Pakjes avond

A belated entry for Dec. 5 - gift evening that rounds off the Sinterklaas season and immediately ushers in Christmas.
You may notice a wintery theme in gifts of hats and scarves. This despite Europe sweltering through its warmest autumn ever, North Pole glaciers melting quicker than an ice cube in a G&T in Sydney this weekend, skiers slithering down grassy slopes in the Alps etc., etc.

That said, it still feels damn cold to me with my blood thinned by seven years of sweltering Decembers. I went for a rumble on the Harley on a beautiful sunny Sunday when the temperature struggled to get over seven degrees on the coast. Trundling along the packed sea front in Scheveningen I saw several people surfing in the North Sea! I think we've discussed the North Sea earlier (Julia: I'm not swimming in there, it's brown) so no need to point out the foolishness of getting in there even in the summer, but doing it in mid-winter seems just recklessly stupid to me. Plus, the waves were struggling to get knee-high. I've seen footage of people braving icey waters of Tasmania, but that was because there was a six-meter swell.