Happy holiday

I am shocked -- shocked! -- that the Netherlands does not recognize the annual efforts of Punxsutawney Phil in ensuring that the globe remains on its axis. The sacrilege. Evidently, at least in the States they can expect another six weeks of winter.

Here, we figure we can expect another six weeks of rain. To be followed by another six weeks of rain. Perhaps followed by some especially sunshiny weeks of rain in May and June. We're all a-quiver with antici....

To be filed under "intriguing ambivalences" (or perhaps a side effect of failure to observe critical holidays -- I'm stretching for a segue here), there's news this week that the first "coffeeshop" in Amsterdam has gone smoke-free before the new smoking ban (applicable to all types of public smoking) goes into effect on July 1 of this year. I first read about this in the Dutch language newspapers and had to search all over before finding the above link to make sure that I'd actually understood what I was reading since my Dutch is not exactly what you'd call fluent. Lo, it's true, and further support for our observation that we're living in the Netherlands just in time to witness the (re?)conservatization of the Dutch.

Of course, they are still planning on showing that old classic, Deep Throat, on public television next week "for its cultural and historical value." And no, it's not a documentary on Woodward and Bernstein. Wonder if they'll have subtitles or if they'll trust it to, er, speak for itself.