Queen for a day

Queen’s Day. You’ve probably seen the same photos I have; big blurs of orange sailing down the canals drinking Heineken and demonstrating why they’re often referred to as the “Crazshee Dutsch”. 

I was half looking forward to this, half dreading it, because I didn’t want to get swept away, drunk on Dutch lager and think that this was what Queen’s Day was all about, in the same way that I wanted to ensure that Australia Day was about more than just partying anddrinking for (some!) Australians while I was in Melbourne.

For the Dutch, Queen’s Day is a national holiday celebrating their current Queen Beatrix’s birthday. Except that’s not quite true, 30th April is actually her mother’s birthday and Beatrix blows out her candles in January. But some wise soul realised that January doesn’t always mean outdoors crazy Dutch canal cruising weather so they optimistically kept celebrations in April.

This year was particularly optimistic as in the two weeks running up to Queen’s Day the weather was cold, grey and more often than not wet. I feared a familiar British style bank holiday wash out. However, Beatrice must have more influence over the Gods than our Betty because it was a beautifully warm, sunny and blue skied day. We did see the canal cruising boozers and we were blinded by the orange, but what I loved most was exploring my new suburb and seeing all the vrijmarkten , the free markets.  For one day only Dutch councils relax their trading laws and people flock on to the streets to sell their unwanted possessions - books, clothes, toys, trinkets, junk - as the saying goes one man's trash is another man's treasure.  I'd seen preludes to the free markets all across Amsterdam where people had written " bezet " in chalk or in duct tape on the floor, marking that this pitch was taken. Amsterdam was basically one big giant car boot sale for a day, just without the car boots because we'd all got there on our bikes.
Except this isn't actually true. Queen's Day must be the only day in Amsterdam when it is all but impossible to move around the city on two wheels. Thanks to pavements, roads and cycle lanes being over populated by vrijmarkten sellers and orange revellers it's the only time when pedestrians move to the top of the food chain. We naively hopped on our bikes and headed to Vondelpark, a quick sprint which normally takes 2 minutes, however it took us nearly ten on Queen's Day and then it took us over 30 minutes to extricate ourselves and our two-wheeled friends from the park, which I noticed was especially popular for families and children selling toys and children's clothes. Not too far away on Kinkerstraat, a busy and very cosmopolitan road boasting the same mix of cultures and shops as I used to find on Shepherd's Bush's Uxbridge Road, the vrijmarkten were very different. There were Arabic families selling impressive collections of bronze and gold trinkets, there were Vietnamese cooking street food and a group of musicians from different backgrounds having a jamming session.  I could have stayed and explored here all day but it was just too busy for our bikes so there was nothing else for it. We had to find a pub, which we did back at the top of Vondelpark. From here we watched the partying orange world go by, talked to some very friendly young Amsterdamers and saw large groups of families and friends share what I can only describe as a "village spirit" as everyone enjoyed each other's passing company. 

I know that Amsterdam isn't a big city like London, but it's size and well contained suburbs clearly allow for a happy home. Seeing as we are only here for a limited period of time I don't expect that we will settle in and enjoy quite the same intimacy with my neighbours, however I take a great amount of pleasure it watching it around me.

I hope to be in Amsterdam for Queen's Day again one day... even if just to join in one of the biggest and best city wide jumble sales.

Frances M. Thompson

Londoner turned wanderer, Frankie is an author, freelance writer and blogger. Currently based in Amsterdam, Frankie was nomadic for two years before starting a family with her Australian partner. Frankie is the author of three short story collections, and is a freelance writer for travel and creative brands. In 2017, she launched WriteNOW Cards, affirmation cards for writers that help build a productive and positive writing practice. When not writing contemporary fiction, Frankie shops for vintage clothes, dances to 70s disco music and chases her two young sons around Amsterdam.
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