With just a week to go, before the move is a fact, there are still a few things that need to be done. We go everywhere and while we enjoy the scenery, the same is true for every bend we take: 'we no longer see this (for the time being)'.
We lived together in the northern part of the Netherlands, and have seen everything: Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe. Every province with its own charms. And we have built up memories in every area.
Sometimes we think about those memories. The good we cherish, the bad we soon forget. The realization that we are going to build new memories in a new country. New areas will discover. And new friendships will be made.
We also know enough nice places in the Netherlands. And we can enjoy nature in all its aspects.
I was born and raised in Rotterdam, the busy West, and I am happy that I moved to quiet Friesland many years ago. Sometimes people asked me what I was going to do there. "Because there is nothing there". But you knew your neighbors, you knew what was going on in your immediate environment. You greeted each other. Due to all kinds of circumstances I finally moved to Drenthe. Where the children grew up in a quiet environment, I should not have thought that they, just like me, experienced the bustle of a city. How funny is it now to notice, since they left the house, that they appreciate that bustle of a city ...
Anyway: we are leaving from the north of the Netherlands. So it was time to drive one last time through those special places from our memories. We were lucky: it was cold but dry and there was even some sun. Because we prefer to drive inland roads, we wanted to drive one more time along the Wadden Sea, where we also lived in a small village.
The sheep stood on the dyke as always and we drove over the special sheep grid. In the distance we already saw a beautiful sunset. Sometimes we had to pass an oncoming car and we drove diagonally against the dyke. Erik said that this took some effort and that it was a good thing that the next day the car would go to the garage and get 4 new tires. These were a bit slippery.
Less than a second later, the car didn't want to go any further and a strange noise came from below. Very slowly, Erik tried to get to a road widening where we could check the car. It wouldn't be the case that the car broke down? Just before we have to drive nearly 800 kilometers to France next week? There we were: with a flat tire on the left front .. Fortunately it happened on the dyke and not on the way home that day on the highway. We could easily have had a blowout tire and the fate would not have been manageable! We were in a nice place with the car including flat tire. Cold, but with a beautiful sunset. It could not have been a coincidence that we had a flat tire right now and at THIS place: just before we had been at my parents' grave in Friesland. I am sure they have saved us from something much worse.
After fifteen minutes the wheel was exchanged with a home carrier. We then drove back to Drenthe and were both convinced that we actually had a lot of luck ...
