Great Expectations

The English people can be proud: a few weeks ago, Andy Murray won Wimbledon, and now Chris Froome won the Tour the France. I wonder if they noticed it, however - they seem far too preoccupied with the advent of Kate Middleton's baby.

Title: Disappointment in the UK
Text: Murray wins Wimbledon! Froome wins Tour!
But still no Royal Baby...

One king to rule them all

We have a new king: Willem-Alexander was installed last Tuesday. He was honoured by the Dutch people with the (in)famous King's Song, which included a rap part that encouraged everyone to put three fingers up in the air (that's a W, for Willem). As the poor man still had to take an oath, putting up not three but two fingers, I hoped he wouldn't get confused.
Title: Let's hope he won't mess up that oath 

That was last week, and it's old news already. Amsterdam-based football club Ajax earned everyone's attention as they won the Dutch premier league yesterday afternoon. And again, Amsterdam hosted large crowds of celebrating people - they almost eclipsed last week's festivities. 

Title: Coup d'état

Habemus museum

The Rijksmuseum reopened, after only ten years of restauration. It was celebrated with the Dutch queen and lots of orange smoke.
Title: Now it's us who made it to the world news
Text: "orange smoke?" "Habemus museum"

Curb your enthusiasm

We asked the pigeon

Great news!!! My "Voduifone" cartoon actually WON the contest. Thank you all for your votes and kind words!

In the image above, the Voduifone pigeon voices its own opinion on the matter.

Happy 2012 !

Happy New Year everyone!

Sinternational

Another oldskool Sinterklaas drawing: 2002, Sinterklaas with another Dutch friend and my Italian housemates.
Fun fact: pepernoten are cookies of about 1 cm in diameter that nobody ever bothers to bake themselves. You can't buy them in Italy, though... so we spent a few hours on them.

Ten years after

In the category "Weird Dutch Traditions": tomorrow, 5 December, Dutch people celebrate Sinterklaas. In 2001, I celebrated it in Florence with my Dutch friend Casper and two Americans. The drawing above refers to that occasion and was taken from a ten-year-old Anita Aktueel (still issued on good old analog paper at that time).

Fun fact nr. 1: ideally, each present given for Sinterklaas is accompanied by a poem. Ideally, they're less cheesy than "cats say meow, cows say boo, this is from me to you".
Fun fact nr. 2: Dutch people never say "Happy Sinterklaas" - but the Americans were at a loss and thought you had to say something.

Tears of a clown

Huib Huib hoera

Queen' s day

For those who are unfamiliar with the concept: I suggest you look up some images of Koninginnedag.

Happy 2011!

Our cat especially appreciated the fireworks.

Holidays!

Two weeks for all teachers to regain sanity.

Hooray for mom

Gefeliciteerd met je verjaardag!

That's more my cup of tea

For non-Dutch readers: Job Cohen is the guy who, hopefully, will prevent Dutch politics from disintegrating into a xenophobic mess. And he likes drinking tea.

Gelukkig nieuwjaar!

Buon anno! Happy New Year!

On this festive occasion