About Mark Rutte
We were in the bath (yes, that's what you get when you work from home, everything in order and at a quarter to six at the table) and were ready. With four girls on the small bench and the dog (fifth girl) underneath. What we were about to see would become history.
There he sat, our prime minister, in his little tower. And then a series of thoughts unfolded that you might have had too.
1. What books and CDs does he have behind him? And does he listen to those CDs regularly? My colleagues almost laugh at me because I have a CD player (and a DVD player too, for that matter).
2. Why does he keep his hands tightly together?
Result of a media training where he was warned against gesticulating too wildly which would underline his overly cheerful demeanor? Or is he perhaps tense and trying to encourage his right hand with his left?
3. He does not choose lockdown, he does not choose lockdown
I don't think it's appropriate to open the champagne, but I am happy. This social quarantine already feels like a – luxury – prison, but a lockdown... How am I supposed to walk my dog then? Can I play outside with the kids? He does not choose it. I exhale.
4. The elderly
I think of my parents, far away in Italy. Of my father-in-law around the corner, but perhaps even further away because we are not allowed to visit him, and explaining why we are absent will not be understood. I thank Rutte for the respect.
5. I suddenly feel so stupid and ignorant
I read the newspapers, follow the news programs and have echoed so many experts without having any understanding myself. That you are not a carrier if you have no symptoms: nonsense, as it turns out now. That children and healthy people cannot get it: rubbish. And I have often wondered what we are worried about. That we just have to let it wash over us, then we have had it and can move on. Now I know how naive that was.
6. It ain’t over till it’s over
April 6 is not an end date, but a reference date.
7. Don't make false promises?
I thought it was a wonderful speech, but I really wonder if Rutte can make that promise that he will be able to compensate our lost income. You can't possibly fulfill that?
We continue with the RTL evening with an extra broadcast of JINEK. Just some thoughts on that.
1. Where is Frits Wester? Frits? Where are you? Are you doing OK? Wouter de Winter: really nice, but we need you. And I just want you to be alright.
2. It is HET Neude people. It.
I feel a bit like a Thierry Baudet correcting that it is Baudè, so without ‘t’, but I constantly see a reporter who keeps saying ‘de’ Neude. But darn it, I look it up and ‘het Neude’ is Utrecht, officially it is ‘de’. Not great for my self-esteem.
3. Just about that CEO of Albert Heijn Wouter Kolk
Did he seriously call himself an entrepreneur? Come on, man. You have a big fat job and on March 23 you will definitely have something with four zeros deposited into your bank account. You cannot compare yourself to the café owner, the hairdresser, the woman with the catering business. Empathy and understanding are nice, but let's keep it a bit in proportion.
I am glued to the TV. You can't get sick from that, right?
I embrace you digitally, that can't hurt according to a reliable source, and as long as I don't hear otherwise, I will just keep doing that unsolicited.
