Amsterdam Russ

The current cold spell here in the Netherlands has hung around long enough for the ice to set to a sufficient thickness so that the Dutch can take up their favourite winter activity - ice skating. These pics were taken in the Amsterdamse Bos (Amsterdam woods) a handful of years ago, but I know from friends here that the Bosbaan - the 2,200 metre x 180 metre international rowing lake (top pic) – was being skated on today. The 2nd pic shows a youngster skating against the imposing backdrop of St Urbanuskerk (St Urbanus church), which can be found at the other end of the Amsterdam woods.

Looks more like a honey buzzard than your everyday, common buzzard – unless it's one of the pale-plummaged variety. What do others think?

Haha - if it did I'd be in there first without a doubt!

Bit frosty out there this morning. In fact, a hoar frost, which is always wonderful to see. Do excuse the car disappearing into a time vortex or something. It happens all the time round our way.

Haha - after that little display the only way is up!

As we've now crossed over into the New Year, please find the 2017 incarnation of the "Show us your great photos" thread here... https://www.soul-source.co.uk/forums/topic/362829-show-us-your-great-photos-2017/

Haha - London, New York, Sydney… they've all been on the phone after seeing my vid and have begged me… to stay away! Cracking photo. Martyn. A great first photo for this year's thread.

Happy New Year everyone. I hope your Yuletide and New Year celebrations have been plentiful and that the year ahead offers you good health, prosperity, happiness and endless photo opportunities. To kickstart the new edition of the fabulous "Show us your great photos" thread, I offer not a pic but a video. We took this last night and it shows, in all its glory, the incredible firework display we offered our neighbours from the comfort of our balcony. If you watch the video you'll see our neighbours' fantastic fireworks going off in the background - and then there's ours. This is what you get when you buy a box of mini fireworks from your local cheapskate supermarket (Albert Heijn) for the princely sum of 10 euros! Still, it was so crap it was a laugh, which means it actually offered great value for money. I hope the vid of our box of damp balcony squibs also raises a smile with you. Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from Amsterdam!

Thanks, Steve. I might have started the original thread, but its success is entirely because of the now countless wonderful photos everyone has shared here. As I mentioned not so long ago, I've hardly been out and about with my camera at all this year. The only real exception being when we went on holiday in the summer. Hopefully I'll get the opportunity to change that in the new year and start contributing more regularly once again. Thanks, then, to you and everyone who's made "Show us your great photos (2016)" as good as, if not even better than, the 2015 thread. And here's looking forward to the 2017 edition, which I'm sure will offer up even more fantastic selections, and which I'll start up once we leave the old year and cross the threshold of the new one. Cheers, all!

Very sad to hear.

A damp cloth (as lint free as possible) can help.

With good cheer to one and all!

Absolutely. Just going by eBay alone, the number of purchases I've made this year has dropped by around two thirds - from 90-something down to 30-something. The cost of shipping has been a major factor in putting me off, especially when looking at items in the two-figure price range. Additionally, there is no consistency to mailing costs. Prices for mailing one 45 from the USA to Europe can range from around $8-9 to $40-something through eBay's global whatsit programme. Even buying from the UK and shipping to the Netherlands can cost around £11 for signed for/insured delivery. And around £8.50-9 for standard tracked delivery is too much if the item is under a certain price range. Throw in the increasing likelihood of being hit by import charges as the receiver (something that'll affect UK/EU purchases in the not too distant future), and buying records across borders is becoming increasingly unattractive.

Another one to add to the Christmas list!

Haha - something along those lines. Certainly that's what my pics portray. I didn't post up all the others I took of the cosier traditional aspects. They do a great job putting this together every year, and it is a huge display. At the end of the Christmas day though, its a retail garden centre (80,000 m2 - the largest in the Netherlands) and the only purpose is to pull in customers and get them to buy stuff, which they seem to do well.

Not reindeer, but cow skulls - except for the one in the middle of the table, which looks like it came from a water buffalo. Thing is, just to add to the surreal effect, they're actually man-made. So somewhere there's a factory making these for sale to everyday consumers. I find that weird!

Took a visit to our local garden centre as they always put on a huge festive display. It's all very well done, although in places it can have something of a surreal quality about it. Judge for yourself...

Oddly (or not), the first thing that came to my mind was that it was a macro photo of grooves on an lp?

Really has been ages since I've been out with my camera, Steve. Don't know why either. Just haven't felt the inspiration, I guess. Have to say you're exactly spot on. It is indeed raindrops hitting the small waterway running next to our apartment. The light source is a streetlight on the other side. I'd seen the effect of rain hitting that patch of water before when standing on our back balcony and have become quite fascinated by it. Finally thought I'd have a go at capturing the effect - and about time too!

A couple more...

Dusted off my NIkon for the first time in ages last night. Have to say I'm rather pleased with the results!

Glorious late October sunshine illuminating some of the blooms still remaining on our balcony.

No allnighters over here, but will have been to four soul events in Amsterdam by the end of the month.