Ring Riders

Today we decided to take the bus to Grijpskerke, a nearby village. We had seen this statue of a ring rider in Middelburg near the Roosevelt Center. A colleague of Corwin's told him about the Ring Rider Competition in Grijpskerke. This little town is about 15 minutes away by bus and has about a 1,200 people who live there. When we got off the bus we noticed the molen (windmill) that was right in the town.

 We had no trouble finding the action. We just followed the trail of horse droppings to the center of the town. Along the way we passed under a rope that was hung over the street that had a ring hanging from it. (This picture was taken during the race and you can see the white, blurry stick just about to spear the ring.)

Beautifully decorated horses and buggies were everywhere and lots of people in traditional Dutch dress.

The road around the town square was full of horses, buggies, and people. There was a platform with a banner and a board that gave the current standings.

Since it was midday break. The town square was crowded with people who were discussing how the competition was going and just having a good time.

All of the harnesses had been removed from the horses and they were eating.

The food choices for people were hamburgers, pork sandwiches, hot dogs, and ham or cheese on a bun.

And of course there was beer.

The children were the cutest and there were a lot of them.

The competition had started at 9:30 and the total time listed on the program was 2 1/2 hours in the morning, a lunch break, and then 2 or 3 more hours in the afternoon. Just before 1pm, they began to put the harnesses back on the horses and hook them up to the buggies again.

And then it was time to get the people into the buggies and line them up.

The route was in a U-shape and began at the village square. It then went to the edge of town (about 3 blocks), took a turn for about 2 blocks to the left, and then returned to the center of the town. The men drove the horse and the women carried a brightly painted stick to spear the ring when the buggy passed under it. In this picture you can see the ring above and just to the left of the horse's ear.

We found a program for the event that indicated that last years winner had scored 68 rings. There are 5 rings in each round. All but one of the teams we watched were able to successfully spear the ring. When they did, the woman quickly pointed the stick down toward the street and the ring slid off.  

 

Got it!

There were men at each ring location who picked the ring up and put a new one on the holder in the middle of the street before the next buggy came along.

And of course wherever there are horses, there has to be some way to clean the streets.



We talked to a lady who told us that for the regular competition all five of the rings in the route are the same size. But at the end of the regular number of runs if there is a tie, then they put smaller and smaller rings up until one of the teams wins. In the program we noticed that some years the number of rings scored was 80 or more. 



First Things

Corwin has been here for nearly a month now. He's been hard at work at the Roosevelt Center here in Middelburg, Netherlands in the province of Zeeland. This area is in the very south of the Netherlands and fairly close to the ocean.

Middelburg is a smaller town with just under 50,000 people. It is a town that my Mother once lived in. But if you asked her where she is from she will usually say Yerseke which is just a bit to the east of Middelburg. I just arrived about 1 week ago.

Our apartment is small, but very nice and it is located right in the center of the town. We live above a store and our windows open onto one of the main streets of the town. That's our flat on the floor right above the Manfield name.

This street doesn't look so busy in the photo, but it is very active. Early in the morning the activity starts with stores opening and people shopping. Today was a celebration and there was a lot of music playing as well. Also there is usually a bright orange awning that covers our windows. It is retracted in this picture.

The inside of the apartment looks like an Ikea store. It's all painted white and while it is small, it is surprisingly efficient. It's a slice of the building from the street in front to the street in back. The living area is in the front with the only windows. Then a connecting hall with a door to the washer and dryer closet. Then the kitchen, bedroom and last the bathroom. So you have to go through our bedroom to get to the bathroom. Interesting.

You come into the apartment between the hallway and the kitchen. The door is just to the left of the area of the kitchen in this piture. 

The very first lower 'cupboard' is actually the dishwasher. The buttons to operate it are on the top surface that you can see when you open it, on either side of the Whirlpool logo. The sink and the oven are pretty typical, except that the oven is both a microwave and a regular oven.

And the last 'cupboard' is the refridgerator with a freezer section on the bottom.

So everything is quite convenient and there really is quite a bit of cupboard space. Sadly, they just have a Senseo coffee maker here. It's the kind that takes the pre-packaged pods. You can see it and the electric tea kettle in the first picture on top of the dishwasher. 

The living room is very large and bright. One of the pictures is taken with the orange awnings up and the other one with them down.

The windows are those European kind that can either swing out into the room like they are in the bottom photo or pivot out from the top as they are in the top picture. That lamp is a floor lamp that can swing all around the room!

The TV is great and we get quite a few English stations, thank goodness. We are such TV heads! I'm getting addicted to some British shows. One is called House under the Hammer. They buy houses at auction, fix them up, and then check back with the people to see if they are happy and how much they saved or lost. Another is called Bargain Hunters and two teams of two people each go to a flea market, each with an antique dealer, and the show gives them 300 pounds to spend on three items. Then they take those three items to an auction and see if they made good or bad purchases. If they sell for more than they paid, the people get to keep the money. But often they sell for less than they paid. They don't get penalized for that. The third one I like is called Cash in the Attic. (Can you see there is a theme here?) People write in to be contestants and then if they are picked, the people from the show go to their house and go through it looking for stuff to sell at auction. Sometimes the stuff goes for way more than they thought and other times it sells for about the same or less.

The first of these two photos is taken from the kitchen looking toward living room. The second one is taken from the living room looking into the kitchen. There you can see Corwin faithfully working on his computer at the table. That light on the wall--the big square thing--is made out of a fabric with light bulbs inside.

The next picture (below) is of one of the skylights. There are two--one in the kitchen at the fridge end and one in the bedroom on the other side of the same wall. You can open and close them with a remote control the same way as you operate the awning at the front. But so far we have had the skylights open all the time since it isn't really that bright here.

This is our bedroom. Just enough room to walk along the footend to the bathroom and it has quite a bit of storage area on each side. The closet is on the right and shelves on the left.

And lastly, this is the bathroom. It's a real step saver. The shower is just tucked into that corner. We have to squeegee it down after each use. But it works just fine.

That's all for now. I'll write more later.

Marilyn