Something Different 26

In the photos below you are looking at Time is Money, a famous parlevinker.  A what??!

Well, have a close look and you’ll know . . .

A parlevinker is basically a floating supermarket, or more like a bodega on the water.  In English it’s a bum boat, but when’s the last time you saw a functioning bum boat;  there might still be one in NY harbor here, but it’s been converted into a loft on water.  It wouldn’t work in the sixth boro, IMHO, because we don’t have a critical mass of people working and living on or in close enough proximity to the water.  Click here for more info on Time is Money and its longtime owner Wim van Vooren.    And if you look up-close at the exhibits on the top deck below the flags, they’re some Hertog Jan, sister beverages of Budweiser, siblings of the InBev family.

And while we’re on the unusual, ws, Walter, a frequent commenter here, told me about a lot of lobsters being released into the sixth boro last week:  “Last Friday, a group of local Buddhists released a lot of live lobster into the North River at 100th Street. It’s been done before.  I don’t know the lobster’s chances of survival, but it’s got to be a lot better than their chances of survival if they ended up on someone’s plate.”  Here’s a Huff Post account.

These photos and many more to come were taken last weekend in the Netherlands by Leo Schuitemaker and forwarded by Jan van der Doe.   Many thanks Jan and Leo.

Here’s a seven minute video clip on Time is Money.  It’s in Dutch, but the interesting images start after one minute.  Some translation:  His family started the  business in 1932, when there were about a hundred such boats working the inland waterways in the Netherlands.  He himself started in 1962.  He would serve 10–35 clients a day.  A few of the “shopping in the waterway on the fly” scenes are great. Here’s a 20-minute one.