old-timer

This story reminds me of a case we had in NL some time ago. Nob of the day was to me the judge when he decided 'guilty'... A man stopped for a red traffic light. An ambulance came up from behind, 'screaming and flashing'. The good man made way by pulling up a few meters. That's when the camera 'got' him... In court, the judge told the man that he was not allowed to 'make way for an ambulance' if it meant violating some f...ng traffic rule. Better to let someone die then to jump a red light ?

I found a picture under a bit different name, but it looks like we're talking about the same bird... It could be a 'Muscovy duck' though the one in the picture is a different colour than the one in your picture. Still, the shape of the head (which looks like it's screwed on later) and the red area seem to point that way. From the info I found I understood that it is a native New Zeeland bird... PS. I'm not a bird watcher, but I do like a puzzle sometimes...

I'm not sure if near kills count, but for [mention]Gin[/mention]'s peace of mind here's a story with a happy end... Many years ago I hit a rabbit (or hare) driving 100 km/h in my car. It jumped from the bushes onto the road right in front of me, it had no chance. I heard and felt the hit but I wasn't sure if it was dead. So I stopped an got out of the car, shaken, trembling and praying it was killed instantly. For if not, I would have to finish it with my swiss knife and I got sick even thinking about that. It was laying by the side of the road, but when I started walking back towards it, it jumped up - at least 1 meter high - and took off into the fields. I examined the place but found no blood at all on the road... Nor on the car. Cats are said to have 9 lives, but I'm sure they are not the only ones. And I suspect that this lucky 'lagomorpha' used up 2 lives that day...

One day in the mid sixties, my dad drove me, mum and my sister back home in the family car late at night. Speed must have been about 80 km/h when all of a sudden a big sow stepped right in front of the car out of nowhere. The 'bang' was unbelievable, and the car was stopped within a few meters... Mind you, no seat belts nor aibags in those days. But though we were all quite shaken, no one was harmed.. We got out of the car onto the dark road. It was a '62 Skoda, and these eastern european cars were built like tanks in those days. Still it was badly damaged and a lot shorter than normal. We never expected the pig to have survived, but it was walking about restlessly in a daze, grunting and limping and breathing heavily. We did not know what to do about the pig and since the car was unusable, dad decided to walk to a farm a little further down the road for help. At that moment lights went on in the farm and a little later a tractor came our way. The farmer told us that the loud bang woke him up and that he already had telephoned the police. After a while they arrived, and so did a butcher... The farmer obviously had made more calls than one. The sow was his, the farmer said, but he couldn't think how it got out of the field. Apparently pigs don't swim so it would not have crossed the canals that border the field. The sow, still alive though hardly moving by now, was immediately taken by the butcher to be butchered still that night. It was still fit for consumption if butchered in time. Nothing was wasted in the 60's... Later we heard that the pig's ribs had penetrated it's lungs and it was slowly drowning in it's own blood. Horrible... My sister and I were quite upset for a long time when we heard this. The farmer figured that the sow must have jumped a 1,65 meter high gate. He had moved her to the field, away from her piglets, that day and she had probably gone looking for them. And even a high gate could not stop her... But unfortunately she found a Skoda on her way... As the farmer was responsable, damages were paid by his insurance. The car was a write-off and dad bought his long desired dreamcar; a Ford Cortina 1500 mk-I... The moral of the story: Never drive on dark country roads at night in a Skoda !

Yesterday, May 4-th was our national memorial day. As always, the day before liberation day is one of ceremonies at war memorials to commemorate and honour those who died in the war. Both civilian and military; citizens (particularly those deported), resistance fighters as well as troops of the allied forces that liberated us. Flags are hung half-mast, especially in the afternoon and evening when, at 20.00 hrs. exactly, the whole country keeps 2 minutes of silence (national television and radio included) out of respect for the fallen. Today, May 5-th we celebtrate liberation day. There are liberation festivities all over the country and flags fly in top. This morning, on my early morning walk, I went to the Royal Welsh bridge (about 1 mile from home). In the underpass I noticed that the city had already taken care of a homage - flowers and burning candles - at the plaque. I myself payed my respect to the 53 Welsh Division by stopping at every soldier mentioned in the role of honour, and speaking out his name aloud. Afterwards I realized that the great majority of the men were under 25, many, many of these even under twenty ! I felt that I should share this with you, knowing that he British are generally quite aware of (British) military history and traditions. In Britain, I noticed, there are war memorials, for both WW I and WW II, in almost every village and town. As mentioned in my opening post, British troops played a key role in the liberation of the low countries. This is to show our appreciation for the British war effort.

With our 'liberation day' - the 5-th of May - coming up, I thought I'd share with you the role that British troops played in the liberation of our country. In particular my hometown... The month of may is one of commemoration regarding WW II in NL. It was on may 10-th 1940 that the Nazi's invaded our country. When their 'Blitz' did not progress as planned, they bombed the sh*t out of Rotterdam on may 14-th, almost wiping it off the map... The Dutch - in fear that other towns would undergo the same fate - surrendered. Almost exactly 5 years later - may 5-th 1945 - the German troops that were still occupying the northern part of NL, surrendered to the allied. Now that the whole of the country was free again, this date became our official 'liberation day'. The southern part of the country (south of the river Rhine), had already been liberated in he autumn of 1944. Mainly by British and Canadian troops. Unfortunately the advance towards Germany came to a halt at Arnhem in september 1944. Allied forces did not manage to conquer the bridge across the river Rhine at Arnhem (a bridge too far!). As a consequence the northern part of NL suffered a terrible, harsh 'hunger winter' before they could be liberated in may 1945. But, being in the south, my hometown, 's-Hertogenbosch, was liberated on October 27-th 1944 by British troops. By Major General Ross's 53 Welsh Division (now The Royal Welsh), to be exact. So next Ocober 27 (2019) the town will be celebrating the 75-th anniversary. Beside representatives from the current Royal Welsh, there will be 2 or 3 survivors from the original Welsh Division as well. Some of these old soldiers are fortunately fit enough to come over to commemorate, though they must be well over 90 by now! Some years ago a new road bridge was finished in town, next to 2 existing railroad bridges, crossing the river Dieze and the road along it. In honour of the brave soldiers, who freed us from Nazi's in 1944, the bridge is called: The Royal Welsh brug. Of the 146 men (some still boys) who were killed in the battle, all names, ages and dates of death are displayed in the underpass of the bridge . The youngest was 17(!) yrs old George Wheatley, the oldest was 39 yrs old Bernard Duckett. The look of the existing railroad bridges was changed according to the new road bridge's design. Below an impression of the bridge, the commemorative plaque and the roll of honour in the underpass. Naming the bridge after the Welsh Division seems nothing more to me than a fitting tribute... Lest we forget... I have made a page in my website about the subject with some more pictures. Here's the link to the "Royal Welsh" web-page, should you be interested. http://snellbos.nl/home/gb/royal-welsh.html

"Hit me, hit me", begged the masochist. "No", the sadist replied.

Right... And don't forget the air-inlet at rooftop level. You never know, indeed. Just wonder though. What happens when you pull up the ladder at night, when you go to sleep...

Regretably my wife: I thought the Lancaster was bigger. Is your wife interested in WWII airplanes ? That's exceptional...

No surprises here... I am found out as a foreigner... Here's proof ! But... more surprising (if not shocking) is the following: German friends of mine gave me a link in Facebook to have my origin analysed by my facial features. (My facebook name is 'Auld Tymer', hence I am called 'Auld'). The answer is in German, but the message is clear: I am of AUSTRALIAN origin! Accuracy of 98 % ! And believe me, Germans know what they are doing... If they say I'm Australian, than I am Australian. No wonder my English does not match British or Irish dialects... But I do speak damn good Dutch. For an Australian...

OK, so £100.- is a bit frugal. But for a mere £245. 0. 4. you have a beautiful 350 cc... Brand-new... tax included...

Or... Just relocate to Iceland; No need to adjust clocks... !

Yes, that's true of course. Though many (if not all) languages will 'hijack' any useful foreign word if they don't have an equivalent ! Even French. Especially when there are no words of their own availabe (yet). Like for new/foreign inventions, products and concepts. But what I hate about the Dutch is that they use English words to replace good, existing Dutch words. Mainly adjectives, adverbs and expressions... And - to get back on topic - these words are heavily over used...! It's horrible, terrible, appalling, awful...! (I copied these from an on-line dictionary ! )

You, UK residents, don't know how lucky you are. All these words are at least from your own language. But for some unknown stupid reason it has become fashionable or even 'cool' (sorry) to use all kinds of English words and expressions over here too. And they are the same words that have been mentioned here. Any idea how stupid it sounds when 'awesome' and 'amazing' are used in a dutch sentence ? Sooo f...ing irritating and annoying... ! What really drives me crazy is the use of the word 'sale'. Everywhere in the cities you see big colourfull posters hanging in shop windows with 'SALE' on it. I got so confused, thinking that I was in the UK, that I drove on the left side of the road the other day... For about 2000 years we have had our own word, now completely forgotten. I really wonder, what's wrong with the wonderfull Dutch word 'UITVERKOOP' ?

GEFELICITEERD... no, hang on... ah yes, GRATULIERE... ? Nah, that's not right either. Was it FÉLICITATIONS, or... Stupid foreign languages... now what was it again Yesss... I remember,

That's why he needs a helmet; he is a fence-bender...!

Well, that was it for today... It's 23:54 now overhere, my birthday wil be over in about 5 minutes. Ah well... at least [mention]SometimesSansEngine[/mention] can enjoy the last hour of his birthday without having to share it with the old low-lander... Happy birthday mate ! And good night to you all and thanks again...

No matter how hard I try, I just cannot remember the day I was born. I must be getting old... But thanks anyway !

"Motorcycle helmets from Estonia" Soviet advertising poster, 1972

I found this EEC proposal from 1996, to simplify the English language and thus improve communications between Governments… Enjoy ! Quote: "Having chosen English as the preferred language in the EEC, the European Parliament has commissioned a feasability study in ways of improving efficiency in communications between Government departments. "European officials have often pointed out that English spelling is unnecessarily difficult; for example: cough, plough, rough, through and thorough. What is clearly needed is a phased programme of changes to iron out these anomalies. The programme would, of course, be administered by a committee staff at top level by participating nations. "In the first year, for example, the committee would suggest using 's' instead of the soft 'c'. Sertainly, sivil servants in all sities would resieve this news with joy. Then the hard 'c' could be replaced by 'k' sinse both letters are pronounsed alike. Not only would this klear up konfusion in the minds of klerikal workers, but typewriters kould be made with one less letter. "There would be growing enthousiasm when in the sekond year, it was anounsed that the troublesome 'ph' would henseforth be written 'f'. This would make words like 'fotograf' twenty per sent shorter in print. "Tn the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reash the stage where more komplikated shanges are possible. Governments would enkourage the removal of double letters which have always been a deterent to akurate speling. "We would al agre that the horible mes of silent ‘e's in the languag is disgrasful. Therefor we kould drop thes and kontinu to read and writ as though nothing had hapend. By this tim it would be four years sins the skem began and peopl would be reseptive to steps sutsh as replasing 'th' by 'z’. Perhaps zen ze funktion of 'w' kould be taken on by 'v', vitsh is, after al, half a 'w'. Shortly after zis, ze unesesary 'o’ kould be dropd from words kontaining 'ou'. Similar arguments vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters. "Kontinuing zis proses yer after yer, ve vud eventuli hav a reli sensibl riten styl. After tventi yers zer vud be no mor trubls, difikultis and evrivun vud fin it ezi tu understand ech ozer. Ze drems of the Guvermnt vud finali hav kum tru." /Quote

Well, that is remarkable indeed ! I have seen them drive and I have seen them f... But never at the same time...

I quess that our pension system in NL is probably not quite the same as your's in the UK. Though I see some similarities; at the age of 67 (used to be 65) anyone who lived in NL for 50 years receives a state pension. Regardless if he/she has worked and/or paid taxes. Even our former Queen (Beatrix) gets it. Those who have not been living here the full 50 years (like my wife who is originally from Finland) gets paid in proportion to their time in NL. Beside this state pension, those who have worked get a company pension, for which one has paid fees during one's working life. Many times companies pay an additional fee for this pension, or pay a percentage of the fee. This depends on company policy. Now another similarity I found is the fact that for some 'fake' reasons, company pensions never seem to pay out the amount of money justified by the fees that one has paid over the years. Many times due to stupid investments by pension-companies and/or excessive expenses one has to pay those pension-companies for their 'services'... ??? And of course, the financial crisis of 2008-2014 did not help much, nor did the fact that very low interests incomes made pension-companies poorer as well. Now, the system that Spanner recommended to prepare for retirement worked for me... Kind of... Though I did not use the money only/strictly for my retirement pot, but also for other retirement related purposes... I bought a house at 31. Got a mortgage for 30 years, so the house would be paid off completely when I would be 61. But after 25 years - our 2 girls had long left home by then - we decided to sell the house and relocate. Now I don't know how the housing situation in the UK is, but we were lucky to find that in those 25 years the value of the house was 4 times the price we paid back then... Well I still had to pay 5 years worth of the original mortgage, and a small penalty for timely ending the contract, but that was 'peanuts'... In the city we moved to, we decided to rent a house, but since we were 'newcomers', we were not allowed a council house yet. So for about 5 years we had to rent in the so called 'private sector' at rents up to 2.5 times our monthly mortgage fee previously. We were aiming for a council house because I knew that at the end of the day my company pensions (plural) would not really make me rich. For reasons mentioned above about pension-companies, but also because I changed employers many times. And each new employer had pension contracts with another pension-company, which did not exactly help to make one solid pension pot. But fortunately, when we got our council house, we still had enough money for me to drop one day from my working week and work 4 days a week. The last 5 years of my working life, I even worked 3 days a week only... and still had savings left for my retirement... And at the end of the day it allowed me even to stop working all together 1.5 years before official pension age (65). The fact that I could afford to work less and less these last years and even have an early retirement, kept me sane. (Too) young pigheaded, cocky managers and tried and tested senior employees make a very bad mix on the working floor... So [mention]JRH[/mention] , I congratulate you with your retirement and wish you well. And 1 tip, if I may; make the first item of your bucket-list: "bin Mrs. JRH's list". I'm sure you'll be a happy full time Hogfather! And welcome to the club !