REMBRANDT PLEIN FINALLY OPENED Friends, Followers and Countrymen
Apologies that you have not had to “lend me your ears” for so long but it has been such an exciting two month’s since my last blog. After 8 weeks of sea, sun and sand not forgetting the new love of my life, my beautiful grandson I had to leave my tropical paradise and head home to Europe. Touching down over the snowy white landscape I felt cold and immediately donned my Mexican blanket. Where was the padded winter coat I had been carrying around for two months??? Stuffed in the holdall in the checked baggage along with the fleece. Why?? Being very smart and lugging two large bags/suitcases across the marble floors of Cancun Airport, in my wisdom and in the searing heat I decided rather than have them dragging along the floor and getting caught up in the wheels, to stuff them, temporarily of course, into one of the bags, with a view to pulling them out at check-in and taking them on-board ready for arriving in the freezing temperatures of Europe. So busy chatting with the friendly folk at check-in, and feeling pretty pleased with myself that I had managed to check-in online that morning from home, with only bag-drop between me and Passport Control, smug because the regular queue snaked back into infinity, I walked off leaving the much needed coat and fleece still inside my luggage. Too late when I realised my mistake, the bags had disappeared down the conveyor not to be seen again until Amsterdam. Well that’s great I thought standing there in a flimsy cotton shirt, I will be frozen on the plane and worse when we touch down in The Netherlands. That’s why I arrived back in my gaudy Mexican blanket, a last minute purchase from Cancun Airport Souvenir Shop. At least the people waiting in arrivals could see that our plane had landed as I marched out looking ridiculous – well at least I wasn’t tempted to buy the velvet and gold matching sombrero!
The roads have been very icy indeed and the bridges over the canals lethal, there are a lot of buckled wheeled bikes abandoned around the place. The hiking boots come in very useful. Not very elegant when going out for dinner, but at least they have some grip in these conditions. Actually The Swedes have got it right, ladies always carry their smart shoes in a shoebag when going out and most places have a boot rack where you can change instead of sitting in wet boots all night. Very sensible in arctic conditions
I am at least positive about Spring being just around the corner. As the days lengthen and when we do get a reasonable day with some sunshine, dusk starts after 5.00pm which is so much nicer than those December and January days when you wake up in the dark and it is dark again by teatime. Definitely leaving Europe for a couple of months in winter is an excellent idea although Christmas for me is never the same in the tropics.
The closest I got to a true Christmasy feeling was heading down to Playa del Carmen on the main “carretera” to visit my daughter and newborn grandson in the hospital, when in the distance, in the pitch black night, I could see fairy lights in the fast lane. What is that I thought, I must be going crazy and I hate night driving at the best of times and worse when you are alone in foreign parts surrounded by what you think are the worst drivers anywhere. Slowing down to get a better look, there was, I swear , Father Christmas in his open-topped sleigh, being pulled by two reindeer not exactly zooming along but certainly blocking the overtaking lane. Nowhere else but Mexico would you see that on the highway? Father Christmas was chatting to a friend in the passenger seat, red hat blowing in the night breeze, both munching on tacos, the open sleigh travelling about 15 miles an hour. Possibly being propelled by a lawnmower engine or similar! How dangerous apart from anything else. There were also processions and pilgrimages in the night on unlit roads to celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe. A big event in the Yucutan Peninsular, people on bicycles travelling from village to village carrying huge banners and flaming torches . With not even a hard shoulder on the motorway the procession just walked along the inside lane! The local taxis and trucks travel at breakneck speed. I can only think the pilgrims thought they were in such a state of grace they would go straight to heaven in the worst case scenario!
Now it’s all wonderful memories and time to look forward to Spring. Soon all the bulbs will be blooming. The daffodils are pushing through the snow already, there are hyacinths everywhere in the flower shops and soon it will be the spectacle of the greatest flowershow on earth(for tulips and bulbs anyway) ... The Keukenhoff... now I definitely don’t want to miss that.
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