During a walk today cut short prematurely by the rain I came across these reflective spheres which are attached to a wall along a gated alley just off the Skutsjespad, across the ING head office. Does anyone know what they are there for? My guess is it’s some sort of art installation so that the people in the office building to the right have something more interesting to stare at than a blank wall. (You can see the ING House in the reflection of the left most ball.)
Yes, dear lazyweb, I did Google for the answer, but my search for skutsjespad balls “did not match any documents.” Anyway, it’s nicer to guess.
The War on Fun is all nice and dandy, but apparently it shouldn’t impede on the little pleasures that its proponents enjoy. Mayor Ruud Vreeman of Tilburg, member of the PvdA (Labour) party that’s in the fun-hating government coalition that banned smoking in bars last year, lights up a cigar now and then in his office. 
After WWII, Europe was treated to full-colour comic magazines, notably Robbedoes (Spirou) and Kuifje (Tintin), both from Belgium. The Netherlands had Pep en Sjors, which later merged into Eppo, which then became Sjosji, which went tits up in 1999 because kids don’t read comics anymore. A bunch of middle-aged men then got together and declared they refused to live in the present. 
I am not sure whether I should cheer on the re-introduction of a regular, mainstream comics magazine in the Netherlands—not counting Donald Duck magazine which is a phenomenon hors categorie. Reading the mag feels a bit like choosing a coffin—surely I am not yet that old? On the other hand, the big guns of yesteryear have lost nothing of their story telling genius. The new Franka reads like Largo Winch (friendship, betrayal, high finance, Ludlum in comic form really), Martin Lodewijk gets ever better at mixing the old-fashioned and the corny with current events in his hilarious spy parody Agent 327, and there’s even a comic version of Havank’s The Shadow by none other than Daan Jippes.
Supermarket chain Albert Heijn has done it again. A collecting mania is sweeping the country and bringing tens of thousands of customers to “the biggest green grocer,” where every 10 euro spent earns you a package of football cards. However, last year’s action with Smurf figurines was perhaps more succesful, 
Building bridges 
The foundation that takes care of the Brederode Castle near Santpoort (close to Haarlem) is looking for a couple that will live in and maintain the property. Unfortunately, this is not as romantic as it sounds, as the castle itself is in ruins. 
