500th post! Also part 2 of Gunbirds military museum day out :)

Blimey, 500th post already? Time sure flies :D Thanks for reading!

Since my last post a few days ago my depression really kicked in and I cared less and less about everything. Selling lots of stuff, while good for the bankaccount, really eats at me as I see stuff go through my hands that I had so many plans for. It's like I'm selling a piece of my heart and soul. It's seeing things I started with energy and enthusiasm and then let slowly die that just feels wrong. So it's a bit of a hurtful process, but nobody ever said change was painless.

I'll have to get over it, like my depression, and look at the bright side of the picture. Refocussing means less (random) purchases in the future. Lower costs (in theory). Actually getting stuff done if I paint from scenario to scenario.

Decided to give myself a small make over, as Kim has taken a day off and went to a spa. To at least feel a bit happier and not look like a homeless person like I have all week, I went for a haircut instead of having Kim trim my hair to a couple of mm.

First time ever a hairdresser gave me the side trim I always wanted, nice and short, with a bit more on top. I still look/feel fucking tired though, and this actually is what is my big smily face. Oh well, I'm going to be bald anyway sooner or later so might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

Right, part 2 of the museum day. Afer taking a short break to have lunch I went to the Cavalry Museum, maybe a 10 minutes drive from the Nationaal Militair Museum. This is actually on a active army base so don't forget to bring your ID (you would have to be pretty stupid anyway as carrying a ID is mandatory in the Netherlands and you can get fined if you can't show it). Also, there is very little parking space! After the MP's check your information you get a electronic keycard and you can take the turnstile and wait for someone to escort you to the museum (in this case a elderly volunteer).

(Of course, this being the first time, I did not know the routine so I just joined the que in front of the admission building......thinking:"Wow, they are all here for the museum? I didn't know it was that popular!" which just shows I wasn't quite there. If I had been paying attention quicker I would have seen every single person there was between 25 and 30 and was wearing Thales ID badges. Thales is a defence contractor and as it turned out they were all young engineers on a tour of the base and see Thales products in action. I really was the odd one out in that, I can tell you that! So I stood there for a good 10-15 minutes before I realised I could just pass that que.......

Anyway, the museum is located in the former school of the base and is a short walk from the entry of the base.

After entering, you are asked to leave any backpacks in the locker and you can hang your coat. Entree fee is 4 euros and gives you acces to the museum you are in and the museum holding the vehicles a bit down the road. There are 3 floors in the museum (well, 4, but the top floor is a meeting area for festivities or speeches) and you start at the ground floor. There is lots of silderware, prizes won over the past centuries, a bloody gorgeous painting (of which they sadly didn't have a copy in the shop as I would love to frame it and hang it in my hobby room).

Modern cavalry charge! (well, 1985-90ish)

We start at the old Republic.....

Moving past Napoleon and up to the 1900's.....

...up to present day*

* Present day is a bit of a sore spot, as we disbanded our tank batallions a few years ago and sold almost all of the tanks to Finland,  leaving the task in the hands of APC's and recce units. It is only a few months ago we officially reactivated a tank unit which is now serving.....in the German army! Which in itself is not unusual, as there is a lot of inter EU forces training these days. And the tanks? We are leasing the latest upgraded Leopard 2 model from the Bundeswehr. :)

Pre war Dutch cavalry officer

Days gone by....(also: how to recycle worn parts)

There is a entire side room dedicated to Seedorf and the Dutch forward army base there next to the East German border, the center of our slice of Northag. A huge trip down memory lane of the not so long gone days, with everything from excercises to living and raising a family in Germany, sports and the yearly large excercises.

We then go up a floor, and see where the armoured cavalry began :)

A career soldier in the 1700's

There is a lot of Frenchness in our cavalry history. I've never been into Napoleonics much (and never will be tbh) but the staggering variaty in period stuff amazed me.

Baron Sytzama

Boreel

After the French occupation, these 2 gentlemen (Sytzama and Boreel) were appointed by the government to raise a cavalry regiment. that fought at Waterloo.

They eventually would name 2 of the 4 Dutch tank regiments raised after WW2.

The various displays tend to be old fashioned but very clean....I did feel a bit like stepping back in time to the previous century, and not just beause of the uniforms.

The light wasn't terribly good either, with all the blinds closed, but I still managed to take quite a few shots.

To make heavy modern(ish) weapons more mobile, the cavalry used horses carrying Lewis guns (with ammunition and mounts)

And no, they did not fire it off the back off the horse, sorry.

I've seen people paint Dutch uniforms as a light blue. Clearly they are not.

Dutch Royalty and their uniforms

Literally every bit of available space is used. This is in the stairways.

:( The last round fired from the last tank - a sad day indeed :(

On patrol during peacekeeping in warn torn former Yugoslavia.

Then we enter a wide area that starts off with nothing but post war items and pictures.

Remebering Indonesia after the war and the Politionele Acties. One of my unlces served there, and my grandfather said it had changed him from a open outgoing man to a closed man who just wanted to forget but couldn't. It was a really shitty war (but then again, aren't they all?)

Think of Holland and think of bicyles. Regiment Wielrijders.

The winter of 1939 was a cold one for the mobilised troops.

A board dedicated to CAT.

There is much more to see, it's a great trip to take for one interested in Dutch cavalry. We now leave the museum and take a short trip past a static display to the vehicle display museum.

Inside we have several vehicles and other items on display.

Daimler from the Prinses Irene Brigade

Then: our new armoured cars.

A Landsverk armoured car. Not a Dutch one though, but an Irish one (wrong gun). The Germans trashed ours.

Then back to Indonesia.

Not Indonesia btw. The RAM tank was already obsolete when we got it.

Shipping boxes from the troops coming back from Indonesia.

And then the tour abruptly ended as my knee really was sick of it and the tourroute sign took me through a door into a hallway with a copier, reception desk and defence personnel. That didn't quite feel right so I backtracked, picked up my bag and limped back to the car. a day well spent.

Now, in the final few days before Crisis, I've finished packing up and labelling all of the stuff that is sold for pick up at Crisis. I might put up some more stuff tonight and on wednesday, but that is it. I'm also giving Will at PSC a big package of Dutch treats and Belgian beers as a thank you for for employing me every year and giving me something to do :D

And that's it for today. Time to relax now.