Vancouver observations part III

Every morning when I look out, there are two homeless men sitting in the bus stop. You can immediately see they are homeless. Beards, dirty clothing, plastic bags around them. But they are sipping coffee there. Coffee they get at McDonalds. I wonder. Does McDonalds have a social responsibility program, giving away free coffee to the homeless? Or is their coffee particularly cheap or adjusted to the average homeless taste bud? Often, when I look out, there is a third man sitting with them. Thought he was homeless too, at first, but he doesn’t fit the typical style, with his short hair and black polo. He is always talking fast, using a lot of hand movement. And then this morning, I saw him on the phone at the library. Again, talking fast and making a lot of movement, reading something from a little notebook, obviously agitated. That’s not a homeless man.. Social worker, working the streets all day, trying to help them? Religious man, giving them kind words from the bible? Or just a drug dealer?

The only thing I hate is that I can’t quietly eat my ice cream at the steps of the library. There is always a homeless man starting to shout or babble. Nothing helps if they pick on you, they all have graduated from the ‘get contact’ class in the school of the homeless. If you don’t react, they will just start shouting ‘you’re an asshole and I am human too, only asking a question, you speak English don’t you’, etc etc. If you react, they want money or keep on talking, mostly not understandable bits of language, accompanied by very clear bits of saliva. And sit next to you (the smell doesn’t really go with ice cream). Once I tried an effective method, in Amsterdam (my, does Holland have few homeless people, in comparison): “out-crazy them”. Start waving your arms like mad, uttering nonsense syllables with lots of saliva. Screaming helps too: “YaaaaHH! KLM! Bad sky! BE-atles! You ARE! YaaaaHH!” But I admit, you have to be in the mood. Wasn’t today, so took the abuse, stoic looking forward and eating my ice cream and feeling just a little bit of social guilt. Gave a homeless girl on the next street some money. Another day in Vancouver.

Unknown pleasures at the Waterfront

Yesterday the weather was fine and after lunch I noticed the snow capped mountain at the end of the street again, always making me feel very content just looking at it.
Decided to take a book and walk towards it. That is, until arriving at the waterfront. The mountain itself, of course, is on the other side of the water.Saw myself sitting on a sun drenched outdoor patio, with a drink, looking out over the water, at the mountain, reading a little, enjoying myself. Picture it? Well, that worked out in the end, after I had settled for a Iced Chai Latte from Starbucks (no Blenz in sight) and found some stairs to settle unto, that is.

So many open squares, but all without restaurants, let alone patios..
Wonder why. No terrace life? They do have heated patios everywhere else in town, but none of those at the waterfront. Another regulated Canadian thing? Don’t know. But did see The Volendam, the outrageously big cruise ship at the docks. And they’re building like crazy to accommodate the Olympic Games in 2010.
Never mind, I had a book on Unknown Pleasures, the classic Joy Division album from June 1979. The title of course, should have been a sign, thinking of waterfront patios in Vancouver.Missed out on the album at first, when it was released, so busy celebrating the end of high school and the beginning of independence. Boogying on the dance floor and preparing for the Interrail holiday with friends. Let's say my mood did not really reflect the themes of the music on Unknown Pleasures. But more on Joy Division another time..

the Kniesmeijer timeframe cycle

On popular demand a simple version of my cycle of recurrent timeframes. Perhaps it helps in understanding the text.. Every 5 or six years we move within the cycle to the next stage. Go figure it out.. If you click on it, it will grow on you.

Popping the question

Rewriting some stuff, and diving into Dutch politics a little more. The chaos and opportunism in the beginning of the eighties, during an ‘autumn’ period, with governments falling like leaves of a tree, and comparing that with the next ‘autumn’ period between 2000 and 2003, with all the Pim Fortuyn drama (and of course, the chaos in Dutch society at that time). Timeframes, they do strange things to people...
Popping question. If you eat popcorn, is that counting as vegetables? It’s pure corn, isn’t it? They never tell you about those important things in healthy eating magazines. Weather here is getting better by the day. Took a long walk to the swimming pool, along the harbor front. Very sunny. They closed one shower room, the one I always use. Until further notice. Must have found a little legionella or other bacteria.. If this blog suddenly isn’t refreshed anymore, you know the reason now.
Almost don’t dare to admit: found a DVD of Golden Girls left behind on a table of the library and decided to loan it. Typical eighties material, but still fun.

weersomstandigheden

In the mean time, somewhere in Vancouver.. a few hospitals are experimenting with replacing contrast liquids by blueberry juice when making scans. Seems to work just as well and much more tasty. I would go for that!
Vandaag maar eens in de Nederlandse politiek gedoken. Helemaal niet saai, wanneer je let op tijdgeest en minder op partijpolitiek. Shocking, hoe premiers door de jaren heen bewoordingen gebruiken die zo uit mijn theoriehoofdstuk kunnen komen.
Soms proberen premiers de tijdgeest tegen te werken, zoals Biesheuvel in 1971: hij maakt zich zorgen over de ‘behoefte aan polarisatie, een verscherping van de politieke en maatschappelijke tegenstellingen’. Hij en zijn kabinet voelen er niets voor. Sterker zelfs, ze zijn er zeer op tegen en zullen juist alles doen om de nadruk te leggen op alles wat bindt, meldt Biesheuvel in zijn regeringsverklaring. Binnen twee jaar valt die regering.
We zitten dan in de zomerse tijdgeest van 1972 tot 1978: onrust, vrijheid die ontspoort en oplopende tegenstellingen. De regering doet lekker mee: er zijn nogal wat punten waarop de partijen tegenover elkaar staan. Als er met moeite eindelijk een links getinte regering ontstaat, proberen die, in een typische zomeroplossing, langs elkaar heen te regeren. Bijvoorbeeld in de Bloemenhove affaire. Dries van Agt (justitie, KVP) wil de abortuskliniek sluiten. Terwijl Irene Vorrink (Volksgezondheid, PvdA) vanuit de ministerraad contact onderhoudt met de mensen in de abortuskliniek, wil van Agt aan de politie opdracht geven naar binnen te trekken. Toch houdt die regering het bijna de volle vier jaar vol.
Tijdens de herfst tijdgeest, tussen 1977 en 1982, hebben we last van gekonkel en struikelende en vallende kabinetten. Het kabinet van Agt-2 begon al met hommeles, nog voor de regeringsverklaring viel het kabinet uit elkaar. Gelijmd en wel hielden ze het niet eens een jaar vol: ze rolden vechtend over de straat. en maakten elkaar precies 260 dagen het leven zuur. Helemaal herfst.
En dan komt Lubbers aan de macht, in 1982. Het is bijna eng: hij zegt zelf precies welk tijdgeestseizoen is aangebroken, in zijn verklaring: “Onze samenleving is in de winter terechtgekomen. Het gaat er nu om wat wij daarvan maken. Ieder op haar of zijn plaats; ieder naar vermogen, niet tegen elkaar maar met elkaar.” Juist ja. niet meer tegen, maar met elkaar. Dat hoort in een winter. Lubbers houdt het zowel de winter- als ook het beste deel van de daaropvolgende lentetijdgeest vol (vooral omdat zijn laatste regering aan het begin van die lente verkozen wordt). De premier meldt in 1989 wél dat de sociale vernieuwing ineens “vleugels gekregen” heeft en hij vraagt zich af hoe dat nu komt. Tsja, tijdgeest, Ruud!
De kiezers halen hun gram in 1994: de vernieuwing is dan op zijn hoogtepunt. En jahoor: Paars wordt geboren. Het CDA maakt de grootste duikeling in de geschiedenis van de politiek, maar liefst 20 zetels moeten ze inleveren, vooral ten gunste van de partij die bij iedere verandering van tijdgeest weer even opkomt om vervolgens als een plumpudding weer in te storten: D’66.
Politiek, het is net als het weer. Zoals al een keer gemeld, we zitten ondertussen weer in een winterperiode. We moeten weer samen, met elkaar. Restaureren. Protesteren tegen bloot-abri’s. En dergelijke behoudende dingen. En D’66 is weer weggevaagd. Ben benieuwd, over een paar jaar. De volgende verkiezingen zijn weer in een lenteperiode. Vernieuwing!

When our Bill was still a Billy, writing bills..

There's a great, heavy Rolling Stone Book on the Seventies. Loved it. A lot of icons from those years. It refreshed my knowledge on the daft beginnings of our computer world, in 1975. Here's two anecdotes on seventies sillyness appointed to computers and some foresight on the role of that Micro-Soft boy..

...many computerists of the Seventies shared a profound mistrust of big business and a nearly religious belief that the computer was a tool of personal liberation (..so Seventies..). Even when they went into business, they chose names that mocked largeness or were simply silly. The Itty Bitty Machine Company lasted long enough for IBM’s lawyers to draft a cease-and-desist letter; Kentucky Fried Computers had only a slightly longer life. Apple Computer is the last reminder of the days when whimsy was more powerful than a marketing department.
Consider Bill Gates. He saw the MITS Altair 8800 on the cover of a Popular Electronics Magazine in 1975. The $397 Altair was a boring box with blinking lights - a primitive fossil. In fact, once you’d built the box, you still had to be exceedingly clever at programming in order to make the lights blink. Gates dropped out of school to develop, along with his buddy Paul Allen, the form of BASIC language needed to make its lights blink. Since no other language existed at the time, the first Micro-Soft (as it was then spelled) product was an instant hit. But Bill was soon unhappy, for he ran into a prevailing notion of the liberation idealism: “Information wants to be free.” People were sharing Bill’s software with one another, rather than purchasing new copies for themselves. He promptly wrote a testy “open letter” about how people should pay for his work rather than give copies to friends, and if they didn’t, there wasn’t going to be any more useful software coming from him, thank you very much.
Computer hobbyists immediately attacked Gates as a mercenary snake who wanted to own the garden - they were right. He ownes it.

Power closed to twodimensional women

Was watching a programme which showed scenes of the debate between Royale and Sarkozy.
Poor Royale.. It's hard to be a female politician and still score in the closed timeframe we are living in right now. Most people search for authenticity, one-dimensionality and reinforcement of things known. So the fragment showed Sarkozy in a pose as the übermale, sceptical and superior, while Royale was upset. And when she fired at him. all he needed to do is make condescending remarks. His non verbal behavior was like 'tut-tut', the little lady is getting angry. And she went on deying she was angry, which made her look even less stable. Too many emotions.. No Angela Merkel (or even more one-dimensional: Margareth Thatcher..!), for sure, people will think and turn to Sarkozy. While men can claim history has proven that they can be good leaders, women always have to proof that. And in uncertain times, that might just tip the scale to the 'safe' side. Just like Wouter Bos in Holland was put away like a wiggler or a turn-stile (draaikont), uncertainty leads to loss of votes..
There will be a change in the spirit of the times, but whether it will be in time for Hillary Clinton to have a chance to become the first female president of the USA, will remain to be seen.

For music lovers: closed timeframes bring along good music too: Mavis Staples is back, on an album she made with Ry Cooder. Old protest songs from the times she was still in the Staple Singers, but in a modern style. I loved it. You can listen to both her album and others (the new Black Rebel Motorcycle Club! Like Rolling Stones on speed..) on the VPRO site:
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/luisterpaal/