Last year there was a power cut in the Netherlands, for about 3 hours and only in and around the capital city. The whole country went mad, because what do you do when there’s no power? How does everything function? How do you get to work? What to do without WIFI? Where did you leave everything and how do you find it back without light? And how to get to work when there’s no public transport? 


The day after I arrived in this country, there was a power cut since 6 o’clock in the morning. The power went back on around 3 o’clock. Everyone was surprised the power went back on ‘that soon’, because ‘normally when it goes early morning, it doesn’t come back before the evening’.

This country is pretty laid back. Which is awesome, because it makes you relax. And it’s terrible, because it’s almost impossible to get things done. There’s always a tomorrow. If you make an appointment, there is an eighty percent chance it will not happen on that day. If your appointment belongs to the twenty percent that does happen, at least one of the parties is late. Reasons for an appointment being cancelled or for being late, could be, but aren’t limited to the following:

  • The person is ill or one of his/her family members is
  • There’s something wrong with the public transport (busses are too full or don’t show up or have to stop at the petrol station)
  • The taxi driver didn’t turn up, was late or there was something wrong with the vehicle
  • Something important suddenly came up at work/home/temple/church
  • There’s a wedding (if you get the invitation 1 week in advance it’s early)
  • There’s a funeral (which take 3 days)
  • They didn’t wake up in time
  • It’s raining
  • It’s too hot
  • The roads are busy because it’s early in the morning and everyone is on their way to work, because it’s lunchtime and everyone comes from school or work, or because it’s evening and everyone comes home from work or after school activities. Aka always.
  • They had to charge their phone
  • There was a perahera (procession, sometimes with dancers and elephants etcetera) on the road you had to take (they really pop up randomly)
  • There was a protest so they blocked the road (It took a friend of mine 4.5 hours to go 25 km by public transport for this reason)
  • There was an *insert animal that lives in Sri Lanka* on the road, or something else in their way
  • They had to wait for someone else to do something
  • The cops stopped them
  • It was a long weekend (every full moon is a holiday, then there are loads of additional holidays)
  • There was a power cut and they just had shaved half of their beard. They couldn’t come without shaving the other half so had to wait till the power turned back on.
  • And this week, we can add another reason to this list. Due to the petrol crisis* (not enough petrol for the whole country) taxi’s and tuktuks don’t turn up for short trips, if they turn up at all. There are long lines in front of every petrol station, even if they are closed.

Side note: Half an hour late is nicely in time. No excuse needed.

 

One of the excuses: there was an *insert animal that lives in Sri Lanka* on the road, or something else in their way. In this case, both apply.

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