In the simplicity of daily life away from home my patterns release me. I thought that I’d share a few pictures just to give you a flavor for the atmosphere that allowed that to happen and involved bicycles, trams, water and walking.
These canals are all around Amsterdam. I don’t think that I quite understood that in previous trips. I entered the country from the south and not the sea. I spent most of my time centrally in the tourist area. I did not cross the canals every day. I just don’t think you can get a true flavor of the Dutch without getting this understanding that they live below sea level like the folks in New Orleans.
Even in this shot in Vondel Park, there is a riverway. I fell in love with this park. It is not as large as Central Park (I don’t think). I make this claim based on the time it took me to ride around it.
Then there are the bicycles. Bicycles made for one, two, three and even group riding. A mother would have a child on the back and front of her bicycle plus her hand on a 4 year old riding next to her.
This is the covered version. The little ones, say 3 years old ride a bicycle without any wheels. They sit and propel the bike with their feet. In this way they learn to balance.
Then there were a pair of shoes that caught my eye while walking around the Nine Streets Area. This shopping area brings back the small shop owner that seems to have disappeared in America. These shoes were in a window of a “pop up” store. There were there for a week. And true to what the woman told me, when I returned on a Monday, they were gone and a denim shop was there.
Trams and Buses. When I visited the Ijborg area in the eastern part of Amsterdam I took the tram. In truth I took the tram often. It was such an easy ride. You have a prepaid card which you swipe when you enter the tram. Upon leaving it is on you to swipe again. Your fare is based on how far you travel. If you fail to swipe on your departure, the machine calculates your ride to the end of that line the next time you enter. It’s a cute way of self-enforcing riders.
A little update is that I have been writing over at care2causes this past couple of weeks on topics such as the ACLU suing the Obama administration, the shooting of the unarmed Black teen by police, Aids workers kidnapped and sold to pirates, and a few other things leaning toward social good. Please take a look.
This blog will focus more on topics I believe in this year. Shyness be gone. But my posts have lapsed as I have started to write over there and to work harder at building an audience. But I am putting boomerwizdom and you my readers first in 2012.
In closing here’s the link for a Seth Godin interview I listened to this morning for inspiration. He described this as “The Weird Interview” and talked about how to be remarkable. Much of what he said resounded for me. But the one takeaway I want to share with you is “it’s never too late.” What is happening now will last our entire lifetimes. Many of us are focused on what’s new and we have missed the last ten years of what’s now. Think about it.
We are living in the connection revolution. This is the new thing. What do you think about that ? How is that manifesting itself in your life? Are you busy on Ebay or streaming live for national events. Please share.
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