Prepare to be annoyed just about sums it up ... The Dutch idea of free flowing traffic SUCKS ... Especially if you have to negotiate the Eindhoven ring road!


Last Thursday afternoon my appointment ran a tad overtime which left me with a huge dilemma ..... Stay in Belgium for a couple of extra hours and shop for fireworks or go directly home and run the risk of the evening Dutch rush hour chaos.

My choice was simple ...... no cash, as it was not yet pay day, and no credit card (which was confiscated by Cloggy after a previous such dilemma resulted in a huge addition to my shoe collection) ......
I got in my car, set the navigation system to 'Home', took a deep breath and drove out of the car park.

2 hours later I had driven 60 kms, was bustin for a pee and stuck fast in the evening traffic on the Eindhoven ring road which can only be described as Dante's 7th circle of Hell!

The Eindhoven ring road has been undergoing "improvements" by the Dutch Highway Authority since before Noah realised it was not a good idea to bunk the Tigers in with the tasty Chickens on his Ark. "Authority" my arse!

As you approach the ring signs tell you to turn off your navigation and follow the signs ... thereafter THERE ARE NO BLOODY SIGNS and all the exit roads lead back onto the Eindhoven ring!
 
In sheer desperation and in danger of flooding my car I called Cloggy for help;
"How the hell do I get off of this road?"
His answer was simple;
"Find a truck with a German licence plate and follow it, you'll either end up in Spain or on the right road home"!

Luckily, or unluckily, for Cloggy (depending on if you are a friend of his or a friend of mine) I followed a German truck that was heading back to the Fatherland. 4 hours later I staggered in through my kitchen door and collapsed. Cloggy administered wine, bless him, after a cheap bottle of plonk later I had forgotten about my nightmare journey and was ready for my next sortie around the Eindhoven ring road.

Well ... maybe not ...  but by January I will have figured out how to get my credit card back.

A blog entry for Mariska.


Have you ever wondered why there are so many Wind Turbines in the province of Flevoland, Netherlands?

Probably not ...... but I have.


Most weeks I have to drive to Almere (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almere). Straight down the A1 for 100kms until I have to turn off on to the A27 for the last part of my journey. After approx 5km's you drive over the Gooimeer lake and there stretching out as far as the eye can see are Wind Turbines. Its a bit of a surreal sight especially if there's a dark stormy sky behind them as there was today.

 
It wasn't so long ago that this part of the Netherlands was totally reclaimed from the water. Now, I know the Dutch are famous for their dikes but I can't help but wonder if there is something else that is assisting in keeping this part of the world from sinking back into the Zuider Sea? It is after all a huge area of land.

Then today it hit me!

Those aren't Wind Turbines generating kW's of clean energy I was looking at ... Oh No......  They are helicopter's (cunningly disguised of course). Almere wasn't reclaimed from the Zuider Sea using a brilliant feat of Dutch Dike Engineering alone ...... NO ...... NO .......NO!'

ALMERE IS HOVERING ABOVE SEA LEVEL THANKS TO THE BIG WHITE HELICOPTER THINGYS.

You watch ... there is always a few Wind Turbines (aka helicopter's) spinning frantically somewhere on the outskirts of the city! If they all stop at once theres' going to be one hell of an almighty SPLASH as Almere crashes back into the Zuider Sea and the resulting tidal wave will take out Amsterdam!

Being caught up in the Friday afternoon traffic jams on the A1 does strange things to your mind.