Today we went to a music festival and had a great time.

The weather was a real surprise, so good, and the music was OK.

We’ve never been to such an event by car, but a fried invited us and we thought it wouldn’t  be a problem.
It took us nearly an hour to find parkingspace! So we’ll never ever go again by car.

Public transport can be a pain, but to events it’s rather straightforward and I like that.

Even leaving when the event was over took a lot of time as there were not enough roads to enable a smooth flow of cars out of the area.

We had the music in our heads though, so we enjoyed a bit of singing in the car.

What did you do this sunday?

Festival ©, .

The battery of my cellphone is empty after just one day.
That bothers me as the one of my former phone lasted at least 3 days, and when I remember well, could do without charging for 5 days.

Today the cellphones were in the news because some providers have raised the prices about 60% during the last year.
And without proper announcements.

We used to pay per second, which was an honest system.

But now we pay per minute. So a bit more than half a minute costs almost half as much more.

I’m one of those people who use prepay, and I’m not using my phone very much.

But I bet there are enough people among the 2 million cellphone users who “provide” the providers with a lot of extra money in their bagpacks.

Battery cellphone ©, .

Today we had a dinner with old friends because two of them celebrated their birthday.

It was great to be together again, even though we’ve seen each other a few months agao. We used to spend all days of the week together, and we’ve missed each other a lot.

It was great to hear the experiences of others.
Two of them found a job too, like me, sone extended their studies, like I did last year, a few are working free lance and the rest are doing other things.

A good mix for hours of fun and listening.

And the food…. I don’t really now. It was OK. But I was far too bussy with my friends.

Dinner with old friends ©, .

Some people love Dr. Phil.

I don’t understand why.

I think he violates the ethical boundaries of the profession too often and he clearly enjoys exposing people in their worst moments.

A few years ago he raged on and on about euthanasia in The Netherlands, without even knowing our laws on the subject. Worse even: he used a completely different meaning of the word.
His ego grew with every word he said.

I had to laugh when a child at school asked why he was allowed to tell other people how to live whereas he himself was overweight, so clearly had no control over himself.

And now the guy is arguing with his wife over shows.

Maybe a new Dr. Phil is ready to tell them both to behave?

Dr. Phil arguing with his wife ©, .

Thank you all who visited my site in august.
I hope you’ve enjoyed your stay.

Thanks those who commented.
Due to the nightshifts I haven’t always been able to return the comment, but yours was very much appreciated.

And here are the topdroppers:

Parentimes
Guitarbench.com
T-Shirt Reviews
Photography by KML
The Ad Master
Singapore Playground
Laane’s Path
Sparkle
Laane on the World
Tips for your home

Thank you all very much!

Topdroppers August 2010 ©, .

Finally the war in Iraque is over.
Not for the people there.
They suffer the effects of the war that foreigners imposed on them.

Not for the families and friends of those who were killed. Among them more than 4,400 U.S. military personnel.
Not for the more than 30,000 young people who were wounded.

I remember when they bombed Baghdad.
A friend called me about the terror the people there were experiencing.

We can’t imagine here what it means to be bombed, even though many families here tell their stories about WW2.

I wonder if the people there are really relieved.
So many things are destroyed.
So many people killed.

For what?

Bye bye Iraque ©, .

One of my aunts called me to ask if the children could sleep at my place tonight.
They would bring enough matresses and blankets and such.

Ofcoruse I said yes, even before she told me why.

Yesterday we had very bad weather and their farm was hit so bad by the storm that they had to ask an engineer in to assess if it’s still safe to live there.
When I heard it I felt so sad for them.

The farm is the family home of her husband, and also one of the main houses of our extended family.
In the summer we often go there to help, in the winter they organise family events.

A strange feeling of sadness came over me when she told about the fallen tree, about the cracks in the walls after the winds blew open the door and made them feel like the room was blown up like a balloon.

More farms in their area were hit badly.
The storm came from a certain angle and caused more troubles than ever.
Add to it the tremendous amount of rain, soaking the hills where the farms are built on, and the construction can suffer enough to make a home unsafe to live in.

It’s not the first time the kids sleep here, but never before was it for a reason like this.

I’m worried about the farm.

stormdamage ©, .

Last night I worked in the hotel, to make up for their flexibility to let me go when I found the right job.

Maybe someone gave me a bug, because I left there sneezing and coughing.

We were supposed to go to a parade with friends, but it was cancelled due to bad weather.

The rest of the day I slept. Ugh!

Extra work ©, .

After the usal saturday activities we went to another town to see the living statues.

It’s amazing to see how people dress up and spray themselves with paint to resemble a statue.
Because a human body can’t stand still for a long time, most make even seemingly articifial moves. For a short moment they’re a kind of robot.

World Statues festival is the name of the event.

Tomorrow the winners will be announced.

I hope they all can deal with the terrible weather.
Some are wearing such beautiful outfits which merge with the paint on their body so nice, that it will be a pity when the rain gets a grasp on it.

I’ve found the site of one of the artists.
It’s here.

Living statues ©, .

Last night I hardly slept due to the terrible weather.

Some family members and friends were confronted with flooded cellars during the evening and early night. And this morning I got a few calls about flooding of agricultural land.

Yes, I could throw away my shoes.
Such a pity.

The weather alarm was withdrawn and the rains drifted away.
Today wasn’t really bad, but the temps were down.

I hope we’ll get a few summerdays before autumn comes.

Water ©, .