Here are some of my take aways from the last month in Holland and Belgium.
Moving in the Netherlands looks like a very expensive process. I watched some movers working over a couple of days. The unit being moved into was on the 9th story. The building had a court off the road. The furniture was being moved in and out on an extendable pole lift with a bucket ,to the balcony. Two fellows at the top and two at the bottom. In prep for the truck and the lift to sit on the courtyard, huge metal plates were put down. The truck backed up to the lift, the outgoing stuff was loaded into the bucket, then lowered, the up going stuff then loaded in the bucket. This went on for hours. The next day the metal plates were lifted. All this would cost considerably more than a truck and elevator system used in North America.
When I am out riding at home and a rider passes in the opposite direction we usually acknowledge each other. When passing another rider a word is usually exchanged. When passing a pedestrian a good morning is usually offered. There was only one place in either Belgium or the Netherlands where an unsolicited response was offered. Around Veere, where there are many descendants of expat Scotsmen who moved there when the textile trade was running high. As we passed people there, early one morning, we were offered a hello or good morning. It was a noticeable difference.
The city riders in both countries have balls. They ride along on the bike roads and paths without much worry. It is up to the pedestrians to stop and look both ways both at the bike path and the road. The riders cruise by cross streets without pausing or even looking. When entering another bike path they just flow around the corner, any approaching riders move over slightly and avoid a collision. We are the weirdos as we slow and try to look both ways, we just don’t trust that drivers or other cyclists will accommodate us. There is one thing that the riders in both countries stop for, the red bike lights. There were very few riders that disobeyed those stop signals.
Customer service is not quite the same as it is in North America. Twice we had waiters forget our order and had to approach them to make sure we ate. One day at hotel reception it was shift change. There was a line up, only one person at the desk. There were 3 other workers hovering around behind her. When the working lady had finished with the customer she bowed out with “my colleague will help you in a minute”. She left. The hovering people continued with what they were doing and we stood in line. The fellow in front of me shook his head, I shrugged my shoulders. Quitting time is quitting time I guess. This would not happen if I was in charge.
Vinyl records have made a comeback the last few years. I occasionally notice a ‘record store’ when wandering around a NA city. I think we passed 5 shops selling record albums the last two days we were in Amsterdam. We passed at least one record store in every city and town, no matter how small.
We found croissants in both countries. The bakers in both counties have a long way to go to match French croissants. The ones we ate were wrapped triangles of bread, not the flakey batter used in real croissants. That said, the bread and buns available at the supermarket were fantastic. Almost all of my breakfasts and lunches were buns and PB.
That is all for now I will post part 2 in a couple of days.
