Dutch gothic
It is raining so you take an umbrella with you. When you step outside the sun breaks through, it is now a beautiful day. You walk two more steps and it starts snowing. You are not surprised. You are never surprised anymore.
A tourist asks you if you are German. You were talking Dutch. You and the tourist are in Amsterdam.
There are trees in your street. You do not know who planted them. You do not know who cares for them. The trees are, and it is accepted.
When you leave the supermarket there are children waiting for you . They stare with hungry eyes. You try to walk past them but they follow. They are too fast. They want your football cards and they will stop at nothing to get them.
You go to France for your holiday. Your friends are not excited for you when you tell them. You always go to France. Everyone does.
A tv show about a clown and an acrobat was your childhood. You do not understand why you watched the show. You don’t remember what it was about. The clown and the acrobat where old.
The lady on the speaker says you have to wait five more minutes for your train. You wait five more minutes. And five more. And five more. The lady on the speaker is back. She says the train won’t come because of the snow. You look around. You hadn’t noticed the snow. The snow is less than a centimeter thick.
Your international friends are discussing their cultures. You want to join the conversation but you can’t. You can only think of cheese.
Coffeeshop au’s confuse you. You thought those were illegal outside of the Netherlands.
You attend your English classes. You know you never learned a single thing from them. You speak English.
You and everyone you know will drown if the sea level rises. People laugh about this. People laugh about the scared tourists. You laugh too. Silly tourists. You’re not scared. You don’t think about it. You haven’t thought about it in years. The sea as a threat is a forbidden subject. You sleep uneasy.
No mention of the packs of bicycles that roam the streets at night. 6/10.
You are so used to the bicycles that you barely register them anymore. Do you know how many bicycles you’ve seen today? How many have seen you? Statistics say there are more bicycles than humans in the Netherlands. You realize that means we’re outnumbered.
