Salt Scarcity

31 Dec 2010 - I am back in the tropical weather of Kuala Lumpur, but I can still feel the winter-cold in my bones. I had a somewhat slippery journey to Amsterdam Schiphol airport as thaw has set in and the roads and pavements are icy. The Dutch complain about practically everything (not only the Dutch by-the-way), but I was quite surprised that nobody complained about the slippery icy conditions of the roads. "In the good old days" people were requested to keep the pavement in front of their house free of snow and the city council took care of the rest. The last few days I noticed that attitudes and practice has changed, because nobody bothered anymore. Even the city council got away with a comment that they could not keep the roads ice-free because of salt scarcity. They probably have never heard of "winter preparedness". Anyway, there is good news, because on my last day in Holland I learned a ship with 7,000 tons salt from Turkey sailed into one of the Dutch ports. But probably the roads are too slippery by now get it to its destination?