I think it’s time to speak a bit of Dutch. Hemeltje lief! Ik heb wat gevonden, namelijk tien gulden de nederlandsche bank en een paar daalder. Ok, if any person from the Netherland read this, you have my excuse because it’s probably nonsense since I put the sentence together with a German to Dutch dictionary. On the other side, if we forget my basic grammar lessons in school, that’s exactly how I learned English over time. I just translated pieces of what was a big puzzle to me, the English language. So, see this post as my first attempt with the Dutch language (laugh).
But now let’s talk about the photo. My mother has a box where she collected different currencies. Don’t get me wrong, she is no real collector, it’s just that you don’t run to the bank to exchange foreign currencies if you just have a couple of coins or just one banknote. I have a small box with foreign currencies too somewhere in a drawer. I think everyone has, I did at least hear this often from friends. And people often forget that, which is interesting now that the majority of countries in Europe use the Euro currency, including the Netherland.
Because when you find that box again, it’s quite interesting to take a look. In some cases like the banknote in my photo, it’s easy to find out where the money was used. But sometimes you also find coins where it’s not clear. Sometimes you just know it because you’ve been there during holidays, other times you don’t know it because you found the coin or someone gave it to you. In the case of my mother, she also had some coins because a friend of her had a metal detector and they were searching on the beach where some tourists might have lost their own currency in the past.
I don’t know what type of coins you see in the photo above, because I shot the photo one or two years ago. But the banknote is ten guilder (gulden). I shot the photo because I find old currencies interesting, and since I constantly look for different things I can photograph. Money is also great, but a macro lens would probably be a better tool for these photos, especially when it’s about coins. Talking about the Netherland again, I’ve been to Amsterdam in the past and I had contact with their currency because I’ve been there before we all got the Euro currency. I remember that I walked into a Dutch bank with a friend, because we wanted to exchange Deutsche Mark to Dutch Gulden. We thought we got screwed, because the exchange fees in this bank were quite hefty.
But apart from that, our experience in the Netherland was excellent. Quite a beautiful country, and Amsterdam is what I would call the “The hidden Venice in Northern Europe”. No joke, they had so many channels and boats, it was very beautiful. Too bad that I wasn’t into photography, at least not like I am today. If I ever see the place again, I won’t do it with just a single SD card. There are a lot of things you can photograph, and the streets are beautiful. Mobile devices with Google Maps were not a thing at that time, we had zero clue and walked through the streets, literally without a plan. But we found a palace because we heard a crowd, and then we’ve seen a very long red carpet and watched some kind of a royal ceremony. Horses arrived with a carriage, and we thought it was about foreign royals meeting the Dutch royals. I think we saw a princess or so. But we experienced many other things in Amsterdam, I might write about this in another post in the future.
This post here was about the photo and about the old Dutch currency, but what I really love about taking and publishing photos is that they can inspire me incredibly fast. Looking at photos gives me a train of thoughts easily. I often heard about people who started a blog, but they don’t know how to continue, how to find topics. This was never a problem for me, and I really can suggest this to anyone. You don’t have to focus on photography alone, but if you add photos to your posts, they can get your thoughts going! Try that out if you feel uninspired!
Diary of Dennis 
Amsterdam is a place I always wanted to see. I used to daydream of visiting in the spring when the tulips are blooming and then either taking a river cruise or the train all the way through to Basel. Of course, I also dreamed of winning the lottery so I could do this amazing trip! I don’t think it will happen now so I enjoy hearing about other people’s travels. I do agree with you that photographs can inspire a post, I also find the same is true of old magazines and the discussions I have with fellow bloggers. I have written a few posts based on things I’ve commented on in blog posts and I know you have too.
When it comes to flowers, I always thought that was some kind of broad statement about the Netherland… but on our way to Amsterdam with the bus, we really have seen tons of flower fields. Never seen so beautiful fields… ours are usually yellow rape fields, corn and other things. But their flower fields… damn, so beautiful.
I play Euro lottery with my mother since a year. Always just a few boxes so that it stays cheap for us, not a full card, we don’t want to spend too much money on it. But there are 90 millions in the jackpot right now. And I’m not kidding, if we win, that would be 45 million for me since I split with my mother. In that case I am going to gift you the Amsterdam journey. Since the 45 million would finally convince me to start traveling as well, I would meet you in Amsterdam and we do a photography trip through the city. 🙂 Yeah, too bad that winning the jackpot is nothing more than a dream
It would be so life-changing.
You’re right. Many of my posts in the past were for example inspired by your posts or comments we shared. I think the simple question that newbies should ask themselves is “Do I like to share what’s going on in the head?”. If the answer is yes, it’s fairly easy to find topics… it’s talking about things you discovered, experiences. It can be a computer game, a photo you shot, a conversation you had with a friend. In a blogging related community I once suggested a newbie “See your blog like a friend… what happens when you meet a friend, right, you tell him/her the latest stuff”. Blogging is pretty similar, it’s story telling… and that can happen in different ways… describing photos, writing poems… everyone has a different way to do it.
Wouldn’t a big win be lovely, I play the lottery occasionally too, not too often but when there is a big jackpot I will buy a ticket and dream for a few days . I’ve often thought about travelling in Europe because I like mountains and rivers and historic buildings and it would be nice to meet up and see some of those things together. Lubeck is on my list of cities I’d like to see since I’ve known you. Well, you never know, maybe you would also be able to take a trip to Australia (in the cooler weather of course) 🙂
Yes, that’s how we do it too. Usually just the big jackpots. With the same philosophy. We’re sure that we won’t win, but the ticket is worth it because as you said, it will make you dream for a few days. 🙂
If luck hits me, you get to see all that in Europe. I know you since quite a while and I question that I go bankrupt with 45 millions if I share a travel ticket to Europe 🙂 In my family I have four people who would definitely have made it if I win, they would get two million each, from me and my mother. In my friend circle there are two guys who would get an equally hefty gift. I always promised my closest circle, at jackpot value, I would make them live from interests, it’s just that they should take it and demand no more. I’d rather have a couple of rich guys around me who did trust each other when we were still poor, than being alone with 45 millions. After the gifst I would probably still own around 40 million, if that is not enough, I don’t know. That’s where I would decide how to live my life.
I would definitely spend money, but on a way that I still have a 20 million reserve if I die. I’d be very interested to learn how to diversify, and how to protect a large sum of my capital. Maybe I would even still do something, except that it would not be work that I have to do, but something related to my passions, something I love to do… becoming professional photographer, building an online retailer of PC hardware of music gear… maybe even diving into real estates. I don’t know. The risk would be so much smaller, and you’d be able to choose what you want to do with your life. I always thought work is not equal work. It’s a huge different if you can do something you’re passionated about, or if you have to do things you find annoying. Being my own boss is certainly a nice argument too 😀
I’ve seen documentaries where people won huge jackpots, and they went broke after just 3 or 5 years and even earlier. Not sure how that is possible. I’d try my best not to do the same 😀 But usually it’s about persons that start drinking out of $100.000 champagne bottles… buying ships where one refill of fuel costs a fortune… large mansions or extravagant sport cars that eat the hairs from your head. Not sure how it is to be rich, but as a poor person I would say I can skip all that stuff. Absolutely not interested, I value freedom and security more than a Lamborghini.
I absolutely agree with you. I don’t understand how people can run through money so quickly. My first thought would be to guarantee an income I could live on comfortably. Naomi and I would share anything either of us won and there are family members I’d like to help, particularly the young ones who still have houses to pay for or maybe don’t own a home at all. Some friends too, who I see struggling with daily life, it would be good to be able to make life easier for them. and certain organisations I’d like to donate to as well.
I don’t need an expensive sports car, well any car really as I don’t drive but I would be able to employ a car and a driver when I wanted so I would be independent. A nice home with room for pets and hobbies, doesn’t have to be a mansion. We don’t party and drink very little so I feel no desire to start living that lifestyle now. It would just be nice to know that if we needed something we could just go and buy it and that we could have a regular holiday every year, some to far away places we would like to see but also short breaks in places closer to home.
If I was your age I would possibly look for something I really wanted to do in the way of a business but as I’m over 60 now I would call myself retired and probably continue to do some kind of volunteer work.
I have to say I do get cross when people, usually rich people, say “Money can’t buy you happines.” It is true up to a point but it can buy you security and that makes life less anxious so you can relax and enjoy it more.
Yes, comfortable living with financial security to the rest of my life, that would be the biggest goal. With that in mind, getting an overview of what and when I can afford things without breaking the main goal. I can’t imagine that this is very difficult because with such a large jackpot, the earned interests would be quite high… you’d need to be extremely creative to find so many shopping ideas. Since I don’t need jetset luxury items… I would probably have problems to keep up with the interests I would earn lol. The reality is, with that much money you could make holidays every single month from the interests alone. That’s mind-boggling. If that is not enough to make me happy 🙂
I am pretty sure that much money could make you unhappy…. for example if you don’t know who to trust. I talked about this with a friend. An example would be.. as a male, how do you find a woman you would like to marry, one that doesn’t stick with you just because you have money. Same counts for new friends, I think everyone will want to be your friend for a reason. With that said, people start to stay under the radar, but with that comes lonelyness. I’ve seen documentaries where they said that much money can make you very paranoid, which makes sense because sadly people got abducted or even killed just because they’re wealthy and had contact to wrong persons. All that happened. You might not even trust your gardener. On YouTube there are some really strange but real stories about that and lottery winners. Pretty interesting stuff to binge watch 😀
Maybe what we said is the solution. Winning the jackpot, it’s probably the best to share a bit of wealth with your loved ones, the smallest circle you trust a lot today without wealth. I don’t know. I’d rather give a couple of millions to a few people, the “loved ones” circle is not too big. But I would be less interested to dive into unknown waters, making new friends or so. I think if you manage it to not go paranoid, I’d guess money will make you very happy.
Today is the draw in Europe. Like me and a friend often say when we start to dream… I generally don’t drink a lot anymore, but if luck hits me, I am going to drink a glas of pure whisky, because the panic attack would be massive. Winning would induce both, a heavy amount of positive and negative stress. Positive because you know why, and negative because I’d start to realize how much responsibility that means, how much careful planning of my life. Like I told my friend “I’d want to go sleep and wait until I understand what just happened” and my friend started laughing and replied “You wouldn’t be able to sleep I guess”. 😀
Well happy dreaming and good luck. You might win a minor prize which would still be nice. I think that if I won “the big one” I would not have my name publicized and would not tell everyone I knew exactly how much I had won. Of course if you suddenly have a lot of new stuff people would notice but they don’t have to know the exact amount . That is another plus of still having a relatively modest lifestyle. Introverts like us probably have it easier as we have a smaller circle of acquaintances.
Of course we didn’t win anything yesterday 😀 Maybe next Friday. Jackpot is still there because nobody grabbed it 😀
Since my mother would win with me, we wouldn’t tell anyone how much I would have won either. This is also what the German lottery society suggests people. I saw a documentary. In case of a win you would get an invite, you can but you don’t have to accept. But if you do, they tell you a lot of things how it’s best to behave with that much money, for your own good. In the documentary they said, one of the first things they tell winners is to stay under the radar.
To me it totally depends on the sum. With 45 million I would definitely not have a big problem to tell two best friend and give them 1 million each. But I really would tell them “Dudes, live modest with it, and please don’t tell anyone about me”. I trust them, they wouldn’t. With a lower prize it would look very different. If I had just won 1 or 2 million, I wouldn’t even tell them because it woould be barely enough to life from interests… and anything I would give away would lower my interests.
Yeah, you’re right. As introverts we have a much smaller risk. I’d assume too. 🙂
Remember the 50 Guilder note from the 90s? That was the most beautiful currency I’ve ever seen. Art!
Definitely. And so fitting. When I was in Netherland, I saw flowers everywhere.