Travels with Paddles

a sea kayaking journal

Axel Schoevers (Photo: A. de Krook) Name:
Axel Schoevers
Location:
Rijswijk, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Windmills of our Time

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Intimidated by the ever-widening A4 highway to Amsterdam. The Zelden Van Passe windmill of 1642 is marginalized even more since the building of wind turbines next to it in 2005. Driving by this morning...

Windmills trigger the Don Quixote metaphor of fighting unwinnable battles. A phrase not seldom used or implied to marginalize and ridicule concerned 'opponents' of 'the way forward'. Where political spin doctor surgery (law making) joins industry lobbying only to be exposed by meticulous investigative journalism. In politics 'not telling the truth' cannot be proven to be the same as 'lying'.

I think the traditional windmill stands a better chance to survive this century than it's turbine variants. I am not against windmills nor wind turbines; serving only as a metaphor. It is just that I do not trust every wind. Those who sow a wind will harvest a storm.

My first multi-day kayaking trip in 1994 involved paddling under this (then much narrower) highway and past the windmill towards the Kaag.

Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind
(Windmills of your mind - M. Legrand / A & M Bergman)

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