Where has all the orange gone...

I had been thinking that I was very remiss, as no observer of life in NL worth her salt would fail to mention the European Championships (football for the uninitiated). As it turns out, I have missed the boat as Holland are now out, having their hopes dashed by Russia.

Until 11.15pm on Saturday evening, everywhere was covered in orange, from schools, shops and offices, to cars, gardens and (usually) smart flowerpots. By the time I went out on Sunday morning, my neighbours had already removed the balloons and flags from their flag-poles (every Dutch house is built with a flag-pole holder. We keep discussing how it will go down if we one day hang out a St Andrew's flag...).

Similarly there is no sign of orange in the shops and they were literally covered in flags, orange cakes, orange beer packs... I am wondering if people had to work special shifts to obliterate orange, or if it is those mini robots on the task again.

The Boys persuaded us to buy them orange caps on Saturday (pre match). Try explaining to a three year old that, although his cap is new it is no longer acceptable to wear it. As we aren't Russian, and can't be seen to be mocking (esp as our team is Scotland, for goodness sake) I have relented and let The Musician wear his cap to school, and just had to take the sharp intakes of breath on the chin (strange phrase but it's staying).

It's all very sad, though, as the Dutch do love a party and we were looking forward to seeing how they would continue the festivities the further they got into the championship. Now we just have to turn our attention to the Brits celebrating Andy Murray...