The plea for a real village
Forgive me May, but when you leave our capital Amsterdam, Haarlem feels a bit like a village. That's why I, as a true villager, an endangered species on the editorial team, write about why living in a village is the bomb. Or well, the bomb, but at least it's pleasant.
By the way, I don't get involved in the discussion of whether you should move to the village or rather stay in the city when babies come. I'm not really into babies. But I do love villages, that's genetically determined. On a sunny day in October, a cloud of a baby was born in a small village called Dirksland. Me, yes. That's where my village career begins, something with a baby spoon.
I have lived consecutively in: village Dirksland, village Oude-Tonge, city Amsterdam, city Rotterdam, city Bergen op Zoom (even though May thinks this is a village) and village Nederhorst den Berg. Back to square one. The village keeps calling, we can conclude. Although officially it's just three to three, in terms of life years, the village wins. Last week we went to view a house, more news on that later, and the property was just outside the city limits of one and within the village limits of the other. I am and remain a villager. Not a problem, just read along.
1. Villages are picturesque
If you cut out the old village center between the new housing estates, then villages are beautiful, cozy, and a bit quaint. With trees, sidewalks where children draw with chalk, and a church in the middle. Exactly how you like a village.
2. In villages, you hide keys under doormats
The neighbor knows that too and the neighbor across the street, but no one goes rummaging under your doormat uninvited, you know. Knowing where the key is located is enough.
3. A village has a maximum of two gyms
And one supermarket, no vegetarian butcher or snack bar, two hair salons, and if you're lucky, a drugstore. That makes grocery shopping very efficient. You have to be careful when switching from one hair salon to another; this can lead to a village dispute.
4. In villages, they don't have traffic jams
And with a bit of luck, no traffic lights either. You grumble a bit about the three cars that are stuck during rush hour in front of the primary school, but other than that? One big passable area.
5. Youths hanging around in a village are hilarious
You find that out if you've spent some time in a city, where youths sometimes lean towards criminality. In a village, they become cute, so naive. You have to chuckle when they act tough with a put-on accent next to the entrance of that one supermarket.
6. The village keeps you well informed
Now I live in a village where I only know the neighbors behind me and the physiotherapist, but because of that, I happen to know that those other neighbors on the corner just got married and he is already fifty, says that big Abraham in the front yard. You can still be happy for them from a distance.
7. In a village, you come in through the back
It may well be that the villager hardly knows the sound of their own doorbell because it doesn't ring. Even the postman tosses the packages through the back door. And if you want to engage in some physical activities indoors, you lock the back door. The whole village immediately knows what you're up to.
8. Houses in villages have a garden
Where you can come in through the back. You can lie in the garden in a bikini without all the curtains in the neighboring houses starting to move. And you can fire up the barbecue without the people above you coughing on the balcony.
I'm telling you: that village is quite nice as a place to stay.
