I should have remembered it was Friday the 13th... the man from the gas board was late getting here, as being from out of town, he hadn't calculated on the fact that HRH The Prince of Orange would be registering his third daughter's birth at the Town Hall this morning, and the downtown area would be packed with people wanting to catch a glimpse of him. Following the live coverage on TV, I could see that he was taking his time, shaking hands and accepting flowers, cards and cuddly toys from school children and grandmothers who'd made the journey into The Hague from all parts of the country. Seems the new princess is to go through life with the name of Ariane...it could have been worse, I suppose. With the abundance of daughters having been born into the House of Orange in recent years, the collection of halfway decent traditional names in the Nassau family had already been exhausted.
Anyway, while waiting for the gas man to arrive, I started to half-heartedly do some housework...and broke the hoover. Literally, broke it. Snapped the tube in such a way that no amount of masking tape is going to help stick it back together. I'll have to go get a new one. Wish I could afford a Dyson....or maybe, I can? Will have to look into this. Everyone says they're much better than a traditional vacuum cleaner.
The gas man arrived, and I had to hurry him through his annual inspection so as I could be on my way to my physiotherapy session -- when my phone rang and it was Rutger, cancelling. He hadn't finished my training schedule yet, and could we maybe see each other on Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning instead? Tuesday morning? Jobsworth isn't going to like this, but okay. "1 o'clock alright?" "Since when is 1 o'clock 'in the morning'? I can do 11" So we compromised on 11:30am, but I can see I'm going to have a hard time fitting my therapy sessions into my schedule.
The crowds will undoubtedly have dispersed by now...I think I'll go into town, and dispel my annoyance at my waste of a morning by buying those wedges I saw earlier. I've checked all the fashion mags and apparently it's still okay to be seen in wedges this summer, so I'd better get another pair.
Anyway, while waiting for the gas man to arrive, I started to half-heartedly do some housework...and broke the hoover. Literally, broke it. Snapped the tube in such a way that no amount of masking tape is going to help stick it back together. I'll have to go get a new one. Wish I could afford a Dyson....or maybe, I can? Will have to look into this. Everyone says they're much better than a traditional vacuum cleaner.
The gas man arrived, and I had to hurry him through his annual inspection so as I could be on my way to my physiotherapy session -- when my phone rang and it was Rutger, cancelling. He hadn't finished my training schedule yet, and could we maybe see each other on Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning instead? Tuesday morning? Jobsworth isn't going to like this, but okay. "1 o'clock alright?" "Since when is 1 o'clock 'in the morning'? I can do 11" So we compromised on 11:30am, but I can see I'm going to have a hard time fitting my therapy sessions into my schedule.
The crowds will undoubtedly have dispersed by now...I think I'll go into town, and dispel my annoyance at my waste of a morning by buying those wedges I saw earlier. I've checked all the fashion mags and apparently it's still okay to be seen in wedges this summer, so I'd better get another pair.
- Current Mood:
annoyed
Comments
I had no idea people were still so interested in the Royal Family in The Netherlands. :S
I think that was Ariel, in The Little Mermaid. And then there was Aurora in Sleeping Beauty....
I had no idea people were still so interested in the Royal Family in The Netherlands.
It's hard to explain really, what the House of Orange means to us Dutch. They've had the top job in an unbroken line for the last 5 centuries, first as stadtholders in the time of the Republic, and then as kings since the creation of the monarchy in 1815. They're a large part of our national history and identity, and no one can really conceive of a time when they might not be in place at the head of the State. You know that saying, 'God is in His heaven, and all is right with the world'? Here, it's a case of 'God is in His Heaven, the Oranges lead the country, and all is right with the world'. If we became a republic again tomorrow, provided she'd be allowed to stand, the Queen would win the presidential elections hands down. The Oranges are not affiliated with any political party, and perfectly placed to unite all factions.
But there's no need for us to change the form of government we're under. We have a constitutional monarchy, in which the Queen (or King, when Alexander takes over from his mother in a few years) is the head of state with the right to be consulted, to advise and to warn the government, and Parliament decides.
And yes, people do generally take an interest in the comings and goings of the Royal Family, but it's mostly benign. They just want to see them wave at them, or see them walk among them when something bad happens, like when that plane went down on a few apartment blocks in Amsterdam some years ago. They're a rallying point in times of trouble, but also a target to throw paint bombs at if you want to get to your protest against whatever you think is wrong with the country in the papers. It's a rotten job, but somebody's got to do it, seems to be the prevailing attitude. ;-)
But of course, we have the British Royal Family, rather than our own. I'm not that keen on the thought of King Charles and Queen Camilla. :P :P