We begin our floral journey in Den Haag's Haagse Haagse Bos. Around 10
minutes walk from Den Haag Centraal station and the centre of the city
it offers and escape route from the hustle and bustle of the city as well
as a safe and tranquil cycle route towards Leiden via the N44 and is arguably
at its best in the Autumn
The Huis ten Bosch. - Royal Palace in the woods.
Its become a theme of these pieces - the horses seem so happy and contented
as if they know something we don?t.
Along the N44 towards Wassenaar and we see the American influence clearly,
The sign says "Bicycles and mopeds can only be parked inside the fence".
But where the hell do I put my Chevvy ?
You can just see the baseball mound and track if that?s the correct
word. I did notice that the rest of the field is marked out for football
(soccer.) The facility is part of the American Baseball Foundation (ABF)
and is primarily used by the Americans who locate to Wassenaar for the
school.
Into the bulb region now and the first sight of fields of tulips.
A single tulip. For non Dutch readers this is a standard for photographers
a bit like "Stairway to Heaven" for guitarists. For the record I took this
shot with an auto focus camera. The trick is not to get too close and work
within the limits of the hardware but you never know how they will come
out but Paintshop has got me out of jail on several occasions with these
type of shots.
And next door slightly less vivid colours.
A bit of everything in this one.
I have to say a well planted garden. Perhaps a future development for
Eurovision
Out of the bollenstreek and onto the coast at Noordwijk.Due
to the mist we can?t quite see the Humber Bridge.
It's OK I haven't cycled to the Moon - these are the sand dunes between
Noordwijk and neighbouring Katwijk.
In doing these pages in have received criticism for being both anti-monarchist and continuing the stereotype that Brits abroad spend all their time in the pub and can?t handle the continental strength beers or drinking hours. So here we see the author's can of locally produced Royal Club Bitter Lemon. I should point out that the brand name is misleading as presumably the Club refers to the gentlemen's clubs in Pall Mall such as The Garrick and Reform clubs. These never have had anything to do with the British Royal Family and never have. The only royal clubs I can think of are Queen's Club (tennis), Queens Park Rangers, Queen of the South (English and Scottish football respectively), Royal Birkdale, Troon etc. etc. (Golf). I should add that at the peak of his playing career current Tottenham manager Glen Hoddle was referred to as the King of White Hart Lane though I think it was in the biblical sense of the word king (as in King David.)rather than the contemporary. Royalty was honoured by the railway magnates with London / Manchester / Southend Victoria stations and Glasgow Queen Street. and of course the Queen Mary and QE2 ships and several pubs named after the Prince of Wales (but who the hell was the Marquis of Granby and more to the point what is a marquis anyway ?)
As A child I noticed the words "by appointment" on a number of products such as breakfast cereals and interestingly HP sauce (produced now by the Danone group). I speculated that the Queen must have a good appetite eating both (American) corn flakes and a full English breakfast with sauce (owned and managed by a CAC 40 company.) It occurred to me in later life that she should also be having porridge some of the time keeping in spirit with The Union (of England and Scotland) and keeping the U in UK. But then how often should she have porridge ? but that brings us to the West Lothian question that is more of a taboo in certain circles than the dreaded Euro so it is best not brought up in polite conversation.
Interestingly using the word Club in brand names van lead to confusion. I always thought that British Club Class was between first and tourist but it appears it offers the highest level of service.Perhaps if they renamed them Premier, First and Second to be consistent with English and Scottish football classifications that would avoid the confusion.