a memory about the canals of Amsterdam

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diymirage

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as many of you might know, i was born in the Netherlands.
what many of you may NOT know, is that i was born way down south, and just like everyone else who was born "below the rivers" i never cared for amsterdam. in fact, the only way to describe amsterdam to me is a collection of "kapsones lijers" which roughly translates to people who think their poo doesnt smell.

needless to say, i can count the amount of times ive been to amsterdam on one hand.
imagine my surprise when during one of those trips, as im strolling along the canals i see someone who looks an aweful lot like my buddy Mark, walking along in the same direction, but on the other side of the canal
(quick pause for station identification, you guys all know how there are miles and miles of canals running through amsterdam, right?)

well, anyways, i say to myself, son of a biscuit, that sure looks like Mark, im gonna make my way over to yonder bridge, cross, and see what hes doing here

in the mean time, Mark has spotted me from across the water, and he looks over and thinks to himself, verrek, dat lijkt Eelco wel (sorry, but Mark doesnt speak English, in short, he thought he recognized me and was just as surprised as i was...so he also decided to walk to yonder bridge to say hi and see what im doing that far away from home)

so we both keep walking, meet each other at the middle of the bridge and would you believe it...turned out we were both wrong and it wasnt either one of us!



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as many of you might know, i was born in the Netherlands.
what many of you may NOT know, is that i was born way down south, and just like everyone else who was born "below the rivers" i never cared for amsterdam. in fact, the only way to describe amsterdam to me is a collection of "kapsones lijers" which roughly translates to people who think their poo doesnt smell.

needless to say, i can count the amount of times ive been to amsterdam on one hand.
imagine my surprise when during one of those trips, as im strolling along the canals i see someone who looks an aweful lot like my buddy Mark, walking along in the same direction, but on the other side of the canal
(quick pause for station identification, you guys all know how there are miles and miles of canals running through amsterdam, right?)

well, anyways, i say to myself, son of a biscuit, that sure looks like Mark, im gonna make my way over to yonder bridge, cross, and see what hes doing here

in the mean time, Mark has spotted me from across the water, and he looks over and thinks to himself, verrek, dat lijkt Eelco wel (sorry, but Mark doesnt speak English, in short, he thought he recognized me and was just as surprised as i was...so he also decided to walk to yonder bridge to say hi and see what im doing that far away from home)

so we both keep walking, meet each other at the middle of the bridge and would you believe it...turned out we were both wrong and it wasnt either one of us!



View attachment 1716459772
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Well... I realized by fluke that the Wife and I stood in the exact same spot last year as our Daughters did a dozen + years ago. We lost Jennifer 10 years ago. Maybe it wasn't a fluke!
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Resized_Screenshot_20250830_225109_Gallery.jpeg
 

Well... I realized by fluke that the Wife and I stood in the exact same spot last year as our Daughters did a dozen + years ago. We lost Jennifer 10 years ago. Maybe it wasn't a fluke!
View attachment 1716459821View attachment 1716459822
Fluke, coincidence, whatever it was, it's kinda cool to stand there and look at those buildings and that water that may have seen Jennifer smile during what I can only assume was a happy time in her life
 
They say we all have a lookalike somewhere.
The gal giving me a haircut, "you have a brother that comes here?"
I have a brother but don't think he comes here.
"There's a guy comes here that looks just like you."
He's a LOT better looking than my brother.
Cheers
 
One of my customers once told me I looked exactly like his best friend, who lived in South Africa, showed me a picture of the man, some similarities, but I didn't think it was that close.
 
I have a friend who passed a few years ago. We grew up together from infants. He would visit Amsterdam fairly regularly for the red light district. That and their smoke shops.
 
I have a friend who passed a few years ago. We grew up together from infants. He would visit Amsterdam fairly regularly for the red light district. That and their smoke shops.
I've passed through there a few times, but only for window shopping
It's a great place to go when you're feeling down, all the girls are so kind, smiling and waving at you
 
I used to patrol the air in the police helicopters we built for them in the early 2000's. There is a standing no fly zone over the red light district, for fear of nervous customers being scared away. There primary concern was not hookers and drugs, but illegal commerce for general merchandise. I tracked semi trucks using advanced IR tracking and advised the ground. I also went window shopping in the district, funforgettable times I tell ya. The smoke shops were supposed to be off limits to me, but ya know how that goes. lol
 
I used to patrol the air in the police helicopters we built for them in the early 2000's. There is a standing no fly zone over the red light district, for fear of nervous customers being scared away. There primary concern was not hookers and drugs, but illegal commerce for general merchandise. I tracked semi trucks using advanced IR tracking and advised the ground. I also went window shopping in the district, funforgettable times I tell ya. The smoke shops were supposed to be off limits to me, but ya know how that goes. lol
Fun story about choppers...I grew up a couple of hours south of Amsterdam (so far south its actually easier to fly into Brussels when going home, rather than flying into Amsterdam)

Anyways, i lived less then a mile from a combined USAF/Royal Dutch Airforce base

At some point the government moved the Medicvac helicopter to that AFB, because...are you ready?
Where it was originally stationed it was limited to 2 nightflights a week because people complained about the noise
And this was in a city!

Can you imagine getting in an accident and bleeding out on the street but you can't make it to a hospital because it would ruin some peoples sleep ?

A second added benefit of putting that chopper in the corn fields by my parents house is that now it sits central and can run patients to 3 different hospitals
 
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