Gone Shoppin'

Life in the burbs can be terribly taxing... we actually have to walk to the shops, it's not far enough to drive or bike to! (as you can see below, even this tram driver has given up trying to find people to transport today!) As an ex-surf african this was a hard thing for me to accept when we first moved into burbs but for Barry it is quite the norm. The burbs of Johannesburg were a very different story. We were miles from anything remotely resembling a shopping centre and to get there meant begging and pleading with one of the parental units until they either gave in or we lost our voices due to hyperactive sobbing and loss of volume control!
This, however, is not the story in the Hague. Here we can walk to the shops within a matter of minutes and as long as you carry along a large shopping sack you have no problem getting your weekly groceries back home on foot.

The walk to the shopping centre is also quite pleasant.
There are not many car-friendly paths through this neighbourhood so the geese and ducks enjoy a relative peace throughout the day. The only worries they have are the occasional dog off its lead who may attempt to steal the bread the nice old lady around the corner is always throwing in the water for them.
Now that summer has arrived the park behind our house has exploded and is now awash with bright green leaves and colourful wildflowers.

As we near the shopping street itself it becomes apparent that the Dutch people also love colour in the summer. After the cold grey days of winter the streets comes alive with buckets of flowers and for those who do not possess gardens, balconies become the next best thing showing off their wreaths of colour for all passersby to admire. It always brings a smile to my face to walk down a street and see so many beautiful flowers brightening the facades of otherwise rather ordinary buildings.

The plain below is also the site of the Wednesday morning market where you can get all your fresh produce and a lot more besides for a bargain of a price. Saturdays, however, are reserved for other festivities. This particular day was to have been a day of big-band fun. Unfortunately it had rained all morning so only band turned up to perform but they still gave it their all. Oddities like this are more the rule than the exception here in burb-land and we burbanites may grumble and complain like old grumpy pensioners but we wouldn't have it any other way!

Cheerio,

Jodie