Week 36 Snowy on the Boat
We went for our first dinner "out" on Thursday - to celebrate me being able to watch the footy on the boat in Dokkum - no mean feat with having to use Janny's (unlimited) iPhone as a mobile hotspot.
As we were sitting outside, enjoying the Italian food and unbelievably good weather, somehow or other, I came to mention "Snowy on the tram" - and had to explain it, of course.It obviously came to me in my early, impressionable days in the fire service.
I found a blog from a journalist who first heard it from his editor...
https://matthewdillon.net/2016/04/25/in-search-of-snowy-on-the-tram/
He used it in the sense of “even Snowy on the tram” has heard that, or knows that. I imagined Snowy as a not particularly well informed individual, spending most of his time, as he did, in transit. He’s kind of an average fella, and not especially bright or curious.
This site regards it as a Melbourne thing...
Another familiar (and more to my liking) usage was found on the Big Footy pages, of all places.
"Snowy on the trams" was the traditional answer given down the pub when anyone asked the organiser
"Who won last week's raffle?".
He was generally regarded as being mythical.
Strangely, the Australian National University doesn't have it listed.
Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms...
https://slll.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/andc/meanings-origins/s
It is nonetheless quite interesting reading, as I searched for a few more to tell Janny
I told her about Bluey
Perhaps the most Australian use of bluey is the curious use of it to describe a red-headed person (first recorded in 1906):
1936 A.B. Paterson, Shearer's Colt: 'Bluey', as the crowd called him, had found another winner. (All red-haired men are called 'Bluey' in Australia for some reason or other.)
1978 R.H. Conquest, Dusty Distances: I found out later that he was a native of New South Wales, called ' Bluey because of his red hair - typical Australian logic.
...and shanks' pony
One's feet or legs, regarded as a means of transport
We have a particular group of boats here again this year. They are all Bayliners and the owners all come from the one part of Friesland. They seem to want to take over their mooring spot by sheer weight of numbers. We heard (from Snowy on the Boat) that they have been evicted from a few havens.
We chose a different spot this year so that we wouldn't be near them again.
After explaining Snowy on the Tram, at least I had a clear example to explain this one to Janny,
"F... You Jack, I'm Alright".
From wiktionary.org
Used to epitomize arrogance and selfishness, with dismissive disregard of others.
Which is the total opposite of the intent of the Dutch boating site called "Varen doe je samem". (We do boating together) - meaning the whole boating community, not just one isolated group.
The boat behind us at the moment comes from Drachten - Janny got talking to them and thought she recognised his voice - he comes from Leeuwarden (they sound a bit different, apparently) - and sure enough it turns out that he served drinks at a pub Janny used to drink at in her late teens (40 years ago!).
He has become my new "Snowy on the Boat" - he is a real chatterbox and even included a couple of stories about "missing the (boating) channel in the fog" and "scaring his partner in Beaufort 7 winds" - both gave me pause for thought... (It has nothing to do with Snowy on the Tram - it's just me finding a slot for him - and there may well be more Snowy's, now that I have thought of it).
He and his mate tried to tell me that there is a better way to get to Heerenveen - ie than the route we have been using for 15 years or more!. I looked it up on our navigation app - their way would be 300metres shorter, but with several bridges to wait for...our way has no obstacles of any description and would take less time on that score alone. So, I'll leave it with them - I guess they'll know when we leave later this afternoon :)
Early in the week there was a 16m Linssen Grand Sturdy behind us. They were Germans and asked Janny if we would guard their mooring while they went to get water...about an hour later Janny had had enough so she went looking for them... they have an 1100 litre water tank and it was taking ages to fill - so they gave up and came back to their mooring - not before we had incurred the wrath of people looking for a spot! We got water early the next morning - before the bridges open, so that there are no new boats looking for a spot :)
Janny looked the boat up to see what they cost - a 2nd hand one with 200 engine hours was 1.2 million euros!. (They did seem a bit posh - even getting a taxi to go and play golf one day)
Saturday morning walk at 0800hrs... but it got close to 27ºC
Sunday morning about 0700hrs...expecting 28ºC today
It seems like it was a busy week in looking back - which is probably a good thing as we are on holidays and one can only do so much sitting around :)
On Tuesday, we went to Lauwersoog to see the UNESCO World Heritage area of the Waddenzee...
The Wadden Sea World Heritage is the largest tidal flat system in the world, where natural processes proceed largely undisturbed. It encompasses almost the entire Wadden Sea in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands: an area of nearly 11,500 square kilometres along a coastal strip of about 500 kilometres.
The dyke was strengthened in 2019, especially with the placement of the square blocks. More works started this year and will continue to 2027.
G
Groningen's Lauwersmeerdijk is located between Lauwersoog and the Westpolder. We are strengthening that dike. This way we protect ourselves against flooding from the sea in the future. After a period of preparation and making plans together, we started the work in 2023. The dike reinforcement will last until 2027.
On Wednesday, Boeke had to go for a haircut, so I caught up on my bookkeeping - just so I won't have so much to do when we get back :)
We decided to leave him at home because it was too hot for him on the boat - sisters and personnel (and the kids) took on the task of looking after him...
On Friday, we found a lock that we hadn't known about before. It is on a route that was supposed to be ready for 2023 - Dokkum to Lauwersoog - but there is still one bridge that has to be raised. Maybe we'll do the route next year - the lock is at the very start. The lock-keeper sprang into action to open it for us - but we had to tell him we wouldn't go through because we didn't know how much battery we had left. He looked disappointed...
On Saturday, Bertha and Gerard joined us in order to do some Festival things and then sleep on board...
This one taken by a niece as we went under the main stage...
Bertha and two nieces enjoying the food and music...
There was a Frisian band that everyone seemed to be bouncing along with :)They had to translate some of the words when I raised my eyebrow - yes, it was "I'm gonna hit you in the face with my wooden shoe"... oh dear, I am getting old :-(
Gerard bought one of the band T-shirts - easy to see the closeness to English
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