The time flies like an arrow. Quite unexpectedly, it’s an upshot moment again!
War in Ukraine
This last year it’s become clear the war is the new normal now. With regular shellings of Ukrainian cities and repressions on the rise inside Russia. We call it the “negative natural selection,” when the meanest, the dumbest are in power, oppressing and punishing any dissent.
To an outsider’s eye it doesn’t make a shred of sense, that what the Russians are doing to Ukraine — or to their own folk for that matter. There’s, however, a strong, sinister feeling there’s a mighty good chance the situation will simply collapse into total chaos at some point.
There’s not much to do about that, anyway. And the chances are, if one waits long enough, the situation will solve on itself.
That said, none of my Russian friends gives any considerable thought to that. Their lives just go on, with their daily routines of work and entertainment. My Tyumen friends don’t even care if there’s any Moscow behind the Ural mountains, not to mention Ukraine or NATO.
De wereld draait door, as the Dutch say: the world keeps spinning nonetheless.
Travel
Venice
We have visited Venice, Italy, in the beginning of March. It’s a magnificent little place, bustling with life, boasting of its poorly maintained yet absolutely charming houses. And — as we learned along the way — the origin of Aperol Spritz.
We also visited the islands of Burano, the place beloved by photographers for its bright, colourful houses, and Murano — famous for its glassware.
Essen
We spent a weekend in April in the German Essen, taking a stroll along the banks of Ruhr and visiting the Red Dot Design Museum, which offers a great curiosity collection to see.
Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro
We went eastwards for the holidays in May — to see Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It’s tempting to add a couple hundred photos of those, but I’ll refrain from that.
Frankfurt
In June we went — perhaps for the hundredth time — to Frankfurt. Every place is beautiful in June.
Stockholm
In July, when it’s much too hot otherwise, we deliberately fled to the northern Stockholm, the capital of Sweden.
It proved a great experience, friendly English-speaking people, gorgeous architecture. We looked for the roof hut of Carlsson, a character from every Russian kid’s childhood:
Admired the famous designs of Stockholm Underground:
Wandered about the equally famous Public Library:
… and plenty of other places.
Eindhoven
We visited Eindhoven, the birthplace of Philips, for the first time.
Valkenburg
Last Christmas we’ve finally seen the kerststad (“Christmas town”) Valkenburg. It’s mostly known for its caves and the “largest underground Christmas market in Europe.” It seemed a bit overrated, yet was worth seeing once (but not more):
Tenerife
Quite the opposite, we’ll be celebrating the upcoming 2024 in the sunny Tenerife (one of the Canary islands), enjoying the air temperatures of 25 °C (77 °F).
Sport
Aikido
On the Fools Day, the 1st of April, I’ve passed a sandan (third dan) Aikido Aikikai exam in Leiden. With my quite moderate pace it took me 18 years to get there (well, COVID-19 was also to blame).
Then something unexpected happened: my sensei had a disagreement with the head of the Dutch Aikikai Foundation, just like it previously had been with Joginder’s dojo (there’s apparently some pattern to it). Because of that I only got my official sandan diploma four months later, also in Leiden.
Weight-lifting
I’ve been doing weight-lifting for little more than a year now in a local gym. Over the past year I’ve managed to improve my result in bench press from 135 up to 155 kg (one repetition max), and to 140 kg with a close grip. Which I personally find satisfying given my own weight (ca. 85 kg) and age.
Running
I keep running regularly all the time, and my yearly mileage is 704 km. Not bad either, considering all other stuff that kept me busy.
Professional
Comentario
In the beginning of 2023 I got so annoyed by Commento’s bugs I started a new fork, which I called Comentario. In April it’s seen its first public release, which was followed by a few more minor versions. In november an all-new version 3.0.0 was published.
Ymuse
Ymuse, a GTK frontend to the Music Player Daemon, has become available in the standard package repositories of Ubuntu 23.04 and Debian Testing. I also released the version 0.22 Xylophone with support for drag-n-drop and a brand-new icon.
Omgevingswet
Now this is truly professional. And it’s not happened just yet, but it will in a moment. January 1st 2024 a new regulation called Omgevingswet will come into effect. It will replace 26 other laws that regulate various aspects of the living environment (leefomgeving): construction, permissions, restrictions etc.
The website at omgevingswet.overheid.nl is the single entry point for the whole country, and I’m one of those who built it. According to the plan, at 00:00 on January first it’ll expose all the new functionality provided in the new regulation 🤞
Cultural events
Den Bosch carnival
Last February we took part in the traditional carnival in the Dutch city of Den Bosch (it gets renamed to Oeteldonk during the event). It’s a lot of fun, even though it’s pretty cold. My outfit turned out a bit too popular with the (tipsy) crowd.
King’s Day
April 27 is the King’s Day in Holland. Lots of orange in the streets.
Spoffin
August is a high time for festivals, concerts, and the Pride here. There was a new edition of Spoffin, a street arts festival, held in Amersfoort. Despite the rainy weather and the holiday period the streets were overcrowded.
Phew. As I re-read the above, it’s been an eventful year.
Happy New Year to all my readers!
May 2024 prove a better, more peaceful year for all of us. ■
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