October 17, 2012

Emergency services in Friesland should understand Frisian

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 11:13 am

After a fire broke out in the village of Bozum, Friesland last week, the provincial authorities were upset to find out that the emergency services could have dealt with the situation better had the person on the line been able to understand Frisian.

The resident who called to report the blaze was not understood in their native language, which goes against agreements made with the emergency services.

“Frisian is the country’s official second language, and in case of an emergency, any Frisian should have the right to express themselves in their own language.” I would add to that, especially in their own province.

This definitely applies to the elderly and to anyone anywhere in the world in a panic, as we all revert to our first language when under duress. Many haters can easily say that any other language than Dutch in the Netherlands is second-class nonsense, and if everyone just spoke Dutch, the country would be fantastic. Wrong.

If we all spoke English, Chinese or Spanish the world would be at peace. I’m being sarcastic.

Donald Duck is way cool in Frisian, Doutzen Kroes and Sven Kramer are always hot in Frisian.

(Link: nos.nl)

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July 2, 2007

VIP service for Peter Gabriel on Dutch motorway

Filed under: Automobiles,Music by Orangemaster @ 3:32 pm
Peter Gabriel

Last Saturday, pop star Peter Gabriel’s red double decker tour bus got stuck on the A27 near Lexmond when the motor of the vehicle burst into flames. Peter and friends were en route to a concert in Belgium. The flames went out by themselves and the double decker was towed away. The regional transport company scored them a bus to help them get back on track.

I just happened to see his concert in Amsterdam (last minute invite from a friend, thanks again!) and took a few mobile phone pictures.

(Link: fok.nl)

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March 15, 2007

New fire-breathing world record

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 6:43 pm
fire1.jpg

On Wednesday March 14, the world record for fire-breathing was broken in the Dutch city of Tilburg. Heuvel square in the city centre featured 115 people breathing fire simultaneously. The old record in the Guinness Book of Records had been around since 2003, a record set by 70 people from England. The 115 participants had previously taken a fire-breathing workshop and the money they had to pay for it was donated to the Warchild organisation. The Tilburg student association D’Artagnan organised the event.

(Link)

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