April 14 was a warm spring day in Friesland - yet the temperature in Dokkum suddenly dropped to 'minus 20C'. A thick layer of 'ice and snow' covered the city centre. People were ice-skating on the canal at breakneck speeds, packed in thick winter clothes.
Homeowners across the United States and Europe are clearly planning to raise more vegetables this spring: large seed companies on both continents report sudden booms in sales of vegetable seeds to millions of homeowners.
With the gloomy reports whining on and on about recession and unemployment, it's always a relief to stroll through Dokkum here in Friesland - and realise that the small entrepreneurs will always remain optimistic and just keep plugging away.
I just discovered that my peaceful town of Dokkum here in Friesland has harboured a gang of latter-day Fagans over the past two years. The couple, 70 and 77 years old, have just been arrested for illegally selling some 100 stolen bikes since 2007.
This exact replica of a Friesland flatbottomed fishing boat, displayed in the Dutch harbour of Dokkum, commemorates a 125-year-old tragedy when all the male breadwinners of two entire villages had drowned in a terrible storm which lashed the seadikes.
