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Diabetics R Us

Antje77 said:
Sounds great, but the friends I want to visit live in the south! Too hot for me is roughly anything above 20 Celsius...

Waterproofing is never a problem. While I do like nice weather, a bit (or a lot) of rain has never ruined any activity for me. I've been a sailor on big sailing ships in Dutch weather for years, I think I know a bit about enjoying yourself outside, rain or not :)
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Hahaha you sound like us horsewomen! :D As long as the wind doesn't blow you off the horse, and as long as you get in the saddle before the rain does, and as long as the horse isn't spooked by it all ...
Of course, in my climate, wind and rain are often accompanied by thunder, which is usually accompanied by lightning ... !!!
Your proposed holiday sounds like fun, come rain or come shine. :)
 
@Antje77 Shame you can't get up north. As @carty says, the scenery is stunning and the folk friendly. There is no such thing as bad weather, just a bad choice of clothing. :rolleyes: Have a great time, when it arrives.
 
@Antje77 I am excited to find out that I can "read" Dutch! :) Sort of. lol
I decided to do some more research on the Dutch branch of my family, and one name got me into the National Archives of the Netherlands website. Of course I figure I can "read" just enough to be getting it all wrong, because guessing at words that look familiar, like they might be the Dutch equivalents of English words, is a good way to get it wrong. And right now it's giving me a headache. lol

But I was thrilled to Google one name and address that I have in the documents my cousin sent me, and to find the address in Rotterdam!
 
SaskiaKC said:
Of course I figure I can "read" just enough to be getting it all wrong, because guessing at words that look familiar, like they might be the Dutch equivalents of English words, is a good way to get it wrong.
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If you encounter a phrase that still doesn't make sense after Google translate I'll be happy to have a look at it :)
 
I'm off to the cinema later with granddaughter and her boyfriend to see the film 1917. I have wanted to see this film since it was first trailed. Freebie tickets courtesy of GD who is currently working at the cinema, but as she is leaving for a proper job very soon they will be the last freebies.
 
SaskiaKC said:
Will you please post what you thought of it after you've seen it?
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One word - brilliant. If the main actor George MacKay doesn't get every award going it will be a crying shame and criminal. I cried. GD's boyfriend cried. GD didn't, or so she says. Especially poignant if you have ancestors that fought in that war. The direction is excellent, and everything done carefully to reflect just how it was. I actually felt as though I were there, so much so that I jumped out of my skin at certain explosions. Worth every penny if you go to see it.
 
My 3rd cousin 2x removed was killed in action in 1915 in France he was born in April 1900 so was 15 years old when killed tragic.
My 2nd great uncle was crew on HMS Goliath which was torpedoed and sunk, 13 May 1915 his body was never recovered.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
One word - brilliant. If the main actor George MacKay doesn't get every award going it will be a crying shame and criminal. I cried. GD's boyfriend cried. GD didn't, or so she says. Especially poignant if you have ancestors that fought in that war. The direction is excellent, and everything done carefully to reflect just how it was. I actually felt as though I were there, so much so that I jumped out of my skin at certain explosions. Worth every penny if you go to see it.
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Thank you.
 
JohnEGreen said:
My 3rd cousin 2x removed was killed in action in 1915 in France he was born in April 1900 so was 15 years old when killed tragic.
My 2nd great uncle was crew on HMS Goliath which was torpedoed and sunk, 13 May 1915 his body was never recovered.
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It has been said many times that every family in the UK lost at least one member of their extended family in that war.
Whilst searching for my illusive grandfather with no name in Todmorden, I came across a book "Todmorden and the Great War". What happened there was the recruiting staff organised enlistment meetings in a local hostelry, with a free bar all evening. Naturally, all the young men went along, believed the stories that they would be home for Christmas, got drunk, and signed up. There was no conscription in those days, it was all voluntary. They had no idea what lay ahead, believing it to be a bit of a war game, a chance to escape and see some of the world. Exciting stuff. From memory, the war memorial in Todmorden lists 650 men killed in action. Todmorden was a small place.
 
@Bluetit1802 and @JohnEGreen your posts reminded me of the Civil War here in the US. Almost everyone I knew growing up had lost at least one ancestor or other relative in that war. My father's paternal grandfather died in the war, leaving a widow with several children, including my grandfather, who was about 10 at the time.
A lot of young men volunteered, thinking the war would be over in a matter of weeks or months.
 
@Antje77 one of my Dutch great-great aunts worked as a dienstbode, and my great-great-grandfather was a tapper and/or kastelein.
Google translated another occupation as "feather man" or "foot feather" from "veerman" and "voetveer".
Can you please tell me what (any of) those are? "Voetveer" like a ferryman, maybe?
 
Dienstbode: Not an occupation that still goes by that name. It's like the maid, including opening the door and passing along messages, like a butler. Often work for young females before they were married, but it was not solely a profession for women. In male diensbodes work may have included caring for the horses as well.

Tapper or kastelein: My best friend, the one who pours (tapt) the beer in the pub :)

Veer, pont or veerpont: Ferry. But veer also means feather, nothing to do with ferry though.
Voetveer: Literally foot ferry. A ferry for pedestrians only, often also for bikes. On the North side of Amsterdam Central Station there are 5 different 'voetveren' going back and forth to the north part of the city, during rush hour every 6 minutes with a maximum of around 300 passengers.
But in more rural area's a voetveer can be a small boat for up to 4 people, manned by a veerman living at the one shore with a bronze bell on the opposite shore to alert him or her.

Veerman. That must be clear by now. The most famous Veerman of course is Sharon.

sKx5ij9HdXMoXQX_MMQxQQdP0Zk.jpg


voetveer.jpg


SaskiaKC said:
Google translated another occupation as "feather man" or "foot feather" from "veerman"
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Did your source say where it was and when? Could be interesting to see if there's still a veer at that place :)
 
Antje77 said:
Dienstbode: Not an occupation that still goes by that name. It's like the maid, including opening the door and passing along messages, like a butler. Often work for young females before they were married, but it was not solely a profession for women. In male diensbodes work may have included caring for the horses as well.

Tapper or kastelein: My best friend, the one who pours (tapt) the beer in the pub :)

Veer, pont or veerpont: Ferry. But veer also means feather, nothing to do with ferry though.
Voetveer: Literally foot ferry. A ferry for pedestrians only, often also for bikes. On the North side of Amsterdam Central Station there are 5 different 'voetveren' going back and forth to the north part of the city, during rush hour every 6 minutes with a maximum of around 300 passengers.
But in more rural area's a voetveer can be a small boat for up to 4 people, manned by a veerman living at the one shore with a bronze bell on the opposite shore to alert him or her.

Veerman. That must be clear by now. The most famous Veerman of course is Sharon.

sKx5ij9HdXMoXQX_MMQxQQdP0Zk.jpg


voetveer.jpg



Did your source say where it was and when? Could be interesting to see if there's still a veer at that place :)
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Thank you very much! :)

The veer was at Haastrecht, sometime in the 1860s-1870s I think.
 
Antje77 said:
The most famous Veerman of course is Sharon.
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But how could I forget the most famous Dutch veerman! The majority of people born after 1965 or who've had children born after 1965 know the Heen- en Weerwolf! Heen en weer means back and forth a weerwolf is a wherewolf. The poor heen- en weerwolf was very sad that no-one wanted to cross the water on his pontje because they all thought he was a wherewolf. After all, it said so on his sign.
upload_2020-1-20_23-27-35.jpeg

He didn't have a bell by the way, as you can read on the sign you had to whistle 3 times to make him come to pick you up.
upload_2020-1-20_23-29-5.jpeg
When our hero, Pluk van de Petteflat, wanted to cross the water on his ferry and use it to come back as well, he was so happy that he celebrated by decorating his veerboot!
images
 
Antje77 said:
You've really got me going now :) Here's another nugget from Dutch folk culture on veerboten that made it's way to our collective memories. I'll include a link to the lyrics as well, an enjoyable piece of homework for you :D
And the lyrics:
https://muzikum.eu/nl/123-677-11490/drs-p/veerpont-songtekst.html
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Thank you. I enjoyed the song. I also enjoyed trying to read the story about Pluk and the Heen- en Weerwolf in the original, and the Google translations into English of the story and of the song. If I could have studied Dutch at school as I studied German I would have enjoyed trying to translate them both on my own,, even after all these years. I was very pleased that when I read
Daar stond Pluk met z'n wagentje in de mist,
op een smal pad langs de rivier,
when I read the English translation, I had gotten it right! :D

You seem to enjoy getting into research as much as I do. Thanks. :)
 
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