Week 25 Crikey, not so fast

 

Week 25

Monday morning, after a long (hot) weekend...

Ron and Nettie made it to Paris!

Our record "dry"

The record number of dry days (36) was ended by only ONE rainy night (17mm)...at our place. Down south, they had much more rain (neerslag) .

But I'm still keeping an eye on the water levels for this summer...

Rhine is still falling slightly, rising slightly in the second half of the week

The Rhine has dropped 50 cm in the past week and the level is now about 7.8 m (NAP). In the coming days, the decrease will continue slowly with about 5 cm per day and I expect the lowest level on Friday at a level just above 7.5 m (NAP). The discharge, which currently amounts to approximately 1,250 m3 / s, will then have dropped to approximately 1,125 m3 / s. Such a discharge is not uncommon for the Rhine, it is especially unusual that it is already so little at this time of the year. The long-term average for mid-June is 2,250 m 3 /s.

On Sunday, we visited Ben in Amsterdam

A live-aboard just around the corner from Ben's place - sold for €600.000

Father's Day (Nederland) lunch - with Ben

Ben is currently in Barcelona. 

His membership of Soho House extends to their Barcelona premises. (We presume that he is "working" - as he can be online anywhere :)   )

Double Glazing

As planned (more than 6 months ago) our new double-glazing was installed during the week.

We were able to check the insulation beads that were blown into the cavity walls last year...

Now that we have two items checked off, we can claim the subsidies on offer from our village Energy Corporation and from the Government.

We're also applying for an interest-free loan to get the floor insulation done and for the heat pumps. Unfortunately, the air conditioning units that we have in mind for the apartments, don't qualify.

Getting a wriggle on...

The work gave Janny a bit of inspiration to start organising the next phase...our preferred builder can start in October - which is surprisingly not far away. So, the demolition work can probably start sooner than expected...

We'll probably begin to relocate ourselves to the improvised "guest room" out the back - but that will become a living room (maybe small enough to heat effectively) and the gym will become our bedroom - we sleep now without any heating.

We had been thinking of moving into one of the apartments, but we interviewed a couple of Greek workers who needed a place. They seemed OK, but it is definitely something new for us after a string of single Mums (and a Dad). They have to get a "Declaration of Good Behaviour" in order to be on the same premises as our kids (Child/Youth Protection Rules). So, we're waiting on that now. Therese is also just about to move out and the most likely to move in is a man originally from Guatemala (also a marriage break-up in the village).

There's a new policy from our Local Government that "local people will have priority in the various villages where housing is provided". This means that our remaining single Mum will move up on the Wijnjewoude housing waiting list - that she has been on for 3 years now.

A Stressful Week

Ankie is still on holidays, so we are having to manage everything between the two of us. Our "Tuesday" volunteer lady came to help out on Thursday, so that Janny could start calling back the builders to see how they are going for work schedules.

I managed to fix the mower only to find that the slasher needed attention - easily fixed with the aid of the internet :)

Having repaired the driveway, we decided to clean it as well...(long overdue)

And after that, we couldn't get away quickly enough on Thursday afternoon - in time for a takeaway meal on board and just to be able to relax and do nothing!

On Friday morning we filled up with diesel and headed for Boornzwaag - where we continued doing nothing...

We drank a toast to Ron and Nettie...

We needed sheets to provide a bit of shade...

And, of course, I started daydreaming again about doing "the trip" - having learnt a bit more about what will be required. Employing someone to do my work (for only 3 months), seems to be the obvious answer - hindsight being a wonderful thing.

 Janny sometimes posts on a site looking at things Frysian...

We spotted this sign (Frysian) in one of our favorite canals through a place called Broek...

Literally, it translates as "Lightning Not so Fast" but Janny says a better translation would be using the word Crikey - "Crikey, not so fast" referring to the boats passing through - Bliksem being used more in that manner.

We also spotted an interesting barn conversion - nice living on the water - with "room for a boat".