Here are a few things about NL that don’t really fit into my daily updates, and since I didn’t do anything in particular today, that is, didn’t do anything that I can write about, I thought I’d share my views on these.
The priority on the roads is as follows – people, cyclists and then vehicles. After spending 14 years in India, it was amusing to see a car screech to a halt because the driver saw me on the pavement. This morning as we drove to work I saw an interesting sight. There was a tractor coming in the opposite direction. The road is a narrow single lane in each direction kind of road. Behind the tractor was a train of cars, all of which could travel at roughly 10 times the speed of the tractor. On the opposite lane was just our vehicle. But although we were at the other end of the road, not one of the cars behind the tractor broke the yellow line – not one. The traffic discipline is amazing.
The landscape of the Netherlands will not be complete unless I mention the cycles. This is the most preferred means of travel and it is easy to see the reasons. Their cities are not very large and weather is wonderful. It makes sense to get the exercise by pedaling yourself around. Given the profusion of cycles, it is only natural that one also gets to see a variety of them around. The cutest one I saw on the trip so far folds into three pieces. It costs you €8 to carry your cycle on the train; they have carriages on which you can take your cycles. A lot of people do that too.
Moving on, you’d think that in a country as cold as this it would be difficult to get a glimpse of flesh. Well you could not be more mistaken. The women here wear the skimpiest of skirts and how they manage to keep their privates covered while sitting and standing defies every law that Newton or any of the others ever propounded.
Moving on to the food, I am not sure about most Indians, but I love it. There is a lot of bread, a lot of sliced meat and that more than suffices my stomach. To say that I am enjoying the food here would be an understatement. Here is the menu for the day:
Breakfast – Cornflakes with cold milk – Two sort of bread with ham – A sandwich of raisin bread with honey – The above were downed with a glass of orange juice – Coffee
Lunch – Four sandwiches of various breads – Two buns – All the above with various sliced meat and mayonnaise – Orange juice
Dinner
– Three steaks
– Rice
– Dal
– Orange Juice
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