Skywatch Friday and some prose

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Every SWF-picture published here is shot with my trusty Google Pixel 7 smartphone and unedited, unless stated otherwise.

 

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

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The other day I made use of the - overall - quite sufficient Dutch public transport system. Very convenient since you only need one single transport chip card for getting on every single ferry, bus, tram, metro and train in the country. 

All in all after some three hours - with a total delay of only six minutes! - I arrived at a friend who lives in a small community just outside Nijmegen, a city the Romans named Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum, some 100 years after a rather famous deity got a young lady in Bethlehem pregnant, creating a Son who would grow up to have some significant influence. Over 2,000 years later His name is still mentioned. And not only by people who accidentally hit their finger instead of a nail with a hammer.

Nijmegen was named after the family name of the Roman emperor at the time, the 'new market' (as it quickly became an important trade center) and the peoples of the Batavi who roamed the area. Well worth a visit!

Just a ten minute walk from the friend's place you can find a small body of water called Lentse Plas:

Made a stopover at 's Hertogenbosch trainstation. To confuse foreign travelers the city name is abbreviated to Den Bosch: "Den Bosch trainstation", the announcer said? According to the map I have to get off at 's Hertogenbosch so I'll just stay seated." 

The small neighbourhood where my friend and her daughter live:

Nijmegen trainstation:

From the local busstop I could just see one of the many wind turbines in the area. A lot of locals get their energy from them. 

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This piece of prose was written with a sick friend in mind:

Walk (a #poem)

Sometimes it seems impossible

to fold out your wings and fly.

As if you're stuck in a cage

which gives little room to move.

When you get out

you notice 

you are still unable to fly

because you haven't used 

your wings in a while

You almost feel paralyzed

until a friend tells you:

remember you can still walk

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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

Civilisation

Every once in a while anthropologists stumble upon a people that are completely oblivious to the outside world. Those groups of people are usually quite small and have developed customs that may seem alien to people living in 'our' world. 

Because they lack in numbers, it's not uncommon for cousins to have children. Making genetic defects like mental development issues not a rare occurence. They have lived like that for generations and seem overall content. In rural USA.

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Want to read (more of) my short stories? My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon

A donation (click) is much appreciated:

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All joking aside, it does seem that people living in small communities may seem simple minded to others and vote for politicians 'because they promised us a better life!" Apparently they can't comphrehend the notion there are people who would willingly harm others, just to enrich themselves and their so called friends. 

If you can't afford the $122 a month cable subscription in the US, 

your options to watch different TV channels are limited. And so will be your worldview. 

But that's okay, of course. There are tribes tucked away in dense forests that are perfectly content living in the exact same way their ancestors did 30,000 years ago. And - if poachers and corrupt government leaders don't ruin their habitat - they will probably outlive us. If only because they know how to live without electricity and supermarkets.

"Yeah, but those uncivilised tribes spend half an hour making fire!" Sure. Just like you at the yearly neighbourhood barbecue. Although you have matches. But even if they spend a few hours a day on collecting and preparing food, they have all the time in the world. They don't work 8 hours a day enriching someone else; they don't spend 3 hours a day watching TV and spend zero time mindlessly scrolling social media. They don't spend an hour a day discussing topics they know nothing about with people who don't care about their opinion because they already made up their minds. They don't waste time looking for gadgets they absolutely don't need but are told they can't live without. 

"Yeah, but they don't have money!"

If 'having money' is your best argument to call yourself 'civilised' (or 'civilized' if you're American), you may have to rethink your priorities.

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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