Bargain hunting in Zeeland

I was in Zeeland last weekend hoping for a repeat of last year's sun and sea holiday. Alas it turned into a wind and rain vacation with occasional dry patches.

Still it was nice to be away in 'the nature' and away from my laptop and the internet for four days



We schleped around Middleburg on the Saturday afternoon - joining all the other damp and disappointed tourists, though I imagine the shop keepers were delighted. At Lucas's suggestion we went into a brocante, where I found these two wonderful bargains - an African mask (more than one metre high) and a woven basket (using three different types of twig / straw). I am sure I paid less for the mask than it would have cost me to freight it back from Africa and the basket is so unique I'm surely going to find a use for it.



And Lucas found an armful of Donald Duck magazines for a couple of Euros to keep him happy!

Belgian days

Friday I took my car for a technical control (EN=MOT, NL=APK). The system here in Belgium is completely different to those in the NL or UK. It’s state run rather than sub-contracted to licensed garages. As my sociologist friends would say ‘it’s a different form of governance’. But it’s very efficient (which is something that can’t often be said about state run enterprises). I was in and out in twenty minutes (though unfortunately with a red card – which means ‘fix it and come back within 14 days’ – rather than a green one). I was hugely glad that I made an appointment rather than just turn up. The queue for the first come first served service was about fifty cars long – I could have been stuck there for an hour or more.

That’s almost the end of my getting a car registered in Belgium saga. I have refrained from boring readers with it. It was by far the most complicated administrative task associated with moving country (which I instinctively knew and which is probably why I prevaricated about it for so long). In his (last but one novel) Houllebecq wrote ‘after a certain age life becomes administrative more than anything else.’ As Smokey Robinson and the Miracles sang ‘ I second that emotion’. Suffice to say it was a four month paper chase from the time I first got a ticket from customs allowing me to import it (which cost me 1 Euro, the cheapest part of the exercise by far) to actually getting those (by-now coveted) red and white Belgian plates. Now all I need to do is find a mechanic (not easy actually as I don’t have any friends in Brussels who own a car) and get into the tax system.

Later the day Henk ‘the goose’ turned up. I say Henk the goose because the last time he was here was exactly one year ago. I only know that because his visit coincided with the Brussels organic fair, which was also on this weekend. It was good to catch up – although he looked pretty tired after doing his ‘northern migration’– and perhaps for the last time. We work in the same field, know many of the same people and he generously and faultlessly hosted me for a few weeks (twice) when I first moved to the Netherlands. And I still can’t believe that was eleven years ago.

Fresh winds

For the last six years or so I have not travelled very much. Going to the UK to take care of my dad’s affairs and planning, and moving, to Brussels have pretty much taken up all my energy (and money) in these years. There have been occasional forays into Germany and France, but pretty much my travel agenda has been B-NL-UK. And that’s been OK because part of moving to a new place (Bruxelles) involves maintaining contact with the old ones (in my case Wageningen, Ceredigion and Kingston), while building new networks and friendships in my new home city. That’s a lot of contacts to maintain and develop and doesn’t leave a lot of time for thinking about vacations in unknown places.

Suddenly all that is changing- I have a share in a consultancy project in Portugal, am going to a conference in Latvia in July and have found a really lovely looking sailing holiday along the Dalmatian coast (Croatia) in June. It is sudden – all this has happened in one week. It took me some time (more than I expected) to find my feet in Brussels, now suddenly life seems to say ‘yes you’re settled here – spread your wings’

Rust in peace

The Iron Maiden has passed away, and quite predictably alongside all the eulogies for her leadership, some communities that were most affected by her divisive leadership (in Brixton, Toxteth, the West Midlands and the coal mining communities in Yorkshire, Wales and the North Eastay well have been quietly celebrating). It's hard to think of anyone has so polarised the country.

Maggie influenced my life, profoundly. She came to power shortly after I was old enough to vote. She stayed there until I was more than thirty years old. Collectively owned assets (council housing, national banks, utilities) – paid for by decades of tax payers’ contributions - were sold off at massive discounts. While there was a valid argument about their lack of competitiveness – the revenue was not reinvested, the money was just used to reduce tax rates. Untrammelled greed was politically smiled upon. And whole communities had their livelihoods wiped out (and many have still not recovered).

While the iron maiden may have left us - her legacy unfortunatley lives on. But I have to thank Maggie for something, she did politicise me.

Russell Brand caught my feelings quite well (but he got paid for his column).

Rust in peace

Little darling, the smiles are returning to the faces

Easter finally arrives, along with summer time and April Fools’ Day. I can’t remember when all those dates coincided. I also can’t remember such a long, hard and cold winter. The first frost came the day the clocks went back (five long months ago). The first snow fell before St. Niklas day (My Flemish friends pointed this out. I wouldn’t have noted that as a significant date). It snowed every night in the week before Easter, including Good Friday. Different reports suggest that it has been the coldest /longest winter for more than fifty years (in 1962 the River Thames froze over) or since 1916 (when several million men were living in war-time trenches in Belgium and must have suffered horribly).

The crocuses (and snowdrops) in Wageningen were still in flower when I was back there a week ago. Gardeners' schedules are some five weeks behind and Welsh hill-farmers are digging their sheep (often dead) out of snowdrifts. I had a Canadian couch surfer stay last week who told me that the snow came ten days earlier than usual and was deeper than anyone can remember. Hey,in my books the Canadians know their snow (and probably have as many words for it as the British do for precipitation). Today the skies are blue –although overnight temperatures will go below zero for the coming weeks.

Nichiren says spring always follows winter. Sure is a long time coming! To remind me of that possibility I bought some flowers for my table this weekend. I've lived a long in the Netherlands, where cut flowers are really cheap. They were one of the first things that fell off my shopping list when I moved to Belgium, so having flowers on the table again feels like a real act of self-indulgence

Two moons

I’ve just finished reading Huaki Murakami’s latest novel IQ84. At around 1200 pages it’s not a lightweight book. I bought it when in Germany a month ago and only just finished it – and I am an avid reader. I became engaged with the characters – even the unlikeable ones. But I didn’t get the link between this story and Orwell’s famous novel (1984). The main theme of that dystopian novel, about state control over peoples’ lives seems strangely absent. Indeed in IQ84 the opposite is the case. The state seems to have hardly any control over the characters’ more nefarious activities.

One theme that runs through the book is the appearance of two moons, signifying a character’s presence (or awareness of being) in an alternate universe. Two moons- where have I heard that before? It took me a while before it clicked - it’s a seemingly throwaway stanza from REM’s ‘Nightswimming’

I’m pining for the moon
But what if there were two
Side by side in orbit
Around the fairest sun

This is such a quixotic stanza I have often wondered what Michael Stipe was alluding to when he wrote it. I am also wondering if Murakami lifted this image from this song (its possible as he is a bit of western music buff - one of his books is named after a Beatles song) or whether the symbol of two moons has a deeper literary or Japanese cultural significance. I’m not going to lose any sleep over this - but if anyone has any answers any answers or ideas feel free to comment…..

While thinking about this question I turned to Tony Fletchers excellent, if somewhat excessively reverent, biography of REM which has some in-depth discussions of some of their lyrics –although sadly not this one. Browsing the topic on Wikipedia I saw that Chris Martin (of Coldplay) once said it’s the best song ever written. I’m tempted to agree.

As for IQ84 being the best novel ever written. I don’t have a list. I think that different books work for different people at different stages in their lives. (I’m going to revise that position –my favourite novel is Kerouac’s Dharma Bums – which I read at an impressionable age and set a map for my life for years. I was recently reunited with my copy after a separation of more than ten years – but that’s another story). Certainly IQ84 is the best novel I’ve read for a couple of years. I kind of resisted the idea at first as I found the last couple of his books that I read a bit ‘samey’. But this one really is to be recommended. Put it on your holiday reading list.

Movie script?

This story could - and should - be a movie script or at least fodder for a stand up comedian. I wonder if large amounts of vodka were involved in this exploit. 'Yeah we'll steal that JCB, put it through the window of the bank grab the loot and then make a high speed getaway in our high performance,discreetly bright yellow, people carrier'. Desperate times, desperate measures.

This reminds me of a episode of Citizen Smith from about thirty years ago. The one where he steals a Chieftain Tank from Salisbury Plains, gets some target practice in on the local gnomes in his local suburb, then tries to use it storm the Houses of Parliament. Only to be told very politely by the policeman on duty that they are all away on summer recess. They don't make them like that anymore (I wonder why).

Working life

It’s been a long hard and cold winter. My Flemish friends noted that it snowed before St Niklaas (that’s 6th December to the rest of you). Since New Year the thermometer has barely risen above zero. The heating has stayed on at night (albeit low), otherwise it is uncomfortably cold in the morning. And the sun now rises before my alarm goes off, making it almost as redundant as the blinds in my bedroom are in keeping out light in the morning. It’s easier to get up in the light.

A few days ago I finished (editing) my first PhD thesis of the year. This one was an economics text about pineapple supply chains in Benin and how to improve them. It drew on institutional economics to describe the various supply chains and their modes of governance. These are quite familiar ideas to me – but worth explaining to many readers. In short different markets have different characteristics. There’s what people call the ‘spot market’ where things are bought and sold on the day’s trading price. Pretty much like your average fruit and veg. market (‘1 euro a kilo’) or the stock exchange. The two actually have a lot in common. They are both characterised by price volatility, opportunistic behaviour, a lack of trust between traders and what economists call ‘information asymmetry’ (one set of traders having more information than the others and using this to their – unfair- disadvantage).

On the other hand there are more structured markets, which are characterised by ‘asset specificity’. For example, you might be making a component that has very specific standards, performance etc. In this case you don’t sell on the spot market but enter into long term contracts, in which the product characteristics, pre and after sales service etc. are specified in detail. As a producer you may have to ‘tool-up’ your factory/farm and/or workforce to meet certain production criteria and need assurance that your investments will be worthwhile. Such relationships are characterised by long-term commitments and, as a general rule, the more specific the product/component – the stronger the relationship between buyer and seller. In the world of food, organic food or food with a regional origin, tends more towards the latter kind of market. For example organic coffee growers - in say Guatemala - will enter into agreements with buyers to grow in an organic manner. In return they will receive some training, perhaps some capital and a guaranteed minimum price. It’s a system that has a stabilising effect on the market and trading relations.

As individual consumers we are often bombarded with information that tries to make us ‘spot market’ buyers. In reality that is far from the case. We want a dentist, mechanic, accountant etc. whom we can trust. If they mess up, or their prices become exorbitant, then we will probably look elsewhere but the transaction (cost) of finding a new supplier – in terms of time of time if not money - can be daunting. So while we may look for the cheapest avocado we look for a reliable and trustworthy mechanic, etc.

Anyway, the point of this thesis was that pineapple growers in Benin could do much better if they were to enter into reciprocal agreements about quality, quantity, price etc. It would help them overcome the problems of not knowing who their buyers might be and also potentially offer them some access to up-front finance (pineapples have a long growing season and are capital intensive).

For my part I learned about the different characteristics of pineapple varieties, some of which (e.g. Cayenne Smooth) are in demand in northern markets, others more favoured in the countries where they are grown (e.g. Sugarloaf). To celebrate finishing this first thesis of the year I stopped by at Brussels biggest market to buy myself a pineapple. Despite the huge immigrant population in this part of town, I could only find Cayenne Smooths while my mouth was tingling remembering how good the green ones taste.

Mystic Law

On Thursday a friend called –wanting to meet up, chant and talk. I was reluctant. There were deadlines and so I prevaricated. Then in the evening I re-read his message. And realised I was feeling the same as he was. And I remembered how important it was to support members of my Buddhist community, and realised I could delay some of Friday’s activities with no kickback. So I phoned him back – he came over the next day, we had breakfast, talked about our problems (obstacles/challenges, whatever) and chanted together for a half hour. Half way through chanting my phone rang twice – I ignored it. After my friend left I checked the messages- one was a solution to an administrative problem that has been bugging me since mid-November. I realised this was the mystic law in action – in a very direct way – by supporting others you create the magnetism that creates benefits and solutions in your own life.

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

Soon I will write about this administrative problem (changing my car registration from Dutch to Belgian). It has caused me sleepless nights and generated endless phone calls and visits. But I want to write about it from a position of victory rather than whinging about administrative inefficiencies (and as many of those are Dutch as they are Belgian).

On leaving my friend gave me some guidance. I have heard it before – but it is worth repeating: 0- 1-2-3. One hour of daimoku a day, 20 minutes of study, make three people happy and never, ever complain (because its undignified). If I could keep that up for a month my life state would be so much stronger.

Bye bye Biofach / Fun fun fun on the Deutsche Bahn

Post-modern railway architecture: Liege

Two weeks ago Kraftwerk played a week long residency at the Tate Modern. Tickets were much sought-after. It encouraged me to revisit their music. Normally this would have meant digging out tapes and my tape recorder from the basement, dusting them down and connecting them up the hi-fi. These days we have Spotify (more about them later). I enjoyed a whole evening of synth-driven Krautrock and realised how much I liked them – especially their songs about motorways and train journeys.

A propos of this I found myself on a long train journey last week – when I actually went past a rather dated set of train carriages shunted into a siding with the immortal words Trans-Europe Express emblazoned on the side – (and I thought the TEE was apocryphal). These days we have ICE, Thalys and Fyra (the less said about that the better). They are comfortable fast and modern. The only draw back is that they are far more expensive than cheap airlines.

My journey from Brussels to Nuremburg (and back) was fast and comfortable (though with too many changes – one of them with a four minute turn around at Frankfurt – which was kind of tight). Previously my travels to Nuremburg have taken me over the Eiffel, a hilly area on the Belgian border. But this time, coming from a different place I had the joy of travelling along the banks of the Rhine for I guess an hour and a half– from Koln to Bonn, Koblenz and most of the way to Mainz. We also passed through Liege and Aachen.

It was a beautiful journey passing through many places I still intend to visit. This is a historic trade route. I have long wanted to travel it - on a slow boat, preferably a goods barge plying its way from Rotterdam up river. Still the view from the train gives a good impression. Very wealthy mansions along the riverside, castles on the tops of bluffs to protect the trade routes and vineyards planted at impossibly steep angles up the hillsides. Contrary to everything I know about agriculture they plant in vertical lines as opposed to horizontal ones – which should help reduce soil erosion – still what do I know compared to hundreds of years of practical experience. It would be a photographer’s delight – if one weren’t travelling at 150+ km/h + and it wasn’t raining.

I was hoping to buy a good novel for the journey home. German bookstores – even those at train stations- have a surprisingly wide selection of English language books – and at competitive prices. Often Murikami is well-represented. He has a big following in Europe – I even saw a Dutch (or was it German?) language Murikami diary last year. I hadn’t read his latest opus yet and was half hoping to find it. I like his magical realism based in a post industrial society: all the other magical realists I know seem write about pre-modern societies, so its good to feel that something ‘magical’ can still happen in our over-planned technological societies. But the last book of his that I read ‘felt a bit like all the others’ and I was hesitant to go buy the new one – but everyone I have spoken to says it is really good. Turned out that the book store at Nuremburg BH didn’t have any books that interested me (crime and romance mostly), so from Nuremburg to Koln I sat down to read the latest annual edition of the 200 page guide to the world of organic farming, produced by FiBL and IFOAM . I’m a sucker for stats. There’s plenty of those here – and reports and analysis of developments in the world of organics over the past year. Some of the reports I have seen before (we previewed them in Ecology and Farming over the past year) – but there’s still much that I didn’t know:

The US eclipsed the EU as the largest market for organic produce in 2010
The UK and Ireland are the only two EU countries where the recession has led to a dip in organic sales
Overall sales of organic produce in the EU rose by 9% in 2010-11- despite the recession
Scandinavian and Germanic counties continue to be the leaders in terms of market share
The share of organic land in Belgium rose by 20% last year (now there’s an interesting story line worthy of investigation) and in Ireland it went up by 13%. It's always interesting to find out whether such changes are led by subsidies or markets. While subsidies are important (to compensate for – temporary -yield losses) they tend not to be sustainable.

I do find a copy of IQ84 at the bookstore at Koln station, but by that time I am so engrossed in the world of organic statistics that I decide to save it save it for a rainy day.


Industrial railway architecture: Koln