Viggo's Blog - Our One-Cat Wrecking Ball!

Hiya fans, Viggo here.

Looks cute, eh, our little Bowie?
Well, let me tell you, he is a destructive so-and-so!
My woman assured me I was nowhere near as adhd as Bowie is. We took him to the vet this morning, or at least she did, as it was time for his repeat jab, and was he properly impressed with the office and sharp things? Nope. He raced around that room as if he owned it and didn't bat an eye when the vet stuck in that needle. Show off!

My woman was a bit apprehensive about his weight (blaming MY weight, can you believe that?) him being very lanky and slim, but the vet said he was beautifully on target.
Ppppsssssscht!
He apparently is going to be a large cat.
So what that I am not such a large cat: I am a very clever cat.

Just to let you envisage what our household looks like now, I've written you a list of the items Bowie has managed to damage, maim, shred, tear, drop, open, throw over or spill:
1. the Bonsai
2. The Ficus
3. the fish tank (he can open the feeding hatch - hm, I've watched him carefully. Might try that myself sometime)
4. the Orchid
5. the curtain
6. the bug door
7. the candle sticks
8. the Fern
9. a bottle of beer
10. a bottle of nail polish remover (ha! that was funny actually, you should have seen his face when that smell hit his nose! It made my evening)
11. numerous book covers
12. even numerouser newspapers
13. loo rolls
14. both the woman and little woman are covered in tiny scratches and bite marks - I've seen my woman, who is very patient, throw a fit when he bit her in the left buttock. "You are going too far now, you little bugger!" Mind you, she is over-sensitive when she's reading, I've noticed that often myself.

This morning he managed to throw himself off the stairs, right from the top step, and would you believe the little brat did a salto in midair and landed on his feet? Gina, being directly in the flight path, didn't even blink. As if she sees cats flying past and landing in front of her nose every day.

So. Am I still enthusiastic about my little friend?
Well, I must admit we do have fun sometimes. We play tag under the bed and in the garden. And we eat our meals together now, sharing nibbles (those baby nibbles are yummy!) and a litter tray. We sleep together on my woman's bed, although he pisses me off when he starts racing around trying to catch her toes. Very undignified! I've stopped doing that years ago.
And I hate it when he jumps on top of me when I'm trying to catch forty winks.

Right. Enough of Bowie. Be talking to you, tar rah!

The Hike 11 - Haringvliet Tour

Our Wetlands weather is acting up like the drama queen it is...Loads of rain, then sudden sunny spells and as soon as you've had a chance to dig out the sunglasses huge grey clouds blow in from the South-West again. In other words: a typical Dutch Summer.
They've even spotted a twister near Biddinghuizen yesterday!

For today's hike I remained close to home again. Saving up the cents for going to the English Peak District next month! I took a 1 1/2 hour walk along the Haringvliet, the closed off sea arm which turns into the river Nieuwe Merwede near Dordrecht.

The map shows my island - Voorne is part of three now interconnected islands Voorne, Putten and Rozenburg;  the Haringvliet is the body of water leading down from the left and the dam you can see there is the Haringvlietdam connecting Voorne to the island of Goeree-Overflakkee. You can also see that there used to be another sea arm above Voorne and Rozenburg,but that it is now almost totally filled in by artificial islands and harbours carrying industry: our famous Europort.

My hike took me from the North-West part of town (where I live) through the polders to the Haringvlietdam and then down along the water back to town.

The view from the Haringvlietdam towards the North Sea

Our seawater is not green nor blue, but greyish, due to the sediment on the bottom. It is cold, too, not reaching higher temperatures than 24 degrees in a very hot summer. Due to the weather we've been having it's barely 18 degrees now. But the quality has improved somewhat during the last twenty years, and we now regularly see seals again.

The Haringvliet with Goeree in the background

This is typical Haringvliet vegetation. We call it Kattenstaart, or cat's tail.

If you continue all along the Haringvliet, you eventually end up in Hellevoetsluis harbour, with its characteristic lighthouse.
I didn't this time, I stayed on the outskirts.

All along the path (only accessible to walkers and cyclists) there are many animals to be seen. There are the domestic sheep and horses, but more interestingly if you are in possession of a keen eye, you can spot the harrier and buzzard here, hunting for rabbits,  hares and mice and voles. Every dusk (and dawn) the deer come out to graze on the lush grass. The fox is elusive, and in the thirty years that I have lived here, I have only spotted it once!
Hence the photo underneath was taken somewhere else by my son. But I am always on the lookout for it, and for the equally elusive osprey. Today I spotted neither. The gnats did spot me though...

Photo by Wibe Koopman Photography

The nitty-gritty:
My hike took me 1 1/5 hours, and I walked 10 km.
This time I wore better pants - no chafing!
It was 18 degrees, mostly cloudy, with wind nnw 26 km/h, humidity 69%.

And that was it, folks. Hope you've enjoyed walking with me. Until next time!

The Hike 11 - Haringvliet Tour

Our Wetlands weather is acting up like the drama queen it is...Loads of rain, then sudden sunny spells and as soon as you've had a chance to dig out the sunglasses huge grey clouds blow in from the South-West again. In other words: a typical Dutch Summer.
They've even spotted a twister near Biddinghuizen yesterday!

For today's hike I remained close to home again. Saving up the cents for going to the English Peak District next month! I took a 1 1/2 hour walk along the Haringvliet, the closed off sea arm which turns into the river Nieuwe Merwede near Dordrecht.

The map shows my island - Voorne is part of three now interconnected islands Voorne, Putten and Rozenburg;  the Haringvliet is the body of water leading down from the left and the dam you can see there is the Haringvlietdam connecting Voorne to the island of Goeree-Overflakkee. You can also see that there used to be another sea arm above Voorne and Rozenburg,but that it is now almost totally filled in by artificial islands and harbours carrying industry: our famous Europort.

My hike took me from the North-West part of town (where I live) through the polders to the Haringvlietdam and then down along the water back to town.

The view from the Haringvlietdam towards the North Sea

Our seawater is not green nor blue, but greyish, due to the sediment on the bottom. It is cold, too, not reaching higher temperatures than 24 degrees in a very hot summer. Due to the weather we've been having it's barely 18 degrees now. But the quality has improved somewhat during the last twenty years, and we now regularly see seals again.

The Haringvliet with Goeree in the background

This is typical Haringvliet vegetation. We call it Kattenstaart, or cat's tail.

If you continue all along the Haringvliet, you eventually end up in Hellevoetsluis harbour, with its characteristic lighthouse.
I didn't this time, I stayed on the outskirts.

All along the path (only accessible to walkers and cyclists) there are many animals to be seen. There are the domestic sheep and horses, but more interestingly if you are in possession of a keen eye, you can spot the harrier and buzzard here, hunting for rabbits,  hares and mice and voles. Every dusk (and dawn) the deer come out to graze on the lush grass. The fox is elusive, and in the thirty years that I have lived here, I have only spotted it once!
Hence the photo underneath was taken somewhere else by my son. But I am always on the lookout for it, and for the equally elusive osprey. Today I spotted neither. The gnats did spot me though...

Photo by Wibe Koopman Photography

The nitty-gritty:
My hike took me 1 1/5 hours, and I walked 10 km.
This time I wore better pants - no chafing!
It was 18 degrees, mostly cloudy, with wind nnw 26 km/h, humidity 69%.

And that was it, folks. Hope you've enjoyed walking with me. Until next time!

The Hike 10 - Wetlands Meadows Tour

Still prepping for my hiking holiday in a month's time...and not a lot of it - time. So I did a quick one hour training around my own wetland meadows. And to keep it interesting for myself, I took some photos for you. Want to walk along?

The starting point was the village of Nieuw-Helvoet, where I live. At the end of my street I took a right which takes you directly out of the village into the "polder". If you don't know - a polder is low lying cultivated land criss-crossed by drainage ditches called sloten. We have to do this, otherwise the land would be swamped in many places.

This is such a sloot, covered by duckweed, but it is the swans flower I want to show you. At least, that's what we call it, I don't know the latin name. When I grew up this flower was almost extinct, but due to better water pollution management it has reappeared. The yellow one is koolzaad, rapeseed, very prolific in my part of the country.

I walked towards the first crossroads and took a left, along the Ikkerseweg (love that name, as it has no meaning whatsoever) again next to a sloot absolutely framed by wild flowers.

You recognize the poppy, of course, and camomile. We pick the camomile for tea, but also to put into the dog basket, as folk lore has it that the strong smell keep fleas at bay. Sadly this does not really work 100%, so I still have to give my animals those flea drops.

The Ikkerseweg has a copse halfway, which is taken over by Giant Bear's Claw flowers(hogweed to you, I believe). I prefer our name, "berenklauw" as it scours your skin as a bear can. Huge blisters are the result.

Those monsters are taller than a tall man and they spread like a plague. Farmers try to get rid of them, but this copse is neglected.

It has a friendly gentle sister, Angelica, which also grows next to the sloot.

And the brown flower is zuring, wild sorrel.

At the end of the Ikkerseweg I took a left again, and passed a meadow with sheep and their lambs. They came running towards me, bleating, thinking I was the farmer with something tasty.

I don't know about you, but I like sheep. And now that I've read The Shepherd's Life I like them even more. A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to clip/shear one, and I'll never forget the total trust it had in me with my power tool, and the feel of the somewhat greasy wool.

Another left onto the Stormweg took me back towards Nieuw-Helvoet. I passed some youngsters, who also took an interest in me and stood there staring and blowing.

Lol, got ya!

Hate those yellow earrings, stupid things!

And that was it. Back home again.

We call this vlasbloem, flax to you.

The nitty-gritty:

I walked 14.759 steps, which comes to approx. 20 km and is totally wrong - but I did a lot of walking earlier in the day when I tried out an English assignment (with a route in hand)in Brielle. 

I think this hike must have been approx. 6 km, as it took me an hour.

It was a sunny 23 degrees, with a wsw 18 km/h wind and a humidity of 54%. 

I wore the wrong clothes, they started chafing in all the wrong spots. Another lesson learnt.

Hope you've enjoyed hiking with me, until next time!

Viggo's Blog: Well, How About That? I'll Become a Daddy!

Hiya fans, Viggo here.
It's been a while; I've been busy, see. But today I want to share my HUGE news with you.

I will be a Dad soon!!!

Now, before you start texting me that I am deluded as neutered toms cannot beget kittens, hey, relax, cool it, I knooooooooow!

It is a very modern satellite family thing. In other words, the tiny brat is not mine biologically, but will be very much my son practically and philosophically.

Meet Bowie:

At the moment he is still with his mum, in the middle of nowhere, on a horse farm, but in a month or so he will be joining me in my domain. Isn't he cute?

Oh, I am so looking forward to teaching him all my tricks! Like how to get onto the roof next door, and laugh at the old lady who lives there, who thinks I do not use her garden as my toilet. And how to open every door in the house. And how to drink from Gina's bowl without her noticing. And how to wake up my woman at 5 a.m. without her swatting you.

I told my mates about him last night, whilst we were sheltering from the rain under the big white car with the blue letters on, and they were happy for me. We mostly get along, us cats, not like in my old neighborhood where I was in spats all the time with that ugly Maine Coon.

In fact, one of my friends, Nose, asked me if I could put his photo in this post as well. (I believe he's a bit lonely, he's always outside and I do mean always)

He's a nice guy though, Nose! He greets me and my dog Gina every day when we pass him, although we sometimes disturb him in his meditation. "Remember, Viggo, happiness is not a destination," he then says very quietly.

So, you all can look forward to my next posts, eh? Lots of cutesy kitten photos, and naughty kitten stories.

Do you know, I can't wait!

Tadah! Until next time.

Climate Change And The Wetlands

English folk claim to have a patent on moaning about the weather, but we Dutchies know a thing or two (or ten) about that subject as well!
If you don't know: we live in a Delta. Our country is criss-crossed by huge rivers, streaming down on us from France/Belgium and Austria/Zwitserland/Germany.

Most of the time those rivers are placid, simply flowing on towards the sea. But when it starts raining in those neighbouring countries, and starts raining heavily, we get a wave of river water streaming into our low-lying country that poses a threat.

Now, in the olden days, our ancestors knew enough to let those rivers flow over into water meadows. Sure, they let their cows and sheep graze there, but there usually was enough time to gather those animals onto higher ground. They even made earthen hillocks (called 'terpen') especially for those times even the water meadows couldn't hold all the surplus water and would build their farmsteads there. Smart people.

But nowadays our wetlands are overcrowded and our country is built up with endless suburbs and water meadows are deemed good overflow building land instead of overflow river water land. Not so smart...Our water engineers have been warning for years, decades even, but the local planning authorities seem to have a blind spot and suffer from sudden deafness when it comes to the warnings. Money speaks louder than words.

And thus we have a problem.
This week, due to the combination of a very high ground water level (the rivers) and extremely heavy rain, some parts of Brabant (a Southern province) had to deal with water rising more than 2.5 m above normal levels, and basements and parking garages and some neighbourhoods were flooded.

And suddenly the newspapers are full of the CC words. Climate Change is here! It's not around the corner, in the future somewhere, nope, it has arrived with its suitcases packed full of wet stuff and it has planted them firmly in our living room. Hi honey, I'm home!

Of course, us being hardy no-nonsense wetlanders, used to a bit of water, they immediately gave us some good news as well. Yes, more rain, more clouds, more mist, more storms, but also some goodies we have all been pining for: we will get more exotics as well. And higher temperatures. In fact, De Volkskrant newspaper told me that our climate has shifted up as far as Paris already. We have Parisian weather - oh la la, how chique! And in a couple of years we will have shifted as far South as Lyon, saving a huge portion of us a shitload of money and a lot of driving hours as we won't have to migrate to the Ardeche in Summer any longer.
Mind you, we will need that money we will have saved for buying mosquito repellant as the tiger mosquito is invading (able of carrying Zika virus, amongst other viruses) surfing on those higher temperatures. And oh horror, will the snakes come slithering in as well? Probably.

Today, our climate showed its sunny side. For the first time in weeks we had a completely dry day and could enjoy the outdoors without a wintercoat on. It was wonderful. I sang a chanson to celebrate.

Oh well. I'll invest in some good wellies and make certain I'll have the sandbags ready. Just in case.

The Hike 9: Verona (Northern Italy)

"Oh, Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?"
When I first saw the play, I thought this a weird question (I was 11). Obviously Juliet knew that Romeo was...Romeo, right?
But when, a couple of years later, I saw it again performed at a Shakespeare festival it hit me that there was a lot more to that question, and when I had to explain the play to my secondary school pupils, now years (it seems eons) later, Romeo and Juliet had grown to be one of my favorite Shakespeare tragedies. I made myself the promise I would visit Verona if I ever had the chance.

This is the balcony in Verona where Juliet purportedly stood during this conversation, and whether this is the actual house (as some historians claim) or whether Juliet never existed so this balcony is a clever tourist trap and fraud (as other historians equally claim, as it seems to have been added to the house in the 1930's according to Wikipedia), let me tell you that I could easily believe that the nurse was waiting in the room next to it, whilst Juliet cried "Anon, good nurse, anon!".
Mind you, so could dozens of others, milling around in the courtyard, or vying for a spot where they could touch Juliet's bronze titty.
So I aimed my camera high, in order to bypass all those overheated heads.

I ADORED Verona. In fact, I have vowed to go and live there after my retirement in 10 years time (or perhaps 15; by the time I've reached 67 and my government has by then added another 5 years to the retirement plan...growl!).
In order to take this photo I had to climb some very steep stairs, but they were worth every one of them!

We arrived in Verona after a comfortable express train ride from Firenze, and let me tell you, our first view and whiff of this city made me fall head over heel in love with it. It smelled of herbs, flowers, pines. And it was cheerfully busy but relaxed, and you could walk from the station into the city in 10 minutes along leafy streets.
We dumped our backpacks in the B&B and immediately headed into the Medeaval city centre, where this gate greeted us.

Verona is not really very large, and it has something lovely for you to see at every corner.

It boasts two Roman amphitheaters, of which this is the Arena on the Piazza Bra where the famous Operas are performed every Summer.

This is the other one, Teatro Romano, except you cannot see it, as it is hidden behing those ancient walls right in the center of this photo. 
We were unlucky: Teatro Romano was closed the entire month of May, for restoration. But we climbed the hill behind it and took a peek into it from above.

As all Tuscany cities Verona is built around a variety of piazzas. This one is the Piazza Erbe, which borders on the Piazza Dei Signori, also known locally as Piazza Dante because of its statue of the famous poet. At one time, all those buildings facing the piazza had been painted; now only some of the wall paintings remain. In order to get here, we walked along Via Mazzini, but took in Casa di Giulietta, and the closely by Casa di Romeo as well. Juliet's house is a museum, Romeo's you cannot enter as it is a private residence.

But I took a photo of a courtyard in Siena, which you will have to pretend looks like Romeo's palazzo (I did!):

The river Fiume Adige holds Verona in a motherly embrace, and we hiked both riverbank walks starting at the Ponte S. Francesco right up to the Ponte Risorgimento and it was lovely. Whilst taking in the gorgeous views we determined to walk the ramparts and hills the next day, and we did.

Verona was ruled for centuries by the same family, the della Scala family, and they resided in this castle on the river, the Castelvecchio, which houses a museum today.
The Duomo (of course Verona has one as well) is also right on the river, on the Piazza Duomo.

It has a fearsome warrior like Angel in front of it, although now I look back I must admit this could be Santa Anastasia...Sorry, I saw so many of them I get my Santas mixed up...

The next day, again with glorious weather, we started walking the ramparts starting from the same bridge again, the Ponte San Francesco (to the East of the station). Those ramparts have been built during the Austrian/Hungarian - Veneto wars, and they have been very well preserved. The park laid out on top of it is mostly green, don't expect many flower beds. We left them at the Ponte Catena and cut off by taking the Via Farina Uberti and Via dei Mille to pick up the other side of the ramparts at the corner of Viale D'Annunzio. Now we walked all the way up the hill to high above the Castel San Pietro (where the mighty Visconti family lived), where we also had the stunning view of Verona I have posted below my  paragraph about Juliet. But here is another one.

Above the Teatro Romano.

Those ramparts were so quiet you couldn't believe you were above a city teeming with tourists!

We ended the day in a great restaurant on the Piazza Erbe called Téta de Giulieta, or Juliet's tit, where I had a local speciality: Stracotto di Verona: polenta with donkey stew - 9 hours stewed, assured the charming owner. When my friend wanted to take a photo of me and my donkey, he quickly sat down next to me. The owner, not the donkey.

It was lovely food! The Spritz was nice too. Perhaps I should not have spurned to touch Giuilieta's right Téta after all...It's supposed to bring you luck in romantic love.

Right: the nitty-gritty:
We walked approx. 36 kilometers in two days in Verona. It has some steep steps, but on the whole it is great and easy to walk there.
We stayed at B&B SweetVerona, on the Via Amatore Sciesa, which is only 10 minutes walk from the city centre gate and does a great breakfast. It only has 3 rooms (with a balcony!), so book well in advance.
Another tip is  the organic restaurant "The Kitchen", on the Via Nicola Mazza 63A
which does inexpensive wonderful fresh food.
Verona has a tiny airport, only 2 gates, but many West-European airlines fly there (we flew with Transavia-KLM), which is only 10 minutes by taxi from the city centre and costs €15,00.
Although beloved by tour operators we never felt crowded by fellow tourists in Verona.
Beware that the temperatures (now a wonderful 23 degrees C in the first week of May) can be as high as 40 in high Summer!

I'll leave you with a photo I took that makes me smile: design ice cream.
Hope you've enjoyed walking alongside me on my Tuscany urban hikes, and see you soon.
The next The Hike will be about Northern-England. Arriverderci!