Rectification

A small change in the program of the World Daffodil Tour for which you received an invitation last week. Thanks by the way for the many nice reactions and registrations, the number of participants is already approaching 100. It's going really great but there is still room.

The center of Burgervlotbrug

I have been informed that day 3 and day 4 are swapped, so Wednesday and Thursday are turned around. Or rather: I had written them down the other way around, they were of course already correct.

The program of the World Daffodil Tour is as follows:

Day 1, Monday 15 April: arrival Van der Valk Schiphol Hotel A4

Day 2 , Tuesday 16 April: North Holland Head,

Daffodil nursery Fluwel in Burgervlotbrug, and a visit to two flower bulb companies in North Holland.

Day 3, Wednesday 17 April: Flower Bulb Region Lisse

Visit to the collection of my co-organizer Eric Breed, Hein Meeuwissen, and a visit to the Keukenhof. The ticket for entrance to the Keukenhof is also included in the package price!

Day 4, Thursday April 18: The Egmonds

Visit to Hortus Bulborum, Michiel de Waard, and Jos Kuiper.

Day 5, Friday 19 April: After breakfast home or to Northern Ireland for the continuation of the World Daffodil Tour.

This is, in short, the summary of the Narcissus outing. For more information about participation, you can send an email to Pien@fluwel.nl . She will send you a document with an extensive description of the program and practical information about this trip.

When I think of outings, I always have to think of a weekend in Vienna with a big smile. Really, it makes me so happy. That's because in the past, at the Burgerbrugge fair in our country, there were all kinds of fun games in the Buisman pub. Hanging jeans, sliding beer mugs and more of that craziness. One of the games was the Zijper Cigar Smoking Championship. Young and old could participate, everyone could win. Whether you smoked like a chimney or had never lit one before, it didn't matter, the prizes were there for the taking. A weekend in Vienna! One year, the first prize was a Weekend in Vienna. Never before had the number of participants been so large, the entire stage in café Buisman was full of cigar smokers. To win this fun competition, the trick was to suck as long a cone of ash as possible from a bolknak that had been set on fire by the Jury with a Zwaluw match. If the cone of the butt broke, you were out. That happened to me pretty quickly, it must have been the cigar, I think the band was too tight, the cigar was twisted a bit too much, anyway, we blame the cigar. It can't be otherwise: a cigar is always the cigar. It doesn't matter, as soon as you were done you could drink beer at the bar again, also fun and the beer had to be finished. Neighbor boy Johan Vries on the other hand, driver who could drive the biggest truck with a steady hand and extreme precision, was in utmost concentration. You could see it, he was in the mood for a weekend in Vienna. He stood there like a statue, so still with a steady hand that a brain surgeon would be jealous of, sucking very softly on his cigar. For Johan there was nothing in the world but him and his bolkknak. Supreme concentration. He managed to get almost his entire cigar to turn to ash before even a speck of ash had fallen from the cone. It hurt, his fingers were almost on fire, but all he could think about was the Weekend in Vienna. Standing ovation from the fairgoers... this new fresh Zijper champion, how happy Johan was, having won a Weekend in Vienna. I have never seen such a crestfallen face when the Jury came onto the stage with a huge bag of onions weighing over thirty kilos and said: go clean those Johan, you can have a nice Weekend in Vienna.

Now that we're all having such a good time in the pub, I might as well continue with the pub talk, selling dahlias will be back tomorrow. There are two identical chicken legs with a chicken on them walking through Amsterdam on the zebra crossing to the hospital... no, this is getting too weak, stay focused, sell bulbs.

Look dear readers, in the bulb trade you do have competition, but I am better. Yes, I was a bit sick yesterday, but now I am better again. Hey, missed the serious tone again, okay, we keep it cozy. I am secretly writing this newsletter again in a nice little fish shop while enjoying a herring and a mackerel sandwich. When I order that I always say to the saleswoman 'if you don't tell anyone, you can also have a glass of white wine with it'. Unfortunately, the wine was gone. Beer, there was beer. What kind of beer do you have? Zeezuiper! Zeezuiper? Yes Zeezuiper, new in our range, try it? Sure, I am not a big beer drinker but of course I would be happy to introduce the Zeezuiper to the herring and the mackerel. Good beer, nice and strong.

Dahlia After Dusk

Last week I was also at the fish stall in Groet, you know, there at the parking lot. Vlad was visiting and I wanted to introduce him to a real Volendam fish stall. There was a very small old man with his walker in front of me. Here you go, the fishmonger says to the man, a smoked eel and a portion of cod. Thank you fishmonger, will you be there next week? I couldn't help it but just blurted out a big smile: 'Will you be there next week too?!' He had to laugh. 92 was the owner, of course we had a chat. You like to laugh, he said to me; a goldfish goes to the doctor, the doctor says, I can see it, out of the socket. But now I have to go or my cod will get cold and away shuffled the man. It's always nice to talk to new people.

We're going to wrap it up again, so please keep in mind that the tour program has changed slightly.

There are interested people who come from the neighborhood and want to join the group for a day. If you also want to join for a day, send an email to Pien to let us know, she will then give you more information. We do ask for a contribution of € 25, - for coffee, organization and lunch.

Kind regards,

Carlos van der Veek