High Winds In Amsterdam

High Winds In Amsterdam

To say it has been a bit windy lately would be an understatement. Yesterday Holland suddenly descended into complete chaos as a large storm swept across the country coursing more damage then a visit from Godzilla.

The streets turned into high powered wind tunnels populated by pedestrians struggling to keep on their feet. Anyone carrying an umbrella ran the risk of being blown into a near by canal or Belgium.

All trains came to a complete stand still by order of the traffic police due to leaves on the line. Normally this would not be too much of a problem but the trees were still attached at the time.

Roads turned into rivers, people in high rise buildings were getting sea sick, traffic took over an hour to go just one hundred meters and everyone was advised to stay indoors and off the roads.

My journey home that normally takes 20 minutes took four and half hours. I spent the evening listening to the high winds raging outside as parts of the house rattled and shook. I would not have been too surprised to wake up in the morning and discover that the house had landed in Oz after being swept up in the storm and crash landing, killing The Wicked Witch of the East in the process.

On the upside, all the wind turbines in Holland must have generated enough power to supply the rest of the world into the 25th century.

Stuart

Stuart is an accident prone Englishman who has been living in the Netherlands since 2001. Even his move to the country was an unintentional accident, the result of replying to a cryptic job advertisement he found one day in a local British magazine. Since then he has learned to love the Dutch (so much so that he married one of them) and now calls the country home. He started the blog Invading Holland in 2006 as a place to share his strange stories of language misunderstandings, cultural confusions and his own accident prone nature.

41 Responses

  1. Sally says:

    Well – it would have to be a VERY big storm, even bigger, to kill the Wicked Witch of the East, because she didn’t in fact die after all! I went to see “Wicked” at Christmas, and we found out that she was a: not all that wicked after all, and b: she didn’t die but went underground so to speak!!!!! You see, you live and learn….

    Sally

  2. Tess says:

    Your ‘leaves’ remark really cracked me up… :) Being aware of the train situation over there [is that funny NS commercial still on tv?]

  3. vallyP says:

    Im so glad you could see an upside to it Stu ;-$ We felt as though we were out at sea here and I actually felt quite seasick. My dog was absolutely terrified though..

  4. BlondebutBright says:

    Great recap. I’m glad you survived. I stayed inside as much as possible and only got blown around a little bit. What an experience!

  5. Emiel says:

    I’m sort of curious just how you managed to get home. From your previous posts, I got the impression you go by train, but the trains stopped all together, so…
    Very funny story.

  6. Ash says:

    It was kind of like that here a few days ago. It only took me two minutes to blow down the street to the grocery store (about 6 blocks, across a busy highway), but 10 minutes to walk back! It was all worth it though, because I bought cookies :)

  7. zoe says:

    we survived by spending the afternoon in a spa. driving back took about an hour, rather than the usual 15 minutes, no accidents and one tree on the ring which two police cars seemed to be looking after – by staring at it in their cars.

    as we’re borrowing marianne’s diddy little car, it did wave around about but the damn winds DID NOT DAMAGE THOSE FARKING SATTELITE DISHES.

    but they’ve ruined my spelling even further.

  8. Invader_Stu says:

    Sally – I’ve seen ads for that show. It sounds very interesting. I wouldn’t mind seeing it next time I’m back in London (Along with all the other shows I want to see).

    Tess – I’ve not seen any NS commercials for a while. The NS was really good when I first got it but it has not been so great the last few years… still, better then British Rail.

  9. Invader_Stu says:

    We’re you on the canal at the time VallyP? That must have been scary.

  10. Bihi says:

    OMG it’s coming to Greenland

    OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

    Bihi

  11. Invader_Stu says:

    BlondebutBright – It was crazy. I thought I was going to get blown into the air.

  12. Dragonlady says:

    The storm hit England yesterday as well.I was lucky enough to go down with a tummy bug so I had a good excuse not to go out. Glad you survived.Mind you our greenhouse didn’t.

  13. ChickyBabe says:

    Wow… glad to hear you’re ok!

  14. zoe says:

    stu, there are TWO OF THE FUCKERS.

  15. Invader_Stu says:

    Dragonlady – The greenhouse must be in Croydon by now. I remember how that thing was in just a mild breeze.

    Emiel – It was a nightmare. I got the metro part of the way then had to stand around for an hour waiting for a bus. The traffic was non-moving and then I had to wait another hour freezing at a bus station for another bus that would take me the rest of the way. A lot of people started walking. I was tempted by a near by hotel.

    Ash – Anything is worth cookies.

    Zoe – I get the feeling you really hate that SATTELITE DISH :p

    Bihi – Find shelter while you can :p

    ChickyBabe – Thanks. There was a few times when I thought I would not get home.

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