Royalty

A royal impression

On the one hand it was a relief not to be living in the Netherlands the past few months, because I think it would have been awful with all the royalty stuff going on and everything slowly turning orange. On the other hand it was quite a shame not to be living there, since the event that was happening is very likely not happening again any time soon, so it was a shame to miss it. Even if Norwegian tv covered quite a bit as well!

Dutch me in Norwegian surroundings

What I am talking about? Well, you know about Queen's Day don't you. The national holiday in the Netherlands where we celebrate our Queen's birthday (which is actually on January 31st, but it's a tad cold then). But this year it was going to be different. In stead of her and her family making the trek to one or two villages/towns/cities in the Netherlands, she had decided she had had enough. She was going to abdicate. Which by the way is not unusual in the Netherlands. Her mother and grandmother had done the same. 

Because she was going to abdicate, her eldest child would automatically become the next reigning monarch. In this case her oldest child is male (as are her other 2 children by the way), so we would get a king. And it would all happen on April 30th. Queen's Day. 

King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima, Princess Beatrix
Princess Alexia, Crown-Princess Amalia, Princess Ariane

I live in Norway, but I felt that I shouldn't let that hinder me in showing my respect for the Royal family and yesterday I turned up at work in my uniform and my fantastic orange hat. I got congratulated on 'our' new king, I got questioning looks and it was great fun. 

And now we have a king. The first in over 120 years. But as you can see from the photo of the royal family, the next monarch will be a queen again! Next year we will not have a Queen's Day. Next year we will have a King's Day. On a different day as well, because King Willem-Alexander's birthday is April 27th.

Long live the King! 

Right!

We are going orange again!!

Work has been okay the last few days. Not much going on and definitely not those awful long days of old. It will probably really kick in sometime in the second week of May. And since half the staff went walkies, there is the same amount of work for less drivers! Should keep me in overtime at least...

Wuppie is almost back to normal. Not his ear though, his ear will never be normal again, but it least it stopped oozing and stinking. I just have to clean it out on a regular basis, because it's even harder to clean now than it was before (and he always had dirty ears before). He doesn't mind though, it stopped hurting as well.

Tomorrow is Queen's Day in the Netherlands. The day when we (officially) celebrate the Queen's birthday, but basically it's just one massive excuse to have the biggest open air market in the world: every city, town, village and hamlet will have stalls, carpets, cars and what have you with adults and children trying to sell you all the stuff you sold the year before.

In the mean time the Queen herself makes an appearance in two or three villages or towns in one region of the country. And masses of people show up for that. And where there's masses of people, there are buses. And I will be driving one of them. I will remember to take my camera to see what fun I can spot tomorrow (I doubt it will be the Queen) and of course I will put on my lovely orange hat. Got to stay in keeping of course!

Long live the Queen!

Well, it's April 30th today and we celebrate our only national holiday! Queen's Day! So, there will be free markets in nearly every village, town and city. There will be music, there will be old fashioned games and there will be an awful lot of orange!

Happy Queen's Day everyone!!!

Queen's Day

Self portrait. Sorry about the grumpy face, but the sun was glaring.

Today is Queen's Day in the Netherlands. A day where we celebrate our reigning monarch's birthday. It first started with Queen Wilhelmina whose birthday was in August. Her successor was Queen Juliana whose birthday was on April 30th. But her successor: Queen Beatrix celebrates her own birthday on January 31st. Not exactly the day you want to have off and sit on a market selling your stuff all day! So, instead of moving the holiday to her birthday, she decided April 30th was good enough for her.

Her mother had always had a huge parade in front of her house (Paleis Soestdijk). The boyscouts, Salvation Army, choirs, schoolchildren, OAP's and all other groups and organisations would march past the Queen, her husband Prince Bernhard and their children and grandchildren. But when Beatrix took over, she abandoned that immediately, instead deciding that every year, she and her husband (when he was alive) and children and grandchildren would visit one or two towns or villages in the country.

The time when all three of her princely sons were lost on a huge fun-fair in Amsterdam are long gone, but bobbing for apples, sack races and all other old-fashioned games are still part and parcel of the whole day.

The places she doesn't visit don't just sit in front of the television watching her walk, no they organise their own parties. Freemarkets are really common: a decidedly unglorified boot-sale where children especially can sell their stuff. In my hometown it took over the whole of the High Street! People everywhere, trying to find that bargain toy (at €0,50 not too bad) or old computer screen. You don't go hungry on these markets either: scouts selling cookies, children selling lemonade and cakes (for charity), women selling hamburgers (for Africa), Vietnamese egg-rolls and ice-creams. Because we have a fun-fair as well: cotton candy, doughballs, waffles, donuts and much much more. If after all that food you are hungry: most bars and restaurants are open and selling drinks!

Throw two eggs in my mouth and grab a present
2 eggs for €1

And then there are the stands: the ones on the fair like shooting and angling ducks, but also the freemarket ones. You take a large vat, dump some sawdust or shredded newspaper in and some cheap presents and the kids are happy. However, the one in the photo was just a little bit better: Throw two eggs in the mouth(s) and then you get to grab something! As you can see, not everyone did fare that well. Most of the throwers missed altogether, covering Her Majesty Queen Beatrix (left) and Her Royal Highness Princess Maxima (right) in egg!

Queen Wilhelmina would turn in her grave if she saw this!

Update: This afternoon a complete idiot drove his car at full speed into a crowd of spectators. They were watching the Queen and her family while they were on an open bus. The man never used his brakes. He killed five and (severely) injured thirteen before coming to a stop at a monument.