Raindrops are falling on ..........

Dear Bloggers,


Last Saturday night I had to work and the weather forecast is not really something to write home about. The evening is peaceful and sometimes it rains a bit. After my break I drive from Heerenveen to Drachten on line 20 and it starts to rain harder and harder. When I drive from Drachten Leeuwarden starts to thunder. The horizon is fully illuminated by the flashes of lightning and it is still a beautiful natural picture.Als I start to drive back from Leeuwarden, the rain is downpouring from the sky and several streets are flooded with water. The harsh winds make my job as a driver quite interesting. Below you can read the forecast of last saturday.

Lots of rain is coming
For outdoor activities, the weather over the next two days is extremely precarious. In the back room we see with some feelings of pity precipitation calculations. It could well be that a number of Dutch regions soon 50-80 millimeters of rain gauges come. The first heavy rainfall moved through the Southeast today, within and tonight will gradually cover a significant part of the Netherlands. I think about that whole thing and then some hanging and some are very unstable in the air heavy rain and thunderstorms. And all because a bubble of cold air in the upper layers of the atmosphere in conjunction with the pile up of colder and warmer air.

Hole in the upper air
The 'source cause' of this wet weather is called a upper air hole. This is an area of about 5 to 10 km altitude, which is pretty cold, colder than over other areas in Europe. That well in recent days from the north pushed southward and is now over France and Switzerland at 5 km above the surface temperatures around -20/-21 degrees. Such an area with low temperatures leading to rising motion of air to the ground. The air at the ground as it were drawn up. And where air rises from the ground, forms a low pressure area. Since the heaviest lift movements on the east side of a pit place, are now low pressure zone over Switzerland, Germany and Luxembourg.

Slide over each other air masses
Besides the aforementioned 'hole' there is another physical phenomenon that will bring precipitation to our cause, namely that the different air masses meet. On the ground because a north wind blows, while at 1500 meters above ground on a north-easterly winds and 4 to 5 km altitude the wind blowing from the east. With winds from different directions, there is some height relatively warm air raised over a relatively less warm air flows / slides. The air on the ground from the North Sea (west of Denmark), the air at some height has its origins in Denmark and northern Germany. The air moves from the east over the relatively cooler air is thereby forced back and some extra lift. That bit of upliftment leads to an additional impetus for the formation of precipitation. In other words, partly arises and intensifies the rainfall over the country.

How much will fall?
As said before the afternoon and evening from the southeast progressively fewer locations rain (partly the result, partly within the slide). Then, the night almost anywhere in the rain. The expected rain tomorrow amounts to 08.00 hours vary mostly between 10 and 70 millimeters. Most of wetness in the western, central and southern expected.

Tomorrow during the day, it seems that the precipitation zone over the west and southwest will drag. In the central and more eastern parts of the country dry for some time, possibly with a faint sun there. Do arise in the unstable atmosphere just as several heavy showers, accompanied by reasonable chance of thunderstorms and hail. The expected rainfall will tomorrow daytime (from 08.00 to 20.00) between 5 and 25 millimeters vary. Thereafter it tomorrow and during the night to Tuesday in many places quite wet.

Then the precipitation zone over the western part of the country yet again, by becoming a land wind from west to east it will slide over us. This seems to happen Tuesday, Wednesday and then again from the same corner after a rain area in draws. In short, until Wednesday there will be locally heavy rainfall to come down. Who out again, doing well to the weather forecast to follow. In addition, this situation again in his sights very difficult to get. Small changes in positioning of the rain area, can have a huge impact on the expected weather.

For the first time in my life I'm glad I've come home again without any damage, when I crawl into bed enjoying the rain lashes the window. To get the sound of the humming of the motor out of my head I decided to watch some TV. To my surprise, there is only snow on the screen, a consequence of the last thunderstorm hit which ended with a large bang.

The Old Sailor,

It's a jungle out there

Dear Bloggers,


It is the last day of the school holidays time to do something adventures. I start pushing the bunch of Sheila’s to hurry up. There is not any speed at all in this chicken farm they only make a lot of noise and hardly do anything usefull. Finally (one hour later) I have gathered them all in the car. There is no plan made and I ask them what we possibly could do. After an hours drive there is still no progress, I tell them if they don’t come with a plan I will drive back home. Suddenly they want to go to the zoo in Emmen.

A day at the zoo brings to mind many images of visits when I was a child. Buying bags of peanuts to feed the animals; crying at the sight of reptiles, and ducking the spray from the whales. Years have passed since I visited a zoo, choosing not to view animals in captivity.

The progress of mankind and the inevitable destruction of the world’s natural ecosystems, has meant that in the foreseeable future, it may only be possible to view our wonderful wildlife in captivity. That being said, with progress, comes education. The knowledge we now have of the natural habitats of animals, means that we are now able to house them in environments perhaps even more hospitable than those they would experience in the wild.

Founded in 1935 by Willem Oosting the Emmen Zoo puts its emphasis on education, research and conservation, by participating in several breeding programmes.

Eventually, it is with reluctance that I say goodbye to my newfound friends the skul monkeys. I gather my now seemingly useless possessions as a skul monkey approaches me. I looked into his eyes feeling that he was trying to communicate with me. I gaze into his angelic eyes and am saddened by my imminent departure; yet thrilled to have had the experience.

I walk about the zoo admiring the wealth of flora and fauna. The buttterfly garden is something you must have seen. I watch as the giraffes stretch to reach the leaves perched atop a tree and the elephants slowly making their way through hollowed logs. Finally I see the kodiak bear, the most treasured of the wild animals. Despite their soft and cuddly nature, my thoughts are now with these monkeys.

A memorable day, a memorable moment, a longing for the world to be as it should. Wild.

The Old Sailor,

A great day out.

Dear Bloggers,


I phoned a good friend of mine to hear if he would be home the next day as I found it time to pay him a visit. He a has provided many years litres of coffee and some time to have a good conversation. To our family he is like family as our kids see him as an uncle, he is a great guy and we always have a lot of fun.

Roundtrips sailing through the harbour.

He mentioned on the phone that the yearly harbour festival would be on his programme and that sounded as a great idea to me. I have always been working on these days as we participated as a company, a very busy day as it is in between the regular sailing shedule. And all guests need to be scanned in as they cross the border of the Netherlands. But now I finally had the time and the energy to go and visit this great event.

the event attracts a lot of people

Leading up to SAIL 2010 Amsterdam, the IJmuiden Harbour Festival sailed into town on 14 and 15 August. This free festival sees the Trawlerkade and the Halkade swell with a positive sea of activities and a legion of breathtaking boats. As a former sailor this is the place to be. A few pilotboats and a couple of tugboats are sailing roundtrips through the harbour. A huge crane demonstrates with grabbing water how much it can carry. One scoop is thousands of litres water it creates quite a wave when it is splashed back to the harbour from several metres of height. Big plus that it was a lovely sunny day with a slight sea breeze there is all kinds of music on the quay and plenty of stands to get some food and beverages.

Also pilotboats and tugboats are making roundtrips.

But the IJmuiden Harbour Festival isn't only a joy to the ears and eyes - there's plenty to send your taste buds into overdrive! Delve into the world of seafood at special stands brought in for the first time this year, watch the professionals cook up a storm at demonstrations and join in the annual 'Dinner on the Quay' (ticket required). What a brilliant idea to mix food and sea. And my god there were a lot of people drawn to the harbour. For a great deal of people this is a great day out and to have a look on all kinds of vessels modern or old it is all beautiful. My heart was happy again and not everyone can understand that, deep down I hope that we would get some money to have my own boat. I would love to travel the world again but this time in my own speed.

Tallships are visiting IJmuiden

There was also plenty to keep the kids entertained with interactive, educational games on the quay. And the sun was shining and we should have brought our swimming gear because there was plenty of water-based fun on the menu. On wednesday the first tall ships will have a lay-over in the harbour of IJmuiden. A pre-Sail event which will atract thousands of people again. Unfortunately I have to work so no chance for me to see it. As the cream on our day the Prinsendam of te Holland America Line sailed into the locks when we were driving home, a great chance to see the ship in a close range.

The Prinsendam in the locks.

Head to IJmuiden to catch a preview of the beautiful tall ships and replicas before they join the SAIL-IN Parade and make their way to Amsterdam on Thursday, 19 June. This year, the cultural programme is bigger than ever and features a bounty of family entertainment including a Shanty Festival, street artists, local performers and acclaimed national stars of the stage. So if you have some time to spare on one of these dates it might be something for you as it is great to see these large barks and briks to sail down the North Sea Canal.

At least we had a great day and we have seen a lot.

The Old Sailor,

Dutch mother suspected of killing four babies

Dear Bloggers,


When I drove home yesterday, after a hard day of working. I turned up the volume of my car stereo and some sunny tunes came out of the speakers. And I was just thinking that nothing has been happening and live here is pretty boring. All of a sudden it is time for the news and straight away it has my attention as a young girl was threathned by some guy with a handgun, he also mugged a young bloke a jobstudent who is selling icecream from a delivery bicycle (they are famous for there homemade icecream.) All of a sudden I understand why all these policecars are standing there around the ice cream bike. And then I heard the following item on the news it comes as a shock to me when I realize that I just live so close to the crimescene.

Dutch mother suspected of killing four babies
A 25-year-old Dutch woman has been arrested on suspicion of killing three of her babies, police said Friday.

The woman was detained in the home of her parents in Nij Beets Thursday evening after police found the corpses hidden in four suitcases.
It was unclear how the babies, who were born after 2002, had died.

The woman told police she had given up the children for adoption soon after their birth, but was unable to provide evidence to back up her claim.
A search of the attic of her home Friday turned up another suspicious suitcase, the contents of which were not disclosed.

The parents of the woman told police they had been unaware of their daughter's pregnancies.

Really dear bloggers how can a person do these kind of things, what went wrong in her head. We have to wait for the outcome of the police investigation but still I do not understand this cruelty. We have a bit of history if it comes to having kids maybe I might be more sensitive about these kind of items. What I am wandering about is how can nobody have noticed what has been going on. Not even her parents where she lived with had a clue about the pregnancies and that is very stange I would say. The strange part is that it happened so close by as a matter of speaking it could have happened in my village but who would be so insane. Hmmm........not really a nice thought but life is a bitch and yes these things are happening in the countryside as well. We country hillbillies think that these things only happen in the big cities.My wife rounded up the kids as the gunner is still not been arrested as he is hiding in the forrest. When I come home I tell her not to overreact as this is not something that happens daily. And I was complaining that life is so boring here.

It is not bad to be a bit insane as long as it is funny for the people around you.

The Old Sailor,

Sorry!!!!

Dear Bloggers,

I have been trying to write but did not find the right inspiration.

It is a hard job to get inspired, I have been trying many different ways but unfortunatly no result.

Normally a few drinks and some cigarettes do the magic, not this time.

The Old Sailor,