King's Day in the Gulf

28 April 2016

It never ceases to amaze me how incredibly popular the royal family and the monarchy is amongst the Dutch and not only in the Netherlands. As a staunch believer in republican values I don’t get it, although in the many countries around the world I have lived in I have always been a grateful recipient of the raw herring and Gouda cheese flown in by KLM on these occasions and the great parties given by the local ambassador. What is even worse about orange mania is that it is obviously contagious. As I went for my cup of coffee on the bridge before breakfast yesterday, I was confronted by the Americans in their much too small orange Hawaii shirts and they remained on all day. The first mate was wearing an orange wig and I will spare you the details of what others had done to themselves and their dignity. As the day progressed we had a street market on deck, you could have your picture drawn by an artistic crew member, you could have your hair millimetered or your shoulders massaged, all for the universal currency on board: beer. Some horrible pop adaptation of the national anthem was played only mitigated by the Dire Straits that followed. There seems to be an endless supply of ‘stroopwafels’ on board (there is no shortage of them during the night watches) and these were put to good use for the ‘koekhappen’ competition. This game I must admit is given an interesting extra dimension with a moving deck and a force 5 Bft trade wind blowing across it. And so the day mercifully drew to an end. Long live the King!