What was that strange noise on the roof of our caravan this morning?
Sounded like rain, thought I...and yes, that's what it was.  Lots of it.
But, not a problem, as shopping was on the agenda today!  Kees and Airdrie
were off to a YOPPERS meeting and because it was again going to be in Dutch,
we thought it would be easier for Kees to let us know what went on when they
returned in the evening.  Airdrie carefully printed on a little piece of
paper what we were to tell the ticket seller at the train in order for us to
get home safely and off we went.
 
Utrecht was full of people.  There was an open air market, lots of stores
and lots to see.  We happily did the tourist thing all afternoon and when we
could walk no further, headed to the train station.  With the help of our
little piece of paper (I don't know what it is about me and trying to speak
Dutch, but somehow it always seems to elicit gales of laughter from those
who hear me....) we purchased tickets for the Train and the Traintaxi, and
boarded.  It's a good thing Al noticed that the lady sitting beside us had
Maarssveen on her ticket too, because otherwise we would have missed our
stop.  Then when we got into the Traintaxi, the man in the front seat had a
heated argument with the taxi driver, who tried to tell him that because Al
and I and the other lady in the back seat were going in a direction opposite
to him we would be dropped off first.  He became more and more agitated, so
the three of us in the back seat were requested to get out and wait for
another taxi..........which came fairly quickly so, no problem.  I almost
forgot to ask for our little piece of paper with our destination written on
it from the taxi driver .
 
We got into the new taxi and gave him the destination.  After several
minutes in the car, he turned to us and said, " I can't take you to there,
the roads all around are closed.  There's been a shooting, and the police
are looking for the criminal.  They've closed all the roads."  With that, he
drove to a police barricade and told us, "This is it.  As far as I can take
you."  So, we got out at an intersection full of perhaps 50 motorbikes
complete with bearded and leatherjacketed riders, many cars, a police van
and two police 'persons' stopping and rerouting cars. We looked at each
other, "Now what?"
 
Suddenly, the motorcyles were mounted, engines started, and driven away,
they must have been given the OK.  We showed the policeman our little piece
of paper and asked him what we should do.  He pointed to a piece of grass
and said, "Sit there. It should be all over in half an hour, then you can go
to where you are staying."  Great.  When that time had passed, things still
didn't look too optimistic, so we asked the policeman again.  He let us use
his phone to call Kees, who was worried about us.  He and Airdrie had
returned home from their meeting just before the barricades were set up and
now they couldn't get out of the blockaded area and we couldn't get
in......Another half hour passed......
 
There was lots to see, I just wish I understood Dutch, plain clothes
policemen coming and going, motorcylce policemen roaring through,
pedestrians, bicyclists, walkers, cars, being turned away......We sat on the
grass munching the candies we'd luckily bought....front row centre seats to
the event!  We got a few clues as to what was going on when a man walked by
and we heard him speaking English to the policeman, we called to him and
found out he was from Albany,  New York of all places.  Finally the message
came through that they could open the roads up. The policewoman came over to
us and asked if we'd like a ride in the police van to where we were staying.
"Sure!" we replied.  It turned out that she'd volunteered to drive us home
because she had to use the bathroom.....The other roadblocks hadn't been
opened yet, so when we drove up to them we had to drive by other people who
were still being held back.......lots of curious looks as Al and I sped past.
 
You can imagine the faces of the Paap family as their guests arrived home in
a police van!  We had a good laugh as the policewoman used the washroom and
Al and I got our picture taken in front of her van. We all agreed it was a
good thing this hadn't happened tomorrow afternoon during the
sponsorwalk.......... that would have been a most memorable event!
 
I think we're up to 150 registrations.  Please write to Kees' email if you
would like to help out.  To those of you who have written already, we will
get back to you ASAP.
 
Here's hoping for a sunny, exciting day tomorrow!
 
Lynda
 
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            Kees Paap                  Oudedijk 56
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            3612 AC  Tienhoven     The Netherlands
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            +31 3469 1021            FAX + 31 3469 1017
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Age 45, 6 years PD, Sinemet 25/100 CR 3/day, Permax 1 mg 3/day     |
Sinemet 12,5/50 if necessary. Love working (120/week)                       |
Collecting information BBS +31 3469 1017.
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