High Winds In Amsterdam

High Winds In Amsterdam

To say it has been a bit windy lately would be an understatement. Yesterday Holland suddenly descended into complete chaos as a large storm swept across the country coursing more damage then a visit from Godzilla.

The streets turned into high powered wind tunnels populated by pedestrians struggling to keep on their feet. Anyone carrying an umbrella ran the risk of being blown into a near by canal or Belgium.

All trains came to a complete stand still by order of the traffic police due to leaves on the line. Normally this would not be too much of a problem but the trees were still attached at the time.

Roads turned into rivers, people in high rise buildings were getting sea sick, traffic took over an hour to go just one hundred meters and everyone was advised to stay indoors and off the roads.

My journey home that normally takes 20 minutes took four and half hours. I spent the evening listening to the high winds raging outside as parts of the house rattled and shook. I would not have been too surprised to wake up in the morning and discover that the house had landed in Oz after being swept up in the storm and crash landing, killing The Wicked Witch of the East in the process.

On the upside, all the wind turbines in Holland must have generated enough power to supply the rest of the world into the 25th century.

Stuart

Stuart is an accident prone Englishman who has been living in the Netherlands since 2001. Even his move to the country was an unintentional accident, the result of replying to a cryptic job advertisement he found one day in a local British magazine. Since then he has learned to love the Dutch (so much so that he married one of them) and now calls the country home. He started the blog Invading Holland in 2006 as a place to share his strange stories of language misunderstandings, cultural confusions and his own accident prone nature.

41 Responses

  1. Melissa says:

    Tell me about it. Okay, Belgium wasn’t as bad as Holland, but still. On the birght side…SNOW by the end of the week!!!!!!!

    And I have another mosquito bite.

  2. Invader_Stu says:

    I know what you both mean. Although my issue with umbrella is forgetfulness. If it starts raining when I’m at home I’ve accidentally left my umbrella at the office. If it starts raining when I’m at the office I’ve accidentally left my umbrella at home.

  3. Invader_Stu says:

    Melissa – The up side is the snow should get rid of the mosquitos for a bit.

  4. marycub says:

    SNOOOOOOOOW! we had it. i’ll take snow over rain and wind any day :-)

  5. vallyP says:

    Actually, I’d rather have no wind, no rain, lots of sunshine and 25 degrees. That’s not asking too much is it? (hopeful expression fading…)

    By the way, where’s the next post Stu…getting bored with this one now….lol

  6. Invader_Stu says:

    Marycub – Time to build a snow man

    VallyP – So demanding :p I’ve been a bit busy this week but it will be up soon… ish

  7. flicka says:

    hehe. sea sick people in zee skyscrapers of holland! i on the other hand was waiting on an airport for the crew to get to there… i seriously thought that the windows would smash from the strominess outside…

  8. Rose says:

    I’m glad that you were not blown away.

  9. Invader_Stu says:

    The glass roof of our office nearly cracked and caved in

  10. Q says:

    You are in Os, Stu …

  11. Dionysios says:

    Cool.

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