They eased it here way too soon, now we have an incredibly high amount of infections and barely any measures.polydigm - 25-7-2021 at 03:23
It sounds like the Netherlands and the UK came to a similar conclusion. My theory is that behind closed doors, governments of this ilk have decided,
with the levels of vaccination they've reached, which was initially, primarily aimed at the vulnerable, it's now okay to allow nature to
take its course.BBP - 25-7-2021 at 10:05
Wouldn't say that, NL has never been remotely as strict as the US was. There was never an obligation to stay at home for instance. During the
first wave all shops stayed open. Sure our economy wasn't hit as badly as of surrounding countries but we had a relatively high toll and had to
resort to moving intensive care patients to Germany very early on in the crisis.
We were back to under 6000 new infections, which considering not too long ago was a dayly 11000, is a good thing. We hope it continues.
A lot of infections came from the nightlife circuit, and all discos etc are now again closed.polydigm - 25-7-2021 at 15:26
Sounds like the herd immunity solution was on the table from early on in the case of the Netherlands then. Not as blatant as Brazil though.BBP - 25-7-2021 at 21:55
True. Doesn't look like it's working.polydigm - 28-7-2021 at 16:53
Two days after second vax and don't appear to have any adverse effects so far.BBP - 29-7-2021 at 07:03
My second shot was pretty high up in my arm, more on my shoulder than in my arm. It was quite painful last night, had to get out for some paracetamols
because I just couldn't find a way of lying down without it hurting badly. Feels better now but I'm zleepy.
Then again I had 2 days off and played an unfathomablte amount of Cluedo. Hurray!polydigm - 1-8-2021 at 06:53
Hope you're okay Bonny.polydigm - 1-8-2021 at 06:55
After deleting my beginner sax videos from YouTube, I have finally got around to posting a video of me practicing the bari sax section from my
composition Antelope Tweeds.
Funfair is in Eindhoven about now but I don't think I'll be going unless it's raining cats and dogs. polydigm - 2-8-2021 at 14:56
BBP - 2-8-2021 at 16:07
Absolutely! I hate crowds at the best of times and Eindhoven being the sleepy place it is, the funfair is beyond crowded when the weather is good.
Even now that they have less attractions.polydigm - 3-8-2021 at 00:06
Ah! That makes perfect sense now. I'm the same with public venues. I'm pretty gregarious when I'm in the mood, but I don't like
crowds.BBP - 3-8-2021 at 21:12
Pfff, back to work. I had a video conference with the guy with stillborn child. Nice guy, friendly and like me interested in Japanese culture, so it
was quite a shock to hear what happen of him - especially since, due to the forced distance, I didn't even know his wife was pregnant.
It's still him but you can tell the experience got to him.BBP - 4-8-2021 at 20:19
polydigm - 5-8-2021 at 22:27
Unfortunate when winning a prize turns into a bit of a nuisance.BBP - 6-8-2021 at 06:53
All is forgiven. I'm back on track with Primus now!BBP - 7-8-2021 at 10:41
Had a dinner party with 2 of my fellow colleagues, which was great fun! Was quite a bit of a cycling trip though, it's been a while since I
cycled this far.
My colleague is a brilliant cook - had some great Indonesian food - , she lives in a flat with a view on a large park, so we could watch the bunnies
late in the evening, and we talked lots.polydigm - 8-8-2021 at 13:14
Is there a vaccine pass in the Netherlands or is it completely lax?BBP - 8-8-2021 at 22:04
There is a vaccine pass (basically a QR code you get) and it's been cracked I think. polydigm - 12-8-2021 at 20:50
BBP - 12-8-2021 at 21:30
I'm back to work - after having 4 days on end off, Saturday to Tuesday - yesterday was beyond hard but today I managed, quite happy about that.
I'm worried about the state of me in connection to my job, which has been little but stress for the past 18 months.BBP - 14-8-2021 at 18:08
So is dealing with difficult customers the problem?BBP - 15-8-2021 at 21:09
That doesn't help, certainly. Let's say the amount of people I've had on the line asking me out has decreased sharply since Corona. The
only upside to having 2 hour waiting queues is that the clients you do get to speak, are very patient.
We have been flooded with help questions since the Corona outbreak, and it's hard to imagine how badly it is - to the point that we received over
a thousand mails per day where 50 would be a normal amount. During Corona the company learned that 200 calls is the max amount of calls we can receive
at a time - we often received more than 200 calls at the same time, while previously 20 was almost unheard of. This is for the most part still
continuing. It has unfortunately led to completely halting parts of our service that aren't vital but that are crucial for client satisfaction,
and that is hard to swallow.
Due to the overflow not even all half-urgent work can be picked up. Our workload has changed because of it - before we were not to touch e-mails or
letters that were written by lawyers - now we have to unless it's a court case. Of course the low-level job that we have means we have largely no
relevant education (even the ones that did weren't set to do that kind of work) to do any work of that kind - and we don't have a salary to
match either.
There is a pile of work ahead of us that is so endless that it's depressing. If you ever do something right so that you'd normally give
yourself a pat on the back - there's no time for this now.
It happens so often that I see a cancellation mail that was not picked up in time because of the mail overload - I've cancelled bookings of which
the client asked us to cancel over a year ago.
BBP - 17-8-2021 at 21:46
polydigm - 18-8-2021 at 15:14
Sorry to hear about your job difficulties I can see that's a tough situation.
Those import costs are alarming - sounds like a rort to me. Our customs service hasn't caught that disease as yet.BBP - 19-8-2021 at 06:38
Stayed up way too late... they were showing the Alex Winter doc on TV here...polydigm - 20-8-2021 at 16:43
BBP - 21-8-2021 at 18:12
Yep. At the time of the crowdfunding I wasn't in a financial position to support it, so I don't have it, but we taped it off the TV.
Ruth Underwood is a dear.polydigm - 23-8-2021 at 23:56
You can see that Ruth was between a rock and a hard place when it came time to move on from Frank Zappa. Any other instrumentalist with the skills
built up working for him, who wanted to continue in live performance, would have a significant chance of finding work elsewhere, but who else in the
music business was hiring mallet percussionists?BBP - 24-8-2021 at 20:01
Went to town on my day off and twisted my ankle.
That one's for the poll.Huck_Phlem - 24-8-2021 at 22:51
So how did they like your Cubby Checker impersonation?...
Okey dokey, taking bets on what bad things can happen to you?
Not very positive thinking, Bonny.
BTW, 2010 was probably the worst year of my life. September of that year, things were starting look up again.BBP - 29-8-2021 at 17:14
For me too - my grandmother passed away, my father lost his job and I broke my ankle.Huck_Phlem - 30-8-2021 at 05:22
Well I had a stroke in 2016 and applied for Social Security and got it.
I moved back to my hometown and have had my own studio for 4 years while my kids are doing great.BBP - 30-8-2021 at 21:53
That's wonderful to hear! <3 polydigm - 31-8-2021 at 09:35
Huck, how has the stroke affected your drumming?Huck_Phlem - 31-8-2021 at 16:14
I had to quit because of the nerves but I am playing electronic drums. I can't play guitar with my fingers but have been playing a lot of slide.
My son is teaching a lot of music programs on mallet percussion.Huck_Phlem - 2-9-2021 at 20:10
The electronic drums have less of an impact on my joints but I have been taking collagen for a year now and my arthritis isn't as bad and i have
started drumming again.
The best part is i can write a measure or 5 and just continue it using Logic. So i can just write music instead. I doubt I could last for a whole
performance.BBP - 3-9-2021 at 15:03
Pff, sounds harsh! Glad you were able to pick up drums again.
BF is coming this weekend, so we did a good speed-clean here. Ankle is doing better but not 100%.polydigm - 4-9-2021 at 16:17
BBP - 6-9-2021 at 21:29
Waved goodbye to BF today. Was harder for me than usual.Huck_Phlem - 7-9-2021 at 16:27
I just got into photography to do something different.
Not really giving a F with the way all the governments are acting like Nazi's. the BS vaccine killed my dads 3rd wife day after his 85th BDay.
At least i don't live in Authoritarian Australia or Canada.polydigm - 7-9-2021 at 20:54
Huck_Phlem - 10-9-2021 at 01:56
My fathers 3rd wife died the day after his 85th birthday. My dad took the shot and gave it to her. She died he didn't. This mass hypnosis is so
sad to see. Go listen to Eric Clapton.
Ciaopolydigm - 10-9-2021 at 14:23
BBP - 10-9-2021 at 22:14
You may have noticed I blocked the forum and removed above post - I realized that this is not stuff to put out in public about your family, no matter
how off-beat.
One of the stressful things about COVID was for my job I had to be completely into all the regulations - if anything happened we were informed about
it - and The Netherlands was by far the easiest-going country - in the Netherlands holiday homes were allowed to open to the public since they have
separate facilities. Camping sites with shared bathroom facilities had to close, and a lot of them suffered over it.
Will open the forum in a week or two.
In the mean time I have my other leg up - I spilled burning hot tea on my left foot (the one I broke in 2010) and suffered first and second degree
burns. It was pretty awkward standing on my right leg, sore foot up high in the sink to cool it - especially since that right leg itself got sprained
when I fell two weeks ago.
Because of the awkward place I'm not able to put shoes on yet - wanted to put some Biogaze (sterile compress with oils) on it to protect it from
friction and keep it moist. Found the package on the kitchen shelf. Noticed the colours and type set were a bit timid, then noticed the price tag that
said F11,95 (guilders) and had a name of a shop that is still a chemist but has been renamed several times since...
After double checking I found the best before date - November 1991.
Last time I remember it got used was when I was in kindergarten, fell hard when I ran to my stepmother and had a huge wound on my knee.
Aaanyway, still happily watching squirrels here, playing Cluedo, on the phone with BF... the regular stuff...polydigm - 11-9-2021 at 06:56
At least there is that. It's basically just me and Julie here most of the time.
We're mostly gluten free, but allow ourselves proper French croissants on Sunday morning and tonight we're going out to a restaurant that
supposedly has stellar fish and chips. We'll see. We don't eat fish and chips very often, but I get sick of finding a fish and chip shop
that does a really decent job of it for a while and then going down hill. Restaurants are more likely to produce good quality fish and chips, hence
the night out tonight, as a treat, but it's more expensive, so we don't do it often.BBP - 11-9-2021 at 20:47
For some reason I never liked croissants. Weird.
Wrapped up another work week, two days off now. I cancelled Tuesday's turn to go to the office because of my foot (doubt I'm wearing shoes
by then).polydigm - 13-9-2021 at 07:44
I'm a bit of a maniac with croissants. They're already buttery, but I like them with extra butter and jam and either a cup of tea or a cup
of cocoa. We mainly just buy plain croissants. I prefer them with jam than I do the other fancy sweet ones. We've got a local native French
baker, but I don't like the way he makes his croissants amande, he just won't put enough of the frangipane filling. If you've had a
variety of French pastries with plenty of frangipane filling, there's no going back.
The fish and chips Saturday night turned out to be pretty good, so we had a good night out.
Enjoy your time off. Is your foot actually getting better?BBP - 13-9-2021 at 11:46
It is but slowly, there's a large blister on it.BBP - 16-9-2021 at 16:31
My foot still qualifies as injured (still can't wear shoes), but the blister is healing well.
Am teaching myself tatting now. After learning music and crochet.BBP - 19-9-2021 at 20:58
Foot is recovering well. Today I took a shower (other than splashing in the bathtub) for the first time since I got burnt 9 days ago. I also went
outside for the first time since then.
Tomorrow's my sister's birthday. It's a bit tricky right now.polydigm - 21-9-2021 at 16:02
A couple of days ago I posted another ensemble demo on YouTube, my arrangement of an old FZ classic with a twist.
Thanks Bonny. FZ was not solely about difficult music. Pieces like Duke Of Prunes, Holiday In Berlin, Sofa and that Inca theme, that grew out of HIB,
are very melodic and moving pieces. I really enjoy the versions on Burnt Weeny Sandwich, but the production still has some issues, so I thought a lot
about my arrangement and I really enjoy the way it sounds and how it ends in a flourish with the Inca theme.BBP - 26-9-2021 at 11:15
Duke of Prunes is one of my favourite FZ melodies, especially the orchestral version mystery disk is quite moving...polydigm - 28-9-2021 at 19:43
I like that version too.BBP - 30-9-2021 at 06:55
I need to get more sleep at night... polydigm - 1-10-2021 at 00:14
Are you very busy at the moment?BBP - 1-10-2021 at 18:17
Yup, well I have been since Corona broke out of course. Fortunately my vacation is almost due.BBP - 4-10-2021 at 16:14
Vacation starts in a week.
I can use it to look for a new job. BV will outsource its customer service starting January.BBP - 7-10-2021 at 16:40
Still in shock over the outsourcing. So many friends will lose their job - probably including me.polydigm - 8-10-2021 at 18:48
BBP - 9-10-2021 at 19:44
My holiday's started but I'm hardly in vacation mood now...BBP - 12-10-2021 at 17:49
Got a call from a temp agency about my job application - first interview is Monday.BBP - 13-10-2021 at 19:48
Visited the Dutch Lithography Museum in Valkenswaard today, they had a lovely Dutch art nouveau exhibition.
BBP - 14-10-2021 at 08:24
Off to my boyfriend, but am bringing my laptopBBP - 15-10-2021 at 12:22
Damn, contacted my job about how long it would take for me to get available for a new one - if I quit now I'm available from Dec 1st.
Training for the new job I applied for starts on the 22nd November.polydigm - 17-10-2021 at 01:22
Sounds like some tricky juggling.
Has your current employer told you that you're definitely going to be laid off? If so, you'd think they'd have an obligation to be
supportive of you finding other work.BBP - 18-10-2021 at 08:39
No, and they do. We are getting job interview training and stuff. Well, not me, I'm on holiday.BBP - 20-10-2021 at 14:24
Second talk with the temp agency went well. BBP - 22-10-2021 at 08:43
Streaming cold today - not going home yet.polydigm - 24-10-2021 at 08:00
You might have to explain that a bit more. What do you mean by streaming cold and where were you?BBP - 24-10-2021 at 17:15
I went to stay with my boyfriend for a week, but that week got extended by 3 days because we all managed to get a cold - probably from my nephew. I
caught it the worst with uncontrollable phlegm production. My boyfriend and I used up 2 tissue boxes in three days time.
Masks are still mandatory in public transport, and from his place to mine is a 3 hour trip. 3 hours with mask is a long time but with a cold it
didn't seem like a good idea in many ways.
Nowadays the Dutch Railways publish an estimation of how busy trains will be, with the one I had as being very quiet.
Of course when I got on, there were tons of students (50 at least), all with pizza boxes and lots of luggage, trying to get a seat, so quiet it was
not. Probably another factor was that today is the last day of the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, which is a popular event.
Oddly my cold was behaving better with face mask - I didn't blow my nose even once during the trip and I didn't have much phlegm loss.
BBP - 24-10-2021 at 18:51
Anyway, had a nice extended stay with BF, he did have to work, but all the same:
-Came on Thursday 14th. On the 16th October the family had planned a get-together (that's BF, both his sisters with their partners and their
children (one has 2 boys of 2 and 6, the other has 2 girls of 8 and 11) and BF's parents, and me.
Thing is, they do that with "surprises" - I cannot find a translation, it's pronounced in the French way. It's something
that's usually tied to St Nicholas celebrations and that involves a lot of craft.
It begins with the lottery - you draw cards to anonymously decide who gives something to whom.
Then you use all your craft skills to make an elaborate gift wrap, often shaped as something related to the hobbies or tastes of the receiver of the
gift. Sometimes the gift is jocular (my BF once said, when he was little and his younger sister received a larger gift than him: "That's not
right, I should receive the biggest present!" He hasn't lived it down nearly forty years on. A few years ago he got a huge box, that
contained a smaller box, that contained an even smaller box, etc etc etc, until he finally had a small box with one tea bag.).
Sometimes the gift leads you to a chase in the house, (check the fridge, then you open the fridge and it says "check the attic", etc.
Anyway, that's what we call a "surprise" and the young girls wanted us to do this - with BF having his own company and me working and
living far away (so not able to make anything at home because I can't get it there properly) - we had to craft two surprises in a record time.
I crafted a bunny for a sister-in-law and BF and I made a sword for the 6-year-old nephew. Nice results.
It was a very cosy day but BF, both of his parents and yours truly, got the cold from our little nephew. And shortly after the poor dear got chicken
pox.
Sunday at his place involves solving cryptograms and watching football, which last week was unexpectedly over-exciting when a tribune collapsed during
the NEC-Vitesse game.
BF had had his birthday, I gave him a game for the Nintendo Switch called Metroid - Dread, which he played while I watched (man the name
"Dread" really discribes the game at times, the EMMI is intense). We also played Cluedo together and I showed him around the "Ticket to
Ride" computer game he gave me. We also watched a video on a YouTube channel we like to watch called Baumgartner Restoration.
Fun times, shame about the cold.
polydigm - 24-10-2021 at 20:17
Now streaming makes sense. Sounds like you and your boyfriend get on very well.BBP - 25-10-2021 at 09:49
Well, you met us...
We're coming up 5,5 years now, first holiday abroad is in April, by then it will be 6 years.
Called in sick today, I'm not capable of much thought.polydigm - 28-10-2021 at 11:25
Well, I've probably mentioned this before, but are you guys thinking about taking your relationship to the next level?BBP - 28-10-2021 at 16:22
We're taking our first holiday abroad in April.
We're aware that we don't work as fast as other couples, most of that is due to him having his own company plus me having uncertain jobs -
and us living as far apart as we do. Travelling to each other is expensive and neither of us has his/her own place (with housing the way it is in NL
that's not going to happen shortly either).
In other words - circumstances are working against us.polydigm - 29-10-2021 at 18:59
I hope you two can find a way.BBP - 29-10-2021 at 22:21
Me too. He'll be coming over again this weekend! BBP - 2-11-2021 at 18:25
And he came and now he's in Germany at work.
I=BBP - 4-11-2021 at 18:41
It was supposed to be my day off but they planned me in for job application training, so I had to go to the office all the same.
I baked brownies and a cake for the occasion. Not many people there but the brownies were all but gone in four hours.BBP - 10-11-2021 at 18:55
Yesterday was supposed to be my day off but they planned the meeting about the outsourcing on it.
I doubt I can stay on, so am busy searching.BBP - 11-11-2021 at 21:24
Big talk today. I can stay on if I want, my contract will be valid then. Am tempted but I need to read further.BBP - 13-11-2021 at 18:54
Was an interesting day at work - the system went down, so we couldn't do anything at all. The system had been down for 6 hours before the shift
started, for like 3,5 hours we were talking to guests on the phone (pretty much non-stop since I couldn';t leave any notes), they said it'll
be ready in 15 minutess, it'll be ready in 20 minutes etc... at around 3:30 they said it would be down until at least eight o'clock so, so
we were sent "home" early.
Spent the time between lines closed and snow day declaration in a Zoom meeting with colleagues.BBP - 17-11-2021 at 18:27
Monday wasn't much better but the site is functioning now. Sort of.
St Nicholas is coming up, so doing a lot of shopping...BBP - 19-12-2021 at 23:27
The Goose was down for a day. We called the hosting service but it turns out we've lost a month's worth of posts. Beughpolydigm - 20-12-2021 at 13:25
I was surprised to see that my last post was Oct 30. Can’t remember what I was talking about. Glad to hear you’re okay. That’s pretty poor form
from your host.BBP - 20-12-2021 at 18:09
Yup. Not happy about the loss of posts, good thing I wasn't translating any articles or something like that.
I could post a new Zappadan thread but that could contain the whole FZ discography. BBP - 20-12-2021 at 18:14
Finally a full studio version of Superman by Gruppo Sportivo. I loved the intro as a kiddie and of course still do BBP - 21-12-2021 at 22:15
Went to visit my blind friend Hedda today. Played CP3 cd1 before leaving and am about to play the 2nd, don't worry BBP - 23-12-2021 at 19:08
Particularly tough times at work today - this time with Dutchmen who booked for Austria - we now need to go into quarantine (unless they had a
booster) when we enter the country. Of course this is during the ski season. polydigm - 24-12-2021 at 23:05
Having a good Xmas eve? We did. Just getting up for Xmas breakfast now.
