World full of freebirds

The Dutch eagerly await opportunities to distribute booze. Visit somebody at their home, attend some party, take part in some celebration – these people carry booze for all these and lot more. May be, celebration to them mean getting drunk. A release was implemented in production and J came back home on Saturday with a bottle of wine in hand and a wide sheepish smile on face – “He.. he.. The release went on fine and booze was distributed to all involved in it”. The strongest drink that we - H, J and I are able to stand is Coca Cola. Now, that bottle of wine would wait forever for guests.

We witnessed the first signs of Dutch summer during last week. You don’t have to watch CNN or BBC’s weather report or check your thermometer or step out in the open to have a measure of the summer. All you have to do is look out of your window. Lesser the people are dressed, the more you are into summer.

We went to the Duindorp beach. We got down on sand. A few steps along the beach and I was looking at a freebird - a topless woman. My heart skipped a couple of beats and I started sweating. Well, technically she cannot be called a freebird. It just happened that she was changing there without bothering much about the people around her and we passed by. Just timing.

From Duindorp, we were able to see Scheveningen. We decided to walk along the beach to Scheveningen. And, what a walk it proved to be! In jeans and T-shirts, we three were the overdressed in the whole beach. With hundreds of skimpily clothed humans as far as I could see, I was slowly recovering from the brutal cultural shock. We started walking towards Scheveningen. There were a few topless women sunbathing and venturing into the sea. We walked further. Some nude women. We kept walking. Nude men were wandering around casually. Oh my God! Men walking around naked - I can't remember a more awkward scene. I felt like I was in some alien land - land of freebirds. J and I talked about totally irrelevant topic – meteoric raise of labor cost in India. H was busy pretending that he was totally occupied with his mp3 player.

I felt like melting. Was it the heat? Or, was it embarrassment? My thoughts started wavering. Are the freebirds glancing at me mockingly? Is this some private beach? Are we trespassing? Is this region open only for freebirds? Will someone appear before us and demand us to undress? We started walking more briskly.

We reached the harbor at Statenkwartier. We hit the roads. The roads were full of cyclists.
H: Let us rent bicycles and go around.
J & I: ??!!
We passed by a few caravans.
H: Let us rent a caravan and got to Brussels next week.
J & I: ??!!
We passed by some motorbikes.
H: Let us rent motorbikes and roam around.
J & I: ??!!

We reached Scheveningen. Went to Pathe. Feasted upon MacChicken, French fries, milkshake and cola. When it comes to ways to regain hard lost calories, I declare myself a champion. We then watched The Omen. I promised myself once again that I would never watch a horror movie. Certainly not in cinema halls. It is better to avoid them instead of watching them with eyes shut for most part of the movie.