The Boy takes a picture of Meggie :

In fact, tomorrow The Boy shall take The Baby by the hand and amble on over to see what is going on.

He shall have our camera in hand.

The Boy, I say, think of a picture, people with heads, wholes, not fractions.

We shall see what the mighty hunter brings home.

Every evening at 19.25, we flip on the TV to watch the news coming out of town, you know, two blocks away from where I sit right now, Henny’s Cafe. Having yet to cross the barriers set up to block cars from getting into the same area where the market usually is held, to the butcher, the shoe store, the pizza place and the plant store, the children very much enjoy seeing children that they know on TV , hanging around at the pancake house. In fact, tomorrow aathe Boy shall take The Baby by the hand and amble on over to see what is going on.

I noticed that in order to put up their very large podium, they have actually ripped out the shade trees by the benches next to the pump. Imagine that. But obviously, the mayor has approved of this, as he and Henny were filmed meandering together through the market area, eying the fish ( Look ! says The Baby, it’s our fish man !) for sale at the fish mongers. But that was Thursday, she calls out, not today ! Thursday is Market Day !

Rip ‘em out, I suppose he said, perhaps with a snap of his fingers.

Snow is falling. Lots of snow. So much that I would guess that we will be locked into town tomorrow. Which would be fine with me- all things being considered- it is a two way street after all, isn’t it ?

Except that we need another bottle of Moet : we are expecting somewhat unexpected guests tomorrow ( read : I bought the goods for tomorrow night before they called and asked if they could come over for New Year’s). If they can get through the snow of course.

Now, we do have a package store in town, right across the street from the candle store. But they are only open on odd days which seem to depend upon a less familiar, more flexible calender than the one that our part of the world follows.

And the package store lies within the blocked off area of town.

In fact, the package store is dangerously close to what is now the HQ for the aliens whom have taken over town.

What, I find myself asking, am I willing to brave to get another bottle of bubbly ?

As The Girl and I return from doing the shopping in town, a reporter from the Brabants Dagblad stops us. Even speaking English did not throw her for a loop, as it usually does.

Say, she asks The Girl and me, what would you do if you won a million ?

Nothing exciting, I reply, most likely put it in the bank.

The Girl is rather excited by all of the celebrities and hoo- ha drifting through our sleepy little town, the pictures in the bakery, showing the baker standing with Henny Huisman.

I notice that they have already blocked off parts of town, closing them down for cars.

As we watch our neighbors on TV, we all agree : we don’t need the money, but boy, would we like to be a part of the fest .

And being human, we can all pick one person that we hope doesn’t win big.

Which we all do.

And then we all pick someone that we really want to win. Big.

Got to have a pony to bet on, don’t you ?

But you won’t see me in town for the next few days, no siree. Although I have noted that saying helaas works better than saying jammer does.

Look at this. Ever seen so many capped teeth in one picture ? Would you want to open your front door, expecting a package of algae wafers for the fish and find them standing there? These guys are going to be crawling through town for the next few days, in our tiny town of 1400 inhabitants, looking for drama, for nerves shaking in anticipation, for teeth grinding in regret.

I think I’m going to suffer temporary amnesia : forget every word of Dutch that I ever knew. Pardon me ?

But I am hoping that they will trawl other small towns nearby, which also share the same post code. You see, our town, tiny though it is, is filled with well known artists of every sort, not the sort to break down and say “Non de Ju!!”

Yes, this is a big deal here in the Netherlands. This is the PostcodeKanjer Lotterij.

And the kids are really, really excited by the pop stars coming to the pancake house for The Party. Now, if only people within our post code can come, well, they just might see a celebrity or two, one who hasn’t been around long enough to have their teeth capped. But if it is open to all, well, this is a small town, and The Baby is 6, just about 1 meter 15.

But it is exciting, and all must cross fingers for the girl at the bakery- she just got married, a lovely wedding through town, stopping by the baker’s in all her finery.

She has my vote: millions for Suzanne, from the bakery.

Before I went out to do the shopping this morning, pick up some milk and bread, I prepared what I would say to my fellow townspeople : Nee, jammer, he ?

You see, The PostcodeKanjer ( The big zip code lottery) this year has landed upon our zip code. If I had bought a ticket for this lottery, my number would be my zip code : four numbers followed by two letters. Apparently, the first four letters were drawn the other day which means that anyone who has a ticket with those four numbers will divvy up an 8.8 million euro pot. The four numbers drawn were those of town and a few other small villages in our county.

On Sunday, the two letters will be drawn. This usually turns out to be one street, or small area. Anyone with all 6 numbers and letters will share an additional pot of 13.9 million euro.

As I bought the milk, I replied, Nee, jammer, he ? For we haven’t a ticket. But the girl who works at the bakery does and isn’t that too exciting for words ? Well, I’m excited for her, at least.

A bunch of dutch pop stars will be coming to town and I have promised to take the children to try and catch a glimpse of them, after all, we don’t have to worry about parking now, do we ? I’ll be the short, grey haired lady wearing a tomato red coat, three children in tow.

I hope that it falls in town.

Just not on our street !

I really do just love it,





even though this is such a…a ..Wallis moment.

Listening to this year’s Radio 2 Top Two Thousand. Click on breedband for broadband, smalband for slow as it goes connections.

Here is the list, per hour.