Amayzine

And suddenly there was a party in Vondelpark

vondelpark Amsterdam

I was sitting at home yesterday, came across the following video on Twitter. Well, sitting at home, I was just working. Not doing anything rebellious like breaking the curfew. This was during the day and the video evoked a mix of irritation and FOMO in me. A tricky combination, I can tell you.

I have to say that irritation was the first to peek around the corner. And maybe confusion. I received the tweet forwarded from a friend of mine and my first question was: ‘Huh? Is this now?’ Because so many people, it’s been a while since I saw that. And people just standing close to each other… This was definitely spring 2019. Pre-corona. Strange how quickly you actually get used to the fact that these kinds of things are no longer normal. That this is the first thing you notice when seeing such a video.

Now I’m a reasonably good Harry when it comes to the measures. Okay, I admit: I have occasionally broken the one person at a time visiting rule, but I also find it too strange for words that I can’t visit my parents with my brother. And yes, I have had two friends over at the same time. But I still find that manageable. This is quite a bit different than having two friends instead of one over.

Because does this really have to happen, seriously? I stick to the measures because I want to return to the hospitality industry as soon as possible. My favorite spot, Venster 33 in Amsterdam, is just sitting there abandoned (while a party was going on less than a kilometer away) and I just know that the bar stools there miss me. It feels quite wrong when you see hundreds (thousands?) of people having a good time and I see that opening date sadly disappearing further into the distance in my mind.

But yes, that FOMO is there too. Because of course I would have liked to be there, with the sun on my head, a drink, good company, hugging everyone, and going home after nine. So yes, I did feel a pang of jealousy. But that is then overshadowed by my common sense: we are not going to do this. Because for now, we are still very much in a pandemic, and we have all noticed that being rebellious and disregarding the measures will not ensure that we get our way any faster?

That we are completely done with it, I share that feeling. I can totally understand the motivation behind such a Vondelpark party (which apparently started spontaneously). But dear Rutte, dear De Jonge, don’t you understand that too? I didn’t understand the reasoning behind closing the hospitality industry (less than 5 percent of infections came from there), but that the reopening keeps getting postponed while the rest of the Netherlands can thankfully open up a bit, that doesn’t feel fair.

And you can’t convince me that the preference goes to such spontaneous parties in Vondelpark instead of dinners or drinks in the hospitality industry, where everything can be regulated. I think people are ready for that. Having a bit of trust that all measures are being followed in the hospitality industry (which was done in almost all places in Amsterdam, exceptions aside) would do us all good, it seems to me.

Then two last points: what possesses people to make such a — pardon my French — mess in Vondelpark? Did no one bring a trash bag? Or did no one see the gigantic amount of bins and trash cans in the park? So antisocial, I really don’t understand that at all.

And secondly: how is it possible that so many people can party undisturbed for hours in Vondelpark? The Museumplein is cleaned up in no time (with water cannons if necessary), but no fines or arrests were made when they finally showed up at 8:15 PM? Come on, you can’t convince me that the police only became aware of the party at 8:15 PM (because that’s when they arrived at the park). To say the least, quite noticeable.