Spring, Time and Sun

Spring is here in full force in the Netherlands, and it's wonderful. Together with a new bike, I have been enjoying the outdoors to the max.

For me, spring brings with it such a sense of optimism. The warm air is back, and there's nothing I can't do. I've been on two fairly long bike rides lately. The first one I went north towards Bergschenhoek, and then southeast to Capelle aan den IJssel before I came back to Rotterdam. The second trip was to Delft. It's about 15-20km to Delft, and it's beautiful Dutch farmland in between. The way there wasn't so great, I was next to the highway, breathing in carbon monoxide, but the way back was calm, quiet and beautiful. Except for the odour of manure that was occasionally in the air... Also, there was lots of farm animals: cows, horses and sheep. Not too mention many little baby lambs!

I also find that on these trips I discover the most interesting things. Such as what I think is some kind of ski hill:

Also, a house with a lovely thatched roof:

Some thoughts about time and the sun. If you remember my post from back in December I was complaining about the lack of sunlight. Well, my aunt who lives in Canada's far north told me to stop complaining, because she gets a lot less sun, and that the thing about very short days in winter, is that they will get long again really fast. And, it's true! We went from days where the sun rose 8:30AM and set at 4:30PM to days where the sun is now rising at 7:30AM and setting at close to 8:00PM. It's great, I love it. I find the lack of sunlight in this country, either due to winter, or to the clouds and rain that are so common has made sunny days all that more precious for me. When the sun comes out I feel an overwhelming compulsion to go outside and do something. The dutch are kind of like this too, as soon as the sun came out, and it was a bit warm, all the cafe's put out tables and chairs, and they were packed with people sitting in the sun. As soon as the sun started to disappear, the chairs emptied as they fell into the shade.

Finally, I went to the beach on Sunday at Scheveningen and had a great time. We sat in the sand, played games and ate food. I even dipped my feet into the ocean... still too cold.