Many
people slightly older than me are frequently referring to 1967, the
Summer of Love. Vietnam, Woodstock, numerous social and racial
conflicts, student protest, Black Panther the military dictatorship in
Brasil and more. I was 11 at that time and too much happened in my
inner family, so i was a distant and very innocent observer those
days. I was able to experience some effects of the Summer of 1968 in
the form of art: Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, music: to many to list, here a few The Doors, Hendrix, The Mamas and the Papas, Jefferson
Airplane, Beach Boys, Santana, CSN&Y and many more. Be sure to
wear flowers in your hair! In London it was:songs
such as "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum, "Itchycoo
Park" by the Small Faces, "All You Need Is Love" by
the Beatles and "Hole In My Shoe" by Traffic.
Now
48 years later its the summer of 2016 and I'm living every minute of
it, in my inner circle its a parade of grandiose events with a
spontaneous celebrate, drink eat and joy effect and with some of the
events with probably a life lasting impact. In chronological order:
Paul's graduation from Leiden University with a BA in International
Relations, which is actually pretty good, followed by Jorrit and
Charlotte's wedding at the Bastides des Barrates, it was unforgettable with 100+ people, great ambience, stunning food and wines, great
speeches, Old Dan Tucker in Dubois style and just a perfect
memorable, chilling long wedding weekend. This was followed by Inge's 60th
Birthday Bash a surprise party at the Hildebrandt boat on the
canals of Amsterdam and an eating galore at our lovely place on the
Da Costa kade with a group of really nice friends. Shortly thereafter
Dagmar's 28 which we celebrated at Vis aan de Dijk in Rotterdam, for
crying out loud!
In
the meantime at the neighbours: I am not sure where to start the
world moved from one grave misery to the next. An awful attack on
July 14 in Nice, 84 people were killed, a failed coup in Turkey, an
innocent priest nearby Rouen was slit his throat, attacks in Munich and a bunch of events in the U.S. Such as police
shootings in Dallas, Minnesota and another crazy act in a gay bar in
Orlando! Taking the lives of dozens of people. Where are we, yes in
the summer of 2016!
The
sportive highlight was supposed to be the Euro 2016, 32 countries
were competing for the #1 spot in Europe for the next 4 years, the
real highlights: the fans from Iceland, the courage and intensity
from Wales and the brilliance of Antoine Griezman and oh I forget
Portugal beat France in the final, I believe that means they are the
winner, that was Euro 2016. Let's just forget it. Le Tour de France 2016 was alright with the
indisputable winner Chris Froome, unfortunately the stage where we
were all focused on: the 168KM from Montpellier to the Mount Ventoux
was kind of a bummer. Due to heavy winds, 130 km per hour which was
too much of a risk for the cyclists, the finish was shortened by 5.6
KM, indeed at the Chateau Renard with Thomas de Gend as the winner
and Froome as the runner. I concurred the same mountain from
Malaucene to the real top just 2 weeks before on my Pinarello Angliru and it was very difficult this time.
Music-wise it was grand, we enjoyed Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band in
Den Haag at the Malieveld on June 11 and on July 13 at the Accor
Arena in Paris. My personal highlights in Den Haag were Jersey Girl,
Racing in the Street and This Hard Land. He performed the entire
River album in Paris and that was an OMG this album and these guys
are still awesome experience! Were there any highlights...hmm its
was 3 1/3 hours of ear candy, with The River as a stunning experience nonetheless special and extraordinary to me was Drive All Night and the solo performance of my all
time favorite song Thunder Road....Roy Orbison singing for the
lonely, hey that's me and I want you only! Oh oh take my hand, riding
out tonight to case the promised land.....and I can go on for
days. It was just another amazing Springsteen experience, the joy,
empathy, intelligence and engagement with the band and his loyal
audience is simply unmatching. We also observed that the crowd in
France is much more into Bruce than the constant yebbing Dutchies,
which can be pretty irritating and annoying! Les Frenchies do know
Bruce, it's repertoire and they respect him which is commendable and
what it should be! During the gig in Den Haag the Boss said: The
older you get, the more it means......Yep, i agree completely.
As
stated the world is pretty messy today, so one would expect that
countries are looking for ways to be ready for whatever might occur
in the short and medium future, well keep dreaming the opposite is
taking place. The totally unnecessary referendum on Britain's position
in the European Union gave the unexpected result that Britain will
leave the EU, oh and all the main players: Cameron, Johnson and
Farage just left the stage, let the others clean the mess. Thats
called zero accountability! Boris Johnson was in the meantime
appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs, another totally
incomprehensible move. Britain wants to take care of their own!
In the U.S. The GOP nominated
after appalling primaries and caucus and a messy Convention in
Cleveland Donald Trump as its nominee, ironically he's not even a
member of the party! Its simply utterly vulgar, undefined and with
lack of substance and granularity on any, yes any topic that this
Republican candidate make his waves, its beyond me and I restrain
from any further comment because it makes my vomit and sick. Houston
we have a problem, America we have a massive problem, called
education and common sense! This means from now on till the 1st
Tuesday in November the news will be dominated by two unlikable candidates, of which one is clearly well suited and prepared.
I
can see people driving their cars with bumper stickers and yard signs
in front of the pretty houses, this time it will have a different
meaning and the association with this racial candidate will tell more
about the identity of the bumper sticker driver and yard owner than
in any prior election.Just remember what it meant to support either
Obama or Romney 8 years ago, yes there were significant differences
on content but not on style and respect towards the other. The odd
candidate has no style, nor respect towards his opponent, nor his
“temporarily rented” republican party, nor the women, workers,
army-men, immigrants and the list goes on. Good luck America and
wake-up world! The beauty about democracy is that people are free to
express in what they believe is right and support! In 2016 it has a
different meaning and it will for sure stimulate nasty debates with
opposing neighbours, friends, colleagues etc.
Happy Autumn 2016!
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