Jan H. thought he was playing the Silent Hill video game when he shut down the electricity at the Sophia hospital in Zwolle last Queen’s Day.

Last Tuesday a court found him not guilty, simply because he had no idea of the true consequences of his deeds. H. has volunteered to undergo treatment.

Telegraaf reports that the 35-year-old was suffering a psychosis when he stepped into the hospital’s basement. By pulling levers and switches, he thought he could win a tooth brush. The power was down for 45 minutes during which patients in the intensive care unit had to be respirated manually and lifts got stuck. No patients suffered any lasting consequences, according to RTV Oost.

Silent Hill is a survival horror game, a sub-genre of the action adventure.

Update 30-10: added a link to the verdict.

(Photo of the old building of the Sophia hospital (1884) by Wikimedia user Arminiuzz, some rights reserved.)

Being a bit of pack rat, the Queen’s Day nation-wide flea market has always had a bit of a dangerous attraction for me. Oh no, not more stuff to hide away in the house! This year I decided to turn things around and get rid of some of my mathoms through the vrijmarkt.

I am back early, here to tell you that people don’t know quality if it’s right under their noses! In the space of four hours I sold all of two ping-pong balls, my high school Dutch grammar text books, a small comic book, a cigar case, a medical dictionary that Orangemaster gave me to sell, and another small comic book that the purchaser came back two minutes later to return because at her young age she did not speak German yet.

Conclusion: henceforth I will stick to buying. It’s what I am good at.

Since many families will be going away for two weeks (!) in May as school is out, some towns will not have enough volunteers to help out with all those Queen’s Day activities. Queen’s Day falls on Thursday, 30 April and many people will take Friday, 1 May off, which is not a holiday (Labour Day) in the Netherlands. Then they’re off to foreign countries with their caravans for two blissful weeks. Two weeks!

Although more people will stay home because of the recession, newspaper AD says many towns like Aerdenhout and Haarlem cancelled some Queen’s Day activities and sports events because they can’t find enough volunteers. Boo hoo hoo: two predominantly white, rich cities can’t find volunteers because the really rich folks will be gone. I will be working very hard both days, find out more here under ‘Upcoming’). Co-blogger Branko will be selling stuff on the country-wide flea market instead of buying this year and I promised to keep the coffee coming before working until 5 am the same evening.

The Royal Dutch Automobile Association (ANWB) estimated that about 450,000 people will be taking off. Do they all come from upscale Aerdenhout and Haarlem, and Rheden near Arhem, which I am assuming is white and loaded as well?

For those who don’t know: Good Friday (10 April) and Easter Monday (13 April) are days off, then comes Ascension (Thursday, 21 april – people often take Friday off too), and if that wasn’t enough for you, there’s Whit Monday (1 June).

And next year, Liberation Day (5 May) will also be a day off.

Boo hoo hoo.

(Link: ad.nl, Photo: Amsterdam Queen’s Day 1996)

Queen’s Day 2008: if you weren’t dressed for the occasion, there were vendors more than willing to help you remedy that. After the nation-wide flea market we went dumpster diving, and as will happen we found some of our biggest treasures then.

Due to the unusually early first moon of spring, all the major Christian holidays are early this year, almost colliding with the traditional Dutch holidays. Starting next week: April 30, Queen’s Day—May 1, Ascension Day—May 5, Liberation Day—May 12, Pentacost. This year, the schools close down for the first two weeks of May, and families seem to take the opportunity to go on holidays. According to De Telegraaf (Dutch), 3.5 million Dutch people will go away for the next two weeks, up 1.5 million from last year. AD quotes (Dutch) Bas Hoogland, CEO of Landal Greenparks, as saying: “It’s as if the entire country closes down for the first two weeks of May. There is a huge sense of ‘holiday urgency.’ Many parents don’t feel like spending two weeks at home with the kids.”

The clash of holidays has also brought forward the Lintjesregen (rain of ribbons), the mass-awarding of royal decorations which takes place every year on Queen’s Day, the Dutch national holiday. Queen’s Day was traditionally held on the Queen’s birthday, but that tradition changed when Queen Beatrix ascended the throne in the 1980s. Beatrix’s birthday is in January, whereas her mother was born on the much warmer April 30, so it was decided that the latter day would be maintained.

Radio DJ Coen Swijnenberg life-long’s wish was to cross-dress as Queen Beatrix, and Veronica Magazine helped him make that wish come true this week (photo). Cross-dressing is not the norm for Queen’s Day, but people will don orange for the occasion.

Queen’s day.

On the orangiest holiday of the year, we at 24oranges are taking the day off. Back tomorrow!

A house party will be given by the Dutch Tourism Board in London on the shore of the Thames in London for some 12,000 visitors on Saturday, 29 April. The Holland House Event will last the entire day and is suitable for young and old. Dutch drinks and finger food will be served and there will be performances by Dutch bands. For the younger visitors, there will be a meet and greet with Nijntje (known as Miffy in English).

Queen’s Day (Koninginnedag) is officially celebrated on April 30 and marks the birthday of the late Queen Juliana.

On another note, more and more tourists are getting wind of this relatively low key holiday because of the freemarkets in every city and town. This photo of Amsterdam’s Damrak was taken by Orangemaster in 1996 when (see left) the guilder was still in use.

(Link)