Friday 31 December

And the year is rolling to a close. 2011 is beginning to march across the world, with the South Sea Islands and New Zealand already there, and the east coast of Australia set to join within about 10 minutes of this post being put up. The year 2010 is ending on an extremely slippery note, after freezing rain covered the eastern half of Holland this morning. The city of Arnhem was brought to a complete standstill - the problem is that it is a very hilly place, and many of the steeper streets are paved with bricks or cobbles. The city bus service was suspended for a while, and several motorways and regional highways were closed to traffic. Even the highways agency's vehicles slid off the carriageway in places. Several accidents were reported from this area, but none serious. That contrasts to the two fatal accidents which occurred yesterday afternoon in the province of Groningen, 120 miles north of here. The freezing rain had been so light that the rainfall rada had not picked it up, and once on the ground, it is virtually invisible.

I was due to have gone to a family birthday in the west of the country with my father, but he is down with a cold, which he prefers to keep to himself. The cancellation of the local bus service also put paid to the trip. I went into Velp to post a letter; all the letterboxes are sealed up round here to prevent them being vandalised with fireworks. Over the next 12 hours, this country will let off €65 million worth of (legal) fireworks, which equates to about €4 per person. I am not wasting money on fireworks, but some people spend up to €1,500. The walk into the next town took me double the normal amount of time, as the pavements were extremely slippery. Everybody was hurrying round the shops, and buying the obligatory oliebollen 
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This image dates back 3 years, when I made them myself.

If I have anything else to blog about I will post again, otherwise I'd like to wish y'all a very
HAPPY NEW YEAR
and all the best for 2011