Yesterday was the first Monday of the month which means … air raid sirens!!

The Dutch decided that they would keep all the nifty World War II air raid sirens and put them to use for major disasters like fires and things. If you hear the alarm you are supposed to go inside, shut all the windows and doors and tune into the local radio station. (For those visiting of nervous disposition we have a leaflet in English for your reference).

They used to check the air raid sirens yearly but nobody paid attention to them so they started testing them monthly on the first Monday of every month at noon.

In all my visits to Holland not a single trip actually lined up with testing day which I was most distraught about. The first visit that I was here and they were supposed to go off was New Years Day. SF was also here so I didn’t tell her about the alarms. RC and I had grand plans to run round acting all scared when they went off screaming ‘The Germans are invading’ but much to our dismay they didn’t sound the alarms that day.

So last month was the first time I got to hear the alarms. All week I was super excited. The only downside was that it was on my first day of work and being the newest expat in the training group I could hardly act all excited when they sounded. This month it was chucking it down with rain so going outside was not an option. Hopefully next month will be a bit better.

Woop, Woop, Woop….

Cloggie In Training

For further information:

(the Dutch equivelant to ‘Holy Cow its Raining Cats and Dogs!)

After 44 dry, sunny straight days it was bound to rain and boy oh boy did it rain! All through the night the rain was going and this caused the biggest traffic jams ever. I believe this morning they estimated that there was 500km’s of traffic jams (file in Dutch) throughout the country. This meant that it took me 2 1/2 hours to get to work. Something I wasn’t very pleased about.

Driving home was much quicker but filled with rain and wind. It wasn’t helped by the Dutch not liking to remain in their own lane nor picking a new one, so they kind of stradle between the two. In addition the Dutch refuse to purchase those lovely reflectors that are on the road inbetween the lanes…I never realised how handy those are!

I’m not sure how long the bad weather is expected but I am hoping the traffic will be a bit better.

Off to do some work…

Cloggie In Training