two days in drenthe

Spent two days, actually almost three in drenthe. Arrived with a hangover, left with a hangover. Fortunately things do seem to be changing fot the better. Or not? This weekend, unlike similar weekends some years ago, we maneged to focus our attention to walking, talking and eating cheese fondue which, unfortunately didn't blend with the huge amount of wine that was poured in. So, unlike some years ago we did do some useful things and weren't able to go crazy and destroy everthing that came on to our path. I guess some people would say we're growing up. But we had a good time and things were as they're suppose to be for adults like us. We enjoyed the scenery, walked over the 'heide' and checked out some 'hunebedden'. These were put there by the ancient peoples of the Trechterbeker-culture in the neolithicum. I feel bad for them, after erecting such huge structures, to be named after some stinking cup they found there. But I guess the discoverers of these stone chambers were more impressed by the cup they found then by the pile of rubble, which they reconstructed into the current chambers..Off course these were broken down again by the Germans to build an air strip. So what we see today is a reconstruction of a reconstruction of the original stone chambers. Impressive it was. As I was saying; we walked and talked and sang and slept as is seen on these photos. And we even turned off our mobile phones for some hours due to that radar scope which forced us to turn off our phones...Hardship indeed. Thus we had a good time and even tried to blend in at the local bar. I guess we failed to achieve our goal the minute Nina asked weither the soup was fresh. 'Fresh?', he asked amazed by the ridiculousness of the question. After that we made no effort to explain that Klaas couldn't eat his soup because he was a vegetarian (he was the only one to order a soup in the end). Even here in our tiny country the differences between city people and the locals seemed to be far greater than I had imagined. To conclude this not so very fascinating story, i'm sorry but you started reading: The weekend taught us many important lessons about growing up, the backwardness of the Dutch countryside and off course about ourselves. And the enemy was in each of us. I think now, looking back, we did not fight the enemy; we fought ourselves. The enemy was in us. The war is over for me now, but it will always be there, the rest of my days. As I'm sure Elias will be, fighting with Barnes for what Rhah called "possession of my soul." There are times since, I've felt like a child, born of those two fathers. But be that as it may, those of us who did make it have an obligation to build again. To teach to others what we know, and to try with what's left of our lives to find a goodness and a meaning to this life.