frumiousb

I'm waiting for the doctor to call me back, so I thought that I would translate a letter that I received this morning regarding our block goose problem.

To the persons who live on the Valentijnkade.

Moving the Valentijnkade geese: changes in date and manner.

Dear Sir/Madame,

A few weeks ago, I informed you about the upcoming removal of the geese from the Valentijnkade. There have been a few developments which require changes to this removal plan. A portion of the residents have informed us that they find the presence of the geese very pleasant--a bit of nature in the city which they would like to see left alone. Furthermore, the risk of bird flu and the accompanying requirement to protect fowl has caused a change in our plans. Hobby farmers, children's farms, and other common locations for fowl are now less prepared to take new animals onto their property.

The city districts Zeeburg and Oost-Watergraafsmere have now created a new plan of approach.

Changed Removal Plan

After hearing the neighborhood reactions we have decided, in discussion with the animal protection agency, to change the removal plans. The geese along the Valentijnkade will now be moved in a maximum of five different moments to locations where they can grow old in peace. We will make certain that families are not separated from each other. In the end, we will leave a small group of between 10 and 20 geese that cannot be removed to new locations. We will continue to shake the eggs of this group in order to prevent a new goose population explosion.

Using this plan, the difficulties caused by the geese will be lessened in a way that takes both animals and residents into account. The first group will be removed during the first half of December. The last group will be removed in March 2007. The precise dates will be made known via the Zeeburgjournal in the city paper and at www.zeeburg.amsterdam.nl.

Please Don't Feed the Geese!

An large part of the problems is caused because people leave far too much bread behind for the geese. When the birds eat too much bread, they become lazy and lose their natural eating patterns. They should be grazing 90% of the day. Geese who do not graze and eat too much bread have serious heart problems due to too much fat. Furthermore, a great deal of bread remains on the ground and in the water, leading to serious pollution problems. We also have many rats who eat the bread, and then go on to enter the houses looking for food.

We would therefore ask you to no longer feed the geese and ducks. If you see any of your fellow residents doing so, could you please explain the potential problems to them?

The extra bread can be better offered to the children's farms, such as the nearby Youthland. Please ask first if they need the bread, because it is not always possible to use large amounts.

You do not need to worry about the geese and ducks: they can find enough food, just like they do in the wild, by eating water plants and other tasty things.

In the end, we hope with your help in this way to improve the situation on the Valentijnkade. If after this letter you still have questions or would like to react, please get in touch with M---- van L----, telephone xxxxxxx or per email.

With kind regards,
Dennis Straat
Responsible for public spaces.

Luckily they are Dutch geese. If they were Turkish geese, nobody would be concerned about keeping families together.

B. and I went to see Bo Diddley at the Melkweg on Wednesday. I was very excited to go. I had no idea that he still toured before I saw the notice about the show.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a great show. The songs were great, and he's still really impressive, but a lot of a good show is the dynamic that builds up from one song to another. Someone apparently screwed around with his guitar back stage, so he spent at least five minutes between each song messing with his guitar and amp.

What also kind of sucked was that a large number of tickets had been bought by some shitty advertising agency celebrating the birthday of the managing director. They have apparently used Bo in an advertisement. The assholes who worked for the agency clearly had no interest in the music. The whole time that we were trying to listen, we had four junior executive types and their wives droning on non-stop behind us. Rude, and particularly given that it was so hot I spent a lot of time controlling the impulse to strangle them to death. Crowd was a very strange mix of older folks, super hipsters and advertising agents. Weird vibe.

The heat also made it hard, despite valient efforts from the Melkweg to pump up the airco. We left a little bit before the end because I was starting to feel sick.

At 77, he clearly got tired very quickly. He preferred to stop between songs and talk for a while-- his hands look as though they hurt. When he did play, you quickly heard how much talent there was. I heard "Crackin' Up" which I had wanted to hear him play, but not "Diddley Daddy", unfortunately. Ever since the show, B. has been walking around calling "heeyyyyy, Bo Diddley" to our extremely puzzled cats.

( more pictures )

What else?

I'm currently being soundly defeated by a book on the economic history of Chicago. I'm telling myself that this is the heat making it difficult. May even be true.

We watched American Splendor last night and really enjoyed it. It was all the reviews said it would be-- helped that I'm a fan of the comic. But B. didn't even know that Pekar was a real guy until halfway through the film, and he loved it also. It was well shot, well written, well acted. Nice change of pace.

Our house is breaking down around us, just as it seems we may be able to buy our next house. Nothing like some last minute repairs to an apartment that you plan to sell anyhow. Ah well, luxury problem, although it hasn't felt that way this week. Our plumber comes back for the fifth time this week to try to address our leak problems.

I have lots to say about the situation in Lebanon, but it isn't even vaguely blessing counting and my reading about the situation has started to verge on the obsessive.

The Dutch government has fallen after D66 pulled out of the coalition. They insisted that Verdonk be removed, even if it cost the whole cabinet. Harry Potter refused, so they pulled the plug.

I hope this means she goes and stays gone, but it doesn't work that way in horror films.

edit: Some people are having trouble with the Expatica link, so see if this story at the BBC works any better...