Nice to be in The Netherlands again

 

Again we all drove a lap of honor before we parked and occupied the square with our Spiders. An impressive sight and the citizens could not keep their eyes of the Spiders. Unfortunately the rain started to pour down again after a few minutes, but this time we were prepared. We were already at the bar and talking about this great arrangement and all the work Cobi, Erwin and Mathijs and the Dutch Spider Register had done to please us. Thank you all.

 

Our Belgian friends were well prepared and seemed to like to sit under the umbrella. Another funny thing I noticed was that every item had an Alfa Romeo logo on.

 

Claudia and Dirk from Germany introduced the first FWD Spider I have seen in Limburg. It was a black 2,0 TS with a strange GPS? navigator. This computer could tell every small and tiny road anywhere. I was very impressed. Stina had her doubts, she is my navigator. The next day one Spider got lost and missed the wine yard, it came just in time for departure and never got the opportunity to see the wine cellar. Guess who it was. Yepp, the GPS was not in the mood that day and Stina said she would never let me down. Great

 

.I just had to stop the Alfa to take this beautiful photo. No matter in what direction you looked, there were Spiders all over. There were Spiders from Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Holland, Italy, France, Switzerland, Scandinavia, USA, yes, a lot of Spiders. This is something that will make the winter a bit shorter in Scandinavia. The sound of the alloy twin-cam engines was tremendous. And when glancing in the rear view mirror, could there be a more beautiful sight than a lot of Spiders? The Luxembourg Spiders close to our round-tail are of the 4th Series.

 

Ma Cobi took well care of us. Suddenly she just stood there guiding us all in the right direction. The instructions are getting better and better, but it happens now and then that we get lost. In such moments it is good to have faith in Cobi, Erwin and Mathijs and the rest of the organization. It is common to see Erwin in his 4th series Spider in the mirror overtaking us all. Then we know that we are on the wrong way. We are very polite when Erwin stops his Alfa and points the opposite direction and we just obey. Well, Erwin is bigger and stronger than most of us and he has a Spider so what else could you do but follow him.

 

This was just hundred meters down the hill from the wine yard and we all lined up. The round-tails here belongs to me, the black one to Klaus Mohr and the last one was from Holland. I am not sure who that driver was. Anyway, if you see yourself, please send me an E-mail and I will add this information.

 

We had quite a lot of Duettos and 1750 Veloces here at our meetings. Hans deKok has laid his hands on a red Duetto and as they had a green Coda tronca before, Petra and Hans now have to struggle about the cars. You could have worse troubles.

 

Back to basics again. Suddenly the Spiders were slowing down ahead of us. Stina, who really is fond of dogs got very excited. The reason may be seen on this photo. The border collie was very motivated and this moment stayed with us. Time was the same as a hundred years ago, the peace and tranquility was total. The roads the organization had chosen were as always fantastic. Up and down, across and under, left and right turns.

 

 

I have seen so many interesting and beautiful places here in Holland, thanx to these Spider meetings. Since there are so many local people who know the area and every single house, we get the opportunity to drive in places we never ever have heard of before. This is what makes the meetings so special.

 

 

We all felt very special when we noticed the flower arrangements on the streets. The friendly Dutch people had made quite an effort to celebrate us. Holland is known to me as the Golden garden, but this was even better. My feelings were very strong, I wouldn't dare touch the flowers with the wheels. Unfortunately, someone told me later that the village was celebrating something else.

 

 

Again, an umbrella and a Spider. Who might that be? Could it be the Spaan family? Right you are. Priscilla holds the umbrella and Christian Spaan has spotted something interesting. I think it was a black 4th Series Spider, don't you? Stina and I were invited to join the Spaan family on Sunday and that was something. I felt like a kid in a candy store. I will tell more about that later.

 

Last year, Christian drove his black 4th series Spider and got an award for that. This year he took the older Spider, perhaps he did not want to have his new Spider muddy?

 

Speaking of umbrellas, the Belgian Spider crew are getting along really well under the umbrella. Unfortunately we had some heavy showers and had to use the hood mechanism several times. This was like the road tests under heavy conditions, but the Spiders never let us down. I understand that you are so proud of this part of Europe. It is so beautiful and the roads are excellent for Spiders. Perhaps when Stina and I retire we will stay there in Belgium/Holland.

 

If I came to a crowded parking lot with cars all over it, everything in a mess, I wouldn't mind as long as the cars were Alfa Romeo. Or even better, if they were all Spiders. This was how it looked two minutes before the final dinner. The local inhabitants made big eyes.

 

Imagine a parking lot crowded with Alfa Romeos. Then picture the cars to be all Spiders. Furthermore, the Spiders came in all different colors, were in good shape and came from all over Europe. Plus the sound of the engines and all the Alfisti strolling around. What a Sunday.

 

A traditional Dutch buffet was welcoming us. We had a barbeque party and were all eating like mad. the food tasted excellent after a day in the open Spiders. At the same time the Formula 1 race was on, but nobody cared about that. Chatting Spiders beats F1.

 

The food tasted fine and some of us were playing the Muppet show acting as the "Swedish chef", -ahoune moune moouh tack sa micket. The smoke this time came from the meat and sausages and not from the oil-burning engines. Fortunately, we did not have any troubles with our Spiders this time, so Jaan Groen had an easy meeting. However, I saw him filling his plate very often, perhaps food can be a substitute for tampering with the Spider?

 

Rafaela and Giancarlo from Italy are making plans with Erwin. Giancarlo got the award for driving the longest way to Limburg. Congratulations, hope to see you next year. The meeting is most international and a great success. This summer someone had placed the European Championship in football in Belgium and Holland. We saw nothing of this event and they did not disturb us. I think we had a better time than the football spectators.

 

Jaan Spaan and his family invited Stina and me to their house, an invitation greatly accepted and appreciated. Jaan and I spent a nice time in his garage with all his Spider parts and other Alfa Romeo related items. I felt like a kid in a candy store.

 

It is always interesting to see the garage of another Alfista, but this garage was the best private I have seen. And contained only Spider parts and Spiders. I had a hard time keeping my fingers away from the Alfas. Talk about kids in a candy store.

 

Stina and Jaan planned our return to Sweden, they found some small, narrow and winding roads we hade never seen before. As Jaan is a true Spideralfista, he knew how to optimize the driving. Good roads plus a round-tail equals "Fortuna"! Of course the map was placed on the boot-lid of a Spider.

 

Even though Holland is considered to be as flat as a kitchen table, they have lots of winding roads there. We really like the land of the tulips.

 

I am a bit embarrassed to tell you about the only accident we had. When Stina and I drove back to Sweden again, I noticed that the brake fluid was a bit low. I topped the reservoir and continued to drive through Germany and Denmark. When we stopped to pay the fair over the new Öresund bridge between Copenhagen and Sweden, there were no brakes, the pedal went down to the floor.

 

I had to use the hand brake and nothing serious happened. Luckily we live only five minutes from the toll station so we got home safe. It turned out to be the T-connection at the rear axle that had corroded. I replaced it the same afternoon and was very happy it did not happen at the motorway when we were driving in a line of nine Spiders to the Spaan house. Jan said he had to clean his engine and we were sure speeding all of us. That was fun, revving the engines and warming up the oil and clean the exhaust