Stare at this eye-boggling picture for a while.

It's well into spring here in Holland. Everything is incredibly green and the spring flowers are in full bloom. It's an exceptionally warm and dry May.

Unfortunately though, all the pollen in the air has given me bad hayfever and asthma for the last two weeks. It seems to get worse every year.

Several other people I know are badly affected too.

I don't know what it is, but I get hayfever in Holland and Germany, but never in South Africa. It was also less bad when I was living in the center of Amsterdam, but that's probably because the pollen count is just lower in the centre of a city.

    

On "bevrijdingsdag" (5 May) the Dutch celebrate the liberation of their country from German occupation at the end of World War II.

In Almere there was a "bevrijdingsfestival" with various bands. Of course, Almere never was liberated. It couldn't be, it just didn't exist yet. Where Almere is now were just the waters of the Ijselmeer, which was once the Zuyderzee.

The Socialist Party in Almere had a tent. People could write a peace or freedom message and attach it to a helium-filled balloon. The balloons were released to carry the message with the wind.

We put our e-mail address on the card and requested the finder to tell us where they found it. So far no one has responded.

Many children also just wanted a balloon. While teenagers wanted "unknotted" balloons so they could get a "chipmunk" voice by inhaling the helium. Some had fun calling on their cell phones while they had a funny voice.

At the same time, we launched our local campaign for the European elections on 10 June. Our slogan is: "Send a watchdog to Brussels"

  
(Photos by Nuh Demirbilik)

Today was Koninginnedag (the queen's birthday) in the Netherlands. Although the 30th is celebrated as the queen's birthday, it is not her real birthday, it is actually the queen's mother's birthday. (The Queens Beatrix's mother, Juliana, passed away a few weeks ago.)

In any case, in Amsterdam the day is big street festival, a bit like carnival in other countries. The celebrations have little to do with the royalty, except that people dress up in orange, which is the colour of the House of Orange. It is more a day of national celebration.

People sell things (mostly old junk) on the street, children play music or sell home-made cookies. There are music bands and street theater (especially for children). It is just one big party. And a day when Amsterdammers feel closer to each other than on other days.

This year we went again to the Bredewegfestival in Watergraafsmeer in East Amsterdam. There is always a lot for children to do there, and the crowds are mostly locals, without any of the aggressive groups of young men which have become a problem in the city center.

Toos street orchestra played well and put on an entertaining show. The band Jazz Alert also kept things swinging.

I have posted a gallery here.

    

Tonight I went to the Scipting News Dinner in Amsterdam, which was held at De Waag on the Nieuwmarkt.

I have read Dave Winer's Scripting News for several years. It is one newsletter that I always skim every day, and I almost always find some link that I am interested in.

Dave Winer (of course) and Adam Curry were there. It was interesting to see how varied the people were who turned up. There was Jon, a Canadian from Vancouver, a Dutch photographer who had interesting stories about his assignment in the North of Iraq, Ed whose company does lotteries via SMS, Peter, Jort, Andrew from Harvard, and Daniel, a Parisian living in Amsterdam.

It was interesting to talk. We really neeeded more time but I did meet some interesting people. I hope we can get together again some time.

Thanks for paying for the dinner Adam.