Extreme winter weather

Dear Bloggers,

Snowstorm hits also North of Netherlands it all started yesterday, warnings on the local radio to stay indoors if you do not need to go out.
At this moment it finally stopped snowing and the wind is slowly calming down, severe weather conditions and busses stopped running.

It is still winter and it reminds me of my childhood, the weatherforecast is predicting a snowstorm.
When I was a young bloke in 1979 we had similair kind of weather only difference was that it had been raining the day before and this iced up the roads, on top of that it started snowing and the wind was gusting which resulted in snowdunes with a height of more then three metres.

KNMI initially expected that the inconvenience to the south would be limited, but gradually the sky was closing, while the hard east wind was very unpleasant. In the far south the rainfall started around noon as rain. A few hours later, the first major rainfall in the river area, but as rain and occasional snow flakes. The average temperature was 1 to 2 degrees celcius. But slowly it turned into glazed frost.

In the early evening light snow began to fall (barely in the Southern Netherlands), subject to the windshield. Around midnight the snow line slowly pulled the precipitation zone northward. The wind caused already some snow drift.
In the North of the Netherlands it started snowing from 04h, followed by some freezing rain and glazed frost
The ice lasted all day in the north. Initially this was remaining to ice zone north of the Top of Noord-Holland to Meppel. The rainfall amounts were not small. The northern front moved southward in the evening with snow and increasing winds from a storm to East North East. The big snow storm started.
14-15 February 1979: the polarbear is on the loose.

The snow area spread to the south. The wind increased in the north as far said to stormy with highs severe storm. In the meantime raged north unprecedented heavy snow storms. The oven on the snow and ice fields could find no foothold, except behind trees, farms, in villages, etc.

When there was daylight again, it revealed the seriousness of the situation. Even then it had to snow dunes formed to 1.5 meters, so many ways (even motorways) were blocked. Many people could no longer reach their jobs, why not buses, cars were snowing in. Schools closed. It is impossible to get a good picture of it? That day was staying out a painful issue. Vision was ranging from 50 to 5 meter and was sometimes cut by the sharp snow drifting


snow was really drifting and blowing snow in your face and that at a temperature of -5 degrees and a wind at stormforce at least . Blizzard is a barbaric word, which does not seem excessive.

The snow dunes were locally blown to incredible heights. Especially in Northern-Friesland and Groningen were heights of 4 to 6 meters pretty normal. Many villages became isolated totally and some alone standing farms had snow blown up until the roof. All highways in the north were closed, there was even a ban to drive.

In some places, there was an emergency: telephone lines were damaged and power lines broke through the heavy ice load and severe storms. Crisis centers were established in local bars. Snow removal had hardly any meaning.

Soldiers came to help to re-open roads and villages from isolation to get new deliveries into the local shop. Among the people ruled by the common struggle against the white enemy a great togetherness, except in the local grocery store, where many crowded to get some food to misplaced fears of scarcity. The small bakery on the corner, who was always to expensive if they compared it to the big supermarkets in the city, the baker was suddenly anybodys friend. The local grocers kept a hard regime as we had been three days isolated from the rest of the world. Regular customers had some priveleges.

Some houses were that far snowed in that they came out with only the chimney above the giant dunes of snow.

Some hard facts of the snow storm in northern Netherlands:
Duration: 90 hours snow drift
Precipitation: estimated 15 to 30 mm
Snow Dune Height: 3-6 meter
Average temp.: -5 -6 Degrees Celsius
Windgusts: 100 km / h

At this moment large parts of Europe suffer from the winter weather. In parts of Great Britain public life is quiet because the roads are impassable. Many schools are closed.

In Southern France is the city of Arles due to the snow without power, also in a part of Holland there was a power failure for several hours. Heavy trucks may not drive because of the iced and slippery highways.

The Czech border has been closed to freight traffic because the roads are too slippery.

Germany expects a lot of problems this weekend due to drifting snow in the Northern part several people have been stuck in their cars on the highway as they snowed in due to a traffic jam caused by truck that slipped of the road. Gymnasiums are closed as a precaution because they might collapse due to the weight of the snow.

German households are also advised to have food, medicine and drinking water in stock for the snow storm that would come that is what the BBC reports.

The Germans also expect heavy snowfall today that could lead to local outages and public transportation will seriously disrupt.

The National weatherstation just tells that the weather alarm will not be changed and people in the North are advised to stay indoors, as outside temperatures are fierce and roads are being difficult to drive on. Busses have started up again although there is a lot of disruption due to the icy road conditions.

The Old Sailor,

The impatient consumer

Dear Bloggers,


I was surprised how quick the internet is being filled with shops and their sales are growing by the minute.
It is the new way of life for many people a few years ago you had the success of Tele shopping they where advertising on homeshopping chanels and you could place your order by phone.

Even some famous people where lending their face (in exchange for money of course.) to these exorbitant kind of commercial advertising. Things have changed rapidly. No more irritating happy smiling homeshopping hosts as their days seem to be counted. We are shopping more and more on the internet.

I am one of them and I shop with the bigger ones if it comes to catlogue sellers like Wehkamp or Neckermann where you can buy from clothes to electronics, or bol.com if you need a good book or cd. If I need anything special musicwise I will turn to the Musicstore site. Every now and then I will bid on some goodies on E-bay or the Dutch site Marktplaats. If I need to buy computerstuff I will go to Amazon and find it there and it is so addictive. The ones I have mentioned are the really big shots if it comes to media, but I also enjoy the smaller sites from the local musician Adri de Boer he is getting more and more famous in the region and he is making nice music, just look at the site it is small but I think it is great.

Not even ten years ago I would buy a televisonguide to find out what is on the coming week also these things I can find on the stations sites as RTL, SBS6 and Veronica are the bigger commercial stations with the better movies, also the latest news you can view on these sites.

Main news about the USA I can follow on the site of CNN and the UK news i will find on the BBC site. Also buying cars is a lot easier as you can give in the brand and whatever your demands are on the site of autoscout24. And of course homes are being found on sites like Funda, even my own home is on there as I got it for sale.

There is only one thing that the internet user from now are getting more and more impatient and if a site is not loading quick enough they simply will not spend any time waiting. That was different a few years ago as there was no fast internet at all and you had to wait until your phone had dailed in. You could make some coffee in the mean time.Just read the article that I found on the Dutch IT commerce website as we are the most impatient Europeans if it comes to internet use.

Internet users are impatient consumers

Many European consumers to find products through a search engine and does not have the patience to click through to the second page of results. This shows a survey by Consumers & Marketers, Digital & Connected (MC DC) in association with IAB Europe. Also from a survey of research commissioned by Brocade Multiscope show that Dutch consumers are very impatient, almost half of the respondents said no longer than twenty seconds to want to wait until a site is loading.

According to the study of MC DC shows that almost all European internet users weekly look at internet for information, most of them which are using internet daily. They are looking for hobbies, personal interests and general news. In addition, many of them sought information about products, services and brands in general. This sixty percent used a search engine. The Internet users are impatient and they expect the most relevant search results to find in the top of the list. Therefore, only 41 percent is looking in the first ten results. Much of them are looking no further than twenty search results.

Social media have great influence on consumer behavior, says the review of MC DC. Surfers have a large network and more tools at their disposal. Decisions are often taken after consultation with others, which brands and products are considered before a product is purchased.

Nearly half of the respondents said before buying something will look for information through comparison and reviews. Most consumers will also prefer to shop in the the city or to their actual shop, the investigation shows Brocade. However, the number of consumers who shop online, nearly one third of respondents this year said they purchased more gifts via the Internet than the previous year.

As in the Internet search engine they like quick results, 48 percent of respondents said no longer than twenty seconds to want to wait before advancing to another shop. Nearly one quarter said more than half a minute to wait before they do their shopping somewhere else.

Even when consumers want to shop online is that they are not disturbed, more than 35 percent of the respondents went themselves to the most irritating pop-ups when they were shopping online. It means shoppers (22 percent) do not want to go through several pages before it can be passed to a purchase. A small percentage is even worse even if no image is available for a product.

The European research in sixteen countries of MC DC is an online enquirie. Conducted among 32,000 Internet users. These are two hundred users at six weeks regular quality questioned. Multiscope early commissioned by Brocade three hundred Dutch consumers.

Author: Editorial ITcommercie
Source: ITcommercie

Make your life as easy as possible but do not forget to get some fresh air every day.

The Old Sailor,

Happy new year

Happy New Year in different languages.

Bulgaars: Shtastliva Nova Godina
Deens: Godt Nytår
Duits: Ein glückliches Neues Jahr!
Engels: Happy New Year
Frans: Bonne Année!
Fries: Folle Lok en Seine yn it Nije Jier!
Hongaars: Boldog újévet!
Latijn: bonae voluntatis
Nederlands: een gelukkig nieuwjaar
Oekraïens: Shchastlyvoho Novoho Roku!
Pools: Szczesliwego Nowego Roku.
Romanian: un An Nou fericit!
Spaans: Próspero Año Nuevo
Tagalog: Manigong Bagong Taon
Zweeds: Gott Nytt år

Yet another year is nearly over

Dear Bloggers,

2009 started with many questions but the main question was: what am I going to do with my life? I was working as a receptionist but wasn't too lucky with my body. And pain became my enemy, it wasn't the job itself as I was enjoying it very much, my body was hitting the brakes more and more and in the beginning of May it came to a full stop. Not like the years before where I could have sworn that it was my "call".

Well this year has been wonderful to me when it comes to personal and spiritual growth. I have been blogging and writing like never before, I was at home on sick leave and experienced lots of other things. I have banned the “R word” out of my vocabulary.

Unfortunately the last few months I had plenty time to concentrate on this blog like I want to but that is to change now. At least at this moment I can say that the postings will be better in every way but you know how it is, it looks good when you say it but once you are there...

For 2010 I have a few projects planned and I am sure it will all go well. I am using my time to get things rolling to start a new life and in a new job. Financially it will probally get a lot better. As soon we have sold our house. The new lifewill be less hectic but that is good forevery one.

Now the question for 2010 is no longer " what am I going to do with my life?" but instead " How can I get better at what I do?". Life is a long journey and we learn from everything that happens on the way.

Well yet another year has passed, I am very happy with mine, how was yours?

A verry Happy New Year to all of you

The Old Sailor,

Food Fight in Supermarket

Dear Bloggers,

Hooray it's almost Christmas time and therefore a more elaborate dinner.
If I do go shopping it is obviously seriously crowded in the supermarket and the shop is well prepared for this extra busy days.
I quickly count about twelve young lads who are filling the shelfs.
But it is also logical because the last few days were related to the heaps of snow and not many people went shopping.
It was a tragedy at the car park because almost everyone is coming now with their car and the parking is not very well shoveled.

After twenty minutes I finally managed to secure a place eventhough another driver thought otherwise.
But when it comes to driving and I am sure that I am standing in my right, I'm too quick for them all.
The brutal party swears and grows behind the wheel and I wish him to have some joyfull days.
He tears away and nearly ramming an unsuspecting oncoming car.
I have doubts on the humanity and peace on earth feeling this year.
But time to move ahead and get a shopping cart.

In the shop you just slowly move yourself from A to B, not really my thing because I always shop with a purpose and now I know where to find everything here.
Well but then I have too take it easy today because winding yourself up it doesn't help at all.
If I drive into the isle with softdrinks and put my stuff in my cart, is the guy who fills up the drink being called by a colleague to come help him at the meat department because there are a couple of men fighting.

Astonished, I follow the two young comrades. As a former night watchman on a vessel you are in these situations ready to lend a hand if it might escalate, but when I arrive at the “crime scene” the situation is under control and the manager of the store is admonishing the two men.
This otherwise very friendly man speaks to the dumb duo.
But what exactly happened and what led to this absolutely senseless struggle?

Two men went to attack each other during an argument about a supermarket product that apparently was important for their Christmas dinner.
The bizarre battle took place in a supermarket nearby the village where we live.
A somewhat older man and a man in his forties both wanted the same article from the refrigerator shelf.
This led to a struggle that was getting ridiculous and was terminated when the older man gave the man of forty a punch in the face.
The man came to fall and was immediately absorbed by the massive group of shelf fillers and the manager. But the damage was already done as the older man has probably got a broken jaw and the man of forty a black eye, as they both have something to be proud on and a peaceful Christmas to accommodate.

And this time ode to the young people that very calm and strictly pulled the fighters apart.
The two bastards probably had to seek treatment for their minor injuries.
It surprised me very much that the Christmas emotions can run up so high on a piece of meat.
But as I am a creative “cook”and if I would run into something like this, then I have just bad luck and I will just make something else.

Well let's hope that it will be a peaceful Christmas and a peaceful New Year yet.
For even the newspaper, I am not getting happier because I read that a bus company that hires security guards to prevent cases that the drivers are being regularly robbed and attacked.
There are too many people who think you do not have to work for money and trying to get money this way.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

The Old Sailor,

Let it snow, let it snooooow.........

Dear Blogger,

Winter is finally here. So far we didn't have any snow and it hasn't been too cold, but in the last days of this year, Mother Nature saw fit to dump about 35-40cm of snow. Now it looks like Christmas.

All that snow made the roads truly awful. What makes them just worse is that a few hours ago we had a little bit of snow. That little bit melted just enough through the salt of the gritters, but there was not enough traffic to drive it in, so it made the roads glassy. So now we have thick, mushy pack of snow on top of a thin film of ice. This is where I'm glad that I own a “tank” for a car.

My lovely car is a big, four door, V40 Volvo that chews itself through the snow. It has this really neat feature called 'traction'. I am loving traction. Every time my car started to get stuck in a mound of snow or slip on the ice, the traction kicked in and I didn't get stuck or slide around. I could still feel my car slipping but mostly during a turn. The traction doesn't kick in if the tires are sliding sideways. But traction control combined with a heavy car and slow driving made things less scary. Except the people tailgating me. Seriously, use your brain and get off my butt in weather like this. The traffic was fully disrupted and nearly no busses were running. Also travellers by train got stuck as the tracks were frozen, hmmn why does our country get in trouble with a bit of snow. Is it that we are still not prepared on weather conditions like this? How do countries like Norway, Sweden and Finland with this as they have got every winter snow like this? I think it is time to invest in materials to concur the winter.

I did have to go out in the ick today, which is good. I am not nervous about driving in weather like this so the more practice I get when the roads aren't crowded the better I'll be. So today I learned again how to handle my car when it slides, how to rock my car to get unstuck, and how to brake in slippery stuff. My instructor taught me two things that helped immensely: the first is that if you start to get stuck, try not to stop your car. The more you stop to shift gears the more of a rut you will create. Keep slowly plowing away if you can to get the momentum going and you should be ok. Assuming you aren't stuck from sliding into a curb or something. The second is that when you brake, use a series of tiny taps to get your car to stop. No slamming on the brakes even with ABS. Lightly tap over and over quickly and your car will come to a stop without sliding. Assuming you are traveling below the speed limit, that is.

The dangerous part of it is that not all of us have the brains to take it easy, what actually surprised me that these huge trucks simply overtake you with a speed that I think is crazy. In the first few hours of the morning more then 25 trucks slid off the road. I guess that they are so stressed by their boss and their planner who does not care about the road conditions. According to the weather man there will be more snow coming and they keep on warning about slippery roads. Thank God it is nearly Christmas it might be a white one.

Thank you, and bless the inventors of traction control :)

The Old Sailor,

Twelve days until Christmas

Dear Bloggers,


It is twelve days before Christmas and maybe a good moment to write down some of my thoughts. Well, not because it's twelve days before Christmas, but it's a good moment! It's Saturday, and finally it is getting a bit cold outside and it is nice and toasty inside. The Christmas tree has been put up today and it gives that special atmosphere in the house.

So far I haven't mentioned anything about what I did for a living, so anyone visiting my blog would have no clue about who I am and whether anything I say here is relevant to anything. So to give you a clue - I'm Dutch, I live in small village in Friesland, The Netherlands; I worked for a company that provides a ferry service between The Netherlands and The United Kingdom and is headquartered in Copenhagen; my job was receptionist on board. Due to the fact that my body couldn't handle the long days anymore and gave up on me, I ended up being home. So I ought to know a bit about communicating which might well reflect itself in this blog as it develops.

But let's get back to thoughts of today. The Christmas shopping is all done, preparations for the holiday period are well underway, and my wife and family are happy. That's a good start. One of the great things about living in The Netherlands compared to the UK and USA is that Christmas is far less commercialized. Of course all the shops at this time are chock full of shoppers, but at least all that started in the beginning of this month, rather than in July or August. A more relaxed perspective. Here, the big day in December is the 5th when Sinterklaas and his helpers make their appearance and kids get their gifts. The importance of the 25th is far more religious than commercial. And that makes it a lot less stressful at least that is what I think.

This holiday season will give me a good opportunity to think about some things related to my status as I will be unemployed and I already started looking for a new job, I did re-school myself last summer for a new profession, I got all my driving licence and all other legal documents to be a bus driver. Until today I have not been successful to find a job although I applied for several vacancies. As there are not that many jobs here in the North and they can even pick from experienced people who are unemployed it is hard to get something.

There is no reason to let your head hang down as there will be coming better times. Although for me it is time to get a job and pick up my life again. I have been home long enough and I have been working always. Unfortunately I have to learn to do things step by step now and not as how I did it before just jump into a job and do it. I have always kept the thought that my limits are not my boundries. And I can tell you that it is more important to know yourself and know what you can then to know what you can not. All the things I want for the future became more and more important. My past was great, but there is no reason to look back all the time and muse about how great things were. No it is time to look straight forward and see how things are. So lots of work to do in thinking and making plenty of new plans for 2010.
 
 

The Old Sailor,

How do I not get the rainy day blues

Dear Bloggers,

If, like me, you are out of work, you might be feeling a bit lazy this week, and you are wondering why it’s harder to be motivated. Well the clocks have been turned back qiute q while ago, the evenings have been getting darker and colder, and daylight is not that much as it is raining nearly every day. I know it is not very attractive to go outside for a walk and it’s all too easy for the wintertime blues to set in.

Many people experience having less energy when the clocks go back; this is mainly due a decline in the feel-good hormone seratonin, which requires plenty of sunshine to keep it topped up, and that is why chocolate can be your best friend on miserable moments it contains a small amount seratonin and if your like me it might turn into brain fog and depression. I will not let this happen but also healthy people are at risk in this case. If you are being used to a stressful life, it might bring you down and hit you all of a sudden. There is a lot that you can do yourself by being positive and as active as possible.

Soon the hardest time of the year is knocking on our doors and a lot of people will suffer from buying christmas present stress. The big mistake they are making is that the gift has to be superb, at least that is what they think. If I need to get out and buy gifts, I will go with a budget and I buy things that are given by heart, instead of how popular these things are.

The good part of going shopping is that you can have your daily physical exercise and you are doing something usefull with your time. If you go to a shoppingmall the weather does not affect you at all. Although in most of the stores it is far too hot for this time of year.

If there is a dry moment in the day, you can go exercise such as biking it can actually stimulate production of seratonin and keep down the blues, if you can get up the and find the energy to do your workout in the first place.

This is where natural energy boosters can be useful. Sunlight is the most obvious one; walking to work, taking a stroll on your lunchbreak or moving your desk next to a large window all help you get your daily dose of super sunlight – the cheapest performance-enhancer available. For those who are unable to see daylight during the week (night workers for example) they should work under artificial daylight lamps or who have a weakness for gadgets, there are indoor therapy lamps available which claim to mimic the effect natural light has on maintaining seratonin levels to boost mood, productivity and energy levels.

Foods rich in tryptophan (a building block for seratonin production) can help balance mood and sleep patterns to prevent energy drops. Good sources in the diet include turkey meat, yoghurt, cottage cheese, oats, nuts and seeds, which are also good energy foods for athletics.
For a quick-fix against being washed out, ginger root has been shown to stimulate the brain and improve your energy levels, so making you more likely to get up and get the the motivation to get started. If that doesn’t kick you into action, nothing will!

The Old Sailor,

Staying active with FMS

Dear Bloggers,


Staying active when living with fibromyalgia is a necessary challenge. If you rest, you rust, like the old saying goes. And I think that's true when it comes to fibromyalgia. Something is off-the hook in our central nervous system, and that produces exagerrated responses to things that would otherwise not be painful to a person without fibromyalgia. Sometimes, there's nothing to respond to, the pain is just there and nobody knows how it was caused. Sitting still is the logical response, intelluctually speaking. If I just don't exercise, maybe I won't cause any pain and I'll feel better. But the exact opposite is true. If you do not stay active, you will be in even worse pain. Believe me, I have done both, and it's far better to stay active than it is to become immobilized. This following section is devoted to a once-active man with fibromyalgia who wanted to get back to his active live. Who is still active but may be having trouble modifying his lifestyle to accommodate fibromyalgia's impact.

Each fibromate has to learn his own energy “accounting system”. This will take a few weeks or months or even years for you to establish, but once it’s established it is possible to keep the balance stabilized, and even to make a deposit once in a while. I’m deliberately trying to explain it the easy way. But it’s very simple really, to understand it. Think of it as a cash drawer, or a jar of coins.

You have 24 hours, but less than 24 cents or Euros. Eight hours are devoted to sleep, so that leaves 16 waking hours, but less than 16 Euros/cents. Assuming you’re working full-time, that’s another eight hours, which will use up more than eight currency chips. Why will working eight hours use up more than eight chips? Because, with fibromyalgia any mental or physical exertion, and any work-related stress, uses energy faster than that expended by a person without fibromyalgia. And you still have to take a shower, get ready for work, take care of the kids, fit in some exercise, eat right, work on a hobby, grocery shop, clean, cook…

No longer can you “do it all” like you once could. Those days are gone. Give them a bittersweet goodbye, it’s time to style a new life. Grab hold of your new chapter, this is a positive change. Fibromyalgia is not a death sentence, it can be one of the most positive things that ever happened to you. It’s just possible that you are “doing too much”, and fibromyalgia has forced you to slow down. That’s what happened to me, and it’s one of the best things that’s ever happened in my life. So, please, don’t let it get you down. Learn to live with it, work with it and grab life with both hands and enjoy everything you can do. This is what life is about: Even it looks like a dead end street, but if you look right you will find the small alley in it for a new way into life. I truly believe fibromyalgia was a just certain sign to stop me from running all the time. Before I had fibromyalgia, I was running around, never tired, overmotivated, and hyperinspired. I was given the gift of an invisible illness that was incredibly hard to diagnose. So that I could share my experience with others and find out more and more about myself.

So, what needs an active man to do? Why because rest rusts, I need to stay active, of course! Everything in moderation, though. And I need to keep track of those pennies. It makes cents.

Just Say "No"
With just saying no, although it is not easy in the beginning you will keep better track of your energy.
The danger always is there and when you have a "good" day, you have to take extra care.
I’ve always admired a friend of mine who isn’t afraid to say no, and isn’t afraid to insist on what she wants. I would think to myself, “I want to be her.” We all need to learn to be true to ourselves and not be afraid of what people may think if we excuse ourselves as we know what we want and need. Most of us fibromyalgics are not that easy to live with. As we are not want to ask for help eventhough we need it. Smiling as we do not accept yet another “assignment” from a neighbor, friend, co-worker, relative who is laying the lazy speech on us. No, actually, it’s not fair, because I have a chronic, invisible illness. I’m sick every day of my life, every minute of every day. It’s just that the assigner of the project can’t see that, or maybe even doesn’t know.

Maybe it is better for me to learn what my friend does. Take an invisible, deep breath, sit or stand nice and tall, adjust your posture, make direct eye contact, and just say "No."

The Old Sailor,