Sarah and I biked through the Vondelpark Sunday afternoon with Wiesje in the bakfiets, of course. It was an incredibly nice day, with a temperature much too mild for the time of year. The sun was shining, too, so we simply had to get out and do something.
After lunch, we headed down to the Amsterdamse Bos (or Amsterdam Woodlands, if you prefer) for the first time since moving back here. It seemed to be quite an effort to make it down there with the heavy bakfiets; am I getting old?
Because of the soft weather and the fact it was the weekend, the woods were very busy and it was something of a slalom to to navigate around all of the people. Eventually, we reached the children’s farm, where we introduced our little one to some goats. She didn’t quite seem to know what to make of them, but was attentive and interested, at least.
We had lunch there, after which we bought some goat cheese and eggs, all of which is locally produced by the animals on the farm, so one can ascertain for oneself that they have a decent life. The children love these animals and literally fall over each other to feed the goats from little milk bottles that can be purchased on-site. The farm must do a roaring trade with these bottles, as it’s sometimes hard to find a goat with any thirst! The chickens are similarly well kept and can roam very freely. It’s a shame this place isn’t just around the corner, as it’s a little too far to go to replace the local supermarket when one needs dairy produce.
We ended up at the Volvo dealer yesterday. I must admit, I’m very fond of the XC70. It’s rather like a V70, but then somewhat raised and with high quality four-wheel drive, which makes it a large estate (a.k.a. station wagon). It’s not large enough to qualify as an SUV (whatever the precise definition of that may be), but it does offer you a couple of the advantages, albeit in slightly diluted form. You wouldn’t really go off-road in it, but you might drive across a muddy field or drive along some hardened muddy tractor tracks.
SUVs are politically incorrect over here. Whilst this is a capitalist society, SUVs (or terreinwagens, asobakken or PC Hooft-tractors, depending on whether you want to be neutral or offensive) are seen by the majority of people not so much as a symbol and celebration of prosperity and pride, but more as a symbol of tasteless excess, contempt for the environment, and disregard for pedestrians and other road users. The left wing is even keen to start refusing to issue parking permits for these beasts, to punish the people who have bought them.
Owners of SUVs are understandably a bit miffed by all of this. After all, they’ve paid a shitload of tax in the form of BTW and BPM. They eagerly point out that the tax on their vehicle would easily pay for a couple of mothers to live on welfare for a year, so they make the argument that their vehicles are, in fact, amongst the most social on the road. It’s a simplistic and warped argument, but there’s a core of truth there, too.
For my part, I do appreciate the experience of driving (or being driven in) an SUV. In America, where just about the only car that is regarded as shameful is the Hummer, lots of people drive around guiltlessly and without feeling self-conscious in one of these things. If it weren’t for the environmental and safety concerns, you’d have to envy them that.
That goes some of the way to explain why, in spite of the appeal of some of these vehicles, we can’t seriously consider one. For one thing, there are only three of us, so by the time we’re able to fill the remaining seats, we’ll be buying our next car, not this one.
Secondly, Dutch streets and parking facilities weren’t meant for these. To park an SUV on the street without blocking traffic, it’s necessary to park with two wheels on the pavement, something that is illegal. So, either you stick out into traffic or you make it the problem of the cyclists and the pedestrians, a major reason the drivers of these vehicles are seen as seriously anti-social.
Add to that the poor fuel economy, the disastrous levels of pollutant emissions, and the damage these things cause to other people in collisions, and there’s no way we can justify storming around the lowlands in a demilitarised tank.
Today, we went looking for couches and other furniture again. I think we’ve found a likely source for a couch, but they have a three month delivery period, so we won’t be seeing it any time soon, even if we order it now. Oh well. We have a few more sources to check out before we make a decision.