A couple of peculiarities of living in The Netherlands exclusively for your entertainment:

Last week I read in the paper that supermarkets are now experimenting with letting customers pay with a credit card in their stores. The experiment has proved that given this option, customers will spend more per visit. Mind blowing stuff…

A news report on my local TV station (Hilversum TV) reported that the police found a collection of more than a 100 golf balls in some or other street. They are spending all the time in finding out how it arrived at that spot and who is responsible. At the same time a warning has been extended to all dog owners that their dogs might die if a ball (or balls) is swallowed.

Having something delivered relates to the very painful root canal I once underwent. Firstly, only about a third of the stores I visited are willing to deliver. Furthermore, only about a third of those friendlies are willing to deliver on the first floor. Added to that nobody delivers on a Saturday or after 5. So after I was fortunate enough to find the right product, at the right price, with a delivery plan, and having to pay 22 euros for some removal tax (they are not removing anything!) my new fridge and washing machine is arriving tomorrow. Unfortunately I still have to take off work to welcome the new babies!

Cash is not very common here. Instead you can pinnen or chippen. The first refers to what we call debit card or Maestro, and the second is a gold chip on your bank card. The chip however is a strange concept. You need to load money on it (not auto-linked to your account) and then you can pay for things like parking and train tickets.

Talking about train tickets: I have been here for approximately a month, and I have never been asked for my ticket on the train. Of course I always bought one…
The other day though, I was travelling on the train and in walks the conductor. As I hand over my ticket, I realize that I have not stamped it at the stempelautomaat at the station. Of course the conductor takes one look at the ticket and frowns… Then mumbles something in Dutch about the stamp. I am ashamed to say here that I just continued in English, pretending that I didn’t know what he was talking about. Hey! It worked in Taiwan. Like a dog realising that the shoe does not taste like a steak, he left me alone and went on with his rounds. Phewww….
Now I stamp. Every time.

As a novice driver in this country, I have noticed a few weird things about the road and it’s rules here. Firstly, the hierarchy goes like this: cyclist, pedestrian, bus and then car. Secondly, buses have their own lanes AND traffic lights. Imagine what the taxis would do with that in Joburg!

I found out with shock and horror that it is quite standard to remove all the lights from a house that you have been renting when you leave. Therefore leaving the poor next tenant (read me!) in almost complete darkness!

Everything is closed on a Sunday. Except of course, McDonalds! You cannot believe the difference in this town between Saturday morning (lively streets with performers, shoppers, kids and ice cream vendors) to Sunday – ghost town.

Episode two to follow...