Lucky day

Today was a lucky day in Oerol. The sun was out in full force even while we were setting the house up there was a crowd of people standing by. A weird feeling, a bit like washing out your undies in front an audience, but I coped. I just hope everyone else coped with seeing my dirty washing.

Today was also a lucky day because someone bought me an icecream - perhaps that seems trivial but when you are sitting inside a little house with 30 degree heat it's the little things that count.

These guys were from Zwolle and as it turns out the woman on the right grew up in Dalfsen, one of the few places in Holland I have actually been to. Isn't weird how you meet up with people like this? The picture on the left side of the wall of a girl playing the cello is Fran, a friend of mine from wellington who played a concert in my garden once, to the right of her is an old clock that she used as a metronome. To the right of that is a picture of a projected BBQ with a bunch of my friends projected onto the back of this house. It seems like a weird clashing of realities to be here and there simultaneously, one reality is physical, the other is an image or a remnant that lingers in your mind like a smell or a feeling.

And here is someone I met with her two children, she sat asking someone "what is this supposed to be?" I couldn't really help her answer the question. It's not that I'm being obtuse, it's more that every day feels like an improvisation and you never really know what it is. This house seems to have blurred the boundaries for me between performing, behaving and being. Is sitting around and talking to people a performance or an idea? Does it have a point? Does anything you do have a point?

Regardless we spent some time together, she translating to her children and they looking for questions more than answers I think.

And here a visit from Marjolein (oh I'm sorry I may have spelt that wrong). She is working on the ticketing for the festival and was enjoying a morning off.

I didn't know if she was enjoying the tea...

And this is Rink, he likes trucks and takes these with him everywhere he goes. He doesn't sleep with them though - what would be the point? He was full of questions, none of which I could answer, let alone understand. Things like trucks and houses just are.

More fine visits

And lastly this is Meral and Noa, they live here on the island with their mum and so were full of stories about the place. They are my new favorite people here. They even gave me a gymnastics demonstration... I always think the back lawn is the best place for hanging out and doing gymnastics on a sunny day, so I was glad to meet other people who think that too.

The Face of Oerol

What is Oerol? Well it's hard to explain, at least it's hard to explain in a way that would make sense to New Zealanders. The island of 4,500 inhabitants swells to over 50,000 bicycle riding theatre-goers. The theatre is in the forests, on the beach, in tents, in the town square. A giant field is transformed into a festival hub has bands playing, restuarants, bars and a ticket booth with almost no tickets left for anything. Meanwhile the 'passport' events are a one-ticket-fits-all bunch of events that take the idea of theatr in the environment to a new level altogether.

Honestly, if I told my friends in New Zealand about this, they would assume I was hallucenating and that no such island exists in the world.

So - this is Oreol and below is the new face of Oerol, the local kids met me in the town centre with gifts of dutch biscuits and more questions than you could fire a pellet gun at.


Lots of people were returning to Oerol from previous years, in fact some people I spoke with have been coming here for the past 18 years. So it wasn't always easy to tell who was a local and who was a 'frequent flyer'. This guy works on the boats (which are the weirdest boats I've seen because they all have flat bottoms for the shallow water), the reason he has so much energy is because he just went for a swim in the 13˚C water. I should add though that the temperature at my house was 32˚C for most of the day (on the inside that is), tomorrow I'm looking for shade.


And this is Joe from the local hotel bar, he's seen a few festivals come and go I reckon.




Sometimes it's best to look at things from an alternative angle.


And the prize for the best dressed sun glasses goes to...

Ok - so I can't leave out mention of this place, it's the festival hub and the fountain you see is actually a bar, the water collects in the middle part and runs down the centre of the bar. Beautiful.

KUNSTEN Opstraat

The weekend was spent in a trio of towns as part of Kunsten Op Straat. Sort of like being part of the circus coming to town. We arrived the morning before and whipped everything up ready to go on the day, packing out by the end of it. It's like moving house every day, no really that's not a gag, everytime the house moves it has to be taken apart into about 50 parts to be able to transport it.

First stop Dlafsen, which has two round-abouts on the main road, both of them have flashing LED lights around the perimeter... yes siree, Dalfsen is a town that goes that extra mile.

The town I grew up in (called Masterton) in New Zealand, is a pretty similar size to Dalfsen so there is something familiar about it. This photo is like a snapshot of the main street of Dalfsen
This is the main shopping street in Dalfsen. The kids are looking in, the teens are looking out, the adults are standing by and the families are walking back home. Of course I was pretty much oblivious to all this. I got more of an up-close and personal view of the place, a lot of shoes and large faces in windows.

This is a bit unusual for me getting a sneak look at the house from the outside, the equivalent of an arial shot of your back yard, you spend a long time looking for your car or what's on the washing line.

This is Dalfsen from the ground.

Sharing tea with the locals

This is Monique and Alex, they are exchange students. They have a plan to take the world by storm, making their way by art. They have some songs up their sleeves already and dotted map around the globe to follow, now all they gotta do is get their way out of Dalfsen.

So on to Zwolle - it's like the big smoke of the area - I won't guess how big but more like a little city feel and people had little city faces when they came to visit in my corner of the square. The buildings here are impressively old, dating back to the 16 and 17th century. The church is an impressive headpiece in the centre bringing a commercial solemnity to the square.

All icecreams in Zwolle are the size of your head and covered in the national colours of Swaziland.

And the best story of the day goes to this woman (sorry I forgot her name) who was in Zwolle for the evening to look for a man. Yes she brought her friend (from a nearby town) into Zwolle to find a man for her, she said she was going to look for the best bar and throw her in it. I wish her well in her mission.

Is everyone in Zwolle from a boy/girl band? Potentially yes, according to (my) statistics there is a higher boy/girl band hopefulls here than in any other part of the region, possibly the entire world.

She wanted to come in but there really wasn't room. If you come to Auckland some time we can play drums together in the comfort of my lounge.

And finally this is the square as seen from an upright position with performers from France doing a fantastic improvised performance with the people of Zwolle.

PART III - OLDENZAAL

Ah..... part three I forgot to publish here, so please excuse me...

OLDENZAAL - what a great day I had in Oldenzaal. Snuggled in between a courtyard and the back yard of an old house that has been done up, there was wave after wave of visitors both young and less young.

First I met the woman of the house who proudly showed us inside and out of this fine place (pictured behind my house). It was a beautiful space with a courtyard behind for me to make the house up. Then later I met the guy who rebuilt the house 20 years ago. We were like two house-proud builders standing outside our homes. Thanks for sharing your story with me, it made me feel very happy to have visited this house.

This is the local bakery with a plastic cake in the window (after hours of course), it's the best plastic cake I've seen and if I could have I would have tried to take a bite regardless. Like at primary school when you know you shouldn't take a bite out of your eraser but you just can't stop yourself.

And here's an interesting piece of local knowledge. This guy lives 10 minutes away in a village not unlike Oldenzaal but across the German border where houses are significantly cheaper. Apparently a lot of people are doing that now. I have no idea how that can work, living in a different country from where you do your shopping, but word has it that more and more folk are doing it. I've asked a few people about since and it sounds like a good thing to do, I'm not sure how it works with taxes and things like hospitals and schools (although I am told there are now Dutch schools in Germany close to the border to cope with the influx in Dutch population). I might take this idea home with me, I will live in Perth and commute 9 hours by jumbo-jet to work in Auckland, travel costs may be a problem but at least I may be able to have a house near the sea.

Look what I'm growing in my garden.

Even the old folk were falling over themselves to get down and say hello.

And here are some photos kindly sent to me by Niels Meijerink, that's his daughter feeding me up on popcorn I believe, with Anoushka nearby. Thanks for sending them in, it's great to get another perspective. I couldn't work out how to turn them around correctly so you may need to put your head onto the table in from of you to see it properly. Don't be shy....

I like this one a lot, looks like I might be having a party in there. Maybe I was in fact, that would explain all the confetti and cake crumbs all over my shirt, orange juice in my shoes and birthday candles all through my hair.

Nice to in your neighborhood Oldenzaal. I hope your summer is full of bright shining things.