Party like its ...

Italians are passionated people, whether its food or there culture, Italia is of course the best. But when it comes to football...there cant be anything better on the planet! Last week the Orange army kicked their behinds and the match against a poorly playing France was there ultimo chance.

The streets were empty, bars and restaurants full and all Italian men were extremely nervous. I was being asked to give the Dutch coach a call to do our ' sportive duty' and win our match, which would help them. I called and left a message...
Naturally nobody was watching the Dutch game so the match was watched at home and the Dutch did helped the Italians and won 2-0 and the Italians? Well they got a penalty and a free kick and won 2-0. Were they happy?

Well like they won the whole tournement ! Every car owner took his car straight after the match and kitted it out with a huge Italian flag and for over 2 hours they drove up and down the main street. It was utter madness! A three wheel car had 5 people on the back without shirts on and shouting ITALIA. Everybody was using its klaxon and lights and scooters raced in between with flags bigger than your bedsheets. The Italians gathered all in the town square singing the shortest song in football history...Italia Italia.

Two hours later they decided to call it a day and go home, thank God ! The next day I was being thanked everywhere for winning (and having made the call of course) and the car repair shops seemed to be doing well, ordering new klaxons and lights.
Passion has its price but the Italians football passion has none!

A wise man said...

A lot of things have been said about the Dutch and now with the European Championships it seems that everybody has an opinion about the Dutch and naturally the way we play and they way we give support to our favourite team.
Oranje is our colour and since we are winning its also our team! As long as they play nice attacking football we are happy.

The city of Bern has been hosting the majority of Dutch fans and with only 60,000 (!) orange coloured people it must have been a good time for the restaurants all around.

The most accurate t shirt I noticed in the crowd was this one on the picture.
Now that explains a lot ....

Expect the Unexpected

We live in a strange world where things are changing fast and sometimes we don’t really realise when they have changed and than it might be too late. This makes life challenging but interesting too and we discover things we would normally never have discovered, whether that is in our environment or within ourselves.
Sometimes we are be able to influence them and sometimes they just happen and this can be daily. In essence we should embrace it and not regret it because everything happens for a reason ! Expect the unexpected, because when you do it will change your life.

Reverend ERJB

Arrivederci Genitori

After 5 weeks (!) my parents are moving back to the Netherlands. During those 5 weeks they have discovered that Bordighera and Seborga is a small Nizza, where the people are friendly and the food is super wherever you go. The goal of my parents was to help in the garden and do some painting but due to the delays they were forced to do…nothing, and that turned out not to be so bad! The white wine and the sun seemed to be a good substitute! The second goal of my parents was not to cook during 5 weeks which, unfortunately for them they didn’t manage…two evenings my mum had to be forced to prepare a meal, my sincere apologies mum.

I have to say it was a bit strange to see my parents for such a long time. It has been 10 years since I left Holland and I moved from home at 18. But frankly we had a great time together.

The whole town (well restaurants’, bars and brasseries) were aware of their presence and the impact on the local economy cannot be underestimated.
It seems that my mum has become a pesto addict and my father well… basically seemed to be in a state of ‘always hungry’.

During the holiday they have read a combined total of 20,000 pages, which is an achievement and when the departure was there, 14 bags were ready to be taken home. Those bags were filled with all types of food and beverages to maintain a holiday feeling when back at the HQ.

The return to Holland and apparently the relatively bad weather must be hard but a bit of pesto and vino bianco does wonders.
Well the OrangeEmpire salutes the genitori and hopes to welcome them back soon!

Welcome at the Banque Postal

Having moved away from Nice means that you still need to deal with some admin stuff and this time around it was returning the modem of Alice. Alice had even send me a sticker for free handling so this shouldn’t take a long time…
To avoid silly postal services I went straight to the HQ of La Poste (now privatised) and joined the line with my modem in my hands. The lady behind the desk looked at me and asked what I wanted. Well, a box to send the modem back please. Sorry we can give you that.

Pardon? Nope, you have a free sticker from Alice so we cannot sell you a box. I try to understand the logic but at this stage I am not getting it. Ok, I will buy a box, we tape it with brown tape so it become an ordinary box and than send it. Sorry, cant do it and pls leave cos you are stopping the line from advancing.
I left the post office looking for a shop to buy a parcel but went instead to the local pharmacy, explained my grief and she handed me a small box perfect fro me. Excellent, I walk back, get in line and with a small I am back ! Sir, your box is not closed. I know that so please give me some tape and I will do it. Sir, we are a post service not a wrapping department. Damn, I am getting a bit angry now. So, you are telling me that you don’t have any tape in the whole HQ?

Indeed sir and please move away from the line. What the F… Again I leave the place now contemplating to buy a gun… I head to the first little sandwich shop and ask if they have some tape, I will pay anything for it ! The lady laughs and laughs even louder when I explain my adventure. I close the box and bought a coca to thank her. Now back in the line I am sure to beat them. Strangely enough the two desks are open but the lady that talked to me doesn’t want to do this anymore and the other one is walking (well snails go quicker) behind his desk and returns 5 minutes later, puffing and staring at me like I was dressed in Orange and just kicked Henry in the …. He looks at the parcel and says, sorry it doesn’t fit under the window.

What? Did I just deliver the biggest parcel in France?? I points at a special door that opens and I need to slide it in. I ask him what to do with the stickers and he puffs a little more and points at the sliding door. I carefully put it in there. He grabs it, stick the sticker on it and whacks it over his shoulder in a box. Just under one minute. I ask him if this is it, do I need to sign, pay or do whatever they want me to do? Nope, I need to move along cos I am blocking the line…La Poste, to be avoided at all costs!

Orange 11 give football lessons

The European championships have started and on Monday the Dutch were playing the Italian, current World champions. Dressed up in Orange we headed to the local pub to be welcomed with laughter and free drinks cos Marco van Basten still makes the Italian like the Dutch.

The match started off in good spirit and we were all surprised by the free flowing play of the orange army (and of course the 30,000 supporters turning Bern into a Dutch town) and the difficulties they were causing the solid Italians. With lots of screaming and gestures the match was being followed by about 50 people in a tiny bar that was heating up every minute.
Than Holland scored (with a debatable goal) and the Italian were not happy, but we were !

The game progressed and the Italians were getting more and more fired up until Sneijder kicked from close range a beautiful goal behind Buffon. Tears were getting visible and all of a sudden those orange dressed supporters were less fun, this means war!
During the break, the bar served drinks on a table outside and the Italians compliment the us on the display of the orange 11 and told us there favourite Holland moment. It is incredible but everywhere I have been in the world somebody seems to know Dutch players and the way we play. We on the other hand couldn’t believe the performance, being Dutch means we are never satisfied with the way the Dutch team plays and the number of goals or the defensive play but today…it seems to be all ok!

The second half was a closer call, since the Italians decided to attack. The entry of Del Piero was greeted with huge cheers in the pub, Torino (Juventus) is close to Bordighera and very popular. He was straight away dangerous and the Italians were getting back their confidence.
But Gio van B, crushed their dreams and made it 3 : 0 for the Dutch!!!
The supporters of Italian left the pub and the streets were crowded again with people returning to their houses. The night belonged to the Dutch and the sky turned Orange.

Moving yet again

Last weekend was moving weekend with the Bleu friend and my parents and I started to pack things at 9.30 in the morning after an inspirational cup of coffee and a sandwich. We loaded the blue friend up and noticed that the weather forecast was wrong again and granted us a sunshine and soon many pearls of sweat...
It still amazes me each time that when you actually start packing your whole life is literally in your hands and they are really full!

In order to get it all done asap we decided on clear roles. My mum would be logistic manager and find creative ways of making moving life easier. (basically using all types of transport) My dad was the Organiser, making sure that all was well coordinated and packed and put in the right areas. I was the donkey ... I drove the van and carried the heavy boxes. Quiet a sight the three of us in the van in the front racing through Bordighera to Seborga.

We managed to get it all sorted (more or less) before 22.00 in the evening, we an exhausted team sitting at the table eating a pizza and showing eachothers blues.
The Bos Inc managed to get it all done and still share a pizza at the end of the day...
If that is not the right family spirit than I dont know what is ! Big thanks to the oldies did proof that being old is just a state of mind.