The Annual Trek to the Motherland

Summer has officially started. The schools are out, and kids lounge at home in front of the TV, are off to the beach or somewhere in town with friends. No need to get worried about school again until somewhere in September. And so the time has come to make the annual trek to the Motherland; Holland.

In Holland we have a thing called ‘zomerspreiding’. It means that in each region, schools have summer holiday in a slightly different period than other regions. This is to avoid sudden closure of the country, as all dads and moms will have to plan their holiday in the school holiday (that is if they have children), and reduce traffic jams on the road. This may all be very logical and economically healthy, but it sure isn’t fun. I really don’t see why we couldn’t have a holiday at the same time. In France, the country closes down the entire month of August, and it doesn’t seem to bother anyone.

I should know. I live next door (okay, 2 minutes away) and I see these poor tourists, coming all the way from Baghdad and Teheran in tour buses, climbing out of these buses after a god-knows-how-many-hours journey, totally overdressed, as the dress code for females in these countries are a little bit more conservative than the one here in Beirut, droning in big groups towards Rauche Rock (Pigeon Rock in English).

Well, it is a lovely sight. Rauche Rock even made it to Bing.  I think it’s the first picture I ever made of Rauche. Like living in Paris and never bother to make a picture of the Eiffel Tower (Or is it ‘take’ a picture, ladies?) . Well, I made this one some months ago, but that was unintentionally

And so I leave you with Rauche, and hope to see you all again, safe and healthy, in September. Have a peaceful summer.

(My Windows on Wednesday will continue)