Free yoga class? Or pay to play?
The yoga is usually free, I think, but they accept donations. I guess it depends on the yoga instructor.
Other stuff like hosting events (picnics, anniversaries, bonfires, corporate gatherings, etc), fitness classes, volleyball, dog training, etc. usually isn’t.
From what I understand the reason that Flanders ended up in Belgium and the rest of the Dutch speaking areas were in the Netherlands wasn’t some sort of cultural division, but rather a purely political one. So Flemish is essentially a dialect of Dutch, and Flanders is very similar to the Netherlands otherwise. It was kind of shocking to see how similar, in fact.
I was in my mind lumping Flanders in with the Netherlands, and distinguishing the whole area from the French-speaking part of Belgium, that’s all.
Political, and also religious. Basically, Flanders is Catholic while the Netherlands are Protestant. I don’t know if they division was because of the religious differences, or whether the religious differences were created by the division.
Religion was a big part, but also ethnic differences in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, dominated by the Dutch prior to the Belgian Revolution and secession.
Goes back to the 16th century wars of independence, in which the southern (Flanders) provinces made peace with Spain and remained under the Spanish throne until traded to the (equally Catholic) Austrian Hapsburgs at the settlement of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714. Incorporating Flanders into the Kingdom of the Netherlands came in the settlement of the Napoleonic wars, and lasted barely 15 years.
You’d think so, but in fact the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands is Catholicism. Official Dutch government doctrine favoured Protestantism for centuries, and that’s probably where the impression of the Netherlands as a firmly Protestant country comes from. But in the general population the Catholic faith always remained present and, demographically, outnumbers the Protestants.
It’s just like that scene in SATC when Carrie and Miranda sneak nearby and try to take part in a yoga boot camp class held openly in a park. But it wasn’t free and they got busted!
Also happened to the main character and her best friend in Bridesmaids.
Now wait a minute.
Maybe that’s the one I’m thinking of, saw that movie it was great.
And some more angry locals:
How have so many humans turned into lemmings, willing to follow any recommendation that scrolls across their device?
Guess what sheeple: The top 300 beaches on the planet are not materially different from each other. They’re all friggin’ fantastic. You don’t have to go to one specific beach that some random influencer got excited about after flipping a coin and then the algorithms amplified into being The BESEST!!!11!! Beach EVAR!!!111!!!
Yep! Our favorite beaches are our favorites mostly because of memories acquired over the years.
My favorite beaches are the ones nobody knows about.
Here’s an excerpt from All the Trouble in the World by PJ O’Rourke, in a chapter about an environmental conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1991:
And Brazilians, in honor of the Earth Summit, had done a wonderful job of improving this already-splendid environment. They rounded up all the street kids, homeless people, muggers, thieves, beggars, and pickpockets, and then … and then something. “Where are they?” I asked a woman who owns an art gallery in Copacabana.
“The government has shipped them all away,” she said.
“But where?”
“Oh,” she said, “very far from you.” Squads of soldiers in full combat gear were guarding every intersection, bridge overpass, and public park. The Cariocas were ecstatic. “You see, I have my jewelry on,” said the art dealer. “And I can wear my new gym shoes-people used to be robbed for their gym shoes.”
P. J. O’Rourke. All the Trouble in the World: The Lighter Side of Overpopulation, Famine, Ecological Disaster, Ethnic Hatred, Plague, and Poverty (p. 220). Kindle Edition.
Okay, there’s a tiny island called Pinel that is a nature reserve. It is a short boat ride from the Saint Martin Cul de Sac. For 10€ you get a round-trip ferry ride there. But, it’s a beach everyone knows about.
Instead, we spend the 10€ on kayak rental and paddle over, with a side trip to a teeny tiny island that has “the smallest beach in the Caribbean”. The beach is just big enough for two adults to hang out. There are skinks on the island that eagerly took crumbs of cheese from our fingers.