It’s a long time since Joni Mitchell immortalised those words – and that concept – forever with her hit song ‘Big Yellow Taxi’. ‘They took all the trees, put ‘em in a tree museum and they charged the people a dollar and a half just to see ‘em... Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone? They paved paradise and put up a parking lot!’ This was her outcry at the steady onward march of the city planners, filling the green spaces with concrete and the fresh air with exhaust fumes.
As a city dweller I often long for the day when (at least in my imagination) I shall retire to a country cottage with honeysuckle and roses around the porch and, with a bit of luck, the sound of the sea breaking on the shore not too far away. But sitting here, taking a pause from shopping in the pretty city where I live, I reflect for a minute on today’s checklist of pros and cons and do a reality check. This is Holland – the land of windmills and clogs! But even here in the busy city it’s market day and the bells from the church tower ring out reassuringly over the modern day shoppers intent on getting this week’s fruit and veg at the best price and filling their bicycle panniers with giant cauliflowers, ‘garden beans’ (broad beans in England) and fresh strawberries. The flower stalls are ablaze with colour and I speak severely to myself to avoid bringing home more lupins, roses, campanulas and exotic tropical flowers than one small patio can possibly take. I feast my eyes and turn away. Our garden is full already!
The cafés are full of retired couples, holidaymakers and solitary housewives, rewarding themselves for their labours with good Dutch coffee and apple cake. There’s a festive mood in the air. ‘You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey…’ chime the bells. But today the skies are blue, with fluffy white clouds and a stiff breeze tempering the heat of the sun. A perfect summer’s day! It’s not always like this here, of course. But it stops me in my tracks and makes me think: ‘You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone!’ Time at least to enjoy the present day ‘plus points’ before moving on to my country idyll. Living for the moment is a hard discipline, but it may have advantages.
As a city dweller I often long for the day when (at least in my imagination) I shall retire to a country cottage with honeysuckle and roses around the porch and, with a bit of luck, the sound of the sea breaking on the shore not too far away. But sitting here, taking a pause from shopping in the pretty city where I live, I reflect for a minute on today’s checklist of pros and cons and do a reality check. This is Holland – the land of windmills and clogs! But even here in the busy city it’s market day and the bells from the church tower ring out reassuringly over the modern day shoppers intent on getting this week’s fruit and veg at the best price and filling their bicycle panniers with giant cauliflowers, ‘garden beans’ (broad beans in England) and fresh strawberries. The flower stalls are ablaze with colour and I speak severely to myself to avoid bringing home more lupins, roses, campanulas and exotic tropical flowers than one small patio can possibly take. I feast my eyes and turn away. Our garden is full already!
The cafés are full of retired couples, holidaymakers and solitary housewives, rewarding themselves for their labours with good Dutch coffee and apple cake. There’s a festive mood in the air. ‘You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey…’ chime the bells. But today the skies are blue, with fluffy white clouds and a stiff breeze tempering the heat of the sun. A perfect summer’s day! It’s not always like this here, of course. But it stops me in my tracks and makes me think: ‘You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone!’ Time at least to enjoy the present day ‘plus points’ before moving on to my country idyll. Living for the moment is a hard discipline, but it may have advantages.
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