Week 43 A Milestone


Week 43

A very special milestone...

For some reason, I woke up this morning thinking about Mum... she told me years ago that an aquaintence of hers once asked "and what is Ken doing now?" Oh, he's in the Fire Service..."never mind dear, something else will come along"... I think Mum was visiting in Darwin at the time she told me, so it was good for her to remember that...

And now I sometimes shake my head in wonder to think how things have turned out with Janny & Ben - and the Care Farm is "something else" indeed.

But, turning 75 is a milestone as it turns out... so as much as I wish that we could just keep going - doing something for others does have special rewards - it might be time to think of something else...but maybe not today :-)

For Thursday morning coffee we had all the Day Activity clients in one place...(and Paul & Heather)



Again, I am reminded of a line from Slow Horses - "they might be (special) people, but they are our special people".

(The original was "they might be misfits, but they are my misfits" - by Jackson Lamb brilliantly played by Gary Oldman).

Paul and Heather were visiting and I was totally content to have a quiet dinner with Janny, Ben and  Janny's Mum - so we headed off to the car... and then kept walking to our Weekend dining/activity room...where a Surprise Party awaited...Janny's extended family (who are also our closest friends) and many of the nieces and nephews who are now adults in their own right. Yeah, they got me...




and then on the weekend we had the kids...so a special treat of cake and whatever they chose for dinner!


We always have to keep going with our daily routine, but we managed a day trip to Dokkum and a few hours in Drachten on Friday... the main point of Paul and Heather being there was my 75th - and "being there" is the greatest gift of all when it is all said and done.






Out walking at the back of our place...


On Saturday morning, Janny was working so I took Ben, Paul & Heather to the train at Heerenveen...good that they could travel together



Ben is still house-sitting and Paul and Heather had booked an apartment-style accommodation for 3 extra days in Amsterdam  - some of the time with Ben doing the tour guide thing...



Paul booked to see a soccer match Ajax v Heerenveen - more for the atmosphere than anything else...




So, more next week...

It seems like ages ago, but only last Monday the boat came out of the water - I still have to do the winterising... fresh oil and anti-freeze basically...








The Election

From DutchNews.nl

This was an interview with the likely winner - done before the election...



I think Janny & Ben went this way - I was a bit further to the left... but am more than happy with this (unexpected) result - far better than the lurch to the right of the last election.
They still need to form a coalition - most of the Parties won't have anything to do with the far right (Wilders is already claiming voter fraud in his best Trumpian style).

And this is an AI query that I did using Gemini...

The Dutch political party Democrats 66 (D66) is a major progressive liberal, social liberal party, generally positioned on the centre to centre-left of the political spectrum.1

Here are the key features of their platform, what they stand for, and the type of people they typically represent:

🌟 What D66 Stands For

D66 advocates for a "society with freedom for everyone, but nobody left behind."2 Their core focus areas are:

  • Social Liberalism & Cultural Liberalism: They are proponents of civil rights, personal freedom, and social progress.3 Historically, cabinets in which D66 participated introduced major liberal reforms such as the legalisation of euthanasia, same-sex marriage, and sex work.4

  • Education and Innovation: Increasing government spending on education and innovation is a primary goal.5 They favour reforms aimed at ensuring high-quality education and equal opportunities for all children, regardless of background.6

  • Democratic Reform: One of their founding objectives was to democratise the Dutch political system.7 They still advocate for electoral reforms like a binding referendum and the direct election of the Prime Minister and mayors.

  • Pro-Europeanism and Globalism: D66 is strongly pro-European and advocates for deeper cooperation within the European Union.8 They view the Netherlands and its cities as globally connected and minded.9

  • Climate and Sustainability: The environment is an important issue.10 They favour a carbon price, significant investment in sustainable energy, and aggressive targets to combat climate change, such as striving for a neutral and circular economy.12

  • Economy: They favour a mixed economy that combines market economics with government intervention.13 They support increased flexibility in the labour market and tax cuts for the lower and middle classes.

🧑‍💻 Type of People They Typically Represent

D66 draws its support primarily from a specific demographic profile in the Netherlands:14

  • Highly Educated: They are especially popular among people who hold a university degree or higher education.15

  • Urban and Wealthy Areas: Their voters are mostly concentrated in the larger cities and in municipalities with an above-average number of wealthy residents.16

  • Progressive and Moderate: They appeal to voters who are culturally progressive and socially liberal, often seen as occupying a position between the traditionally progressive (left-wing) parties and the conservative liberal (right-wing) parties.17

In summary, D66 is a party focused on a positive, future-oriented, and internationally-minded agenda, with a strong emphasis on progress, education, democracy, and personal freedoms.

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