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,