Holiday Thread

[Magere Hein 1,400]

Magere Hein's Grand Tour of the Netherlands, which earlier took me to such grand places as Millingen aan de Rijn, Lonneker¹ and De Weerribben-Wieden National Park², stopped at Zeeland's capital Middelburg today. A nice old town, a bit too quiet to my taste, but one with a fabulous treasure: the Zeeland tapestries. These four hundred year old bits of textile depict several naval battles in which Spanish arses were kicked by the brave people of Zeeland.

 

 

¹Incidentally the place where me mom´s dad was born in 1889.

²If you like reed, this is the place. Square kilometers of it.

 

regards,

Hein

[Davey Jones' Locker 1,324]

Has anyone found any statistical correlation between DL members going on holiday & DL successes occurring?

 

I am flying to Sydney on hols next week and will be offline the whole time so, knowing my luck, there will be some action in my absence. (Having said that, last time I was on holidays was approximately 6 months ago was when everyone was expecting Mandela to go. I watched some of the rolling coverage from my hotel room, as they expected his imminent death. Maybe if I had stayed away for one more day.... )

[the_engineer 1,415]

A nice old town, a bit too quiet to my taste,

 

Surely there is no such thing as too quiet in this day and age.

 

Living somewhere quiet is great because if you ever want some fun or noise ,traveling and visits to other cites/countries are the perfect time to be unquiet .

[Magere Hein 1,400]

A nice old town, a bit too quiet to my taste,

Surely there is no such thing as too quiet in this day and age.

 

Living somewhere quiet is great because if you ever want some fun or noise ,traveling and visits to other cites/countries are the perfect time to be unquiet .

 

It was a Sunday and Zeeland is Calvinist territory, where work on the Lord's Day is seriously frowned on. I've been told that Middelburg is more lively on other days.

 

I was glad to discover that staff in the Zeeuws Museum have among them heretics, apostates or atheists, so the museum was open.

 

regards,

Hein

[Magere Hein 1,400]

MHGTotN's stage of 10 Nov 2013 'did' another provincial capital: Haarlem. It was thoroughly death-related.

 

My primary target was this:

 

 

This slab of limestone contains the Haarlem specimen of Archaeopteryx, one of only eleven.

 

I visited the Teylers Museum, where it is on display, once before, in 1974. My memory of it is a dark and dusty museum, with faintly interesting fossils and scientific intruments on display. Today I saw a dark and somewhat dusty museum, in the old tradition of natural history museums, with a bit of art thrown in, with several type specimens of well-known extinct life forms.

 

Oh, and the art department currently display 100 prints and drawings of a dead Dutch artist some of you may know:

 

 

regards,

Hein

[Magere Hein 1,400]

Today's episode of MHGTotN is inspired by Remebrance Day, if a bit late.

 

My cycling tour though the westernmost part of Brabant was interesting, because there it was a foggy day. This made navigation difficult and the shifting landscape surprising. The most exciting sight was that of a buzzard perched on a lamppost, obviously not the bird on this picture.

 

 

Anyway, my ultimate cause was Steenbergen, a small town of little importance for people who don't live thereabouts. Late in the evening of 19 September 1944, RAF Mosquito B.XX KB267 crashed near Steenbergen in farmland that is now an industrial area. On board were two airmen, navigator Sqadron Leader Jim Warwick DFC and pilot Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC, DSO and Bar, DFC and Bar. The remains found in the wreck were a nasty potpourri of parts of torso and bits of knee and were buried in one grave at Steenbergen's Roman Catholic cemetary.

 

 

I visited the grave today. It is in perfect condition. I suppose because of Remembrance Day fresh wreaths were put on the grave. The dog doll, supposedly a tribute to Gibson's dog N-word, is still there.

 

regards,

Hein

[Magere Hein 1,400]

MHGTotN of 9 December 2013 took our intrepid reporter to Kootwijk^[1], a village in the municipality of Apeldoorn, a provincial town in the Veluwe without obvious use.

 

The cycling trip was rather miserable, windy and a spot of rain, but my first target, the Kootwijkerzand (one of the largest sand drifts in Europe) didn´t disappoint.

 

 

My main target is rather geeky and needs a bit of explanation.

 

 

This concrete building in the Art Nouveau Deco style also fancied by the Nazis, and not only for their bunkers and flak towers, is the main transmitter building of Radio Kootwijk. That radio station was built in the early 1920s for radio traffic between the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies. While that purpose disappeared in the late 1940s after independence of the Republic of Indonesia, the building remained in use well into the 1990s, mostly for radio traffic with Dutch merchant shipping. It´s now stripped of all equipment and used for conferences and expositions. The rest of the site is rather derelict.

 

^[1]Pronounced, roughly, as Coatwike.

 

regards,

Hein

Edited December 9, 2013 by Magere Hein
Architectural style corrected, Thanks, Toast.

[Toast 16,137]

I like that sort of thing. Only, it's Art Deco, not Art Nouveau. Art Nouveau was earlier (1890s and early 20thC) and is the curly-wurly style associated with the Paris Metro, Alphonse Mucha posters and the like.

[Rotten Ali 600]

Looks bloody grim. I think it needs a coat of exterior paint. (Even if that were a basic concrete colour.)

And you framed it quite well by getting the flag pole centralised with the centre window strip.

However, there is an arched window detail in the unseen far wall that does not quite line up, so that flag pole may not be totally centralised with the building. There is a plaque in front of the reflecting pool that does not tie in either.

 

So when in comes down to it, I'll just have to say that it's "just shoddy Jerry Builders at work again."

[Magere Hein 1,400]

Look bloody grim. I think it needs a coat of exterior paint. (Even if that were a basic concrete colour.)

 

Af far as I know the building was never painted. It seems to have been built with eternity in mind; although seen close-up the concrete looks a bit flaky at the edges, it's in good shape.

 

And you framed it quite well by getting the flag pole centralised with the centre window strip.

However, there is an arched window detail in the unseen far wall that does not quite line up, so that flag pole may not be totally centralised with the building. There is a plaque in front of the reflecting pool that does not tie in either.

 

Just to make things clear: I didn't take the picture, a Wikipedia user did.

 

So when in comes down to it, I'll just have to say that it's "just shoddy Jerry Builders at work again."

 

 

regards,

Hein

[Magere Hein 1,400]

After episodes of a more personal nature, like Woldendorp¹, or simply boring, like Baarle-Nassau, MHGTotN takes us to Drenthe again. My first port of call was Kamp Westerbork, a place of national grief and shame.

 

 

It's also the location of the Netherlands greatest single contribution to astronomy, Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope.

 

 

This array is the successor of a single radio telescope located some 30 km SW: Dwingeloo Radio Observatory. I visited its radio shack in the 1970s, with my uncle A, who knew one of the operators through his work. Decommisioned in 1999, it's now slowly moulding away, even though a club of amateur radio enthusiasts is trying to restore it.

 

The telescope in happier times

 

That uncle lived, with my aunt B, in the village of Dwingeloo, in a house designed by my dad. The house still exists, as does their grave in the village cemetary.

 

¹ The place where my great great grandfather, a miller, was born.

² Although its cruel and unusual geography is mildly interesting

 

regards,

Hein

[Lard Bazaar 3,799]

So we had weeks of beautiful weather, I went to Looe last week and it was fucking shite. I'm now supposed to be packing the tent to go to the MotoGP at Silverstone tomorrow, but I can't be arsed and I'm headbanging in the kitchen instead. It will inevitably rain for the weekend, because it always does for the GP, whether they have it in May, June, July or August. So if you're watching it on telly on Sunday, look out for a bedraggled fat bird in a Bert and Ernie hat sticking her Vs up at the camera

[Paul Bearer 6,101]

Heading to Spain for a week next month.

[Dr. Zorders 1,271]

Put me in charge.

[Predictor 1,018]

Put me in charge.

...in charge of what, his vacation? No offence, but I don't think Mrs. Bearer and Paul Bearer Jr. would like that idea.

[Paul Bearer 6,101]

Hmmmmm. Thought I'd already posted this. Flying off to New Zealand shortly for a month. Hopefully I'll still be able to log in

[Cat O'Falk 3,290]

Hmmmmm. Thought I'd already posted this. Flying off to New Zealand shortly for a month. Hopefully I'll still be able to log in ��

 

Put me in charge.

[Magere Hein 1,400]

Hmmmmm. Thought I'd already posted this. Flying off to New Zealand shortly for a month. Hopefully I'll still be able to log in ��

 

Have a good time and say hello to summer.

 

regards,

Hein

[Paul Bearer 6,101]

Hmmmmm. Thought I'd already posted this. Flying off to New Zealand shortly for a month. Hopefully I'll still be able to log in ��

 

Have a good time and say hello to summer.

 

regards,

Hein

Will do. I'll also tell it not to forget the northern hemisphere in a few months

[Predictor 1,018]

This is gonna sound really weird but I have this strong desire to visit the North Sentinel Island. I'd probably get if I tried to get close, but it'd be worth the risk! What I want to know is why they hate visitors. Are they hiding something supercool over there that they don't want anyone to find out about?

[Dr. Zorders 1,271]

This is gonna sound really weird but I have this strong desire to visit the North Sentinel Island. I'd probably get if I tried to get close, but it'd be worth the risk! What I want to know is why they hate visitors. Are they hiding something supercool over there that they don't want anyone to find out about?

I was thinking about this last night, my theory is they actually have captive the original funny Jim Carrey - you know the one who seems to have disappeared a long time ago. And he entertains them to no end with his zany antics, just like that African tribe in the 2nd Ace Ventura movie.... so they don't want to let him go and anytime someone approaches the island they think it's "da white man" coming to get him back.

 

 

 

 

p.s. Mind providing a Wiki link next time for stuff like that? Or at least telling us where it is..... (I took care of it)

[torbrexbones 717]

Booked for Hawaii next month with a stopover in San Francisco.

This will make it all 50 states for me.

[Bibliogryphon 9,574]

Booked for Hawaii next month with a stopover in San Francisco.

This will make it all 50 states for me.

 

If you are going to San Franscisco be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.....

[Lard Bazaar 3,799]

 

Booked for Hawaii next month with a stopover in San Francisco.

This will make it all 50 states for me.

 

If you are going to San Franscisco be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.....

 

[themaninblack 2,112]

Off to Tenerife for a week tomorrow. First trip abroad in five years so looking forward to it...