My Dutch Dream

I mentioned briefly earlier about having a goal and then going for it. Sounds really cheesy, new-age crap but it does work. Being focussed on one outcome really does help you to achieve it.

Anyhow, every Englishman wants to one day own his home. It’s partly responsible for the huge housing bubble that exists back in the UK. There’s a saying that goes “an Englishman’s home is his castle”.

Anyway, I’m no different, and I have hard-wired into me a strong desire to have my own place. Now, there’s no way I could buy a house right now, I simply don’t have anywhere near the amount of funds required to even lay down a deposit, but I have made great inroads into my website building in the last 6 to 9 months and I feel that this could be a reality for me within 2 years if I work at it.

So today I went out exploring on my bike. I just picked a direction from home and followed it, and ended up in IJburg. I briefly heard of this place on the news on TV too. This place is fantastic. It reminds me of Docklands back home, except with a lot more space and with the impression of being on the sea (technically its in a lake).

In general, I’ve been blown away by the standard of living in Amsterdam anyway. A slower pace than in London, beautiful houses (old and new), despite globalisation there is still an abundance of independent shops, a nice place to raise a family, lack of “dodgy” areas compared to back home, cleanliness etc. But IJburg takes it to another level. I saw some amazing houses, families cooking barbecues, big canals in your back yard etc. There are even some floating houses! (and I don’t mean regular houseboats)

I checked out the IJburg entry on Wikipedia and the official IJburg website and it looks like this place is going to be developed for the next several decades (although other reports say that the 2012 finish date has been delayed??). So I don’t need to worry about not being able to get an apartment/house there within the next few years. In fact, apparently demand has not been as high as they had expected in the last year or two – my guess is to do with the current economic situation.

On a similar note, another BS myth that I’ve heard many times here is “there’s a shortage of housing in Amsterdam”. In my opinion, this is a bit of a dumb statement. In a capitalist society, the market sets an appropriate level of rent to pay. Everyone who wants a place to live can get one. Amsterdam in this respect is no different to New York to London or to any other big capital city with a high population density. But some people say to me “you must wait years to get social housing”. This may be a concern for locals and I guess social housing here is more acceptable than I am used to – back in the UK, a great many people would not live on a “council estate” even if you paid them. This is intertwined with many other complicated issues such as the English obsession with social class but ultimately, many council estates in the UK are complete dumps and ridden with crime (I know because I have lived on one). I guess it’s different here in The Netherlands – like I said earlier, when I rode around the Bijlmer earlier, it seemed like paradise compared to some parts of South-East London!!

Anyway, like I said, IJburg is really nice. It has the feel of living by the sea. There are even at least a couple of “mini-beaches” there. And today I heard some really loud music, turned out to be a sort of beach festival – Costa Del Soul.

Where I’m living now (Watergrafsmeer) is beautiful and peaceful and yet still just a 15 to 20 minute bike ride from centrum, but I think IJBurg is even better!

Photo licensed under Creative Commons: Credit