Climate Change Is Here To Stay

The Wettest September Ever!
The Mildest Winter Ever!
The Driest April Ever!

And now the ultimate extreme is coming up.

Going outside during this month of May I realise time and time again a that there is a certain familiarity about the weather. This is exactly the type of weather one expects in May in this part of the world. In fact it feels incredibly normal. So if this goes on, May 2007 will go down in history as The Most Normal Month Of May Ever!!! Be very worried, because this proves that climate change is here to stay, permanently and constantly.

The important news: yesterday I visited a tugboat rally in a small town not far from where I live (Vianen if you want to see it on a Google aerial photo / map).
I took no pictures, just a bit of film of a fascinating old piece of machinery they had on display.
Enjoy!

About love in different cultures

Copied from a post by Dijedon

There is a beautiful deserted island in the middle of nowhere where the following group of people are stranded:

2 Italian men and 1 Italian woman
2 French men and 1 French woman
2 German men and 1 German woman
2 Greek men and 1 Greek woman
2 Bulgarian men and 1 Bulgarian woman
2 Irish men and 1 Irish woman
2 American men and 1 American woman
2 British men and 1 British woman

One month later on this absolutely stunning deserted island in the middle of nowhere, the following has occurred:

One Italian man killed the other Italian man for the Italian woman.

The two French men and the French woman are living happily together in a "menage a trois".

The two German men have a strict weekly schedule of when they alternate with the German woman.

The two Greek men are sleeping with each other and the Greek woman is cleaning and cooking for them.

The Bulgarian men took a long look at the endless ocean and one look at the Bulgarian woman and they started swimming.

The Irish began by dividing up their island, Northside and Southside, and by setting up a distillery. They do not remember if sex is in the picture because it gets sort of foggy after the first few liters of coconut whiskey, but at least the English are not getting any.

The two American men are contemplating the virtues of suicide while the American woman keeps on talking about her body being her own, the true nature of feminism, how she can do everything that they can do, about the necessity of fulfillment, the equal division of household chores, how her last boyfriend respected her opinion and treated her much nicer and how her relationship with her mother is improving. But at least the taxes are low and it is not raining.

.AND...

The 2 British men are still waiting for someone to introduce them to the British woman

Don't forget to thank (or blame) Dijedon, not me.

This week on the shipyard: BEREZINA

The owners, of the former steam tugboat Berezina, FairNature, want to use the boat for promotion of low-emission propulsion and creative solutions for energy issues.



A promotion tour is being planned to eastern Europe, down the Danube and up the rivers Dniepr and... Berezina, the boat's namesake.
Am I jealous to see someone else start on my dream journey? Yes I am.



The steam engine was replaced by a tiny 6-cylinder DAF diesel engine in the aft - hence the undersized propeller.

The Film is ready!

Great relief today: I have finished making the videofilm I said I was going to make in December!!!
What's more, the friends to whom I promised I would do this, love it.

Months overdue, but now I am a very proud and happy man.
Below is the film as it can be seen on Youtube - in two parts because the total length exceeds the regulatory 10 minutes' maximum. A high quality dvd version will be produced for promotional purposes.

Enjoy!

Part 1


Part 2

Let's see if this is worth trying

It is a small series about a rather dismal place on the Belgo-French border.

I am testing this for the first time in Blogger, so let's see what happens.