Partying in Vondelpark? Fun! Hospitality venues open? Far too dangerous!
There I was, dutifully at home yesterday, when I came across a video on Twitter of a massive party in Vondelpark. Well, dutifully at home—I was simply working. Not doing anything rebellious like breaking curfew. This was during the day, though, and the video triggered a mix of irritation and FOMO in me. Tricky combination, I can tell you.
I have to say that irritation was the first to rear its head. And maybe confusion, too. A friend forwarded me the tweet, and my first question was: ‘Huh? Is this happening now?’ Because that many people—that was quite a while ago that I last saw that. And people simply standing close to one another… This was definitely spring 2019. Pre-corona. Strange how quickly you actually get used to these kinds of things no longer being normal. That that is the first thing you notice when watching a video like that.
One friend visiting
Now, I’m a reasonably well-behaved Harry when it comes to the measures. Okay, I admit it: I have occasionally broken the rule about having one person over at a time, but I also think it’s utterly ridiculous that my brother and I aren’t allowed to visit my parents together. And yes, I’ve also had two friends over at the same time occasionally. But I can still keep that within reason. This is quite a bit different from having two friends over instead of one.
The bar stools miss me
Because does this really have to happen, seriously? I follow the measures because I want to go back to hospitality venues as soon as possible. My favourite spot, Venster 33 in Amsterdam, is sitting there deserted (while people were partying less than a kilometre away) and I just know the bar stools there miss me. So it really stings when you see hundreds (thousands?) of people happily doing whatever they want, and in my head I see that opening date sadly being pushed even further into the future.
FOMO
But yes, there’s FOMO too. Because of course I would have wanted to be there as well, with the sun on my head, a drink, good company, hugging everyone, and going home after nine. So yes, I did feel a twinge of jealousy. But that is then overruled by my common sense: we’re not going to do this. Because for now, we’re still very much in a pandemic, and haven’t we all already noticed that being defiant and not giving a damn about the measures isn’t going to get us what we want any faster?
Not fair, not fair at all
I share the feeling that we are completely fed up with it. I can also totally understand the motivation behind a Vondelpark party like that (which apparently started spontaneously). But come on, Rutte, De Jonge—you understand that too, right? I never understood the reasoning behind closing hospitality venues (less than 5 percent of infections came from there), but the fact that reopening keeps being postponed while, thank goodness, the rest of the Netherlands is allowed to open up a little again—that doesn’t feel fair.
A little trust can’t hurt
And you can’t convince me that people would prefer spontaneous parties like these in Vondelpark to dinners or drinks at hospitality venues, where everything can be regulated. I think people are really ready for that. Having a little faith that all the measures will be followed in hospitality venues (which, in Amsterdam at least, was the case in almost all establishments, exceptions aside) would do us all some good too, I think.
What a bloody mess
Then two final points: what on earth possesses people to turn Vondelpark into such a — pardon my French — bloody mess? Did nobody bring a rubbish bag? Or did nobody see the enormous number of bins and rubbish containers in the park? So antisocial—I really don’t understand it at all.
Weird
And secondly: how is it possible that so many people could party undisturbed in Vondelpark for hours? Museumplein is cleared out in no time (with water cannons if necessary), but in this case not a single fine was issued or arrest made when they finally bothered to show up at 8:15 p.m.? Come on—you can’t convince me that the police didn’t know about the party until 8:15 p.m. (because that’s when they arrived at the park). To put it mildly, rather striking.
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