Photo of the Kurhaus, Scheveningen.
You may have noticed in the news that strikes and blockades to protest rising fuel costs have been sweeping Europe over the last few weeks. As you may know, gas in Europe is sold by the liter and generally costs more than $4 per gallon. Most of this cost is taxes so it's a major source of revenue in these countries. However, with oil prices high, it's hurting the companies that use a lot of fuel - freight companies, farmers, dump trucks, taxis, ambulances, etc. In France, truckers blocked shipments out of refineries, so gas wasn't getting to the pumps, and they blocked the road to the Eurotunnel and started blocking other roads. It got so bad that some towns were low on food, school buses couldn't take kids to school...and then the French government caved in and gave out a tax break. Seeing this, other countries' truckers jumped on the bandwagon. Things got very bad in the UK, and in Belgium truckers paralyzed Brussels totally and blocked the autoroutes at the borders.
A parade of trucks went down my street in the Hague blowing their horns and there were 'slowdowns' all over the Netherlands where trucks or taxis would drive slowly on the roads. Things are settled in the UK and Belgium, and now also here in the Netherlands, but now there's trouble in Germany, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Hungary, and Israel. This will have vast economic impact - for one thing, giving out these tax breaks lowers the revenue of the government due to high oil prices (tax breaks were not given in the UK by the way). This is almost like letting OPEC decide how much money your budget will have. And the problems caused by these blockades were very expensive and traumatic - it's like a form of terrorism, really.
I'm lucky because I haven't been affected that much - I had to put off a trip back to France but was able to go a week later, and as it turned out I was in France when the big demonstration took place in the Hague, bringing it to a total stop, so I managed to miss it. But my Belgian friends have been unable to make a planned visit because of the borders being closed.
So...congratulate me, I've been in Europe for a year now!
In other news, I'm trying to find more to do in the Hague and have found an English-speaking theatre group. Also the Christmas caroling group in Brussels has started up, so I should go down there and join up for this year. The Hague is Den Haag in Dutch, but the original name is s'Gravenhage. Basically it means "the Duke's hedge," so the modern version I think just means "The Hedge." It is a city of about one million, the administrative center of the Netherlands, and the legal capital of the world. For lawyers, apparently this is a kind of Mecca. For an American, it's a pretty easy place to deal with. 90% of the population speaks English and there is an affinity between the Dutch and America - after all, even old New York was once New Amsterdam. They love Ben & Jerry's ice cream here, there are some American products to be found, I can watch lots of American movies, etc.
Crossing the street here can be tricky because there are special, red bicycle lanes and tram tracks as well as cars and buses. Bicyclists especially will NOT stop for you, they have their own lanes, their own traffic lights, and absolute right of way. The funny thing is, all the bikes are creaky beat-up old ones (probably because bike theft is common and a nice bike makes you a target), and the people don't look comfortable or happy on the bikes. It's usually a guy in a suit carrying his laptop awkwardly in one hand, or people grimly holding up umbrellas in the rain. I saw a woman one day with a child riding on the back of the bike and a smaller child on the handlebars. Oh, and nobody wears a helmet. While they are in a separate lane from car traffic, I still think that's pretty dangerous, to leave your brain pan unprotected at that speed.
Part of the reason for the bikes is, parking is terrible here, just horrible. The Netherlands is the most crowded country in Europe, and most of the population lives closer to the coast in the ring of cities known as the Randstat, which includes Amsterdam, the Hague, Rotterdam, Haarlem, etc. Trains are all double-deckers and run 24 hours a day and are still crowded, unbelieveable traffic on the autoroutes, and so naturally parking would be difficult. Also the government controls parking - KPN Telecom is building a new office for 5,000 people, and they were granted a parking permit for only 700 spaces.
Fortunately for me, the tram line runs right by my apartment, and I'm driving a tiny tiny car (Fiat Seicento). And I have a grocery store in walking distance. So I'm pretty well set. Hopefully I'll have more to say about life here next time - I've been working a little bit hard and need to stop and smell the roses. However, when I first arrived some Belgian pals came up to help me settle in - photos on Dirk's web site at http://www.jumpertz.net/ and click on the 'Friends' link.
By the way, my business in France was to move out of my apartment in Valbonne - perhaps I should have kept it, but since our OSI office moved to Nice, I think I should move myself there. I have to rent a car whenever I'm in France and it's very expensive. If I get an apartment close in, I can walk or take a bus, and just rent a car occasionally. Unfortunately, it takes a while to find an apartment and I can't stay in France for long because of this project. So for now I have no apartment in France. My few boxes are locked up in the office for now. It was a great place, but just not practical...plus that, in this whole year I spent less than two months in France. And, I will be in the States for Christmas this year. I'm probably going to some Oracle training in the Seattle area around mid-December for a week, going to San Jose for Christmas, and then taking some OSI training at the mother ship in Folsom, CA before coming back to Europe. I think it'll be a nice break, and hopefully I'll come marching back to Europe, ready to face 2001... Take care, and drop me a note!
C a r o l y n
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M i n s q
"Can you see me in this empty place
Just another lonely face.
Can you see me here in outer space
It's so hard to leave a trace."
- a-ha, "Minor Earth, Major Sky"
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