The Low Sky in Pictures [antikvár]

il.!'.' I . i ' I i Ii 'i : ' , l| hi,'.« THE LOW SKY What does it mean to be in the Netherlands? Creeping slowly forward on a motorway, looking through the swishing windscreen wipers at a horizon dotted with apartment blocks. The southwest wind is driving grey clouds across the sky at a speed that makes you envious. 'You should not stay here/ Brazilian Dirceu Borges told his daughter on a short visit to the Netherlands, where she had made her home. 'The sky is too low.' Borges, the prototype of an entrepreneur, was referring to the climate in all senses of the word. It wasn't just that he missed the open expanse of the firmament that, in the Netherlands, is more often than not concealed from view by rain clouds. He was also immediately impressed by the unending flatness of the land -and observed a corresponding effect on the mental and spiritual climate of the country. To Borges, the Dutch view of the world was determined by the low sky under which they lived and their flat country, all divided up neatly into geometric shapes, demarcated by canals and ditches. He missed an abundance of spiritual space and could not escape the impression that the desire for adventure had also been carefully fenced off. Occasionally, the slowly moving traffic comes to a complete stop, giving non-Dutch drivers the opportunity to observe their fellow road-users. One thing is immediately clear - this is a very rich country. There are few old cars on the road, and a lot of trucks, all looking well maintained. They carry valuable cargo, mostly finished industrial products rather than raw materials. The many telephone numbers and e-mail addresses displayed on their doors and sides bear witness to a country which is well-advanced in the field of electronic communications and where the development of the electronic superhighway is in full swing. The other car drivers have taken advantage of the standstill to reach for their cell phones. Their calls are short. They are not calling their families, but are reporting in to work, most likely to say that they will be in a little later than planned. the most expensive cars are middle-range family models Yet this impression of extreme wealth may be somewhat misleading. In the heavy traffic on the motorway, there are a few very genuine luxury cars. Most are middle-range family models, with a large percentage of Asian origin, showing just how successful Oriental manufacturers have been in competing with their European counterparts. But the top end of the market is barely represented. There are no Rolls Royces, Cadillacs, Daimlers or Jaguars. Even in the country's business centres or elite residential areas, they are very few and far between.The best place to see the world's most exclusive cars in the Netherlands is at one of the few dealers who sells them. Generally speaking, the most expensive cars you see on the roads are standard German models from Mercedes Benz or bmw. If you should see someone winding their way through the traffic in a Rolls Royce, you will notice that they command little respect. On the contrary, the middle-range drivers might even seem to be making life difficult for this symbol of opulence, as if they consider it offensive to appear in such a limousine on the public highway. The owners of the Renaults, Toyotas, Hyundais and Volkswagens will try and prove to this show-off in his Rolls Royce that they are every bit as good as he is. Anyone daring to take to the road in an exclusive motorcar will soon find that other road-users do their best to overtake him. The countryside on each side of the motorway is interspersed with a large number of towns and villages. Real metropolises, with millions of people, do not exist in the Netherlands. The largest municipality has a population of no more than 700,000. Yet the Nether-