'me and ma friend Marge'.



On to the sights, this is a view of the Place de la Bastille, decorated with several bright young things making use of the open spaces for some skateboarding practice.



I'd never seen the game of Boules played before, but it seems that you can play it anywhere there's a piece of open ground and some sandy soil, as here is a thoroughly informal game being played in the middle of a Paris street.



And of course, being us, the inevitable canal. This one's name I can't recall off hand and Koos isn't here to tell me, but it looked beautiful at dusk with its still surface reflecting the evening light.



I thought Dale might like this one. It's the high speed train that both took us and brought us home from Paris. I'm publishing this, courtesy of Colin (and I hope you don't mind, Colin!), but the train has a name, the Thalys, and is a really futuristic looking beastie.



Then finally, it was time to say goodbye. Also one of Colin's pics, it captures our mood, which was definitely one of fun in the company we'd been keeping.

To Paris and to Margie!

I've been keeping this quiet for a wee while, but today was the day we'd been waiting for and it finally came.  This morning, we, being Koos and I, made a mad dash to Paris so that we could meet the marvellous, lovely and beloved MargieCM of blog fame, together with her absolutely gorgeous family. It was a truly special, once in a lifetime meeting. We could have known them all our lives, but in fact had a bare six hours together - six hours filled with warmth, laughter, serious discussion, camraderie and genuine friendship that will last six times six hundred of those hours at least.

The pictures below are just a few of those that were taken at the apartment Margie, her truly lovely Colin and the fab four offspring are sharing close to the Marais district in Paris. I'll publish a few more of the others in another post.

Colin, the adorable Emma and Margie laughing....

Colin, Margie and Koos laughing.....

Moi, Colin and Margie...seeing sights on a long and much needed post lunch walk

Koos, M and C doing the same in the Place de vosges.......while considering Colin's indispensible map book.

We spent most of the afternoon walking, taking in the canals and boats (well, this is us after all!) and enjoying the Parisian atmosphere. We finally ended our tour back at the Gare du Nord, where Koos and I jumped on the train and headed back to Rotterdam, replete with good food, good company and warm memories of a day we wouldn't have missed for the world. Thank you Margie and Colin. Have a wonderful week in Paris and a safe journey home. We miss you already! xx

From the Rocks to the Dunes

Last month on the 12th December, we were at this stunning beach on the eastern cape coast of South Africa. It seemed so far and so divorced from my life here in the Netherlands that coming back was somewhat confusing - from mid summer to mid winter is, in its way, as much of an adjustment as the east/ west time lag.



But, never say die is my motto, so on the 26th December, just two short weeks later when we were about as far north as we had been south earlier in the month, I persuaded Koos to take me to the beach near Breskens where he took these lovely winter photos (It's on the Zeeuws Vlaanderen coast of the Netherlands about 15 kms from the Belgian border)







Somehow, the connection with the sea and the sand made sense of the change.

Maryssa and Craig are wed

Aren't they a lovely couple?



Isn't this a lovely group....?



Aren't we lucky parents.......?
Check the head gear girls! Craig's mum and I wore these by special request. Genuine, once in a lifetime mother-in-law hats.

Until I've settled back in again, it's good to be home, good to be on blog, and lots of love to you all.