FIVB World Championships Notebook - Day 14

Houses in residential areas near similar and rather neat

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Apartment blocks in the Netherlands are similar in design, look and aesthetics.
Most of the houses’  roofs are made of black bricks and have a finishing of red bricks and white paint on the walls. A majority are one-story, three bedroom buildings.

Normally, the local governments buy land and announce housing projects to the public. If interested you sign up by paying the specified amount.

The local government then hires a contractor to execute the project which is usually upwards of 10 residential houses hence the similar designs.  The owner then proudly occupies the  house.

Pricey electric cars cheap to run but a preserve of the rich

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Owning an electric cars can be equated to class hear. The vehicles cost twice as much as the ones driven by an internal combustion engine powered by fossil fuel. They are easy to maintain since they don’t require regularly servicing.

One simply needs to plug and then unplug and drive off.  They take around 30 minutes to attain full charge at petrol stations which costs about 15 Euros  (about Sh1,764).

A full tank for petrol cars would cost around 90 Euros so it’s cost efficient to have an electric car. At full charge you can drive for 200 kilometers before recharging!

Soaring temperatures make the Dutch mind about their climate

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It’s not a coincidence that the Dutch government is big on environment conservation. The past summer really hit them hard, lasting for longer than the normal two months (June-July) with  temperatures reaching a new high of 42 degrees Celsius.

Imagine that in Europe where images of snow and cold temperatures are more common than inhabitants in discomfort from sweltering heat.

The high temperatures caused water shortage in some parts of Netherlands which was a big concern for authorities. Understandably, inhabitants here and concerned about the climate.