Eddy is a true citizen of the world.
The product of Dutch and Filipino parentage, he was born in Singapore, spent his early years in Australia, moved to the USA, then spent his teenage years in Holland with regular sojourns in the Philippines; and then another move, back to Australia in his early twenties ,where he now lives in Sydney.
It is there that he met my wandering sons, Chris and Jon, who, after spending far too much time in Byron Bay surfing and contemplating their navels, decided a job in Sydney may just alleviate their cash-flow problems .Eddy became good friends with them, and I have had the pleasure of knowing him for several years now.
By chance, Eddy happens to be in London, and we meet up. He offers me a place to stay in The Hague, his home town; his mother has an empty flat. So, on a Friday evening in May, myself and Team KW (Kate and Wayne) take the train to Stanstead Airport and fly into Amsterdam Schipol Airport. We take the Sneltrain (fast train) to Den Haag; about 30 minutes.
“God made the Earth, the Dutch made Holland”, so goes the Netherland proverb. The flattest and lowest country on earth slips past the train in unending manicured lines of trees, hedges and fields. There are no wild places here, and I doubt there is one square meter of earth not touched by human hand.
Eddy greets us at the train station and we hop on a tram to Mariahoven where I will base myself for the next 8 days. Everything is well ordered here. The streets are straight lines crossing at right angles. Cycle lanes are everywhere, in fact your are not considered Dutch unless you own a deadly treadly; cars must give way to cycles, although the Dutch are such gentle drivers I hardly imagine there are too many collisions. Public transport will take you everywhere here; bus, tram or train you are never more than 2 or 3 minutes walk from a stop or a station.
We take a bus to Den Haag Central. The night is cold and there are few people on the streets of this city of half a million. A university city, it is also the seat of Government for Holland, the home of the International Court of Justice, oh, and the Queen lives here too!
Eddy takes us through winding cobblestone streets of renaissance and baroque shops with living quarters above them. We come to Cremers, a cafe’ in the true Dutch sense. Here they will serve you a herbal tea, or a beer or something stronger should the mood take you. But everyone is here for the weed or the hash, which comes in various quantities and qualities. It is a jovial place in a truly laid back way. But, they are health conscious here, smoking cigarettes is not allowed, you have to go outside to smoke, past the retail shop which sells sweet dreams to passers by.
After sampling the local product, we make our way to a number of small bars and clubs. Time seems to stand still. Much Dutch beer is drunk and all of a sudden it’s 3am and time for sleeping.
Next day we take a tram to the beach. I eat pickled herring with raw onion and broodjes with smoked salmon and remoulade sauce. Bon Appetit! It’s a beautiful day, the best I’ve had in Europe so far. We sample the sand and more food and head back to Den Haag. Team KW leave me and head off to Amsterdam. They have to be back in London for work on Monday so they leave me to my own devices. I run to a local supermarket pick up some food and milk, and jog back to eat and sleep and recover from the last 2 nights.
All is quiet and still apart from the occasional empty Saturday night bus which cruises by. I crash out and dream of pickled herrings and broodjes and giant spliffs that go to work in suits.
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