Category Archives: workrelated

Usually heavy work, but in between always time for a chat and a newspaper …

People who perform heavy work know it … you have to know exactly what is your weakest link and ensure that it does not break. So it is important to eat and drink on time and take a pause. Only in this way will you be able to “survive” until your retirement. What we didContinue reading “Usually heavy work, but in between always time for a chat and a newspaper …”

A typically tough and hard-working laborer

Jaap Bosman was always called “Lange Jaap” (tall Jaap) by colleagues at the Hoechst-site in Vlissingen, because in our shift there were 3 operators with the same Christian name … and Jaap was indeed as tall and strong as a bear, always wore the largest size overalls and shoes and his helmet always seemed tooContinue reading “A typically tough and hard-working laborer”

Night shift Hoechst Vlissingen, 1983.

Back then it was strictly forbidden to take pictures … (it was the time when it was not even allowed to use a transistor radio in the control room) … so I took pictures illegally, to capture the atmosphere in the control room where colleagues also came for a cup of coffee and a shortContinue reading “Night shift Hoechst Vlissingen, 1983.”

https://drenthinspectieservices.nl/

Caspar asked me for some photos he can use for his new site : https://drenthinspectieservices.nl/ It had to have a few tubes, barrels and other inspectable stuff on it … So I dived into my archive. and found a few examples … . . old school tools much more can be found in my ThermphosContinue reading “https://drenthinspectieservices.nl/”

Just visited my former workplace.

It was storming, it was raining and it was cold. But the dog had to get out and I thought: Let’s go to the monument and let everything blow in the wind … I think it’s fantastic that apparently it was possible to put an old “slakkenpan” next to the monument. Ton Witte could haveContinue reading “Just visited my former workplace.”

torn apart skeletons of Thermphos.

I took these photos in January 2020. Torn apart “skeletons” of Thermphos. They were located on the square, which was temporarily used as a kind of cemetery. All the RA-contaminated “meat” was taken off and sprayed off. Not long after, the entire building was toppled with explosives … I’ve taken tons of photos and becauseContinue reading “torn apart skeletons of Thermphos.”

Expressions of the fight against the Covid-19 virus

In this Corona era, a farewell reception for someone retiring looks like this … Everyone outside at a safe distance from each other, no shaking hands, no pat on the back, etc. Fortunately a lot of humor and nice speeches. Roel: I hope you can enjoy your well-deserved retirement for a long time in goodContinue reading “Expressions of the fight against the Covid-19 virus”

my velomobile history …

For years I’ve used a velomobile for my commute. I had a good condition although I was a heavy smoker and used to smoke even while cycling.In November 2013 I quit my job at the Thermphos-site and had to use a car, for my employers were not accessible by bicycle or the distance was wayContinue reading “my velomobile history …”

It is done!

My work at Petrogas is over … The project has been successfully completed. Fortunately, everything has been carried out without major accidents … Of course, much remains to be cleaned up and residual material to be removed, but our task to process all free phosphorus into phosphoric acid has been completed. Because of the COVID-19Continue reading “It is done!”

melancholy

Full of melancholy I cycled home yesterday after the last night shift … it could be the last … The “phosphoric acid plant” is now blowing the last vapor from its chimney … maybe a few more days … then the factory will die. What a differance compared to the situation on Juli 2010 …Continue reading “melancholy”

commuting with Quest 552

My colleagues Harm and Bram saw me arriving at work in my velomobile and made a video with their mobile phone. Nicely done guys! If I’d known they were recording … I would’ve gone much faster 😉

headshot

“Lex de Meester will take a portrait of you on a dyke close to the factory“, said Frank Balkenende.At first, I was not enthusiastic about the idea of seeing my old head on the front page of the newspaper, because I just got out of bed after the night shift.But when I heard that LexContinue reading “headshot”