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,