Saturday,
Slow start after a broken night’s sleep - Matthew came in a couple of times and ended up staying with us in the camper. He’s definitely not well and the pain in his stomach was quite bad. We’ll try and get to a doctor today. There were 5-6 missed calls on my mobile (over a couple of hours) but it was on silent and there was no caller ID - I wonder who was trying to contact me/us? Anyway, we woke to sunshine and then a fantastic breakfast. We were sitting in the sunroom when a parade of tractors drove past the house and we all waved and everyone was waving back. Must have been about twenty of them, and all different types and vintages (called ‘old timers’ here) heading off to some social gathering. We then had a bit of a tour of around the locality and visited Schildemeer (a holiday resort type place next to a lake) with new log cabins/houses for sale for about $200,000, then to Schlochteren and Freylameborg ‘castle’ (an old house surrounded by a ‘moat’) and went to a market in Hoogezant.
Willy & I took Matt to a doctor while Wendy, Hanneke, Ash & Reubs went to the supermarket looking for some gluten free food. The doctor wasn’t sure what was wrong and said if it was appendicitis it wasn’t bad yet because Matt would need to have a temperature and feel more tender in the abdomen because of the infection. So, we’ll see how he goes over the next few days and hopefully claim the €74 (over $100) consultation fee.
By now it was getting late so we headed off to Grypskerk to tante Jantine. Got slightly lost but enjoyed the drive along the tree lined avenues running next to the canals. Once we got to the town we asked an old man how to get to the street and he gave us excellent directions. On the way we stopped to just check we were going the right way and bumped into one of Wendy’s cousins (Anita)! She had her bike so we followed her to Jantine’s home. She has an upstairs with three bedrooms and a bathroom that we are able to stay in.
Went for a walk after a wonderful dinner and saw a windmill that moved water from low lying land to a higher canal (via a large Archimedes screw) and also stopped at a lock and bridge on a large canal. The bridge raises both the road and bicycle path to let the boats through, and works on a cantilever principle and has a 60 ton counterweight to help lift it up. We stopped at the railway station, which isn’t manned but has a ticket machine where you can buy a ticket to anywhere in Holland! It’s nice to be able to wander on the paths around the town, and cyclists and pedestrians are well catered for.
On the way home we stopped at a ‘pols-stock-springgen’ (fierljeppen in Friesian) sport event. This was a hoot - it’s a cross between high jump, long jump and pole vault (the poles must be over 10 meters long!). This sport has it’s origins in people using poles to get across canals to work and to steal bird eggs from the fields. They ran up to the edge of the water planted the pole in the canal and swung across on it. Here they have the pole planted in the water and spend some time setting it up properly as it leans against a jetty at the end of the run up. After a 30 meter run up, they grab the pole and as it swings out over the water, they climb up it as quickly as possible to get as far across the water as they can before landing on soft sand. If they time it wrong the pole starts to fall back towards the jetty or it goes sideways and then it’s into the water before impaling yourself on the jetty. What a hoot! They had a full-on competition happening with teams, a commentator, computer software for displaying and recording results and determining finalists and prizes for the winners.
Another of Wendy’s cousins Louwrens caught up with us there and we all walked home and had a coffee before saying good night. Asher went out with Louwrens to a dance festival and they will probably be out for a while...
Slow start after a broken night’s sleep - Matthew came in a couple of times and ended up staying with us in the camper. He’s definitely not well and the pain in his stomach was quite bad. We’ll try and get to a doctor today. There were 5-6 missed calls on my mobile (over a couple of hours) but it was on silent and there was no caller ID - I wonder who was trying to contact me/us? Anyway, we woke to sunshine and then a fantastic breakfast. We were sitting in the sunroom when a parade of tractors drove past the house and we all waved and everyone was waving back. Must have been about twenty of them, and all different types and vintages (called ‘old timers’ here) heading off to some social gathering. We then had a bit of a tour of around the locality and visited Schildemeer (a holiday resort type place next to a lake) with new log cabins/houses for sale for about $200,000, then to Schlochteren and Freylameborg ‘castle’ (an old house surrounded by a ‘moat’) and went to a market in Hoogezant.
Willy & I took Matt to a doctor while Wendy, Hanneke, Ash & Reubs went to the supermarket looking for some gluten free food. The doctor wasn’t sure what was wrong and said if it was appendicitis it wasn’t bad yet because Matt would need to have a temperature and feel more tender in the abdomen because of the infection. So, we’ll see how he goes over the next few days and hopefully claim the €74 (over $100) consultation fee.
By now it was getting late so we headed off to Grypskerk to tante Jantine. Got slightly lost but enjoyed the drive along the tree lined avenues running next to the canals. Once we got to the town we asked an old man how to get to the street and he gave us excellent directions. On the way we stopped to just check we were going the right way and bumped into one of Wendy’s cousins (Anita)! She had her bike so we followed her to Jantine’s home. She has an upstairs with three bedrooms and a bathroom that we are able to stay in.
Went for a walk after a wonderful dinner and saw a windmill that moved water from low lying land to a higher canal (via a large Archimedes screw) and also stopped at a lock and bridge on a large canal. The bridge raises both the road and bicycle path to let the boats through, and works on a cantilever principle and has a 60 ton counterweight to help lift it up. We stopped at the railway station, which isn’t manned but has a ticket machine where you can buy a ticket to anywhere in Holland! It’s nice to be able to wander on the paths around the town, and cyclists and pedestrians are well catered for.
On the way home we stopped at a ‘pols-stock-springgen’ (fierljeppen in Friesian) sport event. This was a hoot - it’s a cross between high jump, long jump and pole vault (the poles must be over 10 meters long!). This sport has it’s origins in people using poles to get across canals to work and to steal bird eggs from the fields. They ran up to the edge of the water planted the pole in the canal and swung across on it. Here they have the pole planted in the water and spend some time setting it up properly as it leans against a jetty at the end of the run up. After a 30 meter run up, they grab the pole and as it swings out over the water, they climb up it as quickly as possible to get as far across the water as they can before landing on soft sand. If they time it wrong the pole starts to fall back towards the jetty or it goes sideways and then it’s into the water before impaling yourself on the jetty. What a hoot! They had a full-on competition happening with teams, a commentator, computer software for displaying and recording results and determining finalists and prizes for the winners.
Another of Wendy’s cousins Louwrens caught up with us there and we all walked home and had a coffee before saying good night. Asher went out with Louwrens to a dance festival and they will probably be out for a while...
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