Skywatch Friday and some prose

Click to enlarge.

More pictures? Check my Flickr page

Every SWF-picture published here is shot with my trusty Google Pixel 7 smartphone (or its predecessor, the 4a) and unedited, unless stated otherwise.

 

For more Skywatch Friday photo's from around the globe, please check http://skyley.blogspot.com/ 

==================================

Last week I worked as an entertainer at a Halloween party in Zaandam. There I took this picture of the first Albert Heijn supermarket. Nowedays the company is such a large retailer that a couple of years ago they simply bought the 7/11 chain:

To get there, I took the train from Amsterdam Central Station. Which is at the IJ-river, the body of water that seperates Amsterdam-North from the rest of the city. Since about a year there's a boulevard at the back of it. With a large bycicle parking underneath. Benches and trees 'n stuff are yet to be added.

Probably just in time for the event Sail Amsterdam 2025. Always a magnificent sight to behold: over 800 boats and ships gently passing by. From ancient tree masters via modern cargo ships, luxurious yachts and whatnot. Every five years with the first edition being held in 1975, at the 700th anniverseray of the city. That is: Amsterdammers were 'allowed' to pay government taxes from that time on. Even though Amsterdam existed a few hundred years before that great moment in history. How old is the city, town or village where you live?

Highly recommended event, Sail Amsterdam! And very Dutch. Meaning it's free to enjoy.

Since the beginning of the month of November 2024 I have a new mobile phone. After finding out the hard way my previous one does not like getting wet. The new one (Google Pixel 7) is water resistant. The old one (Google Pixel 4a) was not. Of course I took the new cameraphone for a spin on one of my daily walks:

Here's a panorama shot, taken from the Amsterdam branch of Madame Tussaud's: on the left is The Royal Palace. Which was really just the city hall until king Leopold Bonaparte (yes, brother of that (in)famous French emperor) decided to make it his palace and declared: "Ik ben konijn van Holland". And understable error since the Dutch word for 'king' sounds similar to the Dutch word for 'rabbit'. The funny mistake immediately made him likeable. And he really meant well. He was a good king of Holland. Which nowedays is just a part of The Netherlands, although a lot of people still use 'Holland' when they mean 'The Netherlands'. It's simply historically grown on people.

On the right is a wide street, connecting the centre of the city (which is the square you see in the middle of the picture: Dam Square) with Central Station, in the mist in the distance. About 2 kilometers away), where oversea goods used to come in. Now mostly replaced by freight trains: the trade ships moved to Rotterdam, the largest harbour in Europe. Barely visible in this picture on the right hand side of said street: De Beurs, the world's very first stock market, invented by the first multinational in the world, the Dutch East India Company. See also last week's post. 

Just after sunset, the canal next to my appartment:

On my way to my General Practinioner, I pass this artwork in a new part of town. A part of town where my son lives nowedays:

This is how my new camera phone sees the canal next to my appartment:

===========================

This week's piece is one of the 50+ pieces I wrote in the wings and on stage during performing in a musical in Belgium, last Summer:

But Smile (#stoetry)

They had a good talk,

his partner and him.

It was worth the energy

because it got them energized

to perform at their peak

and - still sweating from the tension -

they watched the dragon breathe fire

and fly away

leaving them

with nothing else to do

but smile

======================

In Facebook zijn niet alle plaatjes te zien (of te horen) en links in mijn artikelen niet aan te klikken. Klik daarom op de oorspronkelijke link. http://terrebel.blogspot.nl/ Veel leesplezier! O ja, fans kunnen mijn Fan pagina leuk vinden. https://www.facebook.com/TerrebelAuthortainer
Over links gesproken: ja, dat ben ik maar voor verdieping staat er ook een aantal in mijn stukjes. Heb daar wat moeite voor genomen dus stel het op prijs als u de moeite neemt er op te klikken om de betreffende artikelen, onderzoeken en filmpjes te bekijken.

Heeft u na het lezen van dit blogstuk iets geleerd, wat gelachen of heeft het u aan het denken gezet, overweegt u dan een donatie voor de tijd en moeite die ik er in steek.

Meer lezen? Mijn verhalenbundels