We get the keys today (Friday)

Our apartment is on the lowest floor, slightly above the path.

Click the pictures, they're quite large.

The canal is nothing spectacular, but it gives impression
of space which is nice.

Aerial view - the brown roofs are in fact dune grass.  They are
there for the higher apartments to see something more than
just roof.  You can see the football pitches and clay tennis
courts which help the idea of space.

Building on left is Grote Houtrust (ours) with Kleine Houtrust
on the right.  118 apartments altogether.

From the soccer fields you can see the balconies. 
The low building on the left is a new high school -
seems quite small.

The major entrance in our building.  Our entrance is smaller. 
You can see the apartments to the right, giving you the idea
of height above the pathway.
 No buildings are opposite us, just gardens.

The stone is quite attractive and emparts a solid appearance.

Nudist beach Scheveningen

Rene paid for the apartment today at the bank - keys handed to us Friday (excited!).  Then he rang and we rendezvoused at the cafe by the water tower in the dunes.  He cycled from the bank, I walked from home, resolving to buy a good bike within the fortnight.  After a drink he left his bike at the cafe and we walked together to the dunes. Would you believe he found a nudist beach (official) so being 16C we walked up over the dunes to check out the beach. Beautiful beach, a couple of brave Dutch folk here and there, and a pavilion still being built (I was going to say 'erected' but chose not to seeing as though the beach in question is a nudist one).  Stunning weather for walking and cycling.

The remnants of World War 2 are everywhere, a stark reminder of how involved this part of the Dutch coastline was during the conflict.  The V2 rocket bombs were launched just 8km from this spot creating terror in the London population.

Just a T shirt, cotton sweater and fleece plus sunglasses for the glare and a cap for my bald head.  My fleece was on and off several times this afternoon depending on occasional exposure to a cool breeze.  Gorgeous!

I spotted what looked like smoke in the distance, on some rocks out at the water's edge, and lo and behold a Dutch beach BBQ was happening.  It was 4 o'clock and the snags were sizzling on a prepacked BBQ thing that you can buy in the shops.  These guys were having a great time and enjoying life.  I really love the Dutch attitude to the outdoors and enjoyment - it's infectious.

Later, we walked up to where the pier meets the boulevard and I left Rene to walk back to the cafe for his bike and I got a bus to right outside our door.

Hotter than Cyprus? Yes!

Yesterday Aberdeen in Scotland recorded 23 C which was two degrees hotter than Cyprus.  Crazy!

Today is yet another gorgeous day here with the temperature at present only recording 12.7 at 1pm but feeling so much warmer.  The gardens are just busting out with signs of spring, and around every corner whilst walking one finds another pretty example of the change of seasons.

My emails today included one from my dear friend Merle, in Oregon USA.  She included a joke that has probably done the rounds many, many times but I found to be chuckleworthy (is that a word?).  I'd like to share:

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official
language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.
 
As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some
room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as
"Euro-English".
 
In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will
make the sivil servants jump with joy.  The hard "c" will be dropped in favour
of "k".  This should klear up konfusion , and keyboards kan have one less
letter.
 
There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome
"ph" will be replaced with "f".  This will make words like fotograf
20% shorter.
 
In the 3rd year, publik  akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the
stage where more komplikated changes are possible.
 
Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent
to akurate speling . 
 
Also, al wil  agre that the horibl  mes of the silent "e" in the languag
is disgrasful and it should go away. 
 
By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th " with
"z" and "w" with "v".
 
During ze  fifz yer , ze  unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords
kontaining "ou " and after ziz  fifz yer , ve  vil  hav a reil  sensibl
riten styl .
 
Zer  vil be no mor  trubl or difikultis and evrivun  vil find it ezi  tu
understand ech oza .  Ze  drem of a united urop  vil  finali  kum tru .
 
Und efter  ze  fifz yer , ve  vil al be speking German like zey  vunted in ze
forst plas .

Shopping.

We researched last week and today bought a bundle for the net plus TV and phone.  It is with Ziggo, a large Dutch cable company.  We have got just over 100 TV stations, 40 Mb/s download (no cap) for the net and a phone package.  Very, very inexpensive compared to Australia.  The 'Plus' package includes access to BBC1, BBC2, BBC3 and BBC4.  CNN, BBC World and Aljazeera English means I can have my political fix, plus we'll get loads of Olympic channels simultaneously.  The net speed is the 'normal' speed, we decided we didn't need the lightning fast speed because it is normally more than adequate here anyway.  There is no capping of downloads either. 

We have a perfectly good dryer coming in the container but it is useless where we are going to live because the room where the washing machine/dryer is is internal with no ventilation except for normal extractor vents in the ceiling SO if you are Dutch and reading this, and would like a free clothes dryer that you could place near an open window or door - give us a call.  We have had to opt to buy a condenser dryer - one that uses a heat pump action to extract the water via condensation and collect it (to be tipped out at the end of the cycle).  We have one here in our flat and they are very good indeed.  It has a B energy rating.   

Another purchase today was a 46" (117cm) LED HD TV ready for wifi, games, in fact lots of things we're not into yet BUT maybe when we have it we'll get more motivated to explore.  It has an A+ energy rating which is important when operating a unit for as long as a TV can be used. 

An interesting fact emerged today...well, for me, a sharp learning curve, for Gerry Harvey of Harvey Norman, a sad reality.  A TV we researched was not available at the MediaMarkt store here in Den Haag but available for online delivery from the same parent company's website.  Even if we could have bought it today, the store would charge 35 euro for delivery (we'll have both items delivered for the one charge) - the same company's online store 9 euro 90.  The store here is a franchise owned store and sometimes has variations in products carried, but if I wasn't already there and had bought the clothes dryer earlier on a different floor, I think I'd have turned around and left and got the product I actually had planned on buying for some 25 euros less delivery cost online.  Now I know some people love shopping online for everything (even clothes, I kid you not) but I like the knowledge of the staff and the feeling that you are dealing in a human world BUT I think my thinking is way out of line with economic realities. 

Another 5 euro was added to the purchase price of the dryer to cover its eventual disposal cost at the end of its life.  Apparently this 'fee' is deposited in an environment fund to cover disposal and recycling.  Good idea, but I'd never seen or heard of it, so yet another lesson learned about living in The Netherlands.  I like this one.

The grim, unsmiling picture I took of myself yesterday for the NS Rail Card was unsuitable (too small) so Rene quickly took another one with my camera instead of the computer and it worked.  For 50 euro a year it gives me 40% korting (discount) for travel after 9, until 4pm, then after 6:30pm.  Another person can travel for the same discount with me, so that will be good for the trips I/we plan on doing.

Clocks one hour forward this morning - it's Zomertijd



On our way out this afternoon I noticed some old photos of
our building from 1931 - there's a bit of flash at the top, but it gives
a good idea of the size of it.  A restaurant and shop were on the
ground floor (long gone during the War).

Across the road there is this old farm on the edge of the park.

With the clocks forward an hour, loner time to enjoy the parks and
the beaches.  Spring is certainly in the air this week.

Feeding a kid over the fence at a farm within the park.

One month until the Japanese garden opens.  The Baroness went
six times to Japan to collect the plants.  It opened in 1926.  It is
only open to the public for six weeks from the 30th of April
and a fortnight in October.

A jet flies over in the deep blue sky above buds in the trees
just about to burst into colour - give it a week I'd say.

Daffodils are everywhere and in large numbers.

Tranquil setting for a read, a sit in the sun or a meander
through the many pathways swirling through Clingendael.

This beautiful 1920's home has overlooked the park for nearly
ninety years yet looks almost timeless (once again the curved
 glass windows at the front).  Stunning design.

Our car purchased Friday - a one owner 2003 Opel Astra
automatic, airbags all round, only 34k km (genuine).  Our
car for the next 6 or 12 months.  Parked across the road in the
next block because parking is free there. 
On our side it is paid, except for residents who pay
 a fee for a permit. From next week we'll have a double
 parking space beneath our new apartment.
 This is our third Astra and they are boring as all hell but reliable.

If you click on this picture you'll be able to pick out the
beautiful furniture in our apartment building's original
 restaurant.  The whole complex, with five elevators and two huis meisters,
 restaurant plus shop, must have been quite an impressive place in 1931.

Some of Rene's better pictures of the apartment.

One of my better angles - pouring over the plan
 and writing on it dimensions etc.

Long view from balcony doors.

We are a metre above the footpath (lightly trafficked)
 but I want the lower third to be frosted with some sort of matt film.

Second (smaller) bedroom. 

Light in this front section will be an issue - easily solved.

Small kitchen to which we will add to the right of it...

You can see it is a deep space.

...and this was taken further back again.

We don't have neighbours looking in - I like that a lot.

Our table from the deck in Brisbane will fit here just fine.
Thinking of tiling this floor though,
grey concrete is too porous.

Measuring beside the kitchen for cupboards to be made
 - takes 5/6 weeks.

We will add lots of colour with our paintings and rugs.

Rene asked me to stand near the balcony to give
an idea of the depth of the room.
The vents in the ceiling (right) are for extracting warm air
 and recirculating it through a filtration system
 and reintroducing it through the heaters. Result is very low energy costs.

View beyond will be pleasant and green.
 The lights will all be changed eventually.

Papers to sign!

Tomorrow we sign the papers for the apartment.  Hooray!  I also go to one of my schools to pick up mail from the people who register me to teach here.  Hooray!  Also going to inspect a car we may (I repeat - may) buy - an Alfa Romeo 159 wagon in black.  Oh well, maybe not that car, but something.....busy, busy.

After getting home this morning at 1am we had a quiet morning followed by lunch with Isabelle, our local friend, on the beach at Scheveningen.  In the photo you will see us pretending that 10C and sunny with quite a chilly breeze is not freezing our 'whatzits' off.  Food was OK with Rene's smoked eels on toast brilliant, my bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese very nice indeed, but poor old Isabelle was not impressed with her Caesar salad.    The coffees that followed came with a little Easter egg and a 'Baileys' type liqueur.

I walked there and back from home, quite nice, and did some supermarket shopping on my way home.  I took a few pictures of the circa 1930 homes I walk past every day.  The contrast between what was contemporary and also traditional 80 years ago is fascinating.  A beautiful (if dull) neighbourhood.

Someone went to the beach as well for lunch.

There is still another pavilion to be built - the others are all operating. 
Oh, the pier in the background was put on the market today
 and would you believe Rene was interviewed by TV
 regarding what he thought could be done with it, and I was interviewed
for radio at the same time. 
I suggested nobody in their right mind would buy it, even for one euro.
I didn't say (being diplomatic) that the Germans in 1943 had
the right idea and demolished the grand old pier.
It was rebuilt in 1961 and is now really a white elephant.

Isabelle and I both pretending it was not cold.

A three home building from 1932 along the road from here.

Lunch for three - Rene's smoked eel was the very best I had ever tasted.

Large single home on a large block - I don't even want to think how much it's worth.

This is a single house from 1931.

Love the squared off design - very 1929.

Coffee, choc egg, Baileys and water - that's how you serve coffee!

Some clients in 1930 wanted the contemporary look.

This is the upper front section of the same house - has a large curved glass window too - love it!

Four houses built at the same period in 1931 - styles varied according to tastes of the owners.