Burn, bikes, burn

New Year's Eve in the Netherlands proved way too exciting. Who'd have thunk it? I expected the usual over-drinking since on ordinary days here drinking is a primary recreational activity, I wasn't going to be surprised by exponential celebratory drinking.

But what was shocking were the fires in the street, burning bikes, broken bottles, and the constant, insane level of fireworks. WTH? We (my sister and I) went to an acquaintance's gathering slightly south of the centre. In a very traditionally Dutch neighbourhood - with bricked streets just large enough for a car and two bikes to pass and blocks of attached housing - where there were so many fireworks going off around midnight, people were coughing from the smoke, and you couldn't see through the smoke to the houses 12ft across the street. This must be what it's like to be a soldier in an urban war - the sister suggested that "Bombs over Baghdad" should have been the soundtrack for the evening.

But wait, there's more.

An incredible wall of fog also began to descend. And when I say wall, I mean there were spots where you literally could not see your hand in front of your face. Take that San Francisco. Anyway, as we walked through the centre to get back home (since I live north of the centre), we saw fires in the street. Fires as in bonfire with random sh*t thrown on them - not much in the way of wood - but bikes, tires, glass (WTF?), couches, tv's. You get the idea. In the street, as in the middle of the street. The most amazing one was huge - two-thirds of the width of a paved roadway - and had a bike rack, with the bikes attached, burning in the middle. And by bike rack, I mean a sturdy metal structure that is embedded in concrete for people to park their bikes, like this one here.