Nog maar twee weken geleden was ik overtuigd dat de lente voor de deur stond (of hoopte ik het alleen maar?) Maar nu hebben we al meer dan een week temperaturen onder nul. Afgelopen vrijdag kregen we serieuze (voor hollandse begrippen) sneeuw, met als gevolg enorme file's en spoor problemen.
I took some snowy-freezy snapshots of my allotment and surroundings today:
Ik heb vandaag wat sneeuwige, ijskoude kiekjes gemaakt van mijn volkstuin en omgeving:
Now that we have quite some time of sub-zero temperatures, a certain kind of fever broke out in Holland.... the "Elfsteden-fever". Everyone is excited, because this weather could mean that the "Elfsteden Tocht" goes on this year. The "Elfsteden tocht" or, in english; "Eleven-cities tour"; is a 200km ice skating marathon, traditionally held in the Province of "Fryslan" in the northen part of Holland. It is a very rare event, as the dutch weather not always permits it to be held. The ice along the 11 cities' canals, rivers, lakes should measure and maintain 15 cm's in thickness, al over the track. EVERY dutch news program, weather forecast an internet news is speculating wether the tour will go on or not.
The tradition of this tour goes back to 1760, but was officially called "Elfsteden Tocht" since 1909. The tour of 1963 is also known as "The Hell of '63"; they even made a movie about this race! Only 1% of the riders could finish, due to the harsh conditions. The winner of the 1963 race was Reinier Paping, who became a dutch hero. Between 1963 and 1985 no races could be held, after the one in 1985 we had one in 1986 (in which our Crown Prince secretly contested - and finished!) and the last time the tour was held was in 1997....
Ik denk dat ik bovenstaande tekst niet in het nederlands hoef te vertalen, zo'n beetje iedereen in nederland is in de ban van een eventueel komende elfsteden tocht...
Wordt het 'It sil Heve', 'It giet oan', of toch 'It ken net' ??
Sounds like it must be extremely cold over there at the moment.....
ReplyDeleteIt was very interesting reading the history about the Elfsteden Tocht. I can understand why you are so excited about it and I hope it manages to go ahead. I enjoyed watching the trailer for the movie......
Stay warm,
Claire :}