Fires

 It has been a cold, rainy week. The fireplace has kept us warm, though. No need for the central heating yet. Tonight we are planning our annual fall bonfire in the backyard. Hopefully we get a break from the rain!

Yesterday Amélie got to go to another birthday party. She ate more processed sugar than she usually does in a month, I think. She was the only one to give up on her ice cream cone. French fries for dinner. Feeling sick when she got home. Lots of cheap, plastic junk that Amélie's friend probably won't play with, and in return all the kids bring home a plastic bag filled with more plastic junk and processed sugar. I know the kids have fun, but I can think of better ways to have fun. Sad that this is normal.

We are not sure how much longer things will stay open, due to the current spread of the virus. The government makes these really confusing regulations, like "we strongly urge you to wear a face mask when inside a store." I talked to a store owner about this yesterday, and they said that it just makes their job impossible. If they have a face mask on, a lot of people will think, oooh, that looks scary, I won't go in. If they don't wear a face mask, a lot of people will think, hmmm, should I risk it? I won't go in. If the rules were clear one way or the other it wouldn't be such a problem, but the Dutch culture is all about pleasing everyone, so in the end, they compromise everything to death and nobody gets pleased.

Anyway, we will enjoy our last bits of school before they shut it down again too, as they aren't really taking preventative measures to slow things down. Amélie is starting to do better. We have a meeting tomorrow with her teachers as the video chat went so badly. Nice that the school follows up on that. Hopefully we will get some tennis in this morning as we could all use a bit of fresh air!