Welcome to my Blog!
I hope to share here my irrepressible thoughts on news, music, books, arts, history, cultural events and such like.
In general these will be items, events and issues which I feel have no place on my website (which focusses on aviation history and my travel photography).

The item immediately below this would be the latest posting.

"Anybody, providing he knows how to be amusing, has the right to talk about himself. - Charles Baudelaire
Esse est percipi (To be is to be perceived)" ¬Bishop George Berkeley

"Not even I understand everything I am" ¬Aurelius Augustinus of Hippo

"I'm only myself in front of my typewriter" ¬Joan Didion (I'd replace 'typewriter' by 'desktop PC'..)
"I always think that the quickest way to understand someone is to look at what's on their bookshelfes." ¬Matt Haig

In 2013 I started a series of photo albums on Blurb.com, named '36Exp' (a subject adressed in 36 exposures, a reference to the exposures on most common rolls of 35 mm film: 12, 24 & 36.) back in the day.
The books can be ordered directly from the Blurb.com or Amazon.
www.blurb.com/user/ruudleeuw

CURRENT BLOG

Sense of an Ending
(translated by Ronald Vlek, Atlas Contact)

'The Sense of an Ending' is narrated by a retired man named Tony Webster, who recalls how he and his clique met Adrian Finn at school and vowed to remain friends for life.
When the past catches up with Tony, he reflects on the paths he and his friends have taken.
In October 2011, 'The Sense of an Ending' was awarded the Booker Prize.

The novel is divided into two parts, entitled 'One' and 'Two'.
The first part begins in the 1960s with four intellectually arrogant school friends, of whom two feature in the remainder of the story: Tony, the narrator, and Adrian, the most precociously intelligent of the four. Towards the end of their school days another boy at the school hangs himself, apparently after getting a girl pregnant.
The four friends discuss the philosophical difficulty of knowing exactly what happened.
Tony acquires a girlfriend, Veronica, at whose family home he spends an awkward weekend. On waking one morning he finds that he and Veronica's mother, Sarah, are alone in the house, and she apologises for her family's behaviour towards him.
Tony's and Veronica's relationship fails. In his final year at university Tony receives a letter from Adrian informing him that he is going out with Veronica. Tony replies to the letter, telling Adrian that in his opinion Veronica was damaged in some way. Some months later he is told that Adrian has taken his own life.

He briefly recounts the following uneventful 40 years of his life until his sixties. Then we have the start of 'Two', which is twice as long as the first.
A lawyer's letter informing him that Veronica's mother has bequeathed him £500 (which Veronica mysteriously calls "blood money") and two documents. These lead him to re-establish contact with Veronica and, after a number of meetings with her, to re-evaluate the story he has narrated in 'One'.

At some point, after e-mail exchanges and brief encounters, she gives Tony the letter he sent to Adrian in his youth. On rereading it, Tony realises how malicious and unpleasant it was and how he has erased this from his memory.
On another meeting she drives him to see a group of learning disabled men being taken for a walk by their careworker, one of whom she points out to him. Tony does not understand the significance of this, she leaves him in a burst of anger.
Tony revisits the location until he is able to relocate the man Veronica showed him in a pub.
Tony recalls the memory of Adrian from the man's facial features. He concludes that this man is probably the son of Veronica and Adrian, he emails Veronica an apology.
Veronica only responds with the reply "You don't get it, but then you never did."
With some additional information, the reader is left to connect the dots.

I have to admit I failed to connect the dots at first, after closing the book; after some rethinking I checked my theory and that 2nd link below seems I was right...

en.wikipedia.org:_The_Sense_of_an_Ending
andrewblackman.net/2012/05/the-sense-of-an-ending-explained/

The Raadhuisplein in Oosterbeek was the setting today of a sustainable trunk market on Sunday, April 12nd.
Lions Club Renkum-Airborne was holding 'From Trunk to Bargain', a market with a wide range of second-hand and handmade items.
Pleased with our purchases!

www.gelderlander.nl/renkum/kofferbakmarkt

Back to 1674 with the imagination of the Siege of the Fortress City of Grave. The Eighty Years' War comes to life.

The old, historic streets of the fortress are filled with crafts, demonstrations, and activities during the event, allowing visitors to feel as if they are in the middle of the historic, distant past.
At the 'Binnenhof' and the 'Hoofdwagt', there is plenty of activity for children. They can practice skills associated with the soldier's life of the 17th century and learn to march under the guidance of the Guard Regiment from Heerlen and also under the leadership of Commander Baroen.
Throughout the city, there are also various cannons to admire, including those from the 'Bergsche Batterij', 'Saluutbatterij Atkins', and 'De Borgerij'.

Impressive indeed was the concluding battle with musket- and cannon fire. Sights to behold!

Historisch Spektakel 1674 - 17e eeuw re-enactors: www.facebook.com/
www.historischspektakelgrave.nl
See also my STREETS updates ('APRIL') Colour and black & white

Visit to Dordrechts Museum, (mainly) for 'Water & Light'.
The Dordrechts Museum, established in 1842, is one of the oldest art museums in The Netherlands. Within Dutch painting, Aelbert Cuyp holds a special place for Joseph Mallord William Turner <b.23April 1775 – d.19Dec1851>, known in his time as William Turner).
He particularly admires Cuyp's light, and his ability to melt the smallest details into the golden atmosphere. As soon as the opportunity arises, Turner travels (1817) to Dordrecht (a.k.a. Dort), Cuyp's birthplace. He will visit it three times.

J.M.W. Turner was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist.
He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbulent, often violent marine paintings.
His artistic style developed over his lifetime, moving away from Romanticism—bypassing the following rising style of Realism—and, instead, with his later works being a significant precursor of and presaging the later Impressionist and Abstract Art movements that arose in the decades after his death.

www.dordrechtsmuseum.nl/english/
en.wikipedia.org:_J._M._W._Turner

Welcome to the Nederlands Fotomuseum, the Dutch National Museum of Photography, in Rotterdam.
I hadn't visited this new location yet, after they moved to another refurbished warehouse, named 'SANTOS'.
The museum presents work by leading Dutch photographers as well as emerging talents, spanning from the invention of photography around 1839 to the present day.
The museum has amassed a unique collection for more than 25 years. It is estimated the collection will reach 7.5 million photographic objects by 2028.

Built in 1901-1902, the Santos warehouse began life as a warehouse for coffee shipped from the Brazilian port city of Santos. In 2000, it became a national landmark.
Santos was renovated by WDJARCHITECTEN, RENNER HAINKE WIRTH ZIRN ARCHITEKTEN and Burgy Bouwbedrijf.
The architects opted for a clear distinction between the historic structure and the contemporary extension.
They did an amazing job!

NederlandsFotomuseum.nl

Exhibition: Tokyo Tokyo, photography by Richard Koek.
My report of the opening on April 2nd in the presence of the Japanese H.E. Ambassador Michii as well as the Mayor of Leiden.
The exhibition will be open 3 April - 6 September 2026 here at Japanmuseum SieboldHuis in Leiden,NL.

They say that language is the soul of a country – but how do you discover the soul of Tokyo if you do not speak the language? That was the questio Richard Koek was facing.
For Koek, photography became the means to bridge that distance and capture intimacy.
Visiting sumo stables, private homes, and everyday rituals – such as a barber reshaping the topknot of a young wrestler after morning training – he documents small, human moments.
By presenting the familiar from a tender perspective, Koek reveals the shared humanity behind urban life.
For Koek, the soul of the city lies not in exoticism, but in the connections he is able to make with its inhabitants.

Dutch-Argentinean photographer Richard Koek is a visual storyteller.
He shares his love of urban life and the anonymous people that live and work on a day-to-day base.
In 2021 a 2nd edition of his book NEW YORK NEW YORK was published by Terralannoo.
In 2024 TOKYO TOKYO was published by Terralannoo.
He currently shows 13 images from his book New York New York at Terminal 4 of JFK Airport.
As well as his Tokyo Tokyo exhibition now in Leiden,NL.

His sensibility for the complicated life shows in his photos, not so much a decisive moment, but rather an encouragement to viewers to form their own interpretations of his work.

www.sieboldhuis.org/.../tokyo-tokyo-richard-koek/
www.richardkoek.com/about/
More images of this day on Flickr.com

"Naar Indonesië om Indië te vergeten"
Atlas Contact, 2025

The title in Dutch translates as 'The Lied-to Colony – To Indonesia to Forget the Indies'.
Written in a fine literary style by by Michel Maas, 80 years of Indonesian independence on August 17, 2025. A shared colonial history? No, that does not exist.
Yet Michel Maas tries to understand what separates us and what connects us.

An honest and shocking story about boundaries, identity, and the traces of the past. After 80 years of Indonesian independence the author & journalist Michel Maas learns, after 18 years of reporting from the former Dutch colony 'Indië' (as it still exits in the minds of Dutch generations), to confront the Dutch with their colonial past.

Eighty years ago, on 17Aug1945, Indonesia became independent, a date that to this day is not recognized by the Netherlands.
The book invites the reader to travel along to the new country – and to let go of the colonial past, which still resonates in the present.
'De Gelogen Klonie' is a lively, personal, and at the same time penetrating exploration of the complex relationship between the Netherlands and Indonesia, seen through the eyes of a journalist who unexpectedly, after a stay of 18 years in modern Indonesia, has to open a new chapter in his life.

With a keen eye for detail, humor, and historical layers, Michel Maas describes not only his own journey from hesitation to acceptance, but also the deep-rooted traces of the colonial past in the Dutch imagination.
With curiosity and wonder, he comes to terms with 'Indië,' the fantasy land that never existed.
The book is thus also an ode to present-day Indonesia as a country of contrasts, beauty, and struggle, illustrated through the colorful figures Maas encountered.

Michel Maas, (b.1954, Roermond), is a Dutch journalist who works for de Volkskrant and the NOS.
After graduating from Gymnasium B at the Bisschoppelijk College Roermond, Maas studied Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam.
In 1986 he became an editor at de Volkskrant. In 1996 he settled as an Eastern Europe correspondent in Budapest and reported on the war in Kosovo.
After living in Indonesia for 18 years, from 2001 as a Southeast Asia correspondent for the NOS and De Volkskrant, he returned to the Netherlands in 2019.

https://kortverhaal.info/ (NL)
NL.wikipedia.org:_Michel_Maas

Federico Povoleri was born in Venice. The legendary journalist, comics copywriter, and writer Alberto Ongaro took him under his wing and trained him in the art of literary comics.
As such, Povoleri worked with artists such as Attilio Micheluzzi and Ivo Pavone, publishing with Universo and Rizzoli, among others. He also collaborated with Walt Disney Italia for several years.
Povoleri studied documentary filmmaking and directs videos of opera and symphony concerts at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
A multiple award-winning photographer, Povoleri teaches screenwriting and film technology at the Artis-tic High School of Venice.

www.teneues.com/en/book/venezia
See also my Il Carnevale 2026 report

Benny Griessel #4 (2013, 'Kobra')

I have no difficulty admitting to reading non-fiction, indeed I love Deon Meyer’s South African thrillers.

In COBRA he brings about fast action with a clever plot. Because Benny ('Benna') Griessel, captain of the Hawks, might be hitting the bottle again, he's lying to his colleagues and his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor. And moving in with Alexa may have been too early..
But the guest house bloodbath near Franschhoek was the work of a professional assassin - three victims, three perfect head shots. And it isn't only the inexplicable engraving of a spitting cobra on the shells - and the looming media circus - that's making Griessel very nervous.
Two of the deceased were lean military types. Body guards. Pros.
At the crime scene are signs of a struggle, and too much evidence that someone was kidnapped. Probably a foreigner. But the passport is fake, the British Consulate is playing spy games, and the same assassin goes on a shooting spree at Cape Town's Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.
Then, the shadowy State Security Agency wants to take over the case, and the Hawks has to hunt down a very slick, very smart and very elusive pickpocket to save their pride, while international conspiracies loom around them.

Celebrated as the 'King of South African crime', Deon Meyer is a world-class writer whose page-turning thrillers probe the social and racial complexities of his native country.

www.deonmeyer.com/cobra
www.goodreads.com
en.wikipedia.org:_Deon_Meyer