Week 7 Worried about Europe

 

Week 7

Kids' Weekend again...they just keep getting older! We might have to think about cutting back unless we get some more kids - wages and payroll tax eat into the margins - but we'll keep going for the time being - it's rewarding enough in other ways...





Ben was home with us - so no photos from faraway places...he's already gone back to Amsterdam and Den Hague for work - he's contemplating another 6 month stint of work with the Government - he puts in long hours even when he's home with us - so maybe they appreciate him just a little...

Europe (yeah, it's close to home)

Introductory Editor's Letter from the euObserver (I don't pay to read the full story)...but this gives the general idea...


Is this what it's like when a geopolitical leviathan flips the world order on its head? Is this US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin carving up the map: Greenland and Canada for me, Ukraine and Europe for you?

Or just more cack-handed, cock-sure, stupid, ego-trip, bullshit from Trump, like his first term in office, which achieves nothing, but causes lots of damage, and ends up rotting away uselessly after he's gone, like his half-built Mexico border wall.

I read the letter again and thought that it might be better in full...New Zealand might not be far enough away...

If you were listening to New Zealand radio on Monday, you might have heard me trying to give an overview of the US-Russia-EU situation, but I have a confession to make: despite writing about foreign policy for 20 years, I have no idea what's going on here.

The firehose of news and crazy quotes keeps blasting your face so hard, it's impossible to stand over things and look down thoughtfully. It's hard to just keep up, even with three live blogs open, or to write an article that isn't out of date before it's published.

Is this what it's like when a geopolitical leviathan flips the world order on its head? Is this US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin carving up the map: Greenland and Canada for me, Ukraine and Europe for you?

Or just more cack-handed, cock-sure, stupid, ego-trip, bullshit from Trump, like his first term in office, which achieves nothing, but causes lots of damage, and ends up rotting away uselessly after he's gone, like his half-built Mexico border wall.

My best guess? Trump will make a half-peace in Ukraine, seriously harm US-EU relations, and the gangrene of Putin's war will keep slowly eating away at the lovely limbs of our continent just like before.

But then again, as I write this, perhaps Trump has invaded the Antarctic or annexed Mars, making Russia old hat. Covfefe. MAGA! Covfefe. Covfefe.

I'm moving to New Zealand.

– Andrew Rettman, foreign editor

and this from The Economist


From The Wall Street Journal

“evil does exist as a force in the world. Indeed, it is the only explanation for why certain people do certain things.”

The Boat

Just having a look at a few routes/destinations...

This one was only (finally) opened last year - from Dokkum to Sluis (Lock) Krumsterhaad






The route is approximately 12 kilometers long. Two locks mark the route. The Oosterverlaat lock at the Schapedijkje in Dokkum is a monumental (historical) lock and is operated for you by the lock keeper.

The lock at the other end has instructions....










Sailing quiz question (haha, I started looking at these again - it's been 13 years since I did the Boat Licence Exam - in Dutch!)

The wind is changing from southwest to southeast. At the same time your barometer indicates that the air pressure is dropping. In general we can say that:

A. The weather situation is improving.

B. The weather situation is deteriorating.

C. The weather situation remains stable.

This week around the farm...

Firewood (aka "exercise") 

10 Cubic metres












Weather improving...

At the beginning of the week, we had "feels like Minus 11" and by Friday it was  Plus 16 - we had the doors open out the back - to let the warmth in....and the snow has all gone except for where it turned to ice on the wood sheds







(Solar) Panel market has collapsed


This is reflected in the sales figures: the number of panels that households have installed on roofs halved last year . This is partly due to the fact that the market is becoming increasingly saturated.


Another important cause of the decline is that the netting scheme is disappearing. As a result, from 2027, panel owners will no longer be able to offset the electricity they supply against the electricity they use at other times of the year. 


Further, panel owners have to pay ever-increasing charges to have their generated electricity carried on the energy company grid. The greedy bloody-mindedness of this last point is probably reason enough for us not to pursue purchasing the panels on our roof.


Answer and explanation

The correct answer is: B

With a shrinking wind, that is, a wind that is turning counterclockwise, and a falling air pressure, you can generally say that the weather will deteriorate. When preparing for your trip, it is always wise to check the weather forecast before you go out on the water.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 17 Visitor from Melbourne

Image
Week 17  Ellen used to be the Office Manager at the Fire Protection Department in the 1980's. We always got on OK and kept in touch over the years as she got her MBA and moved on to bigger and more varied things - most recently retired and teaching music to disadvantaged kids in Melbourne. Janny, Ben and I stayed in her beachhouse at Queenscliff one year - about 1999, I think. We then lost touch but somehow Ellen retained the address of our house in Birdaard. This year, she sent a letter to that address and it found it's way to here - she was coming to Amsterdam for the Mahler Concerts at the Royal Concertgebouw - and could we catch up? https://mahlerfestival.concertgebouw.nl/en/ So it all fell into place and we picked her up from Heerenveen last Sunday ... On Monday we went to Leeuwarden and Janny and I both realised that we hadn't done that much touristy stuff there - so it was good for us as well. On the way home, we stopped at the Prinsenhof in Earnewoude - it turns ou...
Read more

Week 2 Things to do

Image
Week 2 Things to do this year... (haha, in times when even buying long life milk seems a bit optimistic) Upgrade kids' area inside Vegie garden again Painting More firewood Security cameras (Cheryl could see who was at her front door - from all the way over here!) ...and I looked for some old boating blogs for a dear friend...and discovered that this is the 10th year of me doing this. It occupies a couple of hours on a Sunday morning, but it also means that I think about things during the preceding week - those "count your blessings" moments, or something unusual, or indeed something totally boring :-) as I often wonder how lucky I am that things turned out the way they did. So, I'm thinking of making a summary like this...(it will probably take me the whole year to do) - not sure if it will be another blog or a Google Doc.... 2015 week 43 https://thisweekinwijnjewoude.blogspot.com/2015/10/week-43.html The beginning. Explanation of our business Preparing the Granny Fl...
Read more

Week 20 Back on the Boat

Image
  Week 20 0500 starts - the long days are fantastic Definitely a counting our blessings day as I'm sitting on the boat writing this. (even though it is raining!). We stayed on board overnight on Friday in Heerenveen - mainly just to say hello to Ron and Nettie. We all went for dinner in Heerenveen and then a few card games and Bananagrams.  On Saturday morning it was a last minute decision to go into the Turf Route and invite Ron and Nettie for the day. We had doubts about the weather and wind - but it turned out just perfect as we arrived at our destination at 1500hrs and the rain arrived at 1600hrs as predicted. It was interesting to note in Gorredijk that there was a sign saying that " Due to the drought, there will be only 4 lock openings per day" . The boat in front had been waiting for us to arrive (the lock keepers knew we were coming). This meant that we could just keep going through without having to wait - it's all in the timing! Janny and Nettie hopped off ...
Read more