One way ticket to Spain, please
Tonight it’s Sinterklaasavond. Which means that if all goes well, I’ll be on my way to Spain tomorrow. And if de Sint thinks I’ve been a good boy, well, here I am, breaking the law again.
Another typically Dutch thing is Kinderen voor Kinderen. Sort of a children’s choir singing popsongs, often dealing with serious issues. Their song “Ik ben toch zeker Sinterklaas niet” [mp3] (featuring other Dutch children’s icon Edwin ‘ome Willem‘ Rutten) is barely about Sinterklaas. It’s written by Henk en Henk, who are also responsible for the inferior “Sinterklaas (Wie kent hem niet?)” [live version on youtube]. I was going to write more about this, but while digging up that last video, I came across this:
A few years ago, I was discussing how great it would be if you’d ‘punk up’ some Kinderen voor Kinderen songs. And apparently, Kinderen tegen Kinderen do exactly that. You can download this song from their website.
For the list: mania 3
- For those keeping score: the mailperson delivered the national letter today, but still no sign of the international packages. A complaint is filed. Also, I’ve canceled my Tanz ticket and can now go on a family trip, a little more than 11 kilometers (as the crow flies) from my house. According to this site, that’s at least 520 km closer than to home then Berlin would’ve been.
- For people in doubt: isitchristmas.com.
- For those who know Shakespeare: “Hamlet shaken by murder then suicide” is a serious contender for the headline of the century.
- For those who think God might be a DJ: The Christian alliance of Christenunie/SGP in Naaldwijk’s town council want a ban on house parties (dutch only) in the historic Oude Kerk. Their arguments are iffy: I can appreciate the concern that the historic church might be damaged, but on the other hand, arguing that having a party where “music is performed that is in stark contrast to the psalms and hymns to God’s glory” in a church should be forbidden holds no ground whatsoever. That’s not something the government should get involved in, as I would assume that the people who rented out the church for this party would know what went on. Plus that they get their facts wrong: according to the promoters’ website, there was a mix of soul, funk, jazz, disco, a live lounge-jazz band, a groovy set from some DJ, Candy Dulfer, and some more soul to top it off. I would hardly call that a house party.
- For the people who remember Peter Pan Guy: Holy sweet mother of all that’s bright and shiny!
- For the Dream Theater fans: still not officially confirmed, but the proposed title for an upcoming compilation is “Greatest Hit & 19 other pretty cool tunes”.
- For the Dutchies: Vincent points to the longlist for the woord van het jaar 2007. Islamneutraal ftw.
- And finally, for the lovers of lists: the 2007 list of lists.
No post today
On October 15, a copy of mr. Loaf’s latest DVD was send to me from the UK. Of course, that did mean that it would arrive during my holiday, but so be it. When I came home, my mailbox was empty. Okay,
I thought, maybe it is delayed.
But then I found out that similar packages were delivered throughout The Netherlands on the 19th. Crapdammit. I put up a note by the mailboxes asking the neighbors if the mailperson had delivered it to one of them but forgot to leave me a note, and I waited.
By the time it was November 9th, I was done waiting. No neighbor came forward, and after I double checked at the post office to see if it was delivered there (it wasn’t), I contacted the sender. The address they used was correct, and they agreed to send a replacement. That was November 12.
Around the same time, some kind person from the UK send some stuff my way.
And now it is two weeks later, November 27th, and still, neither one of the packages arrived. In fact, no post has arrived at all. Granted, I have a “Don’t bother me with advertisements and door-to-door newspapers” sticker on my mailbox, but even so: two weeks without anything? I’m finding it hard to believe.
Today, I was expecting a letter (nothing fancy, just a standard, national postal transaction), and guess what? Indeed, nothing. I’m starting to consider two options:
- Someone is stealing everything from my mailbox;
- TNT Post and Royal Mail are plotting against me.
In the past few years, the quality of the postal deliveries in The Netherlands has declined a lot. I’m waiting until tomorrow to see if today’s post shows up, but whether it does or it does not, I will be filing a complaint. I can understand that sometimes something gets lost in the mail, but I only had that happening to me once in the past ten years or so. And now, three times in two months? I don’t buy that.
This past weekend
Finally, after making and subsequently changing plans at least thirty two times, the Dapster made it all the way to Amersfoort last saturday. And that’s probably just because he had to be in Zwolle the following day, so it only served his selfish interest. I had a terrible, rotten time and did not enjoy it at all.
I would have given you a link where you can tell him he’s ugly, but all I could find was an abandoned LiveJournal and a Hyves, but since it seems he doesn’t even want to fake to be my ‘friend’, he can go and die a slow and painful death so that it hurts. Crapdammit.