The ex-pat files

Bringing home the bacon

2012-01-28T19:30:00.000+01:00

This trip left me with a little time to do some shopping and bring back a few treats from the UK. I found a really super saucepan and bamboo chopping board in a closing down sale. The board will match my floor(and - yippee - bamboo is sort of sustainable, isn't it?).
Then a few essential items from the 'English kitchen'
A mega pack of full-strength T-bags
A pack of thick-cut bacon,
Wedges of Cheshire and Cheddar cheese (a thank you present for a neighbour)
A sachet of Turmeric (strangely difficult to find here), and of course,
The condiment that divides a nation, Marmite, (love it or loathe it!).
What is it that other expats most what to bring back 'home' when they go back 'home'???

Decoding English: bullies and condoms

2012-01-24T21:55:00.004+01:00

A quick smoke before leaving Dunkirk

Travelling back to England I stop by the duty free to try to find a specific present for a friend. ‘We don’t stock that range, sir’.
I linger by the racks of popular best sellers: Alan Sugar, Gordon Ramsay, Hester Bloemental and Jeremy Clarkson feature prominently. What is it about Brits that makes us elevate sociopathic bullies to the status of superstars? I find that worrying and disturbing. These guys should be in therapy, learning communication skills – not given air time and treated like role models

Three days later we go shopping in a mega Tesco store. Condoms are one item on the shopping list. We spend fifteen minutes walking around the pharmacy dept: old enough not to be embarrassed about asking – but there are no employees visible. We wonder around and finally find them – under the sign that says ‘aches and pains.’ Isn’t that so British? Sex as pain? My (non-British) companion on this search pointed out – ‘it took a Brit to decipher that one’. Ex-pat maybe - but not completely divorced from my culture.

Thoughts on editing

2012-01-20T15:54:00.000+01:00

The work that an editor is called on to do can vary greatly. At one extreme a job might just involve proofreading and a bit of stylistic tweaking: correcting grammar, punctuation and inconsistent spellings of the same word, eliminating repetition and, perhaps, removing archaic phrases that non-native English speakers think sound appropriate. At the other extreme it can involve restructuring a text to make the arguments more cogent and direct, bringing out key points and often deleted extraneous and distracting details.

Usually jobs fall somewhere in between these two extremes. But it’s a good idea to ask the author of a piece what they expect. Sometimes you will know if they say they want it shortening or sharpening. This is fine if you are working directly with the author in a direct customer relationship. But the relationship is less direct (e.g. editing for a magazine, with the authors as third parties) it’s harder to know which way o jump.

A magazine needs clear articles in common house style and format, that are accessible to the lay readership. Many consultants, scientists and lobbyists are so involved in the discourses of their work that they often don’t communicate very clearly with a broader population. (And we’re not just talking about non-native English speakers here!) Their texts can be replete with acronyms and buzz words that are widely used in their community.

This week I have four such articles on my desk. Fortunately they are short, though still twice as long as we want. They concern the build up to Rio, a controversial FAO report and EU legislation over natural medicines. It’s my job to ‘dumb them down’ a bit, so they are more accessible to general readers, without of course missing important details or misrepresenting the tone of the piece. Usually I get it right (more or less) especially with topics and organisations I am familiar with – but sometimes I get it horribly wrong –or the author is just ‘too precious’ about his/her own writing. When that happens I know I have lost an actual or potential customer (though sometimes I am forgiven and given other commissions). Let’s see what the success rate is this week. 75% would be acceptable…

More Belgian fragments

2012-01-14T21:01:00.008+01:00

I love the names of Brussels’ tube (sorry Metro) and tram stops: ‘Arts and Crafts’, ‘Wheels’, ‘Money’, ‘Printers’, and so forth. It’s a city where each different profession has its own quarter. Sometimes they lapse into recalling national heroes (e.g. Eddie Merckx or Jacques Brel) - I joked with a Belgian friend that there should be a Plastic Bertrand tube station he said ‘please no, we’d have to listen to THAT song while waiting for the metro- that’s not fair on people who live in that quarter’. But sometimes there is no evident trade, or evident national hero, so they lapse into whimsy. One tram halt is called ‘birdsong’. I want to live there.

Ps a (very approximate) translation of Bertrand's song can be found here

Belgian Fragments

2012-01-12T23:48:00.002+01:00

Ten days of torpor has turned into twenty. Exploring a new city can sometimes be exciting but sometimes daunting. I ran my food stocks down in the months before moving – so have less available ingredients than normal. I am slowly trying to restock my supply of spices, condiments, staples etc. There is a range of Moroccan and Turkish grocery stores in the neighbourhood – plus a not very good mini-supermarket. I’m beginning to work out which ones have the best range of supplies. Most of them carry a wide range of fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs (and there is a local butcher, fishmonger and bakers) – but other elements of their range are less extensive. (One has seven different varieties of feta on display though - I am looking forward to comparing them).

For some reason I it incredibly difficult to find my favourite brand of tobacco anywhere in Brussels. Some places just wouldn’t stock it – but others say they just can’t get it. The only places that reliably seem to have a supply are the kiosks at the main railway stations – so every couple of weeks I make a dedicated journey to try to stock up. Yesterday I combined that trip with making a visit to the most ethical bank (Triodos) in Belgian. A prelude to starting up all the other Belgian admin things I need to do. Turns out that (in Belgium) they only offer savings accounts, and not current accounts. Guess my French isn’t as good as I thought it was (I should have picked that up on reading their web site). Shame, I wanted to get an ethical bank account and in these days of banking scandals / crisis that seems more important than ever – guess I shall just have to go with another user, environment, small business unfriendly, bank. On the way home I stopped by a kitchen shop which sold many of its plates and cast iron pans (two essential missing items from my kitchen) by the kilo. I couldn’t get my head around that straight away and left almost empty handed, with just six teaspoons- priced by the item (0.20€ per piece) . A (very) minor victory.

I also had the police around my house today – no crimes involved – or suspicion thereof- just part of the ritual of registering as a resident. Though, rather annoyingly, they don’t give you any notice. They came round at three in the afternoon - when most people would have been at work. A Belgian friend had her registration delayed by nine months because the police didn’t find her home, as she was working during the day when they visited. I guess southern Europe (which Belgium definitely feels part of – for good and bad) – is a bit more ‘manyana’ than the Netherlands. That’s something I need to adjust to.

Ten days of torpor

2012-01-02T01:40:00.001+01:00

Afer three months of frantic activity I finally unloaded the last boxes into my new flat three days before christmas. Aside from occasional forays into the city I've been sleeping, unpacking and rediscovering valuable things from my past. This song, though not literally unpacked, was one of them. What a special song- there's one stanza in it - 'the madonna was yours for free' stands out as being both self depreciating and without any bitterness. For ages I have thought that this is the best (lost) love song ever written - I haven't changed my mind.

(A note for trivia collectors - she says it is not about you-know-who, but was written for her husband- I'll take that with a pinch of salt)

A happy and prosperous new year to my readers

2011-12-30T15:43:00.000+01:00

You'll be sorry in the morning

2011-12-29T17:38:00.001+01:00

I didn't get home until four in the morning - well it was my birthday. Quiet drinks with a few friends morphed into a party with twenty or so couchsurfers, which morphed into 'lets go clubbing'. And the music was good, - the ambiance terrific and the girls open to dancing with strangers (I should tell people its my birthday more often :-)). And it was close enough to home not to have to worry about the last (or first) bus. So I didn't see much of today today. I have an invite to go and see band in a cafe tonight - but I think I better pace myself a bit.

I would apologise for the quality of the photo (taken at the same venue - which deserves a plug for its friendliness and for the quality of its web site- earlier in the year) - but it's a good reflection of the flavour of the evening...

Living in an oasis

2011-12-28T15:39:00.005+01:00

A couple of weeks ago the Standaard (the Belgian equivalent of the Volkskrant or Guardian) published a centre fold article (in Flemish) about the development in which my flat is situated. Unfortunately mine is not the penthouse flat pictured in the article - but as these pictures show, and I keep telling myself - I'm a lucky guy to have found this place.

With a little help from my friends

2011-12-15T23:56:00.000+01:00

It’s been a busy few weeks- the past five weeks I have been commuting back and forth between Wageningen and Brussels – opening and closing accounts, making and maintaining contacts, shifting boxes and furniture and - just to make a hard rod for my back - organising a leaving party. Trying to ensure I have all the necessary adapters, chargers, the right sets of keys and a supply of clean underwear with me at all times.

There have been (more than) a few white knuckle moments. The first came when the band that I booked for my party dropped out due to their lead singer and banjo player having slipped a disc. A friend stepped up to the table and organised a very good band of musicians who had actually never played together before (though I don’t think anyone noticed). The problem was that they were electric and the band I had originally booked was acoustic and - because there is restaurant above the venue - they couldn’t start playing until 10.30, (which, being Sunday night meant, they played their second set to a near empty room).

The second white knuckle moment came when handing back my flat in Wageningen. Initially it all went smoothly. I handed in my notice, the Woningstichting (housing association) found a new tenant who came round and we agreed a price for the fittings and fixtures. The next week the official from the Woningstichting came round and told me that the insulation (the Dutch always say isolation) under the flooring didn’t meet their standards and they would have to get approval from the downstairs neighbour that there were no noise issues. I waited. And waited. A week before the hand over date I called the Woningstichting and asked if they had done the job yet. ‘Um no’. But they did get on the job and let me know within 24 hours that there was no problem. That problem solved I tried to contact the new tenant to get a transfer of fittings form signed. He didn’t answer his e mails and his mobile number was permanently unavailable. Frantic phone calls to the Woningstichting revealed that he hadn’t even yet been in to sign the contract.

Tuesday evening the officials at the Woningstichting advised me to clear out the flat as otherwise they would charge me (quite a lot) to do it themselves. That would mean two days (minimum) extra work to rip out the flooring / shelving and other fittings - and I had something much more fun planned for the weekend. I started to accept that I might lose the transfer fee - and my weekend - and have to take that high quality flooring, etc. to the dump. Wednesday morning I phoned the refuse service and asked them to collect a washing machine, fridge and hob from outside my flat on Thursday morning. Wednesday evening I went to the flat with a trolley to put out said items for collection the following morning. When, by stroke of chance, I met the concierge of our block of flats who told me the contract had been signed and to keep the things in the flat. I hung in there – at risk of having to take the washing machine to the dump myself, a task I was trying to avoid, and eventually on Friday evening the new tenant turned up – pissed as a fart- signed the papers and greased my palm with a few hundred Euros.

While all this was going on the clutch on my van starting to show signs of distress. I‘d put it through its APK (MoT) the week before and had got off relatively lightly. Now, whenever I went to change gear, there was a worrying whining sound. I went into my garage and discussed this with them and they identified the problem. ‘Do you think I can make Brussels and back?’ The answer was not reassuring. The next day –on my last run from the flat to the dump – the clutch gave up altogether. I couldn’t change gears. My van limped from the dump to the garage in first gear – thankfully only 500m or so. ‘I think this needs fixing sooner rather than later.’ But- being a big job - they couldn’t fit in that week, so another round of rescheduling was required – involving buying a return train ticket to Brussels and trusting that the new tenant would actually come good, which he eventualy did at seven o' clock on Friday night. By nine I had fallen asleep on my friend’s sofa.

There was one more white knuckle ride – involving hiring a van from a depot on the outskirts of the city which, I found out two days beforehand, involved having (or finding someone with) a Belgian residence permit. Again a relative stranger stepped up to the table and saved the day. ‘With a little help from my friends’ - I couldn’t have done all this without their help. This week I have been inert – remarshalling my resources… getting my things together in the same place – for the first time in months.

Behind the scenes

2011-11-09T13:06:00.002+01:00

I’ve been quite quiet recently. It’s because I’ve been plotting and planning something that has stretched me in all sorts of directions. Yesterday it came to fruition. I signed a contract on a luxury 70 sq. m. flat in Brussels: for the same price I pay for a piece of, lets just say, sub-prime accommodation and an office in Holland that together offer me a glorious 45 sq. m.

It’s been almost two months of plotting and planning but last night I had the keys and slept there. Still two weeks before I move, three weeks before I close the flat in Wageningen but it feels like ‘job done’. Touch wood the whole thing has gone smoothly so far- two issues remain- putting the final details to what I hope will be a memorable leaving party and working out whether I should / have to change my car insurance / number plates to the Belgian system. It’s too late to worry about that tonight.

Instead I went out with a friend to celebrate. In typical Belgian style we ate at nine-thirty and in keeping with the international ambience we ate a la Roumanie. A hearty meal – we didn’t even make it to dessert. There are so many good and affordable restaurants in Brussels and eating out is a very strong part of the culture. In Holland I eat out about once a month – here it averages twice a week. It’s what people do – part of the ‘South European mentality” – even though geographically Brussels is only 100k from Holland it has an entirely different vibe. People ask me if Brussels is expensive. That aspect of life certainly pushes up the monthly spend.

The future’s bright. The future’s not just Orange.

In all, quite a good weekend

2011-09-27T17:31:00.035+02:00

We didn't have much of a summer in northern Europe and my plans to explore Brussels in the quiet periods that I normally have in the summer months went awry - becuase work wise there were no quiet periods. But last weekend good weather and a break from deadlines came together.

Thursday night was the opening night of 'Nocturnes de Bruxelles' - evenings when half a dozen museums open their doors for free - provide guided tours, special events and refreshments. It's a bit like getting an invite to 'an opening'. It makes you feel like a special guest rather than just a paying visitor. The first night the Tram and African Museums opened their doors - and it was possible to travel by an old tram from one to the other - which is on the outskirts of the city.

The museum is a huge palatial affair, which still carries a lot of colonial baggage. It will close at the end of this year for renovation - though it is thought that the renovations will be more for political correctness than structural. To welcome us to the reception they had a first class kora player.

Later we toured the exhibits - and the downstairs storage rooms - not usually open to the public. Several rooms were full of 'hunting trophies', dozens of heads of antelopes etc. including one with what must have been fifty elephant skulls - like a grotesue catacomb- It kind of spoiled the evening for me - like making a tourist trip to slavery port in West Africa (which I have done) or a concentration camp (which I haven't). You have to look a the past sometimes and not hide it away but it is also a very uncomfortable thing to do.
tbc..

Sustainable transport

2011-09-22T16:51:00.000+02:00

A few days ago I went to visit a centre for NGOs and non-profits to look at getting some deskspace on a flexible basis. It looks like a good place to network and keep in touch with development / environmental activities in a new city. Downstairs they had an exhibition of cartoons from an African artist. Many of them were about corruption and election rigging but I particularly liked this one.

For non-French speakers the caption reads 'our transport system is ecological and creates employment for women' . Just shows you have to be careful when formulating development policies - its not just a case of ticking a few boxes.

You'll need an adapter for that, sir

2011-09-13T18:30:00.000+02:00

Do you live in one of the houses that don’t have electricity sockets to run the essentials of life – so you have snakes of five-way adaptors everywhere? My laptop is getting like that – all the USB ports are occupied –mouse – printer – dondle- which means I have to unplug one of those to plug in a camera or a memory stick or my external hard drive. And this model is only six months old! I need the equivalent of a five way electrical extension to be running at full speed and not be unplugging and plugging in various bits of hardware….

I am proud that I got my dondle up and running last month – and even overcame the problem of resetting my SMTP (allowing me to send mail through my e mail handler rather through a web based facility). While the later works OK it is less than optimal. No spell check, only basic text formats (no highlights or italics etc., available) and slow upload and download procedures. All these are quite important for an editor! So while using a web based e mail application can be OK if you are away for a few days it was good to get the e mail package fully functioning.

The great and really surprising thing about my dondle is it actually costing me less to use than a fixed internet line. I get 20GB via a SIM for 10 Euro. As long as I don’t stream movies or video clips this is substantially less than I would pay for a fixed internet cable. I charged it almost three weeks go and it is still going strong – far less than the 30-35 E per month going rate charged by fixed line internet suppliers. True it takes a minute or two to identify the device and connect and it sometimes has bad days when the connection breaks – but in general it seems like a rather good deal.

Thinking about food

2011-08-29T19:12:00.001+02:00

As the day rolls to a close I am starting to think about food and what’s for supper. I fancy a trawl at the supermarket and loading up on indulgences. But I have already overspent this month and there are some eggs and mushrooms in the fridge, some home grown potatoes (red and white) that a friend gifted me last time I was in Wageningen and a couple of chicken breasts and some fish steaks in the deep freeze, together with some ice cream. I won’t go hungry.

Other people’s realities are different. Much of my work focuses upon farming, agriculture and food security and contrasts the ‘haves’ with the ‘have-nots.’ I‘d like to quote three articles that have crossed my desk in recent months.

1. The “global food crisis” is often presented as a shortage of food in relation to a growing population, yet such a simplistic definition pays little attention to the origins, perpetuation and deepening of the crisis. A more detailed observation shows that this “crisis” is in fact a paradox: millions of people experience hunger and are malnourished, while the world’s agriculture systems have the capacity of producing enough food for more than 12 billion people (Tristan Partridge – article in the forthcoming edition [2011/3] of Farming Matters -ILEIA).

2. Industrial livestock production demands more concentrated feed and this requires intensive fertilisation which damages the climate. This further exacerbates the global food situation, since arable land is being used to cultivate animal feed rather than food for people: 40 percent of the world's grain harvest is fed to livestock, while one sixth of the world’s population goes hungry. (Anita Idel – forthcoming in article in Ecology and Farming - 2011 no.4)

3. The food system has created a society where we have 1.5 billion hungry and malnourished people and an equal number of obese and overweight people. People have been recently complaining about increases in food prices – but the reality is that in the west only 8% of average family incomes go on food. One report recently suggested that it might be as low as 3% in

Switzerland

(Interview with Hans Herring - Ecology and Farming - 2011 no.3).

Three clear messages – all of which can be backed up by exhaustive scientific evidence:

the world produces enough food to feed everybody
much of that food goes to feed livestock for protein rich diets
obesity (largely as result of b) is as much of a problem as hunger.

I think I’ll gladly eat those eggs, mushrooms and potatoes tonight and tomorrow maybe hit the onions, miso and lentils. Individual responsibility is one step but we also need collective action to realign our global food system - and that is much harder to mobilise. How do we get there????

This seems a particularly appropriate post as the photo at the top of the page was taken from the roof of the FAO (United Nations' Organisation for Food and Agriculture) HQ in Rome.

Speak my language?

2011-08-23T18:01:00.010+02:00

It's difficult to count how many languages are used in Bruxelles. French is the main language. The street signs are all bilingual (French/Flemish) and most Belgians I have met speak Flemish (a variant of Dutch). Nearly everyone I meet socially speaks English, and the public transport information is in four languages (+ English , +German -because there is also a small German speaking section of Belgium). Sadly in the Flemish speaking regions around Bruxelles such linguistic diversity is not at all approved of (but that will be the subject of another blog).

It's good to use my French again. I have a much better understanding of the grammar and structure of French than of Dutch. But sometimes- having lived in the NL for almost ten years -I forget key words (a verb or noun) and can only remember the Dutch equivalent. It doesn't matter much if I pepper my French with a few Dutch words - as people understand them anyway. (Vous avez une aanstekker?).

In the past I have often received very mixed feedback about my French ' You speek fairy good French'.. pause for comic effect.. 'For an Engleeshman'. With a few Dutch words thrown into a conversation it confuses the French speakers even more

But this is a two way process - Belgians have evolved a distinct version of French - especially when counting. They have done away with sixty + ten and two times twenty +ten (soixante-dix and quatre-vingt-dix) - replacing them with septante and nonante. The first time I heard this in shops I wondered if I was hearing French or Vlaams. Now I am starting to get used to them - and I am sure next time I am in France I will sound like a Belgian (with an English accent) .

Photos about buildings and food

2011-08-19T22:55:00.003+02:00

Spouting forth

2011-07-14T19:46:00.013+02:00

After weeks of graft I have temporarily relocated (guess where?). I could have named this entry 'on the piss' or 'taking the piss' but I guess this blog community has certain levels of decorum that should be respected.

I don't much like writing in the 'first person' anymore. I don't want to bore people (or expose myself) with the difficulties or joys of living, running and managing my own life. I'll keep that for my personal 'growth (or not) journal' and share it with my gohonzon . Nor do I want to get distracted by trivia, like trying to assess why a less-than-half-a-metre-high statue has become the definitive icon of Brussels, or the challenges of negotiating Brussels' public transit ticketing system.

But it is nice to hear, speak and eat French again. Je me sens a l'aise (I feel at ease). Sadly - French kissing has not yet been part of my Brussels' experience.

I realise that I have relocated here at the worst possible time of year; when everyone and their dog is going on holiday. All the civil society things I would like to join in with are closed for around for 4-6 weeks. The local newsagent/'tabac' is shut for a (catch this) a SIX WEEK holiday. Man, I wish I had the chutzpah to close my business down for that long. (I also wish I had a house in the country to 'retire to' for that period too - but let's not go there). I do have a certain (and not very well disguised) admiration for that gallic gall. It's a valuable antidote to the 'do do do' nature of Dutch culture. I hope it rubs off a bit on me during my stay here.

I'm from Barcelona

2011-06-15T21:50:00.010+02:00

Five cultural brownie points if you recognise the source of this quote. Of course I'm not from Barcelona - and I can't cook a good paella. But I sometimes feel stupid (just like Barcelona made Man U look stupid a few weeks ago).
THe problem is that I really can't get my head around how you can send (or receive) e mails on a mobile phone. Internet is internet - mobiles are mobiles - I can cope with both - but how are the two linked? (It's a bit like trying to understand why gas companies can now provide telephone services).
I need a teenage son (daughter, niece or nephew) to explain this shit to me. And with the changes about to come I really need to work this out....

Counting my blessings

2011-06-09T15:29:00.005+02:00

Sometimes of course, the glass seems half empty - but I do sometimes (though maybe not often enough) remember to be grateful for the incredible good fortune that has enabled me to support myself as a self-employed ex-pat for the past nine years.

I think that there will always be work enough for people like me while people continue to write sentences like this: "Sensibilized through recently published reports of all leading business consultancy firms such as McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Ernst & Young etc. many large scale global players such as Walmart, Nestlé, Unilever, Starbucks, Tesco, Carrefour, Rewe not only discovered that more and more consumers start to care about the environmental and social footprint of a product but realized that business as usual, conventional agricultural practices already on short-term lead to a severe soil and water scarcity and with it present a risk to resource and commodity security."

Its easy to pick the general picture but there are some many ideas in this one sentence that its like looking at a Picasso painting while under the influence of hallucingens. (I'm employing a theoretical metaphor here of course).

Days like these

2011-05-23T21:42:00.004+02:00

Blogging has not been a big priority recently. I spend too much time behind my PC already – running a business, coping with what seems like unnecessarily large amounts of administration (much of it in a foreign language) and sometimes just doing fun things (like playing around with last.fm ). But yeah a whole month has gone by and I might lose readers.

So here are the highs and lows of this month. And I will try harder next month (I’ve been saying that to my Dutch teacher all year).

Highs
1. I finally got to take my Dutch (NT2) state exams. These will officially give me the level of fluency needed to apply to work as a pizza delivery boy. I’m moving up in the world! It also means I get about eight hours a week of my life back (not going to classes and doing homework). But I didn’t quite finish them all. I missed one. I got there late. And for once it wasn’t my fault. There was a ‘collision’ on the rail network (I think that’s a Dutch euphemism for ‘someone threw themselves in front of a train’). No trains to Utrecht for who knows how long (it turned out to be less than an hour). So I had to phone the central office of the exam committee and tell them that I was going to be late, etc. I vene got past the menu that told me ‘alle onze medewerekers zijn in gespreek’ (‘all our operatives are busy right now’) - one of the first phrases I learned in Dutch. That afternoon in my speaking exam we got a question: ‘you are going to work and your train unexpectedly stops. You have to call your boss and tell him you will be late. What do you say?’ Bang on! Real life imitates (and prepares you) for exams. Though it was possibly the first useful ‘situation exercise’ I had to face in fifteen months of studying Dutch. (Read Dave’s hilarious blog about being asked what to do when you get pregnant). There’s something about these free Dutch classes that is incredibly patronising – and in stark contrast with British culture (confident in its linguistic hegemony) which will provide health and administrative advice in 27 different languages (I kid you not - the 2011 census form was available in at least that many languages).

Going to the exam centre was something of an anthropological excursion. You could see the people whose future in the Netherlands depended on their linguistic skills (I could say oral skills – but for reasons that will become obvious - that would be a hugely inappropriate choice of adjectives) . Let’s just say that a fair number were drop-dead gorgeous young women of south Asian, African, Caribbean and Eastern Europe descent, the majority of whom were chaperoned by gentlemen ‘of a certain age’, most with white hair (if any) and some with walking sticks. It put me in mind of a Beatles song: ‘Money can’t buy me love.’ True, but perhaps it can provide a little comfort in one’s dotage

2. I’ve never really participated in ‘Queen’s Day’ celebrations before. I’m a Republican (in the English sense as opposed to the American or Irish one). So I find the idea of celebrating an outmoded feudal institution to be distasteful (to say the least). But, with the encouragement of a friend, I agreed to participate in this Queen’s Day celebrations. We agreed to do a stall together to sell horticultural produce – which felt a bit like selling coal to Newcastle. So in March I started making little trays of mixed herbs – trays about 3cm * 12cm, with a mix of 6 or so kitchen herbs to transplant into balcony boxes. In March and April I diligently transported them in and out of my flat – to catch the sun in the day and protect them against the frost at night. I had forty or so trays – with a few marigolds thrown in to add some colour. And I sold the lot! It wasn’t so much the money was important. It was more selling something that people really enjoyed buying – my customers ranged from eco-conscious students to equally turned-on grandmothers (but were conspicuously female). A fair few customers were acquaintances from the nine (long) years I have spent here – but many didn’t speak English at all – so I had to sell my concept in Dutch – a good exercise for the exams to come the following week.

My friend, in the meantime, did a roaring trade in selling marijuana seeds. He had a few plants on display and was knocking out bags of seeds like nobody’s business. Again it was another strange anthropological experience – seeing who buys, and wants to grow weed- not all restricted to the age / cultural group you might expect!

Most of the stallholders were kids – and I wonder if the real purpose of Queen’s Day is not to inculcate ‘the trading gene’ into the Dutch youth at a young age.

3. I’ve got a new flat – at least temporarily, for the summer- four times the size (at just twice the cost) as mine – and with a garden – and in Brussels. I don’t know if its going to be a prolonged French speaking, French eating, European culture enjoying (working) vacation or the start of a new phase in my life – but I feel incredibly happy about the prospect of it – even though I haven’t yet found someone to sub-rent my ~~chicken coop~~ flat in Wageningen. More to follow on this topic I’m sure.

4. Finally a note of gratitude to the banking system. There may be a lot wrong with it (I should put some radical link in here) but they are very good at detecting fraud. I was happily sitting at a seminar on Fair Trade in my adopted town when I got a message from my English bank asking me if I was in Nepal and had made five cash withdrawals today. The answer to both questions was no. They had picked it up within a few hours. The worrying point from a consumer point of view is that I have never used that card on the internet and only very occasionally use it to withdraw cash or buy petrol. Somewhere, somehow, someone ‘skimmed it.’ But the opportunities were very few. How do banks keep up with that level of sophistication – and trust their customers?

Lows
Let’s not dwell on them. I got stood up twice in one weekend, and that made it difficult to pick up the baton on Monday morning. But it wasn’t much worse than that.

Public Spaces

2011-04-22T18:27:00.019+02:00

The African architecture exhibition that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago has been receiving favourable comments in the press. And the theme, that of public spaces has been quite to the fore recently. This week I went to see a band - Staff Benda Bilili - whose story is quite remarkable. Apart from being disabled (most of them are in wheelchairs - actually they are more like customised trikes) they hang out around, and rehearse in, the zoological gardens in Kinsasha (because its quiet - there's almost no visitors since many of the animals have been eaten by the city's inhabitants). Their first album was recorded there. See the full story here and here . Now that's what I call making creative space of public spaces (rehearsing in the zoo that is - not eating it's inhabitants). And they rock - sounding something like a cross between Orchestra Baobab and the much missed Bhundu Boys. There's something ironic about a room full of able bodied people bopping along to music created by a group of mostly wheelchair-bound musicians....And its just an awesome sight to see three guys in ~~wheelchairs~~ customised trikes, and one on crutches as the lead line up in a dance band... Good news is they are on tour in Europe for the next couple of months.

The venue, Tivoli is also impressive - an old music hall - or somesuch, with a still-in-use balcony, it has a sloping floor - so even when you are standing at the back you can see still see the stage. Alongside the Melkweg in Amsterdam it has to be one of the nicest venues in the Netherlands that regularly has interesting musicians (and it's a lot closer to home!).

With spring now in full flurry the Dutch are also reclaiming their public spaces. I was in Utrecht to see the concert - and as the first warm koopavond (the weekly evening shopping) of the year it was impossible to find a seat on a terrace. The permitted drinking areas were closely demarcated by lines of discreet iron tiles in the pavement and woe betide anyone who set foot or chair outside of them. The one free space seemed to be the square in front of the city hall where the local tango dancing group had set up stage and open house for their first open air dancing evening of the year. I just sat and watched. I think that takes more practice than bopping along freestyle to African musicians.

Tripping round the Netherlands

2011-04-17T18:04:00.009+02:00

A British friend was 'back' in Wageningen this weekend. I say 'back' because we first met here. We used the opportunity to do a cycle trip round the Kinderdijk(we didn't cycle there from here) which neither of us had visited before. It is one of the Netherlands' iconic landscapes (and a UNESCO world cultural heritage site). WE also recruited a 'local tour guide' - a Buddhist friend from the area- a big thumbs up to Geert for making it such a great day!

This land is some 6m below sea level and was reclaimed by windmills. I'm sure that there is some pro-renewables, pro-sustainability argument there. The light wasn't great - so apologies about the poor quality of the photos- but if you've never been -do try to - it's a very impressive place.

We took the water bus back to the city - enjoying some sights of more contemporary Rotterdam.

Ex-pat files

2011-04-15T16:47:00.002+02:00

There is a brilliant article on what it means to be an expat - and indeed whether one should use the term at all- plus some very pereceptive comments. Don't think I can add to that really.

I laughed out loud (part 2)

2011-04-11T22:29:00.004+02:00

I picked up this article a few weeks ago. It made me laugh.

The following is an actual question given on a University of Arizona chemistry mid-term, and an actual answer turned in by a student.

The answer by this student was so 'profound' that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well.

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving, which is unlikely. I think that we can safe to assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.

Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct..... ...leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting 'Oh my God.'

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A. (By the way, the student in question was female).

I laughed out loud.

2011-04-11T20:40:00.006+02:00

I was cruising an internet dating site (I am now confident that admitting this is no longer a social stigma). It threw up (is that a bad choice of phrase?) a non-European girl (to protect her identity)- purportedly living in Brussels (within my 'would like to meet' range) - but actually studying in Aberystwyth. She had this to say of the dating scene there: The local population seems to only come in "hippy" and "redneck" and bizarre combinations of the two". And, I thought - yeh that's Aber bang to rights. She should be a journalist. It would be interesting to read about the bizarre combinations. Some character sketches please......(I might know them)...

Another, rather more cynical, but still hopeful, site member wrote 'dating at my age (she is a tender 35 or so) is like trying to find a parking space on a Friday night, the only places left are reserved for the handicapped'. Keep trying sis, there are still a few vacant spaces.

One world, one heart

2011-04-10T23:53:00.032+02:00

Off to the Africa Museum , just outside Nijmegen this weekend.
A friend of mine had submited an entry to an African architectural competition . (I had helped him with the English text last autumn so he sent me an invite to the launch). He won a commendation, so gets to exhibit his work. It was a very interesting exhibition. No grand architectural statements - most of the work was about (re)designing Africa's very fluid public spaces.

The quality of the exhibits was outstanding - and it was also encouraging to see an exhibition envisaging Africa's future - rather than focusing on ethnographic curios (however fascinating they can be - focusing on them sends out messages of dead or dying cultures). It is showing till the end of October- so if you're in the area go check it out.

For some young people it was exciting to find out that water doesn't always come out of a tap.

And how important access to simple things - like plastic containers -can be for maintaining people's quality of life. How else are you going to carry water from the well?

The Italian Job(s)

2011-04-04T23:26:00.008+02:00

Living on mainland Europe doesn't always make inter-cultural communication easier - as these three sketches show.

1. Umberto Eco, one of my favourite authors, came to do a talk in Amsterdam to promote his new book. I almost went - I am a bit of a literature junkie and a signed copy of the book would not have gone amiss. But I only heard about it the day before and rearranging my schedule to include a trip to A'dam was too bothersome. The next week I was in the public library and saw a copy of it - in Dutch. So I went to the help desk and asked (in my best Dutch) if I could order an English version. Umberto is pretty difficult to understand in one's native language and there was no way I was going to try to read a 'stun an ox' novel in Dutch. She (librarians are almost always ‘shes’) hunted through the system and tried hard to find a copy. A few days later I got an e- mail telling me that the book had not yet been translated into English. 1-0 to the Dutch for being more integrated with the culture of other European cultures than the Brits.

A few days later the Champions League knock-out stages came around. There were two matches that night - Man U ('my team') vs. Marseille (one of my favourite cities in Europe) and Bayern vs. Inter Milan. I skipped out of my Dutch class a bit early hoping to watch the Red Devils trounce the Marseillaise. ITV has the transmission rights to the Champions League so I am dependent on Dutch broadcasters to show the 'right' match. They choose the 'wrong' one. Actually the Bayern - Inter match turned out to be the better one - with Milan stealing a last minute goal on the Germans (déjà vu from 1998?) to become the only group runners-up to make it through to the last eight. I asked a few Dutch friends whether the choice of match reflected a critical choice about the likely quality of the match – or a nationalistic one reflecting the number of Dutch players involved. They were disarmingly honest and almost universally opted for the later choice. But it was the better match- so we’ll give them a draw on that one (though I will have to make a note to go to a pub with cable TV to watch the Chelsea v Man U match tomorrow).

Finally, one of the banes of ex-pat life in (rural) Netherlands is that foreign movies are largely inaccessible to non Dutch speakers – at least at the movies – because they are only subtitled into Dutch. Representations have been made to managers of movie houses – pointing out that they may be losing a considerable amount of custom in a town where at least 40% of the student population (or about 20% of the total population) is non-Dutch speaking: all to no avail. It seems the system is too inflexible - or the cost of getting movies with English sub titles (as well as / instead of) Dutch ones seems too high (unless one gets lucky at a film festival and gets one that has only been subtitled into English). So non-Dutch speaking world movie fans miss out. But there are occasional victories – I can manage French language movies – at a push- and last month we went see a beautiful Italian movie ‘Le Quattro Volte’ - although secure in the knowledge that there was no dialogue, and thus no sub titles, to struggle with. (Having said that I have been to see a Thai and Iraqi movie this year and got by – most of the time- with the Dutch subtitles, only occasionally asking my Dutch companions for translations of key words). It (my Dutch) must be getting better. And things could be worse – one could live in Germany and have to watch James Bond movies dubbed into German…..

Lets call it a score draw on this cultural front.

week 13 - part 1

2011-03-30T19:43:00.002+02:00

Summertime finally hits in. I have an appointment with a ferry and a little stress about getting there - with an hour’s less sleep than normal. And then my car won’t start. Whirr, whirr, whirr- it’s not the battery- and I don’t know much about diesel engines (so it can’t be the timing, or the plugs) – and I don’t have a home start policy, because home starts are usually about flat batteries - and friends or neighbours can sort those out. Small stress. Go upstairs and chant for inspiration –go back down and the car starts – inspiration, belief in overcoming obstacles, or what? Baby’s on the road again on his quarterly (or so) visit to check on his father and his affairs.

This route is getting familiar- one hour to the Belgian border- circumvent Antwerp and Brussels – take a coffee and pain chocolat in a Belgian service station – relish the opportunity to speak French for 2 minutes – and to be in a service station that presents its food better than most Dutch restaurants (and, of course, ask myself if I am living in the wrong country). Get to Calais with an hour and a half to spare. Rather than sit in a dingy harbour I go to the beach for short while. Yellow sands, blue sea, footprints of seabirds on the shore – it’s been a long time since I was in a place where nature is so much stronger than human influence. A ham sandwich and a mini-tetrapak of apple juice. Shall I dip my toes in the sea? No, it’s still March – certainly really cold…..Then I’d have to towel all the sand off.

On the boat –at the front of the queue. I watch the seagulls flying in the wake of the boat’s stream. How fast do they fly? They are wheeling and circling and still keeping up with a boat doing – what- 20 knots? I try to watch one and see how many loops (s)he does to keep track with the boat. Many. All the gulls make a point of staying behind the boat as if it would devour them if they got too close.

Customs call at Dover – young guy comes over and asks innocent questions about where I’m going, how long I’m staying – all the while surreptiously tapping the panels next to the drivers door to see if they sound hollow or not – it's a Dutch wagon – prime suspect I guess – but I pass. There’s time to spare - and not too much stress –so I call my occasionally-in–debt friend on the North Downs – and arrange to stop by for a ‘cup of tea’ – which of course, being Britain, turns into a walk and a pint (ah yes an adequate amount of liquid within one glass). ‘Home’ before ten- reheat a dish of lentils, bacon and spuds – which keeps me farting much of the night.

Whispers home at last, whispers home at last...

Spring sprung

2011-03-20T20:27:00.006+01:00

Spring has sprung and I am back 'Walking the Netherlands', after a long break. Today from Swolgen to Grubbenvorst (just north of Venlo)- a short hike (12km) to test my capacity and willingness. Warm enough to walk in a tee shirt today - even before spring 'officially' begins. More text to follow (maybe) - but my supper is cooked and getting cold. .

Reasons to be cheerful

2011-02-16T14:20:00.008+01:00

One of (several) good things that has happened at the start of this year is that I have become involved in the relaunch of Ecology and Farming, IFOAM's house magazine, which has been dormant for a couple of years. We are relaunching it at Biofach tomorrow - which gives me a welcome reason to go - after an absence of several years. I am looking forward to seeing some of my old organic pals again and am currently packing my warm clothes.

Keep the lantern bright - keep food upon the table

2011-02-08T15:28:00.005+01:00

I have been composing a blog (more of an essay really) about food and values. It's on about the third draft. Then today I saw this short documentary about slave labour on the Costa del Sol - it's where our winter fresh vegetables and salads com from. Fair Trade anyone?

Fire, flood and pestilence

2011-01-14T00:03:00.011+01:00

The new year begins with a raft of potential and actual horror stories. In Moordijk (near Rotterdam) a fire at a chemical plant last week was bought under control - but has left excessively high levels of lead and dioxins on surrounding farmlands - and farmers unable to sell their produce (milk and winter vegetables) until the actual levels have been established. While the root vegetables can be warehoused the dairy farmers could face real problems.

In Germany contamination of animal feed with oils used in industry and the automative industry has led to high levels of dioxin being detected in eggs, chicken and pork. As is always the case when the 'conventional' (read industrial) food system suffers from poor oversight and supply chain management, people turn to organic produce. Reports are that produce (especially meat products) are flying off the shelves of organic stores faster than they can be restocked.

And finally, the Rhine is at an unprecedently high level after the thaw over the past ten days. While nothing as severe as the floods that are ravaging Queensland - and the mudslides that have affected the favelas in Brazil - there are flood warnings over much of Germany and citizens have been sandbagging major cities like Frankfurt and Cologne. Here in Wageningen the entire 'uiterwaarden' - (the water meadows) are completely under water, which is lapping at the edges of the main protective dike around the town. (Photos to follow when I have re-enabled my bluetooth technology). In eight years of living here I have never seen the waters so high. From the top of the Wageningen mountain one can look out over a completely water covered landscape, stretching all the way to the dikes of the Betuwe.

In England recently there has been much discussion about undercover police operations in the climate change movement. Apparently the police have been maintaining at least two 'moles' within the movement - both of whom have played an active role in the campaign (one of whom went native). The discussions have focused around whether the movement poses such a threat to society as we know it (I thought climate change did- but there we go) and whether the police can justify the cost (and the moral authority) involved in spying on a legitimate civil society movement. The police spokesman claimed that the campaigners were planning to sit-in at - and try to lose down- a power station that supplies two million homes (+ businesses, hospitals etc.) with electricity, and that this was justification for their activities. In the same week we have the road hauliers making veiled threats about taking direct action to protest about rising fuel prices. Ten years ago they almost bought the country to its knees by blockading fuel refineries. They are hinting that they may do they same again. I'm just wondering whether the police also have moles inside the 'truckers camp' or whether, as has so often been the case in the past, surveillance operations are just reserved for lefties and other 'undesirable elements'.

You might say I' m a dreamer but I'm not the only one

2011-01-03T19:27:00.015+01:00

Welcome to the new (working) year. The 2011 TextualHealing.nl calendar is now available here - but if you are based in Wageningen or Germany - hard copies (are probably) on their way (unless I don't have your address).

It's a relief to get back to work. My end-of-year vacation lasted almost five weeks - paid work dried up at the end of November- in contrast to previous years when I have been working flat out through to Christmas Eve. I kind of thought I wanted an easy month, after a frantic autumn, - but it would have been nice to have had a little more paid work. But, December wasn't a lost month. When you are self-employed there's always a bunch of administration to do and new skills to learn. And, it is useful to have some quiet time to think about strategy and goals. Even better, I accelerated my 'inburgering' by buying a pair of skates and taking some tentative steps (almost slides) towards learning to skating on 'open-air' ice.

Anyway, the new working year begins with editing a magazine article on the benefits of organic school kitchen gardens in Ghana and a few concluding paragraphs on rural development in China and Brazil - the latter for one of my most loyal, long term (and I must admit favourite - because he is the most radical) clients. No names mentioned but - hey respect!

I realise that we probably will never create a world where the lion lies down with lamb, where the rich (to quote Warren Zevon) recognise that they are already 'sat far enough forward in the house' to not need to compete for the very front row and where we can recognise our responsibilities to future generations and Mother Earth, who sustains us all. Steely Dan once sang 'I heard it was you talking about a world where all is free, it just couldn't be' (was that a dig at John Lennon singing 'Imagine'?). But equally, by talking about better possible worlds, it is possible to inspire people to change the way they think about their place in the world, how they spend their money, and to reflect on how their actions and choices do count. So, my New Year's resolution is about 'keeping the faith' and looking for ways to find a better balance between working for the Euro and doing things that enrich my life (not an easy goal to track). Some might say that that is a luxury option, but it is a very fine line walk along.

So, I want to set my sights higher for 2011, not just for the 'countless confused, misused, abused, strung out ones and worse' - but because when playing the game of life it's important for me to remember that I have other goals beyond finding a better place to live in and a 'scrape me off the ceiling' lover. When I remember that I feel better about myself and can start to effectively make a difference.

On blogging, Buddhism and ducks

2010-12-06T19:48:00.007+01:00

Blogging can be a bit like meditation or going to the gym- you get out of the routine and then it's really difficult to get back into it. I had a 'dip' after coming back from England (partly because I had a big - natural- high from going back to West Wales). And I do try to resist the temptation to make my blog a 'sounding-off box' (that's what my friends are for - that way I can choose what I share with whom). Thank you for being patient over the past weeks.

Then we had a really cold snap - which disrupted travel plans but didn't give enough snow to go cross country skiing (grrrr) - but at least my journeys to work are short enough not to be disrupted by re-routing or traffic jams. And I found that I am not so self preoccupied to forget buying some fat balls to make a contribution to keeping our local bird life from being starvation.

Anyway, for the rest of this month I have determined to chant at least one hours daimoku a day. That's the spring from which fortitude merges. The sowing of seeds. There may well be things in my life that are difficult to change - but chanting is something that I can do irrespective of my circumstances. The funny thing (Buddhists call it the mystic law - the link between cause -in this case chanting- and effect -in this case a 'conspicious' benefit) is that as soon as I made that decision - I mean like five minutes after I started chanting with that determination - someone called me to invite me to a meeting to discuss an interesting project that has been on the back boiler for more than a year - so long that I had thought it was definitely a dead duck.

Dead duck - now there's a prospect. I can't remember seeing duck in the shops here - I get the feeling it's like trying to buy Beef Vindaloo in Southern India. The ducks here are so fearless, crossing as insouciant as holy cows - oblivious to humans. My first memory of Wageningen was seeing a gang of ducks strutting up the High Street on a Sunday morning - knowing it was theirs ("wanna make sumfink of it, Jan?"). A few years later I saw a mallard climb the steps of a cafe entrance - looking intent on going in and ordering a skinny latte. I had the camera shot all set-up and just at that moment someone walked out the cafe and scared him away. Damn. It would have been an iconic Dutch image.

So if I want duck for Christmas dinner I might well have to cross the border (or make the acquaintance of a poacher). Seriously, Lidl stores in Germany sell frozen duck, but their Dutch cousins don't. Maybe I could arrange a clandestine meeting in a forest clearing - five grams of sensimilla for a brace of Campbells (given what's going on in the Netherlands with legislation about foreigners' access to coffee shops this is definitely not a fantasy scenario). And, I wonder what would happen if I got caught at a random border control? I'd probably have my Dutch residency immediately evoked. ***k it I'll take a chance.

I been away

2010-11-20T17:32:00.008+01:00

And had a bad few weeks----
A surfeit of work in September and October- which delayed an overdue trip to the UK - where I experienced: connectivity problems (which deserves a whole blog) - too many time changes (at a time of year when it really counts)- 'homesickness' (after visiting friends in west Wales and seeing real darkness and wilderness for the first time in too many years) and guilt (my instincts tell me father is dying and I should be in London more - but how?).

Of course there were good bits in all of that. New books, music, ideas, contacts - seeing an autumn that showed the best colours I can remember(photos to follow) and seeing friends with whom I have a long history. (And went to one of the best firework displays I can remember seeing).

But when I came back two weeks ago I just hid under the duvet for two weeks. Went into my office when I had to - but otherwise blew out social engagements, skipped Dutch classes, drumming circle, Buddhist meetings and other non-essential obligations.

Today the sun came out and I went up to the garden and filled carrier bags with root vegetables (parsnips and celeriac) and leeks. There's something fresh and invigorating about the smell of freshly newly picked vegetables - that hopefully should refresh even the most jaded palette...

Armchair traveller

2010-10-12T10:06:00.003+02:00

I've always been a bit of an armchair traveller - I can sit on the sofa and gaze at maps for hours. Now, it seems, it has been become my profession. This month alone (it is less than half gone) I have written about, or edited papers on, rural development in China and Brazil, the displacement effect of dam building in Uganda, a sustainable building project for Togo, a grant application for a pro-poor, pro-climate, project in Afghanistan and closer to home farmers' decision-making in the Gelderse Vallei. This afternoon I am seeing clients with whom I have worked on Europeanisation discourses in heritage projects in Greece, Lithuania and the Netherlands (his PhD defence) and HIV messages in Suriname. I'm in regular e mail contact with clients who are or have been in Peru, Mexico, Switzerland, Sweden and China. In this sense I feel proud to be a global citizen. The down side is it's all a bit virtual. Save for a recent holiday in France, a couple of weekends in Brussels and many trips to London to deal with family affairs I've hardly been beyond these city walls in the past three years.

Persistence pays

2010-10-06T13:45:00.006+02:00

A few months ago I decided to register as a UK overseas voter. My decision to do so was based on the outcome of the last election and the subsequent possibility of being eligible to vote in a referendum on electoral reform. It is possible the only national election in which my vote will count (under the present first past the post, winner takes all, yah boo sucks system - the FPP-WTA-YBS).

I duly went to the registration website, downloaded an application form, filled it in, got a fellow Brit ex-pat to witness my declaration, sent the form back, went on holiday and then forgot all about it. Today I got an email from my former local electoral registration office saying that they couldn't find me on their lists. I immediately went to Wikipedia - worked out which election I would have last voted in and asked them to check the register for that year. And - hey presto - they found me. I'm now in the system..

Practical tips. British citizens living overseas can register for an overseas vote if they have been registered on a UK electoral roll within the past 15 years.
Visit 'about my vote'. Check the options, download the form and find the address of your previous electoral registration office.

Mind you - theres no guarantee you will get to use your vote. Eligibility for voting in the referendum has not yet been decided - and when a snap election is called it is highly possible that the ballot paper will not reach an overseas voter in time for them to return it. We can but try though.

Some updates

2010-10-04T16:19:00.006+02:00

1. Technohobia A
Google has taken over blogspot and established a new log in procedure (which involves getting a new password). The whole procedure is so complicated I have twice aborted it. Which is at least partly why I haven't moderated comments or posted new entries recently.

2. Technophobia B.
My blog is increasingly being invaded by web-bots posting commercial messages as comments to my blog. They come at a rate of less than one a day and - because I have turned on my moderate comments function - it doesn't bother me too much. But if they keep coming I'm going to put up a character recognition defense (I know some of my readers use it on their blogs already).

3. The Polder Model A
Two of the largest parties in Dutch politics still can't decide whether to go into coalition with a politician who will appear in Court today on charges of inciting racial hatred. Surely someone who is facing such charges can't be a serious candidate for a position in a coalition government / the cabinet? Can he? I half-jokingly threatened to myself that I would a. Leave the Netherlands if Wilders became part of the government (it's a sign that this counry has lost its way). b. Hire and wear a burka for a week with a sign on it saying 'I don't belong here anymore' (in Dutch of course). In all likelihood I will just drift along with the silent and unprotesting crowds.

4. A Personal Aside
On which note I did spend Sunday drifting along with the silent and unprotesting crowds. I did what (it seems like) 90% of the population do on the first Sunday of the month and went shopping. Yes it was Koop-zondag (Shopping Sunday). I had an excuse - I wanted to buy a present for a friend's birthday - an obsure County and Western CD that I knew would be just right for him (Any C&W apart from Johnny Cash seems to be obscure in the NL - and some would say rightly so). I searched online and could not found it in anyone's stocks and the delivery timeline was way past his birthday so I thought a personal search wouldn't go astray. And much to my surprise I FOUND IT - in the fourth ~~record store~~ home entertainment store I went into. (And I only bought four CDs for myself - my once a year binge).

The Dutch Polder Model B
It's been interesting to compare Dutch politics with British ones over the past months. The UK parties were under pressure to form a coalition within a week of the UK election. Here they've toing and froing betwen different coalition options for nearly four months. (No-one seems to miss effectively not having a government). This week one of the main parties the CDA had an emergency party conference to seek the approval of their membership to go into coalition with the PVV. (I can't imagine - and didn't see - that happening in the UK). They got two thirds plus majority support. But - NOW GET THIS --two senior CDA MPs still have misgivings about the coalition and are seriously considering withdrawing their support for it saying that there was significant opposition within their party. (No Party Whips in Dutch politics to bully and cajole obviously ). If they do the whole project might still collapse.

Turning of the tides

2010-09-21T22:48:00.022+02:00

Today the seasons' turn. Autumn begins. The nights become longer than the days. For the first time in months there is a mist outside my window. My head is heavily involved in planning for the dark days - although my heart still clings to memories of the summer.

What better time to post some final photos of the summer? My last day away in France. A walk in the Gorge du Verdon - a 6-7km walk - but highlighted everywhere with signs that say this is 'hardcore': "bring a torch and 2 litres of water". Unlike most walks I ever done this started with a 500m+ drop from the top of the valley to the chasm below.

Being in bottom of the gorge, and sometimes among woody glades, provides shade that is not usually available on mountain top walks. And the chance to bathe in icy cold streams.

The downside was a 500m+ climb out of the valley at the end of the day -when I was feeling really tired. Never has a beer and a (non alcoholic) aperitif seemed so welcoming.

La-la land - a philosophical aside

2010-09-14T19:53:00.010+02:00

I've been in la-la land for the past ten days or so. A low level flu that doesn't go away - but just leaves me tired, sleeping, dreaming, thinking, cancelling all non-urgent appointments and only dealing with extremely urgent deadlines. Actually it's quite nice to slow down a bit - though I'm falling behind with my attendance at Dutch classes and may well have to cancel a visit to Bonn. (How could one not want to go to a city that translates as 'good'.)

It has given me time to think quite a bit about the value of the work that I do t make the world a better place. I do the best I can - working with words and ideas to change people's minds. Yet what does it take to change people's minds? I have a long standing friend who has made the transition from being an environmentalist to being a therapist. He finds (to paraphrase him correctly, I hope)that giving one person a way of finding their path in life is more important (and more satisfying) than any amount of environmental legislation. And I tend to agree - but how many generations is that going to take???? Have we got that long ??

It's not so much a personal existential crisis -more one of asking what 40 years of the aid, development and environmental 'industries' have achieved. In some respects a lot of positive changes have been made - in other respects the problems get worse. Eighteen months ago I did a week's whistle-stop tour of about a dozen development NGOs in the UK. They ranged from Oxfam (the 'Tesco' of UK charities- with a branch on every high street and an impressive HQ in the city where it started as a back street charity) to two man operations working out of rented offices. I was impressed by the diversity and commitment of all those involved in these projects: helping war torn communities in Sudan build new structures for their agriculture, or drought or flood/drought afflicted communities in Malawi to adapt to the rapid effects of global climate change. Yet I was a little depressed by the fact that they are essentially in competition with each other for funding from DfID, other donors and the general public.

These thoughts have been precipitated by the Guardian opening a really promising web site discussing progress towards the MDGs and development discourses in the large. I think the discussions here will be worth following over the coming weeks. Most of the work I do is related to the MDGs (directly or indirectly) and I am wondering if we are getting closer - or if they are even the right targets...

There are many millions of people on this planet who want to change the dysfunctional, possibly suicidal, path of development the humanity race is currently on. But we don't know how to. Should we focus on raising funds for global charities? Should we offer succour to the less fortunate in our own communities? Should we demand political change? All viable paths of action. I clearly remember reading an article by Laurie Taylor (I think) in the New Statesman in the early 1980s in which he explained how he changed from being a social worker to a sociologist (to paraphrase him) "I kept fishing bodies out of the canal- eventually i wanted to start finding out why they kept falling in'. It helped lead me away from the 'conservation' movement and towards green politics. But I am unsure if green politics has all the answers.

One can recite endless statistics about the number of hungry children, refugees, raped war victims, etc. in the world. Important though that knowledge is it can also be very dis-empowering. It might lead us to stop buying soy products, Kenyan green beans or to renew our mobile phones less frequently than before. But these actions are still quite small. We in the west are fortunate enough to live at the top of the 'food chain', but it still doesn't make most of us (me included) truly happy, content or at peace with ourselves. So how can we increase our own personal (and gross national) happiness? We (in the northern hemisphere) are, in one respect, the blessed, free (largely) from fear of random imprisonment or torture, of hunger, of natural calamity and all the other evils that afflict so many people. Yet loneliness, despair, self -abuse (and abuse of others) are still rife in our societies. Absence of hunger, fear, pain or need doesn't seem to make us any happier. Which leads me to ask what good is this good fortune if we can't use it to good effect?

If this blog touches something please forward it to to interested friends/colleagues. Its not meant as a closed shop - think this could open some useful discussions amongst lobbyists, activists and others..:-)

golden-brown

2010-09-07T19:54:00.014+02:00

In the meantime here's some more photos the first two from La Ciotat and the others from the Gorge du Verdon - one town (Castellane) hidden and protected by the valley - the other (Rougon) high above the valley - with views of the sky and the gorge below.

A time to fly , a time to build

2010-09-07T19:26:00.006+02:00

A recent blog entry ended with the rhetorical question about how long the golden glow of Provence would last. To which I received the comment 'depends only on you, how long it will last'.

That is at least partly true - but one's environment plays a strong role too. We've just had one of the wettest weeks in history (the tree that Anne Frank used to gaze at from her hiding place got blown in the storms two weeks ago) and there are many things in my environment that I would like to improve - although I'm not going to list them here. The day I got back I read this piece of guidance from Daisaku Ikeda, President of Soka Gakkai International .
"Certainly there will be times when you wish you had more spending money, more time to sleep and more time for fun and recreation. You may feel restricted now, but you should consider your present situation as the perfect set of circumstances for your growth. Within the restrictions that define your present existence the only thing to do is to discipline yourself and head in the direction of growth and self-improvement. In the process of exerting yourself in such endeavours you will without doubt build and strengthen your character".
Great advice on returning from holiday and settling down for the autumn. The coming months my focus will be on my Buddhist practice, on my Dutch (I want to pass the level 2A exam this year)and building my business - which may well mean less time for blogging and less time being focused on the restrictions that make my life smaller than I would like.

A political aside...

2010-09-02T15:29:00.003+02:00

Did anyone see see the Blair interview last night? Intended to promote his new book, it was probabaly only coincidentally shown the night before the Labour leadership ballot begins. (I 'caught' it rather than made a point of watching it).

He talked about the fundamental changes that New Labour made to British society. Curiously rebalancing the vast growth in inequalities in wealth and income that arose during the previous twenty years of Tory maladministration wasn’t among them.

Its curious to think that a Dutch coalition government containing neo-fascists is still likely to be more left wing than a 'socialist' one in the UK.

Nightswiming (September's coming soon).

2010-08-25T12:05:00.004+02:00

Sixteen nights away (eight of them under canvas - the longest camping trip I have made since student days). 3,400 KM - the last 1300 done in one days' sitting (though with two drivers) - substantially adding to my normal annual milaege (and carbon footprint:-(). Swimming every day. Two hours of computer contact in more than two weeks. One jellyfish sting (still visible). Thirty degrees every day. And a language that I can 'banter' in and play with and a culture that takes time and care over its food.

It takes a bit of time getting used to being back.....The first day I wanted to turn my heating on. The second I had to go out with an umbrella. The third I took my laundry to dry at the launderette because it was so humid. Summer seems to end earlier in the Netherlands. The schools are already back (as is my Dutch class). Its already Fresher's Week at the University. Associations and groups are already begininng their autumn programmes. It was getting dark (and windy) when I left my Dutch class last night. How long will the warm glow of Provence last?

Les Calanques de Marseilles

2010-08-20T21:27:00.023+02:00

From Trets we headed south to the Med and down to a magical area of limestone gorges, known as the Calanques , where the sea meets the sea and has carved out what is now a playground for sun-lovers. A few are accesible by car, but most only by foot or boat. We only meant to stay for two days but the despite the virtual impossibility of finding a towel sized pocket of beach (or limestone rock) we stayed for five. The sea was so blue and the cliffs so white.

East of Cassis the geology switches to sandstone- sculpted by the wind -like the gargoyles on a medieval church.

In this calanque I got stung by a jellyfish

It hurt like hell

I was glad I had some Rescue Remedy in the car. It didn't deter going me back in the water the next day though.

From Aix to Trets

2010-08-17T08:56:00.013+02:00

Following in the footsteps of Cezanne (and Picasso) my journey takes me round the north side of Mount Victoire (for the first time ever), across a narrow mountain pass over to the SGI European Centre for a five day Buddhist course.

Images of Aix

2010-08-09T12:32:00.002+02:00

Tom Tom turn around

2010-08-09T12:03:00.006+02:00

The last few weeks I have been going out quite a lot with my tom tom. I found her (the voice is programmed as female) a great passenger: she never criticizes my driving ability and never complains if I question or overrule her navigational advice. Eventually I decided to take her on holiday with me: always a testing time for a new relationship, especially when it involves being cooped up together in a car for an eighteen hour drive. I learned a lot more about her temperament. Turns out she's a bit bipolar (yeah - I have a bit of history in that respect). Either she wants to go the fastest route or else she takes down the smallest roads imaginable. I had a hint at this side of her when we went to London together and when I turned off the motorway to avoid a long tailback she responded by taking us up some narrow twisty lanes that I never knew existed (although we were some 20KM from where I had grown up).
After twelve hours on the motorway to the south of France I decided I wanted a break on some A-roads (Routes Nationales) and she tried to take me along the most direct route which, on more than one occasion involved going up or down steep, dusty, lanes into what looked like people's backyards. Still we made it all the way to Aix-en-Provence without an argument- but once there my temper got frayed. I had some paintings to deliver to a gallery in the heart of the old city. Unbeknown to me there is just one access road for cars to that quarter. That Saturday it was closed for filming. All day. Every time I was diverted by the police and road blocks the tom tom, politely but insistently, tried to send me back the same way. I went to the same road block three times. Eventually the police explained that the road was the only access road and advised me to return after after 12. I tried again at 3 and the road was again closed. Eventually I returned at 6.30 and got to my destination- only to find out that the people at the gallery hadn't been told by their office (whom I had spoken to the previous week) to expect a delivery. So I was parked in a street wide enough for two horses, trying to resolve this problem in French while my parked car bought the entire centre of Aix to a a halt. The French - being French - were not slow to express their displeasure at having their streets blocked by a Dutch van. It was as if France had won the World cup (fat chance...). Eventually I resolved the problem and got my ass out of there but didn't want to speak to my tom tom for three days afterwards. Next week (this week now) I have a human passenger sharing my car for a week - I wonder whether the navigation will go as smoothly.

Back To Brussels part 2

2010-07-28T22:28:00.020+02:00

Other highlights of my visit to Brussels included getting familiar with, and beginning to master, the city's labyrinth of road tunnels - with roller coaster contouring and multiple entries and exits.

I wouldn't have felt at all confident about mastering (or even taking on)this network without my newly acquired Tom-Tom. I do wonder how they work underground when they refuse to work, or give a location reading, when I am in a building.

A friend came to join me for the last couple of days and we enjoyed a couple of galleries and I was able to demonstrate my new-found prowess in navigating the metro and trams to get us to an out-of-the city centre gallery. Located in a former brewery in a run down neighbourhood, WIELS had a wonderful exhibition by Wangechi Mutu an artist with African roots who explores the paradoxes of a world in flux and the changing and conflicting identity of African women. We were both captivated by her subject matter and the broad range of styles and the techniques that she employs. Definitely a name to watch out for (tip for London-based readers- she has a solo exhibition there in the autumn). The afternoon was rounded off by a healthy, hearty and extremely cheap lunch in the gallery cafeteria that almost floored me and left me wanting a light and late supper (not that such a thing as a light supper exists in Brussels).

On our last night in the city the cycling theme reemerged as hundreds of skaters and cyclist congregated on the inner ring for a 'critical mass' ride. These events -which started off as protest bike rides - have now turned into regular social nights in which the young and fit reclaim the streets - effectively bringing large parts of a city's road system to a grinding halt and creating a safe environment for cycling and skating and one hell of a party.

Southbound again

2010-07-26T13:29:00.004+02:00

Am planning a trip to France. Soon. First time for more than three years (if one discounts sorties to Calais). The original plan was to leave in time to be in Provence for Monday 2nd August and then head off to the country for ten days holiday. But I then realised that this means travelling on Black Saturday. Something anyone in their right mind would wish to avoid. So I'm trying to organise it so I can leave before the weekend and get a couple of days by a beach / lakeside over the weekend. Searching through my travel planners I came across this interesting travel advice posted to me by a friend a while back. Sorry no idea of the original source. Enjoy.

Travel tips for US citizens visiting France
The following advisory for American travelers heading for France was compiled from information provided by the US State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, and some very expensive spy satellites that the French don't know about. It is intended as a guide for American travelers only.

General Overview
France is a medium-sized foreign country situated in the continent of Europe. It is an important member of the world community, though not nearly as important as it thinks. It is bounded by Germany, Spain, Switzerland and some smaller nations of no particular consequence and with not very good shopping. France is a very old country with many treasures, such as the Louvre and EuroDisney. Among its contributions to western civilization are champagne, Camembert cheese and the guillotine.

Although France likes to think of itself as a modern nation, air conditioning is little used and it is next to impossible to get decent Mexican food. One continuing exasperation for American visitors is that the people willfully persist in speaking French, though many will speak English if shouted at. As in any foreign country, watch your change at all times.

The People
France has a population of 54 million people, most of whom drink and smoke a great deal, drive like lunatics, are dangerously oversexed, and have no concept of standing patiently in line. The French people are in general gloomy, temperamental, proud, arrogant, aloof, and undisciplined; and those are their good points.

Most French citizens are Roman Catholic, though you would hardly guess it from their behavior. Many people are communists, and topless sunbathing is common. Men sometimes have girls' names like Marie, and they kiss each other when they hand out medals.

American travelers are advised to travel in groups and to wear baseball caps and colorful trousers for easier mutual recognition.

Safety
In general, France is a safe destination, though travelers are advised that, from time to time, it is invaded by Germany. By tradition, the French surrender more or less at once and, apart from a temporary shortage of Scotch whisky and increased difficulty in getting baseball scores and stock market prices, life for the visitor generally goes on much as before.

A tunnel connecting France to Britain beneath the English Channel has been opened in recent years to make it easier for the Government to flee to London.

History
France was discovered by Charlemagne in the Dark Ages. Other important Historical figures are Louis XIV, the Huguenots, Joan of Arc, Jacques Cousteau and Charles de Gaulle, who was President for many years and is now an airport.

Government
The French form of government is democratic but noisy. Elections are held more or less continuously, and always result in a run-off. For administrative purposes, the country is divided into regions, departments, districts' municipalities, cantons, communes, villages, cafes, booths, and floor tiles.

Parliament consists of two chambers, the Upper and Lower (though,confusingly, they are both on the ground floor), whose members are either Gaullists or communists, neither of whom is to be trusted, frankly. Parliament's principal preoccupations are setting off atomic bombs in the South Pacific and acting indignant when anyone complains

According to the most current State Department intelligence, the President now is someone named Jacques. Further information is not available at this time.

Culture
The French pride themselves on their culture, though it is not easy to see why. All their songs sound the same, and they have hardly ever made a movie that you would want to watch for anything but the nude scenes. And nothing, of course, is more boring than a French novel.

Cuisine
Let's face it, no matter how much garlic you put on it, a snail is just a slug with a shell on its back. Croissants, on the other hand, are excellent, though it is impossible for most Americans to pronounce this word. In general, travelers are advised to stick to cheeseburgers at leading hotels such as Sheraton and Holiday Inn.

Economy
France has a large and diversified economy, second only to Germany's in Europe, which is surprising because people hardly work at all. If they are not spending four hours dawdling over lunch, they are on strike and blocking the roads with their trucks and tractors. France's principal exports, in order of importance to the economy, are wine, nuclear weapons, perfume, guided missiles, champagne, high-caliber weaponry, grenade launchers, land mines, tanks, attack aircraft, miscellaneous armaments and cheese.

Public Holidays
France has more holidays than any other nation in the world. Among its 361 national holidays are 197 saints' days, 37 National Liberation Days, 16 Declaration of Republic Days, 54 Return of Charles de Gaulle in Triumph as if he Won the War Single-Handed Days, 18 Napoleon Sent into Exile Days, 17 Napoleon Called Back from Exile Days, and 112 France is Great and the Rest of the World is Rubbish Days. Other important holidays are National Nuclear Bomb Day (January 12), the Feast of St.Brigitte Bardot Day (March 1), and National Guillotine Day (November 12). Bastille Day is July 14. (or as the French would say, "14 July")

Conclusion
France enjoys a rich history, a picturesque and varied landscape, and a temperate climate. In short, it would be a very nice country if it weren't inhabited by French people. The best thing that can be said for it is that it is not Germany.

A Word of Warning
The consular services of the United States government are intended solely for the promotion of the interests of American businesses such as McDonald's, Pizza Hut and the Coca-Cola Corporation. In the event that you are the victim of a crime or serious injury involving at least the loss of a limb, report to the American Embassy between the hours of 5.l5 am and 5.20 am on a Tuesday or Wednesday, and a consular official who is supremely indifferent to your plight will give you a list of qualified dentists or something similarly useless.

Back to Brussels part 1

2010-07-20T22:47:00.011+02:00

Cyclists played a prominent role in my stay in Brussels. The city has just launched a free city bike scheme (see first photo), similar to the one that Copenhagen had when I visited there in 1996. (If you want to see the future some say you should look to what Scandinavia's doing now). The Dutch - never wanting to be bested by the Danes would tell you that the idea originated in Amsterdam in the heady days of the 1960s when the provos painted hundreds of bikes white and put them on the streets to be used by locals and tourists. Unfortunately none stayed in public circulation for very long. But that was in the days before smart cards and GIS chips. London is presently in the throes of running out a similar scheme. Maybe Boris Johnstone is a closet hippy - I laughed when I heard him say on national news that the 2012 Olympics were going have the spirit of Woodstock - (but presumably without the drugs and nudity).

A few minutes after taking the first picture I became aware of several groups of cyclists with loaded bikes heading in the direction of the European Parliament. As it was not far off my route I decided to head over and see what was happening. (In the spirit of Brussels at this point I am going to hang up a sign saying gone to lunch back soon-ish). (Two days later- Wow that was a long lunch break - I must be getting naturalised - see southbound again part two for real reason). This group of cyclists were being refreshed by staff from the EU Directorate of Communications. Apparently every year they do a bike ride across some of Europe to highlight the lack of facilities for cyclists (separate bike lanes, stop lights, secure bike parking etc) in most European cities. Although when they come through Holland they learn about best practice. It seemed like a nice idea - a little bit of awareness raising (the press turn out in every town so they get good coverage) but more a chance to have a cycling holiday, spread the word a bit and make new friends. This year they're riding from Paris to Berlin via Brussels. Belgium has just assumed the European presidency (a six monthly rotating role) and was keen to show that Brussels, at least, is doing its bit. Its funny how many articles and TV shows have been using this strapline about Belgium's European Presidency. It is a good time to be in Brussels right now: as there are lots of free events and exhibitions showing off Belgium's commitment to a United Europe - which appears rather stronger than it's commitment to a United Belgium - but that's another story.

Oh, and a propos of nothing, here are two bits of the Berlin wall that have been relocated to the Place de Luxembourg. Probably in honour of Belgium's European presidency.

Symbolic warfare?

2010-07-11T19:42:00.005+02:00

The cities have been filling up up with orange-clad people. No, the country hasn't become Osho devotees but is in its first world cup final for (give or take) twenty five years. Win or lose, this evening will be one to remember (or perhaps - like the 1960s - if you remember it you weren't really there).

I'm glad that the heatwave (and, to a lesser extent, the prospect of staying 'at home' for the World Cup Final) dissuaded me from my plan of going to Brussels this weekend. Tonight is a night when heroes (and villains) both Dutch and Spanish will be made - and live on as such in the national consciousness for the rest of their sporting lives - and beyond. I think Spain has the edge =- and so does Paul the Octopus. He was right - and this being Wageningen - there's enough Spanish around to celebrate the winning goal.

Big things small things

2010-07-02T13:17:00.013+02:00

My blogging has become rather intermittent in the past few weeks. Since I got back from my trip my focus has been torn between small and big things. The small things included getting a new boiler installed - and then finding it still leaks so having to ring the company back again to fix it - getting into a regular rhythm of doing some Dutch language work every day, trying to find a way to upload photos (If I could explain why it was not working smoothly then I could do it) - and watching as much football as I can squeeze in. I went though withdrawal symptoms on the days when there was a brief haitus in proceedings - but now have another couch-potato fix, watching the Tour de France. That'll take me through to my summer holiday!

And the big things. My trip bought about lots of existential issues - which I haven't really wanted to share publicly. My trip involved both revisiting the place I grew up in (and sorting out family relics and photo albums etc) - and spending some time in a place that for a while has been on my list of potentially desirable relocation spots. There's a bit of me that thinks that moving to the multi-cultural, multi-linguistic capital of Europe, where there's ample access to culture, good food, work (probably) and more singles could only be a good move. Oh and did I mention the rents are cheap? I saw adverts for several apartments for rent in the heart of the city, offering twice the size of the living and working space that I have now, for around the same price. I busted my ass trying to find somewhere stable to live in Wageningen: it proved really difficult and in the end I opted for something that was very much less than optimal. It was a decision that I have never really been happy with (other factors were at play) but learned to live with.

Yet there's another part of me that doesn't want to move away from my friends, networks and familiar and pleasant environs: and that doesn't want to go through the hassle of all the admin. changes that would be involved in shifting my business, residence, tax, social security, health insurance, driving license and insurance and god-knows-what-else to another country. The European Community is supposed to enhance the free movement of goods, services and people. But there are a number of significant transaction costs involved in trying to become a mobile person and transcend national borders (see Dave's blog to realise how significant these can be).

The last three weeks or so I have been trying to keep this mental ping pong game in the background. Its hard - but the football has helped. I am very lucky that I have a friend with a flat in the city centre who's not there at the moment. The next few months I want to spend more time there without any making major decisions and just see if anything grows.

The world turned upside down.

2010-06-22T15:30:00.007+02:00

As the world prepares for the last games of the qualifying round of the World Cup it's worth noting that something strange is happening in the world of football. First, there's a number of top flight teams missing from the tournament: Croatia, Russia and Egypt (ranked 10-12th in the world) all failed to qualify - allowing space for minnows like Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland to take their place on the world stage. (Are countries beginning with an 'S' enjoying some blessing from a higher source?)

Secondly the seeded teams, and particularly Europe's finest, are - with the exception of Holland - doing incredibly badly. Germany, Italy, England, Spain and France all go into the last round of matches needing to win to be certain of qualifying. The first three countries all need to beat teams, who -while on paper are weaker- are currently top of their groups (Ghana, Paraguay and Slovenia). They might scrape through on draws - but that depends on the results of the other matches. Spain faces a harder uphill task - they need to beat top of table Chile - with a 100% record - and hope that Switzerland don't beat Honduras - otherwise there will be three teams with six points and qualification will come down to goal difference, goals scored, results between the teams and then a lottery. France's hopes are even slimmer - they need to beat South Africa, hope that Mexico vs. Uruguay produces a winner and to make up a four-goal goal difference. There are many - especially in Ireland - who think that France shouldn't be there at all. One French player got sent home for dissent against the management - something that may nearly have happened in the England camp too.

It's difficult situation to call. France face an up-mountain battle. Germany will probably scrape it (though I don't want to see Ghana - the only African team with a real hope of qualifying - go down). Spain have a tough battle against an on-form Chile, while England and Italy have been so piss-poor that one wonders if they can summon up a decent game against inspired and optimistic opponents. It could be a last sixteen of minnows - with many historically dominant teams knocked out in the qualifying stages. Does anyone remember the 2002 World Cup which saw South Korea and Turkey get through to the last four? This could be just as unpredictable. What I would bet on is that this World Cup will go to South America - and probably Argentina or Brazil.

Games to watch in this round? Denmark vs. Japan - a straight play off for second place in Group E - where Cameroon were widely fancied as the second qualifiers. And, Brazil vs Portugal: simply two of the most entertaining teams in the world thrown head to head in the qualifying stages.

Travelling man - then life goes on.

2010-06-17T10:25:00.006+02:00

I've just been away for a couple of weeks. A week in London sorting out family issues, a couple of days visiting friends in the Home Counties and then five days in Brussels.

Brussels was vibrant and fun. The capital of Europe. I got invited to a launch of an organic research initiative held at the European Parliament. I had access to a flat with a view of the EP (if one leaned far enough out of the window) and 10 minutes walk from the Mont des Artes- the museum quarter.

Over the weekend I had more exposure to culture than I have had in a whole year: getting to go to a folk club in the suburbs (with a distant view of the Atomium) and a reggae bash in a royal park. I could have gone to see Paco Lucia too but the cheapest tickets were 35 Euro so I opted to watch the England game instead.

Back home I find my water boiler is out of commission (I reported a fault before I went away and had a friend let the engineer into check it), the new lift is installed - much quieter and with just the right amount of graffiti - and the light in the hall outside my door has failed (again). The engineer returns this afternoon - hopefully to install a new (and efficient) boiler.

Speaking in tongues

2010-05-29T10:52:00.008+02:00

It's just over three years since I started this blog - and I recently went back to look at some early posts. One issue that hasn't changed in my life is the complexity of learning the Dutch language (although I hope my skills in this respect have improved). One early comment I got said: the Dutch CANNOT seem to understand their own language when it is spoken with a foreign accent! I remember trying to ask a couple of police officers where to find a good (cheap) rijstafel. I SWEAR I was pronouncing it correctly but it took several tries before they understood what I was saying and then said "Ohhh rijstafel!" in what I could have SWORN was the EXACT same pronunciation I had just used! I think this is especially funny for English speakers because we can almost always decipher what a non-native speaker is saying no matter HOW badly they massacre the language. Of course, in most cases, we have to.

I had the opposite happen to me recently. We had a big street party in Wageningen at the start of the month and some extra security at our flats to stop revellers using the stair well as a smoking den, unofficial toilet or worse. I stopped by in the evening to ask the concierge how the day had gone. He said fine but the lifts are full of gravity. Gravity. I pondered this for a moment. Its good that the lifts have some gravity, because otherwise we would float in them like astronauts in a space shuttle. But full of gravity - not so sure if I like the sound of that. Lifts are supposed to control gravity - not be mercilessly subject to its influence. Perhaps I'll take the stairs tonight. A few days later I forgot about the gravity problem, had some heavy shopping and took the lift and saw the walls were covered in graffiti. Ahh so that's what he meant!. I had had a 'Dutch' moment - when a misplaced constanant and a misplaced stress (the Dutch call it the klemtone) created a completely different word in my ears. I do this in the Dutch language all the time saying WaGENingen instead of WAGEningen and FAmily instead of faMILie. Though I now get those two right there are surely others that I don't. And I get looks of incomprehension. For once the boot was on the other foot.

Within a week the lift had been purged of all traces of unnecessary gravity - and this week we are having new one fitted - (planned before the gravity attack). This has been quite a seriously disruptive event as the hallway has been full of cables, workbenches and tools and it has been almost impossible get a bike in or out of the bike lockers. Still it'll be done soon and hopefully have just the right amount of gravity in it.

The Banking Conundrum

2010-05-25T16:49:00.003+02:00

One of the great difficulties of being self-employed is having an irregular income. Most of my client are public or civic institutions - so I haven't yet had any issues about non-payment (as colleagues do who work for individuals who refsue to pay or private companies that contract work knowing damn well they are going to go bust next month). But they don't pay the same day either. Usually there is a delay of three to four weeks - which means the work I am doing now will be paid in June and will be what I spend in July. I have learnt to have a buffer that covers a month's back invoices. But sometimes - for various reasons that non-payment gap gets bigger. Clients going off to Uzbekistan on field work, having forgot to put the invoice in the system. Or a project is unbilled as I am waiting for the last few hours work from a tardy contributor. These last two months the 'invoices owed' column has been stretching. Exponetially. It has been stressful. Not paying bills until my bills are paid - shuffling sums around so the rents and utilities can be paid. It takes time and energy to keep the water flowing through the system, making sure there's a little bit in each pond.

On two occasions I have asked my bank for an overdraft (equivalent to 5-10% of my annual turnover) to help balance out these cash flow issues. I have seven years trading experience, with accounts etc. But both times they have refused. The minimum loan they make is almost double that - 'and your cash flow wouldn't justify that' (I tried to ask what level my cash flow would have to be to get there and they wouldn't answer that question - presumably as it would give away their 'formula'). I've survived the dry periods but with some stress and lots of juggling accounts - but it's more the principle of not supporting small businesses that is starting to irritate me.

My bank sends out a lovely glossy magazine every month called 'Eigen Bedrif' (Own Business) which exalts the joys of being self employed, showing -usually young - entrepreneurs busy negotiating, fabricating or consulting. Yet this seems to be so much rhetoric about the joys of enterprise. And, I am starting to rather resent getting this entrepreneurial propaganda, when the bank seems to be prepared to do little to solve the second most common reason for small and young businesses failing (well OK I don't qualify as a start-up business any more). One banker I spoke to recently said the costs of securing a loan (due diligence - transaction costs) are too high for them to be interested in making small loans. Yet what I don't understand is that the bank is prepared to give me a personal overdraft (knowing that my sole source of income is my business) and give me a credit card with a limit that is more than 15% of my annual income. So I am left wondering why I qualify for such credit as an individual, but not as a business.

In recent weeks I have been editing a journal about micro-finance (credit, insurance) for small scale farmers in developing countries. They often have severe problems accessing credit - to cover the period between harvest and payment (especially with export crops) - or to purchase the inputs they need at the start of the planting season. Without collateral it is often impossible to get credit - and one failed harvest can mean losing their land, their main productive asset). Credit shortage is a major constraint on the productivity of small scale farmers. Its also a major headache for small scale western entrepreneurs. I would shift my bank tomorrow to one that offered a micro-credit facility. If I knew of one.

Blues 2 Reds 0

2010-05-18T17:11:00.002+02:00

Its a bit of a strange anti-climatic feeling. On the political front all the excitement of 'how are they going to form a new government' is over. People who three weeks ago were describing each other as 'a joke' are now suddenly inseperable colleagues. The blues just stopped the reds from gaining a fourth succesive victory not only at the ballot box - but also on the football field where Manchester United were denied a record-breaking fourth succesive Premiership title by Chelsea - who found another gear in the last few weeks of the season and started racking up six, seven and eight goal wins.

Now both those circuses have left town, leaving me little choice but to start getting involved in my own life again, instead of living vicariously in other people's. I've got a least a month to take some positive action before the World Cup starts.

Today was the first day in a week or so when I was woken by my alarm clock instead of the sound of the central heating kicking in. A portent of better things to come?

A shotgun wedding?

2010-05-12T10:12:00.004+02:00

Relationship metaphors have abounded since it became apparent that no one single party could form a government. Much though it offends my tribal instincts that anyone should ~~jump into bed~~ walk down the aisle with the conservatives, the truth is that the UK now - for the first time in my life - and the first time since the Second World War - has a government which represents the interests of the majority of people who voted. That has to be a huge breakthough and should be applauded.
My guess is that there will be (more than) a few honeymoon tiffs as the two parties learn how to reconcile their differences. The interesting question is whether they will put aside a lifetime's habits of putting their own interests first and seeking to look good in public (by making the other look bad) or give priority to building a productive relationship. Time will tell.

A PS. Aparently at the first cabinet meeting Vince Cable broke the ice - and extended the relationship metaphor - by saying that some of his Indian constituents reminded him that arranged marriages work better than love marriages.

Between a rock and a hard place

2010-05-11T12:37:00.005+02:00

May 5th (Liberation day here) and the UK General Election have come and gone. A pair of late nights - although the general election is not over yet. I cheered madly when I saw the Greens get the first ever MP under the unfair First Past The Post system. I was hoping for a hung parliament but never dreamed what a constitutional mess it would create. The LibDems have a real dilemma. One options is to get into bed with the Tories - who won the most votes and seats but can't form a government by themselves. This I guess would alienate some 75% of LiBDem voters - unless they saw it as being a marriage of convenience -and would alienate Tories and Labour voters if it were one. But there are too many policy differences - on Europe, taxation, immigration and defence for this to work well. Equally the Tories are heavily opposed to any form of PR (though may give way) as this would undermine their future chances of being a ruling party. The alternative of going with Labour, more attractive to most LibDem sympathisers, runs several different risks. The first is being seen by the press as shoring up a 'failed' government and leader (though the latter issue is less now that Gordon Brown has announced his resignation as PM). But above all the numbers don't add up. It would take a Rainbow Alliance (Lab, Lib Dem, the Democratic Unionists, SNP, Plaid and the Green) to push anything through and one couldn't guarantee the support of everyone (particularly the SNP). Mark reckons has blogged on this dilemma more extensively

For my English readers

2010-05-04T20:34:00.010+02:00

If you are still undecided about how to cast your vote on Thursday please read this . It quotes David Cameron as saying that he joined the Tory party because, during the Thatcher years, he felt that 'they were his people.' Does one need to hear anything more? No matter how badly Labour has let down its supporters and constituents, compromised its principles and held power for a decade in which economic inequalities have increased, there is something much, much, worse lurking in the time-warp. But this is the threat that Labour always throws at people (like me) who are instinctively anti-Tory.

When the election was called I was tempted to impose a month long media black out on myself. I couldn't see any good result. A failed and tired Labour party or a return to the politics of ****ing the poor and appealing to greed? Maybe I am mistaken but I fail to see any thought behind Tory policies other than self interest, a misplaced belief in imperfect markets (that are supported by state institutions) and a suppressed desire to resurrect the days of Empire. (But it could be worse - at least they don't share Republicans' convictions that they 'have god on their side).

But old habits die hard (and I am a political and election junkie) and the possibility of a third party holding the balance of power caught my imagination. It offers the opportunity of changing British politics forever. Not just because it will change tribal behaviour and lead to government by consensus - but also because it will expose the cracks that exist within the Labour and Tory parties over issues such as equality and Britain's relationship with Europe. A hung parliament offers the opportunity to revitalise the two main political parties and drag them out of the 19th Century and into the 21st. Its long overdue.

Who knows, by the next election we might have genuine choices with a 'real' socialist leading the Labour party and a proper 'Little Englander' leading the Tories. At least the choices would be clearer.

Spring at last

2010-04-26T23:08:00.010+02:00

Spring came late this year, but in a stunning array of colours. This weekend was the weekend of the 'Cultureleronde' when different local artists open their houses as galleries or display their works in public buildings. Its a time for exploring unknown places, meeting artists and visiting some of the town's monumental buildings. While all this was fun, the undisputed stars of the show were the magnolia trees lining the route up the General Foulkseweg.

We are spirits in the material world

2010-04-22T16:37:00.011+02:00

I resisted a friend's advice to give Micheal Roads a 'wide berth' and dragged myself along to Arnhem on a warm Saturday evening. A(nother) friend had recommended him and I thought 'yes lets go get some soul food'. Quite apart to another else it led me to sit next to a stream of audibly flowing water (in the Sonsbeek) - a very rare occurrence in the Netherlands and something that curiously I had talked about that very afternoon as something that I really miss in this country.

He said two memorable things in the course of the evening- neither was new to me - though it is good to be reminded of these things sometimes - to keep a balance of information input.

First thing. 'We are spirits living in a body' (rather than bodies with a soul). I first heard this from a tai chi teacher - some ten years ago. It gave me a new perspective on things. Instead of seeing oneself as a person who thinks about spiritual things once in a while and spends the rest of the time concerned with seeking pleasure and avoiding pain it gives you (gave me!) a stronger sense of purpose and a certain sense of freedom. Buddhists call this physical world the world of samsara (illusion) but I don't subscribe to the point of view that the way to free oneself from suffering is to sever the chains (attachments) that bind us to this world. Equally I don't hold with the empiricist view that physical realities are the only ones that exist (or matter). We also carry around and make up our own realities (in deciding for example if the glass is half full or half empty). Buddhism expresses this duality as 'manifest' and 'latent' effects (your external and internal environments) and sees the two as intertwined - constantly reproducing each other. It also teaches that it is more logical to work on changing what you can change (your internal environment) than what you can't so easily change (your external environment) and that changes at the latent level manifest themselves in the external environment. (I nearly wrote easier to change the internal environment- but of course its not - because we are often very resistant to looking into those dark holes and would rather focus on changing the outside world or our position in it).

Which brings us to Michael's second point. Make a daily commitment to feeding your soul. Of course its not enough to just to know that you are a spirit in a material world. You have to develop that knowledge, remind yourself of that fact every day. Its easy to forget it on really bad days (when you can't get a plane to an important business meeting) or really good ones. Its very easy to be swayed by what Buddhism (once again) calls the eight winds (four of which, like fame and fortune blow from the 'warm' south, the other four, like ignominy and misfortune, blow from the 'cold' north). After a while of making that commitment you become a bit more grounded (after almost ten years of chanting -almost- daily I will say it takes a very long time to even make a little progress in this respect). I have to struggle against my own ignorance and foolishness. But slowly the things that scare you become less scary and you become less attached to your desires. Which makes me very grateful that I met Nichiren Buddhism and was much more able to enjoy Micheal's lecture - seeing the truths in it, without looking to him to provide me with truth or the path for pursuing it.

Grace Slick famously sang 'feed your head'. I prefer Micheals' line 'feed your soul'

Queen's Day

2010-04-21T12:09:00.004+02:00

Queen's day is approaching soon. The whole country dresses up in Orange, runs street stalls to sell their bric a brac and gets pissed. Oh and nearly every house puts out the flag. It's strange that the UK doesn't have a Queen's Day. In fact as this article points out most English people don't even know when St. George's Day (the nearest equivalent) is.
I find it quite paradoxical that the Netherlands , which in many ways is such a meritocracy, celebrates what is essentially a feudal institution (the monarchy) with so much gusto. Meanwhile I would be willing to bet that 95% of households in Britain neither have a flag nor a pole to run it up.

Did the earth move for you baby?

2010-04-20T00:31:00.003+02:00

There's a hundred more pertinent blogs that I could already have written this year- but when I saw this I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

In search of inspiration?

2010-04-14T10:24:00.002+02:00

A propos of nothing a friend sent me a link about this guy who is doing a speaking tour of the Netherlands as I write, with two meetings this week in Diebergen and Arnhem. Though I do harbour some ambivalence towards the 'new age brigade' I also find it important to get inspired once in a while.

Organic spirit?

2010-03-28T15:43:00.006+02:00

I recently saw this product in my local supermarket. It looks 'green' - organic compost with all the moisture taken out. You buy a 600g block and can rehydrate it to make 9-10 litres of compost - clearly saving transport costs (and GHG emissions). But it is made from coconut husks - which means it comes from somewhere (sub) tropical. One of the potential problems with export led organic agriculture in the tropics is the danger of mining nutrients from fragile soils. Organic farming works by (re)cycling nutrients - as opposed to importing synthetic ones. If you are exporting nutrients you also need to import them (e.g. through grazing livestock or using the right kind of trees or shrubs that can tap into nutrients locked deeper in the soil that would otherwise be unavailable). To start exporting humus as secondary product (presumably after the coconuts) seems to fundamentally undermine this principal and to jeopardise the sustainability of the farm ecosystem.

Name and shame

2010-03-27T17:45:00.003+01:00

This month's raspberry for corporate malpractice goes to Philips- one of the country's leading iconic brands- for having a replacement components pricing system that encourages the throwaway society.

I've had Phillips electric razor for about four years and recently decided it was time to change the blades, as it doesn't shave as well as it used to. My local shop quoted me (deep breath) 45 Euro for the blades - and told me that a new razor (same model) costs 69 Euro. Today I saw the saw the same model in a discount shop for (guess what) 45 Euro. Economically it makes sense to buy the new model - ecologically it seems so wasteful. So if anyone from the public affairs department of Philips is reading this perhaps they can explain why a replacement set of blades retails at the same price as a new electric razor. It would be interesting to know. In the meantime guess whose products I am not going to buying.

As a postscript I have decided to cut and paste this blog to the relevant department at Philips to see if they do have an explanation.

Taking care of business

2010-03-25T23:33:00.016+01:00

I'm generally reluctant to blog about my business. Partly because I don't want to use my blog as a marketing platform. Partly because a lot of the editing work I do is pre-publication - and it would be indiscrete to talk about the contents of reports that have not yet been published. And, sometimes, it would be betraying client confidence to grumble about the quality of texts that I am asked to heal. Some of these texts could have been generated by the Po-Mo essay engine.

As an internet-based business my work can be quite anonymous. Often I never meet the people I am working for. The opportunity to meet clients is always welcome. This week a paper I had just edited about transparency in coal supply chains was the subject of a Political Cafe in Den Haag. A good opportunity to get out of Wageningen for an evening and to meet the faces behind the e-mails.

The paper was commissioned following the Dutch government's decision to allow the deregulated power sector to construct five new coal-fired power stations in the coming years. As the Netherlands doesn't have any working mines this will imply a massive increase in coal imports. (It also implies tying the country into a high level of fossil fuel dependency over the coming forty years - with implications for meeting targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions). The main sources of coal for the Dutch energy sector are South Africa, Colombia and Indonesia; so Both ENDS commissioned civil society organisations (CSOs) in these countries to look at the environmental, social and human rights footprints of coal mining in these countries. The results were not pretty reading (the report is still in draft format - so i won't steal their thunder by giving anything away). The CSOs found a litany of environmental neglect, pollution, health problems and civil rights abuses (the latter two among both the workforce and surrounding communities). This is perhaps not much of a surprise - any country with a coal mining industry has seen these issues played out; establishing worker's rights, health and safety regulations and pollution controls. In many ways these have been defining moments countries' political histories. Think back to Aberfan (South Wales) or the Ludlow Massacre in Colorado.

These days (with the exception of Poland) hardly any coal is mined in the EU. Instead we rely on supplies from distant countries. And this means the problems become more distant. While there is some level of awareness and concern about the exploitation in plantation agriculture and the clothing industry the social conditions and environmental effects of extractive industries(which extend far beyond coal) often remain forgotten - possibly because these are 'hidden commodities' that go into power stations, mobile phones or whatever: that we as consumers don't purchase directly.

One of the main discussion points at the meeting was the extent to which Dutch electricity companies are meeting their (voluntary) requirements on transparency and corporate social responsibility - holding their suppliers responsible for meeting basic environmental, health and safety and human rights standards. The ensuing discussion revealed a clear lack of traceability along the supply chain - with buyers not able to trace back coal shipments to their original source. The industry representative argued that this was because the complex nature of coal trading. The (largely NGO type) audience felt it reflected a lack of will among companies to follow their supply chains back to source.

This then led to a discussion about where responsibility lies in a system of multi-level governance. Does it lie with with private companies (who have made individual commitments to corporate responsibility - which may or may not be so much greenwash)? Does it lie with the industry as whole - who can set down benchmark standards. Does it lie with government - who can make companies legally responsible for the actions of their suppliers (especially those that they have a large financial stake in)? Or, in an increasingly Europeanised energy market does t lie with the EU. These issues won't be resolved by one meeting but it was an interesting and topical can of worms to open.

Sweat your prayers

2010-03-22T00:14:00.006+01:00

I danced a wave today to mark the start of spring. I haven't done that for quite a few years - when I was in Cardiff it was a central part of my social (and personal growth) calendar. It was lovely (and easy) to get back into the rhythms again and great to meet 'my sort' of people (tree huggers and yoghurt weavers). After a long winter cooped up in my flat it was great to stretch and move a little again. My muscles will ache in the morning.

It's also my neighbour's birthday today. How do I know? Soemone put an activated singing birthday card in the stack of post boxes outside my front door! At ten to twelve I heard this strange metallic sound - like a ring tone - and went out to investigate. This morning at nine o clock the battery was almost flat, the card bravely soldiering at half speed.

A working city

2010-03-21T18:07:00.004+01:00

Amsterdam may be a fun city - but Rotterdam is still a working town.

Farewells

2010-03-18T22:54:00.003+01:00

Bitter March afternoon - by the banks of the river - high water
Scattering the ashes of a drinking buddy.
Grains and dust scattering in the wind to be carried downstream.
Is this, and the eulogies and memories of friends, all we leave behind?

A week later another leave taking - though less unsettling
A Buddhist colleague emigrating to Australia.
Friends leaving -some with their worldly possessions
Others empty-handed, taking just their experiences. Impermanence.

Days growing longer again offering the promise of spring.
Cleaning the balcony, planting seeds, making plans.
This harsh winter seems to have lasted far longer than a few months
Time to clean up - look outwards and move on

Dutch elections

2010-03-05T17:18:00.006+01:00

I was thinking of setting myself the challenge of a blog a day in March. I'm glad I didn't announce it because yesterday it fell by the wayside. I spent a lot of time looking at election results yesterday. Mixed news really. Geert Wilders' party did very well in the two councils where they stood. In Almere, a new town with hardly any immigrant population, they were the top party - but I guess they were playing to the fear factor. In Den Haag they managed second place - but the other parties are clear that they are not going to cooperate with them. So his party is in a strange place were they are setting the political agenda (with the other main parties drifting to the right) but where the other parties refuse to collaborate with a party whose main policy seems to be banning head scarves in publicly funded buildings. Strange - isn't a head shawl part of traditional Dutch women's dress? Perhaps no traditional costumes will be allowed in any building that receives state/municipal funding. I was in France in 2002 when Le Pen won a ticket to the two-way fight off for the Presidency. I heard the fear and outrage then and am quietly confident that this will also turn out to be a similar storm in a teacup (to use a very English metaphor)

On a different note the Green/Left party did really well. In Wageningen it increased its share of the vote to 18%, won an extra Council seat and became the second largest party on the Council. In Utrecht (the fourth largest city in the Netherlands) they won the most seats - so can set the agenda for building a coalition on the council. I always thought it was a groovy city.

Closer to home, in Wageningen, the leader of the party (D66) who won the most votes/seats used to be my landlady - for more than two years - and might well become mayor / leader of the council. Do hear the rustling of cheque books from the gutter press? Of course I have more integrity than that!

Morality story

2010-03-03T12:28:00.003+01:00

A morality tale from Germany. What would you do?

On politics

2010-03-02T18:40:00.008+01:00

Tomorrow we have local elections across the Netherlands. One of the joys of living here is that the country has a system of representative democracy . That means you can vote FOR the party whose policies you support - rather than spending time trying to calculate how to vote AGAINST the party whose views and values you find most abhorrent. I have lost count of the times that I voted negatively in the UK to prevent one particular party gaining a seat. I resented that.

Here the main local issues are likely to be Sunday shopping and the proportion of social housing to be incorporated in new housing developments (the balance has been swinging towards the private sector in recent years). But with the recent collapse of the coalition government - more eyes are likely to be on what the local elections portend for the national election in June. Geert Wilders' anti-islamic party is drawing a lot of attention and public support at the moment - which is hugely worrying - even if that support might be more a protest against the main parties than anything else. They intend to keep their powder dry by only standing in two municipalities in these elections. So it will be hard to gauge the level of support they actually do have.

The calm after the storm

2010-03-01T14:19:00.005+01:00

Yesterday was wild and windy - but here in the middle of the Netherlands we didn't suffer any of the damage or loss of life that the storm bought to France and Germany. Today it's bright and sunny - people smiling now that they can see the sun.
Elsewhere in the country a pair of storks are happily building their nest in anticipation of spring. (Webcam courtesy of the Dutch Bird Protection Society. For non-readers of Dutch if you double click on the image you get a full screen image- that's it for work today then).

The joy of (re)discovery

2010-02-28T14:05:00.004+01:00

In recent weeks I’ve been rediscovering things. The first was my gortex raincoat. I started looking for it in November - after three months when it seemingly hadn’t rained at all. I looked in my wardrobe, the outdoor clothes box under my bed, on the shelves and behind the seats in my van, in my two storage lockers: it was nowhere to be found. “I can’t be so stupid as to lose that surely. But when did I last wear it?” The last I could remember was in July when I was in England and it had rained every day (it did the same in Holland too – a particularly foul month – every one was complaining). I went back to England last month – and it was not to be found. “Perhaps I am that stupid,” I thought as I mused whether I might have left it at someone’s house or, worse, on the roof of my van after a long day’s walking. A couple of weeks ago I was looking for some tools in my storage locker and came across a carrier bag next to a suitcase. Folded-up in there was my cagoul. It’s nice to be reunited (and not so stupid). It was the most expensive coat I had ever bought before splashing out on a drizabone raincoat last year.

A couple of weeks I also ventured into new territory, went onto maakt plats (the Dutch e bay) and to find myself a second hand multi CD player. I’d never done on line second-hand shopping before, much less for something electronic (I go blank when technical words like RAM, BHP, processing speeds, etc. start appearing) and, much less, in my third language. I managed to navigate the site and locate one – in a village within 20km, sent an email, got a reply in Dutch and continued the whole bargaining process and arranging a visit in Dutch. (I’m very proud of that). A few days later I had a beautiful 5CD player – costing me 50 Euro - installed on my stereo system. (The first upgrade I have done to my music system since moving here). It’s wonderful - I can put in handful of CDs – usually something old, something new, something borrowed and a bit of the blues - and listen to them in a completely new context and running order- never knowing what is coming next. So I am rediscovering my CD collection. In more ways than one: this week I put in a John Martyn CD (it was actually a very disappointing double live CD, which did come out of a bargain bin – and didn’t actually say it was live but rather strongly hinted it was an anthology of his greatest hits). When I opened the box I was delighted to find that the second CD was one that I thought I had lost some eighteen months ago (I’d assumed I had left it in the CD player of a hire car). So this weekend I have been enjoying listening to Jali Roll the unusual combination of Dembo Komte, Kausu Kuyateh and the Three Mustaphas Three . A one off collaboration that mixes traditional Mali kora and call and refrain music music, with the faux-Balkan back beat of the 3M3. An absolute delight.

Back to School

2010-02-23T16:48:00.001+01:00

Three weeks ago I started an intensive Dutch course. Six hours a week class contact time plus half as much homework. My weekday evenings are no longer my own. Two evenings a week I have to leave work at five sharp, rush home – throw some leftovers or a ready meal into the microwave, gulp it down and be out the door by 6.10. It doesn’t leave much room for digestion – or a glass of wine. I’m learning to compensate by starting work later (or doing the easier work in my portfolio) on those days – so I have some functioning brain cells left for the evening. More worryingly – although this is for the future - this course severely diminishes my capacity to plan holidays around my unpredictable work schedule – and to avoid peak holiday seasons. Still the compensation is that (the recently collapsed) Dutch government (possibly more on this topic later) is paying for it – in an attempt to promote integration and participation. That means the course has a large, although often implicit, element of ‘civic training’.

As a native English speaker it is often difficult to find the motivation to learn Dutch. Firstly, nearly everyone in the NL speaks really good English and wants to use it. Often when I order a pancake, apple tart or pound of cheese the waiter/ress or shop assistant will reply in English, keen to get a chance to practice their language skills. I usually manage to do my daily errands in Dutch. Last week I even arranged to visit a stranger in a neighbouring town to buy a piece of second hand electrical kit from them – all through Dutch language e-mails and phone calls. I was quite proud. Basic information I can process and communicate, but I don’t get subtleties, not can I convey them and that is where the steep learning curve begins. (When it comes to really important stuff like contracts and insurance documents I get a native speaker to check them for me – and they say - perhaps to make me feel better- that many Dutch people would have trouble reading the terminology).

So it’s the middle ground that gets me. Ninety per cent of my Dutch associates speak far better English than I do. So it is natural that we talk in English. The biggest difficulties emerge in group situations. There always comes a point (at a ratio of about 3 or 4 to 1) when the conversation drifts back to Dutch. Though I can often follow what is going I am usually about two sentences behind, have missed a few details or lack the conversational gambits to participate in the conversation. This reinforces my natural shyness and makes me feel stupid or inadequate. It’s always a dilemma whether to smile and occasionally add a non-committal comment like ‘lekker’ or ‘echte’ or ‘geweldig’ or to try to gently push the conversation back to English. If I do that I feel I am not respecting the language of my host country and am ‘perpetuating the hegemony of the Anglo-Saxon speaking world’. But as the evening wears on I become more distanced from the drift of the conversation. Sometimes I avoid going to primarily Dutch language social gatherings–because I know there is going to come a point in the evening where my eyes glaze over and my brain goes dead. So it’s important to learn Dutch to participate more here, though it worries me that I will never master the language.

More thoughts to follow on this topic– but it’s now 16.50 and my microwave meal beckons. (The thoughts of others in a similar situation are most welcome)

Little darling it feels that ice is slowly melting

2010-02-18T15:00:00.004+01:00

Literally it is - what has been the longest white spell that I can remember experiencing is slowly retreating to a few places where the snow has been shovelled up into piles and remains in the shade. The ice still sits on the water - more marked on the Uiterwaarden than the canals around town where it is two or three degrees warmer. The days are longer - it's light now when I wake up - and (usually) when I go home from work too.

Emotionally that's happening too - after a long period of being locked away in an ice palace, I'm feeling the walls starting to melt and starting to see new things that I want to explore. I have a huge notice board in my office - almost three metres long. During the Christmas 'break' I took everything old off of it - (including the map of Europe that I have not been able to add any 'new places visited pins' for more than two years). The idea was to symbolically create the space for new things to come into my life. Slowly that's starting to happen.

Drowning in paper

2010-02-12T16:55:00.004+01:00

Yesterday I sent a pound (weight) of paper to the Court of Protection in the UK detailing all the expenditure and income (and copies of all the relevant bank statements) made on my father's behalf in the past twenty months. Just when I thought I might catch up with my my life, my Dutch admin and even turn my thoughts to finding things that I want to do this weekend, another 250g of forms arrive from the solicitors relating to the sale of the flat. Another fun weekend ahead.

That's me in the spotlight

2010-02-11T15:01:00.006+01:00

.....well actually standing in the shadows at the back of a large mob. Tonight I make a surprise guest appearance on Dutch TV! It's a surprise to me. A few years ago much of west Wales was agog (that's a not so subtle word play) when Richard Gere, Sean Connery and the lovely Julie Ormroyd rode into the area to film First Knight. As a doctoral student my timetable was quite 'flexible' so I went and got myself a role as an extra in it for a couple of days. It involved hanging around for ages in a really cold slate mine outside Dolgellau dressed like, and acting the part, one of an impoverished and angry Arthurian mob. This meant wearing poorly fitting and scratchy felt clothing and having wood ash rubbed into my face and hair. It was a bit like going to Glastonbury. Except you got paid (sort of) and spent most of your time trying to get a glimpse of the fair Lady Guinievere.
Funnily enough I never watched it all the way through. Tonight I am going to tape it and find out if I really can see myself at the back of the crowd.
Oh and a bit of a spoiler. The causeway leading to Camelot is real - its part of (the former) Trawnsfynedd nuclear power station. They did some very clever graphic dubbing to transform a concrete bunker into a mythical palace.

On serendipity

2010-02-08T17:36:00.003+01:00

Last week I finally got to the bottom of the jar of sun dried tomatoes that has been sitting in my fridge for well.. a long time. It seemed a pity to throw all the oil away so I put the jar next to my stove. A day or so later I deceided on an omelette - plain and simple and to cook it in oil infused with tomatoes. The result? One of the tastiest omelettes I ever eaten - simple, light, fluffy, yet imbued with the unmistakeable taste of mediteranean tomatoes. Who says gourmet cooking always costs time and money?

Winter reflections

2010-02-02T22:48:00.010+01:00

Leaving Wageningen later than planned in the snow,
Passing the 'whales ribs' of the Betuwese white elephant
And the colossal windmills on the A15
Snow on the ground all the way to the Belgian border.

Arriving late Sunday, I crash and burn for two days
My mission's clear but there's too much history here
Family photos, medals won in the war
My father's love letters when he was a-courting.

Reg, Reg, resentful, angry and often unwittingly rude
Fiercely independent, now in a nursing home- Alzheimer's quickly took it's toll.
He remembers my face and the names of his school friends-
But not what he had for lunch - or what I said two minutes ago

Gentler now though - he's being well looked after
Genuinely pleased to see me - though he knows not which country we're in
His change of spirit partly melts the sense of resentment
That I feel for the great weight that was dropped on me eighteen months ago

Staying in the maisonette where he spent the last ten years, clean now after years of neglect
No distractions- I threw away the TV that only received two channels (in black and white)
No radio - internet access only in the community centre across the square
Learning to avoid bingo evening and the Friday fish lunches.

I devour a novel a day as I run through the last inventories
What to keep, to try to sell and to give to charity
Adjusting to new sounds: blackbirds in the morning, the sound of the community intercom
And the absence of the church clock and the waste collection truck at 7.45am

One night a dog fox's call for a mate disturbs my sleep
A pattern still broken by the one hour difference

Remembering to drive on the 'wrong' side of the road
Adjusting to industrial strength T-bags (dunk for thirty seconds - not four minutes)
The price of tobacco, alcohol, fuel, bus fares, mostly everything
How do people construct good lives on the meagre wages on offer here?

Many don't - the poverty and stress is visible in the lines in people's faces "Unequal Britain" puts into statistics what the casual visitor can see
A two track country - economically, culturally and educationally divided
I love the spirit and wit of my countrymen but the structures they have to work in are heavy and divisive.

A few days before leaving I spoke with a fellow ex-pat - twenty years out of the UK
"I love the culture and the people but I'm intimated by the brutal economic system;
Britain feels like a third world country after twenty years in Holland."
I share the same dilemmas - loving the culture but hating the divisive economic system.
Perfidious Albion will you ever change?

Job done - I visit some friends - who survive and keep joyful in this climate
Their loving family home a model for resisting consumer values
I bid farewell to the white cliffs - four hours drive Calais to Wageningen
Snow now reaching through Belgium to the French border

Full moon rising behind the windmills on the A15- twenty minutes driving left
Silver orb in the sky reflecting off the white landscape
Back home with a van full of furniture and 'family heirlooms' to store
Friends to see, work to do and roots to carry on putting into the ground.

This sceptred isle

2010-02-02T14:02:00.003+01:00

Just back from a trip to the UK. And I've (re-)learnt how to upload photos from my mobile!! Text to follow (I've been looking for a new voice that blends the personal with the political / social commentary - I hope it works)- but here's an iconic image to set the mood. On the return trip the weather was so clear that I actually could (I think for the first time ever) see the legendary white cliffs from the harbour in Calais.

Pink Ice

2010-01-15T21:11:00.003+01:00

As the thaw sets in (after nearly six weeks) I've started to notice more and more pink patches in the snow. Never seen that before. After a couple of days I realise that it is the firework paper from new year's eve celebrations 'bleeding' into the surrounding snow.

a little bit of culture

2010-01-01T17:10:00.024+01:00

I managed to squeeze in some culture this holiday break. On solstice day Jan Akkerman (a truly famous Nederlander) came to play in the bar at the end of my street. I had seen him once before at North Sea Jazz about five years ago and to be honest hadn't been too impressed. I liked his work with Focus (that dates me) but found his solo stuff veered far too much towards free form jazz. But its not every day a guitar hero plays at the end of the street so I thought I would risk it. Though performing as Jan Akkerman the band was dominated by a black soul and blues singer from Washington who must have been at least 55 years old (and whose name I missed). It was like having Solomon Burke playing at the end of my street! The set was full of classic soul and blues songs - including some of my favourites from Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, Sam Cooke, Percy Sledge and others whose provenance was older and under my radar. And the delivery was perfect (not always faithful but done with soul and panache) It was a superb afternoon out. The band arrived about two hours late because of heavy snow the previous night - so it was almost an evening gig - but congratulations to the band for being committed enough to set out on the worst weather day of the year. And congratulations to Jan for standing solid in the background and being a great backing blues guitarist. It was a small and intimate venue. The band didn't even have a dressing room (and were lugging their own equipment into the back of estate cars). After the gig they were stood around with everyone else grabbing a quick smoke outside (and when it is minus 8 you do have a quick smoke!). So I got to meet the man and exchange a few words - and like most Dutch people who know /follow him say - he seems really nice, down-to-earth guy.

Cultural event number 2 was going to see Avatar on Boxing Day. Anyone who knows me will reel in shock at the thought of me going to see a Hollywood blockbuster on its first week of release -more so at the thought that I proposed the idea to some friends rather than just acquiescing to someone else's suggestion. I'm a film snob - I only really go for foreign language - minority interest - movies. (There's a reason for this - that is linked to US and Anglo Saxon cultural hegemony- but I might explore that in another post). I had read much about this movie - heard it was a technological breakthrough and had an eco-friendly story line - so decided it would be a good Christmas film (and I had two tickets that I won in a speed-dating competition several months ago that were approaching their use-by date). It was a great movie - the special effects were wonderful, the story line engaging and the eco-message was strong. But I thought the fight scenes went on too long.

Cultural event number 3 was going to the Municipal Museum in Den Haag to see the Cezanne /Picasso/Mondrian exhibition. Its called the Municipal Museum - but it is actually one of Holland's leading galleries and it claims to have the biggest collection of Mondrian's in the world. I have never been very impressed by Mondrian - his cubist work seems completely lacking in soul or other artistic merit - but I did very much appreciate seeing his earlier works (photo to follow) which I saw for the first time - which seemed to be a mixture of impressionism and the silk screen techniques of Warhol (avant la lettre).

The exhibition was based around showing how Cezanne's work influenced the latter two artists. It was an interesting take - but I thought it was a bit hyped and maybe the Gemeentemuseum is working a bit too hard on trying to establish Mondrian's reputation. It was interesting to see what a debt Picasso felt he owed to Cezanne -even at ne stage buying Cezanne's old house at the foot of Mount Sainte Victoire. We had far more fun in the basement where the museum has established a series of "Wonder kamers" (wonder rooms) where art is presented in new forms and contexts- free of historical linkages and with a dozen or so rooms full of interactive installations. The kids loved them. So did we.

I spent ages searching the museum shop for a new art diary that would inspire me as much as the Hundertwasser one I have been using for the past year. Alas nothing to be found. New Year's Eve I found a Keith Haring diary to get me through 2010. With all the work I do on sustainability and ecology I need something that is a little urban and funky to keep a balance.

This picture opportunity presented itself as we were walking back to the city centre. 'Pimp-your-bike'.

Rattling my cage.

2009-12-24T12:30:00.012+01:00

Who's been rattling my cage? That's what I want to know!
The last few weeks have been full of ups and downs. In November I was promised a big contract for the coming year - payable in advance (this is not uncommon as projects sometimes have budget deadlines which expire before all the reports, articles and books have been written). I took this as a green light to go ahead with my calendar, made a final selection of images, commissioned the designer etc (see recent previous blogs). The first week in December I get an apologetic e mail saying that the project has no budget left and cannot follow this order through.

I spent a few hours doing sums and the figures looked red - blood red. I had a sleepless night and realised my only safe option was to pull out from printing and posting the calendar. Having already selected the artwork and commissioned the designer I've gone for a pdf version instead. You can download it from here. And here's a preview of the cover.
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In the two weeks following this decision I got an unexpected (and substantial) tax rebate and a stream of work offers that kept me busy for two weekends in a row and until 11 o clock on Tuesday night (to meet a last deadline) and have filled my work schedule for the first three weeks of January. The last quarter of the year is always the busiest for me. This year it waited until the 5th December to kick in and make the difference.

This storm of work was accompanied by having to get my car through its road test (not too painful) the cold snap (which completely drained its battery) and the fraught process of exchanging my UK driver's licence (with a recently expired photocard) for a Dutch one (that's a story for another time - but it had a happy ending).

So the calendar might have worked (financially) - but the ice was too thin. I learnt that while the calendar might be a good way of profiling my business it is also a bit of an indulgence - an expensive and time consuming one. I hope not too many readers or clients will be disappointed at receiving a pdf this year as opposed to a fat envelope and glossy calendar. And, if you are reading this and are on the calendar mailing list please let me know if you download the file. It will save me from sending a few emails in the coming days / weeks.

I don't think my artist has wholly forgiven me for downgrading the project at the last minute although have come to an 'understanding'. It will cheer her up if you visit her website - as she is hoping for lots more traffic this year though this collaboration.

Having had the earth move (not in the enjoyable sense) so much under my feet in the past few weeks I have hardly made any preparations for Christmas: time to head to the shops and put up the Christmas lights. Festive greetings to you all.

The Road to Copenhagen continued

2009-12-17T17:09:00.012+01:00

Here's a link to the conference in the Hague about adaptation to global warming that I went to last month (the plenary session report is written by yours truly). At this moment I am hoping and praying that world leaders will come to realise that the common cause is greater than narrow sectarian interests (see Sarah's comment on my last blog entry for what could so easily be achieved).

Much of my work in the past year has been focused on climate change and, to a lesser extent policy and scientific input into Copenhagen, and so I feel a strong emotional attachment to the outcome of these negotiations. I don't think that a global conference has ever attracted so much attention and I also have an intuitive feeling that if these talks break down (and there is no commitment to producing a plan b) that the legitimacy of the whole system of global governance will lose its legitimacy. This could have major knock-on repercussions.

Today I read readers' comments on the Guardian about the negotiations and realised how few readers of this, one of the UK's most progressive mainstream newspaper, have any sense of optimism in the possibilities of global governance. So many readers believe that the world system can't be changed. I agree with them that there are huge inequalities in the world - but unless we are prepared to start addressing them through responding to this common threat, then we have no future on this planet. A society that does not believe that it has a future rapidly falls apart and, as the best placard I saw from Copenhagen says, there is no planet b.

Chance took me took another conference in the Hague this week, this time in the press rooms of the Dutch Government. This one was to celebrate 25 years of LEISA an organisation I have had the pleasure to work with, on and off, for more than seven years. LEISA has been documenting practices in Low External Input Sustainable Agriculture for twenty five years and advocating the use of approaches that are locally relevant (culturally, ecologically and economically). Such approaches are often more productive, and acceptable to small scale farmers, than high-tech intensive farming methods, which are often unaffordable to small farmers, harm ecosystem functioning and often fail under sub-optimal productive conditions. After the ballyhoo at Copenhagen about emission targets and adaptation funding dies down, the real work of adapting the world's food systems to the effects of climate change will begin. Hopefully there will be some money to help this process. Agriculture is responsible for something like 30% of global CO2 emissions (when one takes upstream and downstream effects, such as fertiliser production and distribution into account) and is the economic sector that will have to make the biggest changes to adapt to climate change. In Uganda the 'coffee line' (the altitude at which it is economically feasible / possible to grow coffee) is moving upwards in response to increased temperatures). In Nepal the same true is true for apple trees. Such changes will bring about local resource conflicts and endanger world food supplies (similar stories could be told about staples such as rice, maize and wheat- though these are more related to the lack of agricultural biodiversity bought about by reliance on just a few hybrid varieties). Our civilisation, and its values, rely on agriculture - to feed all the fashion and web designers, counsellors and even firemen and doctors who make up our societies today. LEISA and its followers are a good starting point for establishing a people and planet friendly agriculture.

Possibly more on this topic to follow but I have a pressing deadline ahead.

The Road to Copemhagen

2009-12-07T14:06:00.002+01:00

John Vidal sets out in search of the human consequences of global warming that are already being felt in the vast watershed that links Nepal and Bangaldesh

Out and about

2009-12-07T12:48:00.004+01:00

This morning was the first day for scraping frost from off the windscreen. A relatively light frost (and surprising because yesterday had been cloudy and mild) - but a reminder to give myself an extra five minutes before starting winter morning journeys.

A small comedy unfolded on the way to the car. I was walking down the stairs (NB as part of my contribution to combating climate change I only now use the lift when I have vast amounts of shopping to carry upstairs) of my flats followed by a neighbour whom I barely recognise. I held open the doors from the stairs to him. In turn he held open the main door to the flats to me. I unlocked the door to the cycle shed and he followed me in. We made some small talk about how overfull the cycle shed always is. We both pushed our bikes across the road to the car park. He unlocked his white Citroen van and put his bike in the back. I opened my bright-green Peugeot van and did the same. We looked at each other and smiled at the coincidence. Jacques Tati couldn't have co-ordinated a better piece of neighbourly synchronicity.

Later in the day I get two good pieces of news - a). my liver isn't imminently planning on filing for divorce from the rest of my body on the grounds of domestic abuse and b) my car passes its APK (annual road test) needing just two light bulbs replacing.

Typical Dutch

2009-12-02T14:39:00.003+01:00

A colleague of mine in the editing and translating field wrote this
very perceptive article about Dutch ways. Highly recommended -it's part of a series of anecdotal views of the strange habits of the Dutch as seen by oustiders.

Finally - away from the god blogs

2009-12-01T18:32:00.002+01:00

Well I finally got away from the god blogs - and via several "how cute are my kids?" blogs I finally found one with a link to a site of random quotes - the first of which tickled me no end "The reason they call it the American Dream is because you have to be asleep to believe it" (George Carlin). Who is/was George Carlin? He must have (had)something going for him.

God blogs

2009-12-01T13:19:00.002+01:00

By this title I mean blogs about god - not the musings of the omnipotent (though that would probably attract quite a large audience).

Have any of my readers ever used the 'next blog' button at the top of the blogger screen? It can be an interesting distraction to click it a few times to see what other people do with their blogs. There's a lot of crap out there, but I have found the occasional gem.

Recently whenever I have tried this trick this has led me to a sequence of god blogs (almost universally American) - written by people who evaluate their whole lives through the actions of a potentially mythical omnipotent being. I don't want to make any comment on the content of these blogs - but am curious as to whether there is an algebraic formula by which blogspot thinks I might be interested in how Patch the dog's recovery was somehow faciliated by the force of a prayer to a higher power - or whether christians have organised a subtle coup de web which puts their blogs on the high ranking listings. Click that button now and pray it ain't so.

In the gallery

2009-12-01T12:53:00.005+01:00

Over the last few days my office has started to resemble an art gallery. I have been assembling the 2010 TextualHealing calendar and didn't have photos of all the works we wanted to include so this year's chosen artist bought the missing ones over here - so we could do a shoot on a sunny day. We had to wait almost week and now (reluctantly) I'll have to return some very lovely and colourful paintings.

In the tradition (established last year) of tempting readers without spoiling the suprise, here is one image that didn't quite make it on to the short list.

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Choosing a set of images is not just a matter of finding seven 'nice' images but of balancing themes, dominant colours and matching the images to the seasons. Unfortunately this one got edged out on all those criteria. I loved the shape of those gnarled old trees and the fortitude they display.

The Road to Copenhagen

2009-11-30T17:44:00.004+01:00

Researching the background to the COP15 next month has led me to do an inordinate ammount of Googling (which I accept is not entirely carbon neutral) checking facts and figures, the various groupings involved and the gap between rhetoric and reality. One of the key sites is the COP15 home page . It has a good number of new articles from different sources, though perhaps not suprisingly little or nothing about Climategate .

One of the best articles I read there is by UN Climate chief Yvo de Boer who summarises the main challenges at Copenhagen as being
1. How much are the industrialized countries willing to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases?
2. How much are major developing countries such as China and India willing to do to limit the growth of their emissions?
3. How is the help needed by developing countries to engage in reducing their emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change going to be financed?
4. How is that money going to be managed?

These last two questiosn were the ones driving the conference that I attended last week. The more you delve into these waters the murkier they become. More to follow on this topic when my article gets approved (factually rather than politically) and published.

Mathew and Son

2009-11-27T12:13:00.004+01:00

Out the door at seven am yesterday - riding the bus in the dark to the train station - everyone with button-downed coats and hats, huddled into themselves. Then when it does get 'light' around Utrecht it is still only a steel grey sky that leaks rain over the rooftops. Didn't get back home at 8.30 or so. So glad I don't have to do that commute every day (I have some friends / associates who do it four times a week) it wouldn't leave much time for anything else.

Still it was good day - informative presentations - a chance to meet old colleagues and new clients and to make new contacts. Equally to enjoy the splendour of the Peace Palace (link available in last blog). Two of our afternoon sessions were scheduled in magnificent rooms in the old building, lending an air of gravitas to the occasion.

Backroom negotiations?

2009-11-24T16:08:00.008+01:00

Much of the news about the forthcoming Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change is a sort of "will they won't they" discussion about setting clear and binding targets for reducing carbon emissions in the foreseeable future. By now the science is pretty indisputable - so the discussions will come down to political and distributive effects. Who is going to bear the brunt of the cuts? And can the political leaders sell these targets to their electorates (and industrial lobby groups)? But there are other issues apart from emission reductions that also need addressing.

Countless communities in the world are already suffering the effects of climate change. These vary considerably. In the Southern Andes glaciers are massively retreating, leading communities to abandon age old settlements as they have an inadequate supply of fresh water. In sub-Saharan African extreme weather conditions threaten the livelihoods of pastoralists and farmers alike. In Bangladesh millions face increased incidence and severity of flooding. Some countries may disappear completely - as dramatically highlighted in this unusual location for a government cabinet meeting.

Much of the work that I have done in the past year has focused on documenting these issues, the responses at ground level and the need for the policy community to support such iniatives. In Africa farmers face the challenge of adapting their cropping or grazing systems to more intense weather conditions and prolonged periods of drought. In South East Asia the draining of peatlands (often for commercial plantations) has the potential to release millions of tons of CO2 (although re-wetting abandoned peatland has the potential to absorb large amounts). Elsewhere in the world grassroots and participatory initiatives are developing new techniques for coping with the increasing risk of hazards becoming disasters and for adapting to climate change. While the scale of the problems is enormous the inventiveness of local communities and social entrepreneurs is inspiring. Over the last year I have been honoured to work with Christian Aid, Drynet , Wetlands International and Cordaid in documenting these experiences and initiatives.

Helping countries and communities to meet these challenges has to be a priority at Copenhagen too. This can take the form of technical assistance in becoming more prepared for disasters and need to include compensatory mechanisms for things like carbon sequestration. This will be the subject of a conference to be held in The Hague on Thursday (26th November) which will be organised by Hier a Dutch 'platform' organisation (we call them umbrella organisations in the UK - so it shows I am starting to go a little bit native). Its part of the build up for Copenhagen - to get climate change adapation in developing countries firmly on the agenda. Speakers will include the Dutch Development Cooperation Minister and the lead negotiator from the G77 (who is the Director General of the Maldivian Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Water).

One of the reports that I edited this summer was commissioned for this conference. I received a hard copy in the post today (it is always nice if a client remembers you that way). I mailed her back to say thanks and asked how the conference went and was told it was this week. "Would I like to come?" Well why not I'm not overworked at the moment, have never seen the Peace Palace and have promised myself that I should get out and spend more time networking with my clients. While I am replanning my Wednesday and Friday, so as to absorb a lost working day, I get a phone call from the organisers of the conference (fifteen minutes after having subscribed) asking if I would be a rapporteur for their morning session - as they need someone to write up the events for their publicity and lobbying activities. So I get a 'front row seat' for the build up to the Copenhagen Conference! Doubtless I will have more to say on this topic over the next few days. For the rest of the evening I think I will just marvel at how my networks link up.

Autumn colours

2009-11-22T18:59:00.003+01:00

It has been a long and colourful autumn, the trees seemed to keep their colours for months. I noticed that some trees (mostly beech) lose their leaves in stages - losing all the leaves from their outer branches first - but often retaining the lower ones, closer to the heart of the plant, till later - often even through the winter. On Friday I did a farm visit and saw a stand of trees -which I couldn't identify - with a totally different shedding pattern. They were completely bereft of leaves except one remaining vestigial leave at the end of each branch. They were little flags - refusing to surrender.

One of the last trees to lose their leaves were the Ginkos in the car park next to my flat. When all the other trees had lost their colour they continued to glow a golden colour, just a few feet outside my window.

Now winter is starting to show its hand. This evening I set out to drive to Nijmegen to see a friend. The rain and wind were unbelievable - I couldn't see fifty feet ahead of me. Mindful of the extreme weather conditions in the UK in the last few days I decided to turn back. I just didn't want to be on a motorway in weather like that.

past, present and future

2009-11-12T23:03:00.026+01:00

This is going to be an unusual weekend. On Friday I am going take a little trip back in time and go to revisit the mothership. Gong, that cult band of the 1970s, (they define the term cult band as a band loved too much by too few people) are back on tour- with just one date in the NL. I'm going to be there and, while I won't be playing any rounds of Laughing Sam's Dice, it will be interesting to take one more trip on the light fantastic. Jazzy, avant-garde, anarchistic and mystic - all in one package - they were the band that defined my mis-spent youth.

The first time I saw them I was still a schoolboy. They were playing one of those wonderful free gigs in Hyde Park and someone even had the wits to take a photo. As you can see, even by the standards of those days (circa '75-76) they were unashamedly part of the counterculture.
The other bands to grace the stage that day included Kevin Coyne, Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers (with Roger Chapman previously of Family) and the very shorted lived super-group that consisted of Kevin Ayers, John Cale, Nico and Brian Eno (yes I can say I saw Nico perform live-ish!)- Mike Oldfield was guest guitarist with the band if I remember rightly.

But it was Gong that caught our (pre-psychedelicised) imagination. They had a constantly changing line-up, in part caused by so many band members being banned from different countries for various narcotic infringements and insurgent activities. (It's a tradition that, it seems, they haven't given up- recently Daevid Allen - now a spritely 71 years old- was removed from a poetry festival in Queensland, because of reciting a poem that repeatedly invoked the profane / sacred F word).

I used to travel all over the South of England to see them whenever they were on tour. Shit, one night we drove from London to Bath and back - on a weekday- to see them, getting home at 3am and went to work (sort of) the next day. The best memories (if one can call them that) were of a few gigs they played at the Hammersmith Palais (immortalised by the Clash), one of the most beautiful, yet improbable rock venues I ever visited.

One summer the NME ran an essay competition to recruit a new journalist (oh my dream job in those days) and I spent most of an entire month's vacation house sitting a flat in Paris writing about the significance and earth shattering importance of this band. (The joint winners turned out to be Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill who crafted a piece about Patti Smith's Horses). There's a line in a "Cindy Lee Beryhill song: "God made obscurity for safety reasons" I think I am happy that I didn't grow up in the public eye. Anyway, tomorrow I am going to go and relive all those youthful flights of fancy.

Most of the rest of the weekend is going to be spent in church. Yes I know, call the nurse. A Buddhist colleague of mine was invited to arrange a presentation about the Buddhist take on "Mystic power in daily life" at her local church. Naturally, her local Buddhist colleagues have all rallied around and helped build a really good (well it remains to be seen) hour-long presentation with a small play about Nichiren Buddhism , drawn from the Lotus Sutra, a short lecture and an excellent DVD. It's a double challenge for me: appearing on stage, AND, doing a ten line speech in Dutch. Well why not push yourself??

Finally to cap it all - on Sunday afternoon I have been invited to attend an introductory afternoon of an "entrepreneurial boot camp", as a (successful) member of Wageningen's entrepreneurial community, appearing alongside CEOs and Directors of local hi-tech companies. OK I'll go along for the ride and see what I can offer - although it might be a bit subversive - maybe that's what they're looking for....

So in one weekend I seemed destined to travel from 'pot-head' to 'bread-head.' And I am wondering if my entire human evolution is being shrunk into one weekend and that now is a real testing time for me to reconcile these different positions that my life has led me to adopt and to make some coherent sense of them all