Here and there

I'm feeling like a yoyo at the moment, bouncing up and down between Rotterdam and Zeeland. Each week since lockdown was lifted, we've been spending some time on the Vereeniging as although my work is over for the summer (it finally finished in mid July), my barge still needs attention and I've embarked on a project I almost wish I hadn't started. 

As you can see from the numerous photos below, the stern of the Vereeniging has always been painted a kind of old-fashioned olive green. Since I've had it, I've just sanded the surface every couple of years and repainted it. The snag is you can only do this for so long. The paint builds up into a kind of thick, glassy layer, but then it starts to crack, allowing water (my nemesis) to creep in underneath. Water, as you might know, is great buddies with rust and the two of them conspire to create mischief, especially in places I can't see all too easily.

As a consequence of this potentially worrying situation, and knowing I would need to investigate, I've been stripping the paintwork down to the steel beneath, but not with a machine. I've been doing it by hand with a special hardened steel paint scraper (made by Sandvik for any of you who are interested). If I could shroud the boat in a tent and have it on land, I could attack it with a rotary steel brush on an angle grinder, but I daren't do this in the Oude Haven. The paint chips and dust would not only get into the water, but also cover my neighbours' barges as well – a move not designed to engender good relations with them or, even worse, with anyone in authority.

So far, I've managed to scrape just over half of it (believe me, it's tough stuff) and to my great relief, the steel beneath is good. It's only along the edges where it meets the trim that there are rusty places. Part of me thinks I shouldn't have started because it's already taken me about ten hours to get this far, but the other part knows it's a job worth doing. At least I can be satisfied my home isn’t developing holes underneath the paint, and I can put that 'what if' scenario back in its box.

I'm committed to finishing the job now in any case, so I'll continue my yoyo trick until all the paintwork is done –  if that ever happens. 

Koos, bless him, has also been working on the engine, and for those who like the oily bits, you'll be interested to hear we now have an alternator to charge the batteries when we're on the go, thanks to his hard work. That's a big whoopee for me. 

It's not been all slave labour, though. The weather's been lovely much of the time and the photo below shows just how beautiful our harbour is on a perfect summer's day. I really do love it and I'm very happy I can still call it home.

Oude Haven in the sun

Back at the crumbly cottage, we've also been enjoying some lovely weather and wonderful rural walks (between scraping and painting on the Hennie H!). I took the photos below yesterday when we were out in the borderlands.

Not our crumbly cottage; just a very pretty house seen on our walk

This house has a vine as a creeper and I was surprised to see it had big clusters of very healthy looking grapes on it. If you open up the photo below, you might see some of them, but the leaves were doing a good job of obscuring much of the fruit. Do I smell wine in the making here? I wonder.

Close up of the creeping vine.

 I liked this old bakfiets (bike with a trailer) hiding in the leaves too. I must say I find the whole place quite idyllic. There's always a sign for honey on the gate and just along the road, there's another smallholding with goats, chickens, a pig and a couple of sheep too. Just gorgeous.

 And this is the scenery around the house. Not dramatic. Not drop-dead stunning, but its forever horizons and calm beauty are real soul food. Koos and I agreed we were very fortunate to be able to walk in such quiet, unspoilt country without having to go far for it.

I also indulged in a longish bike ride yesterday too and I snapped a couple of these photos on my route. Below is my trusty steed, which I inherited from our former neighbour, Tim, who's sold his cottage (and whom we miss). I have to say it's the best bike I've ever had, which I must be sure to tell him sometime. It seems to just roll along, and although it has three gears, I only ever use the 2nd, even to climb the long, slow hill up to the bridge where I was waiting when I took the photo below. 

So that's it, folks. Nothing of great import to report, but all the same, I'm busy enough not to have time to write a blog every week. We're still being careful here and keeping to the Corona rules. Case numbers have been rising since tourism and holiday travel opened up again, but hospitalisations aren't rising correspondingly, so I hope the situation won't escalate too much again. Fingers crossed!

Keep well allemaal, and enjoy the summer sun.

A return to normal

I don't know quite where the time goes, but it's already two weeks since I posted a blog, and yet I'm hard put to remember what I've been doing in that time. I know we've been very busy: two family birthdays and a lot of heen en weer (to and fro) trips between Rotterdam and  Zeeland seeing to the two boats. 

Fortunately, Corona virus restrictions have been largely lifted here, so we've been able to have family get togethers. I'm very relieved to know that none of my family or friends has been ill, and if they've had the virus, they haven't been aware of suffering from anything more than normal fluey symptoms.  I must admit, we all wonder whether we might have had a bit of it, even me. 

Early in March, I was suffering from what I took to be hay fever as I had a dry cough and some trouble breathing along with the usual sneezing, but I didn't have any other symptoms. Nightly applications of good old-fashioned Vick's Vaporub did wonders and within a week or so it was over, so I don't know whether it was allergies or not. However, I'm guessing lots of people may have had it without ever realising. 

Our health authority isn't even doing daily reporting anymore. We're just getting weekly updates, and I can see that in our part of the country, there haven't been any cases at all since 24 June. There are still quite a few in Rotterdam, though. Actually as of the beginning of June, anyone who suspects they might have it can be tested and the number of positive tests has gone up slightly, but the hospitalisations and demises have gone down. That said, we still have to keep the ander half meter (one and a half metres) distance and we see the signs everywhere reminding us of its importance. 

We also still have to wear masks on public transport, and I see a lot more people wearing them at the shops now, which are busier than they were earlier. For the older and the more vulnerable souls, I think this is quite wise, and I do it myself at the larger city stores. Hand sanitiser bottles and paper towelling are also still the norm at the trolley stalls. Mind you, I wouldn't mind if they kept that even after the Corona worry is over. I've kept hand gel in my bag for several years now, but it's helpful to have it made available.

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All this aside, it's lovely to see the return to normal life again, and I'm heartened to see barges and cruisers taking to the water too. The photo above is from the end of a quay where there is normally a beautiful old tjalk (see photo below). Since it's not there now, I'm guessing the owners have taken it off on a trip and almost daily now I see cruisers and all kinds of pleasure boats out on the water. In all honesty, it's probably the safest way to take a holiday as you're on your own personal, moving island.

In the photo above the last paragraph, I was standing at the end of the quay
opposite.

We've also noticed that the local camper site has been completely full recently, something that's never happened before. We counted 46 campers on a recent evening walk, so I have a feeling people are keeping their travels fairly local. Most of the registration numbers on the site were from Belgium, which for them is just a quick nip over the border (and I mean just over the border). Perhaps this 'toe-dipping' into the Netherlands has satisfied their need for going 'abroad'!

This was my favourite in the camper park. The tent was reached by
a ladder on the other side. Brilliant!

As for us, we hope to take a couple of long weekends away in the coming weeks, perhaps to northern France, but for the most part we'll be staying in the Netherlands, I think. Any flights out of the country are likely to be packed and we don't do 'packed' well at the best of times. For us, it's just as much fun to stay on the Hennie H for a weekend because it already feels like a holiday. We did just that this last weekend and loved it. The weather was perfect and the family came on Sunday for my daughter's birthday picnic.

I'll just be watching the weather tomorrow to get a feel for the rest of the summer. It's St Swithun's day and what we used to call Apple Christening day when I was a child. The story goes that whatever the weather is on July the 15th will be how it remains for the next 40 days. The forecast here is for rain, so I hope it's sunny somewhere else just to foil St Swithun's fun!

Have a great week allemaal, keep well and have fun in the sun!

Summer cycles

It's been another week of mixed blessings. Firstly, although my work is winding down (a big blessing), I still seem to be very busy finalising courses, urging students to do that bit more work to get them through their exams, and marking significant numbers of assignments (a lesser blessing). Still, the end is in sight. I've completely finished one course and with my stint as a speaking examiner over, the pressure is definitely easing.

As a result, I've been able to enjoy the scenery a bit more on both my bikes: the pedalled and the motorised, both of which are great fun. The only downside is that the weather's now more changeable (mixed blessings, as I mentioned). The two photos below show some dramatic and stormy skies we’ve seen, but also the brilliant sunshine that's punctuated the rainy spells.

I've been trying to build up my cycling fitness a bit too, so my rides have been between 12 and 15 kilometres; Hardly a marathon, you might think, and you'd be right, but it's ages since I've done more than two or three Kms at a time, and that's mostly been to work, to the shops and the ship. Functional and furious, but not exactly fulfilling my fitness needs (I do love a bit of alliteration). Right now, 15kms on an old 3-speed bike is quite enough for my rear end. I think I need to build up some protective muscle on my nether regions before I go much further, but I'm not quite sure how successful I'll be at that in the short term, so I'm using a padded seat cover to help. Even so, I spend quite a bit of time hovering precariously above my saddle to save myself from soreness (sorry).

Posterior pain apart, I've had some lovely rides, and cycling along the canal is always a joy, especially when the weather's as fine as it was in the snaps I took below.

For anyone who's curious, the above photo is of a Belgian border marker, of which there are at least 1843 indicating the Dutch/Belgian boundary. I know because they’re all numbered and I've seen a photo of that one, but what the total is I cannot yet find out. Anyway, there are dozens of them near us and we often come across them in unexpected places, almost as if they’re clues in some huge treasure hunt. I was standing on the Belgian side of this one, but fortunately, the borders had been opened so I wasn't making an illegal crossing; not that anyone would have noticed, since behind me there was a high fence preventing access to an industrial site, and hence any further wanderings.

And across the road from the border post, I found this sign. It tells the reader there used to be a fortress here, evidence of which can still be seen in the field behind it. It's a shame that my photo didn't really show anything, but apparently it was one of a number of fortresses protecting the Dutch border from the Flemish neighbours, a probable product of Dutch possessiveness over its sea port at Terneuzen. What's odd is that we've often been to this spot, but never seen the sign, so I think it must be a new one. It also says the fortress extended over land now sacrificed to the canal, which has been widened three times since it was first dug in the middle ages. This region has a very interesting history which I'd like to research more one of these days. It's amazing what we can see when cycling around, isn't it?

Meanwhile, Koos is going great guns with preparing the Hennie H’s engine, when the weather permits.  I’ve also been beavering away on the Vereeniging each time I’ve been in Rotterdam, but it’s all piecemeal work until I can spare some extended time for it. 

Well, that’s it for this week, allemaal. Enjoy the rest of yours! Take care and keep well.

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Lifting lockdown in a special way

It's been an odd couple of weeks. I'm struggling towards the end of the academic year and have to admit to feeling tired. My inclination to mark assignments, motivate students and keep the smile going on camera is fading, as is my enthusiasm for producing the articles I write for the university's language centre blog. All this means I've been a bit backward with my own blog.

To catch up then, I'm just going to do a kind of picture post of the last week's highlights, which included some new experiences for me.

The first of these was when during a walk last Sunday, we stumbled across the airstrip for a local gliding club. We approached with some hesitation because it wasn't actually open to visitors but no one seemed to mind. In fact, they weren't strictly open at all except to members of the club, but we were told we were welcome to watch and we were both fascinated by this wonderful way of lifting that lockdown feeling.

The VW camper van above is their clubhouse. I loved the ‘control tower’ on top of it. They had everything they needed on it, but reception was the table under the umbrella. It had a wonderfully 'cool' air about it all.

This was the little John Deere tractor that pulled the gliders into place once they'd landed.

And here is a glider that was ready to take off. There were two people on board and we watched them go through the pre-flight checks. There didn't seem to be all that many; just a few flaps to wiggle and they were ready to go. I would love to try it sometime, and I know Koos would too. I used to have an ambition to go sky-diving, but this looks just as much fun and distinctly less terrifying.

And here is the same glider just before it left the ground. It's amazing to see them being launched by a single cable drawn by a winch somewhere at the end of the field.

Later that day, I went on a ride around the dykes and saw these gorgeous babies in one of the nearby nature reserves. The one in the foreground looked very new to the world.

During the week, I like to cycle to the shops and this is my sturdy steed. I took its photo while waiting for the bridge to close after the two coasters below had been through. Funnily enough, we nearly always have to wait for the bridge one way or the other, but it's never a hardship when we can watch these stately sea-goers passing through.

Then on Thursday, it was back to Rotterdam again for some more examining. This time I went by bus and train, so I had to don one of the disposable masks I'd bought for just such occasions. I've seen some very fetching, nicely fitted masks around, but I'm afraid these twenty per box types aren't designed for beauty. It was strange to be on public transport with everyone covered up. Luckily it wasn't busy and as there can only be one person per pair of seats, the space was marvellous. I don't mind how long this 'distancing' goes on if I can have that much elbow room, I must admit.

The last photo below is one I snapped on a walk today in Belgium. We celebrated the newly open borders by going for a verwenkoffie (treat yourself coffee with advocaat and ice cream. Sinfully yummy) at an outside terrace in Zelzate, after which we walked along the canal to enjoy the Belgian side of the waterway again. This pusher was 'parking barges, so of course we had to stop and watch the action.

So that's a snapshot of the past week up as far as today. The lockdown is lifting and it's great to be resuming some kind of normal life. I hope you're able to do so too!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, allemaal and keep well wherever you are.

plexiglass, plastic and people

For the first time since March the 12th, I actually met some students and colleagues face to face last Friday and what a lovely first step back to normal life it was. Not that it was really normal, because circumstances and policy dictate that we still have to take quite stringent measures to avoid infection.

Although the schools aren't completely open yet, we had to conduct some speaking tests for students taking their ESL exams. I am one of the examiners and I was together with a team I haven't seen for months (other than on video), so it was really quite a special reunion. We still had to keep our distance from each other. No hugs, cheek kissing (not even air kissing), or any kind of touching were allowed, but we made up for it in spirited conversation.

The examining itself took some getting used to. Instead of tables quite close together, where the candidates sit next to each other and share certain tasks, they had to be separated and even further divided with plexiglass screens. The examiners too had screens in front of their desks, and we had to wear plastic gloves. Instead of booklets, we had wipe clean laminated exam materials. It was a bit of a scuffle now and then, especially for me.

I'm a bit absent minded at times, I confess. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to remembering procedures. I'm that mother who forgets to feed her children until they holler, or cooks food for visitors without ever giving it to them. Once, years ago, I made fried eggs for a visiting boyfriend and found them a week later. No wonder he didn't hang around.

Anyway, apart from forgetting to change the materials until seconds before the next round, and then giving the wrong speaking task to the wrong student on one occasion (luckily no one noticed and it didn't matter anyway), it all went well enough. Some of the students looked a bit alarmed by the unexpected screening, but we did our best to make them relax and feel comfortable; not that we were all that at ease either. It was a toss up as to who was more nervous, but I'm guessing the students won that one.

I often muse on whether this is going to be part of that 'new normal' everyone's talking about now. Seriously, I have a feeling some things are going to change permanently as a result of the Coronoa crisis. Not only do we have a whole new way of teaching, otherwise known as Zooming, we may well have to employ more rigorous practices when it comes to classroom and exam work in the future.

I'd love to think things will go back to the way they were again, but I do wonder. What do you think?

Meanwhile, the border between the Netherlands and Belgium will be open again next week. I'm very much looking forward to crossing over and returning to my customary shops. We've had to drive quite a bit further in recent months to go to the hardware store, the pharmacy and the bigger supermarkets. It will be a relief to go to our nearest serious town, which just happens to be in Belgium.

That'll be a little bit of 'old' routines back again.

Have a good week allemaal. Here are a few photos of our surroundings now.

It's poppy time. I love poppies.

The Belgian border nearby. That gap on the right?
That's where the bicycles creep through

Koos might look a bit serious, but we were actually enjoying our first cup of
coffee at a local hostelry in several months. They are now opening up.
Another step towards normal life, but all at a distance, of course.
The photo foreshortens things, but everyone was the regulation 1,5m apart.
Interestingly, many of the customers were from Belgium, where they still
have more restrictions than we do, but our borders are open while theirs aren't.

Filling in the gaps

Once again, I've let my blog slip. I can only say it's because I've just been too occupied with the changes to my teaching life to be able to focus on the internet in general and my favourite place on the web in particular.

So just to fill in a few gaps, I'll mention the few diversions we've had since we came back from Rotterdam. I will admit that apart from work, there hasn't been all that much going on and nothing as uplifting (sorry) as being on the slipway. Still, there's been a birthday and a weekend staying on the Hennie H to relieve the routine.

We arrived back at the crumbly cottage on Tuesday, 12 May after our two weeks in Rotterdam, and I spent the rest of the week catching up with work commitments, which was quite intense. So at the weekend I was thrilled by the arrival of my daughter and her boyfriend early on Sunday morning. They brought me Tommy, my very own moped, as a truly wonderful early birthday surprise. Tommy is actually a Tomos. He is what we call a snorfiets, which means he is licensed to run at a maximum of 25kms per hour. He can actually do 32kms, but I shouldn't push him to that anyway. As you might be able to see, I was very chuffed as I've wanted a Tommy for quite a while. So ideal for running to the shops, or taking a spin along the dykes.

These two photos below are evidence of my first ride out. I was a bit nervous, but I enjoyed myself tremendously. I've been out on him twice since, but more practice is undoubtedly needed. I'm currently scared of going downhill, turning corners, meeting cars, having to avoid people, bikes, horses, stray bugs and beetles...okay, just about everything. But I'll get there and I love it.

After Tommy's arrival at the house, the next stop was the Henny H where my daughter and her man had put up bunting and organised a birthday breakfast. It was all too lovely and I was deeply touched. Surprises like these always bring out my soppy side and I was quite overwhelmed. Of course, my grandpup came too and had to be part of the proceedings.

I am blessed with the most wonderful daughters, I really am. My eldest also treated me to a surprise visit on Mother's Day while we were in Rotterdam on the helling and brought me a handmade book she'd made and illustrated herself. They give me so much and are so thoughtful. If you're reading this, thank you my lovely girls.

Anyway, last weekend we punctuated the week's work with a sleepover on the Hennie H. At first we only intended to stay Friday night, but we liked being there so much, we stayed Saturday night as well. Even though the harbour is a mere two and a half kilometres from the house, it felt like a holiday and it did us both good. 

I should also add that our much loved English neighbour in the village has sold his house to a man who has bought it to let. Tim, the former owner, used to come over three to four times a year, and even then, it was just him and his dog. For the rest of the year, we had no neighbours on either side. However, the house on the other side of us is also being rented. Like Tim, the former owners were just occasional visitors. 

Now, Koos and I are not misanthropists as such, but we like our privacy and have got used to a quiet life. We definitely aren't used to full-time neighbours, especially Koos. Until Corona, we weren't together for half the time anyway, and once life goes back to normal, so will we.  However, for the moment not only have we had to get accustomed to living in each other's pockets, we now have a lively family of five on one side and a couple who like to live outside on the other. Escape is required and, luckily, the Hennie H provides the sanctuary we need.

This weekend, we'll probably go there again. There's plenty of work to do on board, and it's good motivation to get on with it.

For now, then allemaal, I hope you're enjoying the relaxing of some of the restrictions and you're all staying well. We're still having the most beautiful weather here. The forecast tells us it will continue for another week...just until lockdown is lifted. Then, when we have more freedom of movement, it will start raining again. Which of you mentioned Murphy? Yes, well, he always has something up his sleeve, doesn't he? 

Till next time.

The week(s) that was

It's been two weeks since I posted here, an omission for which I apologise. In fact, in my last blog I mentioned we would be on the slipway (helling) with my Vereeniging, and I said I'd be blogging about it, which I've totally failed to do. Why? Well two reasons: one, we had a lot of hard graft to get through and I was so tired every night I barely managed to read a page, let alone write one; the second reason was that the internet on board was hopeless. We usually connect via a harbour network, but for some reason it just didn't want to work on the yard, so all my online activity had to be via my phone. Well since my teaching is all online at the moment, you can guess what took priority. I'm afraid blogging didn't get a look in as a result.

Anyway, we've finished now and tomorrow morning at 07:00 we'll be sliding back into the water. To sum it all up, it was 12 days of sterling effort from Koos, who diligently attacked the waterline with a rotary steel brush attached to an angle grinder. It's been some years since the crud of ages was removed and it revealed a few distinctly dodgy spots, one of which signalled a quick repair job. Sadly, our friend Tim, who was going to help us with welding, has injured his back and couldn't do it. After a series of calls, it transpired there was no one available to help, so it was time to get creative.

While chatting to Tim earlier, I'd explained why I'd sealed the edge of a weld with two component epoxy. We were both extolling the virtues of this wonderful product and he told me his barge had stayed afloat for five years thanks to some judicious application of said epoxy to holes in its bottom. Eventually, of course, he'd replaced the steel and welded it all properly. After relating this story to Koos, we had the idea of applying a 'sticking plaster' of steel to the dodgiest of the weak areas with 'spot' welds (one at each corner) and then sealing the edges with epoxy. Voilà! Job done, thin spot protected and no welders injured in the process. Nor, thankfully, did I have to dismantle my interior to avoid the fanning flames of a weld gone wild (sorry).

For most of the week, while Koos was grinding, I was painting, working, and painting again, but today we finished up. We're pleased with our efforts and I'm hoping the primer I used on the waterline will protect it against the ravages of winter and our ever moving currents better than just blacking it would do. Time will tell, so we'll keep fingers, toes and thumbs crossed. As for everything else going on, well we barely noticed there was a crisis, we were so busy. However, over the weekend the sun was hot and the harbour and river were busy with boats. It looked a great way to socially distance yourself and your family to me. I just wished we could have joined them on the water too.

As always, here are a few photos to tell the tale.

Ready to go up

What the well-dressed worker wears on the yard

And the not so well-dressed

Family assistants

Bright and shiny again

A perfect derrière

My old lady basking in the sunlight

Have a good week allemaal. Stay safe, healthy and as happy as circumstances allow.