I have spent most of last week away from Paris 350kms or so further north in the Netherlands. This was about as far removed from our Parisian appartment, urban, crowded, noisy inner city life as possible. I was staying in a small vilage with a population of around 400 in the middle of a primarily agricultural region – the area produces huge quantities of apples, pears and cherries at various times in the year.
Unfortunetly I was cooped up inside for most of the time I was there but I did manage a bit of (necessary) gardening. There is something very satisfying about cutting back an overgrown shrub (in this case a runaway laurel bush) by about 1.5m all round and then feeding the debris through the shredder. Lots of mess, lots of noise and get to play with some of my toys….what more can a boy ask for?
Now, just to confirm the steroetype of the Netherlands, here are 2 photos – the first shows the market place of the local town Culemborg with the 17th century town hall at the far end, note thye ever present bicycles…
And this one shows…..a windmill….strictly I believe that this one is actually a wind-pump for maintaining water levels. Probably built in the 1720s or slightly earlier, this lies near Geldermalsen, also very local.
And finally a view from my office window looking out on the changing autumn colours
