buying a pipe

shut your mouth

We journeyed to Muiden on Sunday, glorious weather, quite the surprise. We'd expected it to turn colder but the contary occurred and a heatwave broiled instead. Muiden is a "mouth' or estuary on the Ijsselmeer, the bay of Holland which has been converted to a large freshwater lake. The daytrip is frequently completed. It is an idyllic place, farms, a castle, a fort, a harbour and seaviews of a sea that once was. The town of Muiden and it's sister town of Muidenberg is populated on Sunday's by people sitting on packed terraces, eating apple pie and soaking up the sun as if it will never shine again.

The farmer families who live in Muiden go shopping in Amsterdam on a Sunday (unless they're "Reformed") standing out in burly bodies and healthy skins amongst the less healthy looking wad of tourists most of whom have partaken a little too much and paled as a result.

The urbanites of Amsterdam find this all rather annoying, so instead of sitting on their favorite terrace on the Rembrandt Plein they ride their €1000 touring bikes to Muiden and sit amongst packed terrace's watching each other looking indifferent and eating apple pie. We go walking and do our best to avoid the vulgarity of the Dutch bourgeois.

how much for water!

I'm just back from a short break in Flevoland, an area of Holland that is 1.5hrs journey away from Amsterdam. It is a polder, a parcel of land reclaimed from the sea, waters kept at bay with the building of dykes. It's amazing to sit in a forest and ponder, "this place was an ocean 40 years ago". More bizarrely, we stayed at a Center Parks resort famous for its indoor swimming arena's, where once waves rippled a full on effects theme park of water slides and wake boarding rooms now presides.

We returned homeward on friday via the local harbor, the ferry to the adjacent town across (yet more water) did not run on that day so I approached the harbor master in the office and asked if there was anybody that would take me across to Spakenburg for €10 or €20. He raised his hands to his head rubbing his hair in a nervous fashion, I said in my bad Dutch, "yes I know it's a bit stupid off me to forget the ferry doesn't go on Friday's, but my idea is a bit creative". Pausing a while, a rest period given while he could come to terms with this major crisis being trust upon him. He asked when did I want to go and said he would drop me over on the speedboat in an hour or so.

The Dutch do not like unexpected things, there were signs clearly stating that the ferry did not go on fridays, who was this 'outsidelander' getting all creative, we have timetables and systems, do they not suffice for all? By the passing of the hour he'd adjusted to the impending drama well and was positively enjoying the spontaneity of the whole situation while not displaying it overtly. "It was good to get away from the harbor office" and a glow spurted on his reddish cheeks as we walked toward the boat. He sped across, the glow shifting to a fresh sigh of relief as the windforce swept through the boat...all said and done the love of water was why he choose this job.

As we disembarked onto the harbor wall, I took two €10 notes from my pocket, I handed him both, one after the other, he looked gob-smacked as if to say, "Really!". In some countries a display of cash on such an occasion would be offensive, an Irishman might babel, "not at'tal at all, would ye go way outta that". In other lands a sparring match might commence, "take it, no I won't, ah go on, no I couldn't, I insist, sure it was only a few minutes, right you are so". Not possible in Holland, I love watching their faces as I tip them too much, you see they 'LOVE' money, they adore it, like a boy presented his first teddybear or a bar of chocolate, so delighted with the gift he clenches it until it has melted between his chubby fingers. It has an innocence to it. They don't even care or ponder on which purchases they might make. They just put it in their pocket, as if it was one of those charcoal winter warmers. The whole experience was worth twice the price...but the harbor master probably still thinks I was just a pleasant but foolish American who tips too big.

i wave a flag

His Holiness the Dalai Lama remains a wonderful inspiration for humanity and our modern times, apart from current issues and politics his personal insights and embodiment of Buddhist principles should inspire just as much as the suffering of Tibetans presently concern us. Tibet will be FREE, it already is...just the details are taking a long time to work-out and unfortunately many Tibetans are enduring unspeakable tortures as this process moves forward...be strong, be a fighter but always be a non-violent one and remember, where were you when Tibet called?

Om Mani Pema Hung

Official Website: Government of Tibet in Exile