Daily Archives: February 2, 2009

Serious Disruption

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Noticeable Oddities of the Day:

I find certain things in this country utterly amusing at times… Today the first day of proper snow and everything just stops working. Most Tube lines have been suspended early this morning and the London transport website mentions: ‘As a result of heavy snowfall overnight, transport services in London are severely disrupted this morning. The advice to passengers is to check before you travel, expect disruption. Further heavy snowfall is forecast throughout today and disruption is likely to continue throughout Monday.’

People just have a day off because of this. I can’t remember I ever had a day off from work in Amsterdam because of a bit of snow. You just have to find a way to get there no matter what it takes, the boss is expecting you. I think the amount of snow that fell overnight is nothing compared to the kind of heavy snowfall on the continent or even further up north in England or Scotland. It’s kinda funny to see that whenever there’s a few one days of ‘heavy’ snowfall the capital seems to stop functioning and everything turns to chaos.

I guess I’m ‘too Dutch’ to understand the wuss attitude, I used to cycle to work, whether there was a gale force 10 out there, 15cm of snow, a temperature of -20 Cº or pissing down rain.

07.10 this morning

07.45 this morning

08.00 this morning

13.00 No micro but it came out well: a snowflake

13.00 No micro but it came out well: another snowflake

A Dreamworld

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Anton Pieck

  • 19 April 1895 – 25 November 1987
  • Anton Franciscus Pieck was a famous Dutch painter, artist and graphic artist. As a drawing teacher in Bloemendaal from 1920 to 1960, he is best known for his nostalgic and fairytale-like drawings, appearing regularly on cards and calendars.

The world has turned into an evocative enchanting place, a place of mystery, silence, crystals, crispness and magical light. A soft blanket, inviting to explore this mysterious world, go out and play like the foxes do at night. The light is amazing and the night seems less dark than usual because of the reflections of billions of crystals. Crystals floating down in a gentle but steady way covering all that looked so familiar in a crisp glistening wrapping, a surprise gift of nature.

It reminds me of one of my favourite Dutch painters, Anton Pieck who had the ability to present each of his paintings into the same kind of magical world. I can’t sleep, I have a high fever because of an ear infection [had to visit the hospital last night], I’m hoarse because of a sore throat and a cold but I’m somehow too excited to be tired. So I spent some time chasing snowflakes, taking pictures and looking for some beautiful images by Anton Pieck.

This is what dreams are made of…