Koninginnedag interrupted

Today was the Queensday (Koninginnedag), a holiday in the Netherlands where everyone sells their second hand goods on the streets, and wears orange to celebrate the Dutch royal family. I was all dressed up in my orangest outfit and sucking my orange dummy to mark the occasion.

Here in Leiden we had brunch with another archaeologist and his wife and their little girl, and then looked over some of the second hand junk for sale - everything from china kittens to traditional Dutch tiles to a weird fossilised spider in a fossilised web. As usual there were Dutch oompa bands everywhere and ear-splitting patriotic music.

But in the early afternoon we noticed all the oompa music had stopped. We found out there had been a tragedy in Apeldoorn, where the royals were gathered to visit the people. As a mark of respect all oompa music was silenced and the stall holders ordered to pack up their goods and go home. As a result the streets of Leiden were full of provincial Dutch chavvies with nowhere to go.