Digital ad share dives sharply at newspapers

Reflecting the apparent acceleration of a troubling and long-running trend, the share of digital advertising earned by the nation’s newspapers plunged precipitously in the third quarter, according to an analysis of new data released this week. 

While total U.S. digital advertising expenditures surged 18% in the third quarter of this year to a record $9.3 billion, online advertising at

5 tips for developing new digital products

When the iPad debuted in 2010, I began urging newspaper publishers to defend and extend their franchises by developing innovative products to attract new audiences and new revenues on this transformational platform. But I always got the same question:  Who else is doing it? For a year, I didn’t have a good answer, because publishers either ignored the most rapidly adopted electronics product in

What’s next for press? They don’t know, either.

For those in blissful oblivion or simple denial, the Columbia Journalism School has issued a valuable essay describing how digital technology and empowered consumers are eroding the commercial institutions that historically supported journalism.  

As a backwards look at how the contraction of the legacy media business has affected – and will continue to impact – journalism, the essay makes for

My Life Part I and My Life Part II

I try and journal every day using a topics du jour system (a great tip I picked up in "Journal to the Self" by Kathleen Adams - (click on image for more information)). One of my recurring monthly topics is expat life. Inspired by a quote from Nelson Mandela, I started scribbling my thoughts.

"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered."

These wise words stirred up a feeling I have had since the summer when I took a trip down memory lane and toured round the places I used to live and the schools I once attended. I have a past and a present. And they don't correlate.

I can't reconcile my British past with my expat present. When I moved to the Netherlands it was like My Life Part II starting. I don't have daily contact with anyone that shared in My Life Part I and nobody from My Life Part I knows what it is like to be living out My Life Part II. And the other way round. I have regular contact with family and friends from England but they can't know what life in the Netherlands is really like. My Dutch family and friends have no connection to my past.

At certain times, like the trip down memory lane a few months ago, My Life Part I and My Life Part II collide. They are so different it is hard to comprehend how the two parts make up the same life. They are world's apart. Or countries apart in any case. It's like a jigsaw puzzle that should fit together but doesn't.

When I am in England I have serious doubts about whether I could go back and live permanently in my birth country. I have changed. It's no longer home. When I first moved to the Netherlands every trip back to England was heart wrenching. I didn't want to get on the return flight back to Schiphol. I had to force myself to go back and leave my home.

A British Passport doesn't mean Britain is home
Photo: Phillip Bramble

Now when we are making the return trip from England to the Netherlands I know I am coming home. A Dutch border agent summed it up seven years ago when he checked my passport, looked up at me, smiled and said "Welkom thuis." Welcome home indeed.

I was actually aware of the transition as it happened - the place I called home moving from England to the Netherlands right before my eyes. We were driving on the M25 back to the ferry terminal and instead of feeling laden with sadness at leaving my family I had the consolation that at least we were heading home. And no matter where you've been it's always nice to go home right? Back to My Life Part II.

How do you piece together your life before moving abroad and your expat life now?

Online sales are flat-lining at newspapers

With total ad sales sliding 5.1% in the third quarter of this year, newspapers have set what must be some sort of record in the annals of American business by having their primary revenue stream fall for 25 quarters in a row. 

In 75 months of unremitting declines, the industry’s consolidated advertising sales have plunged from an all-time high of $49.4 billion in 2005 to what I estimate will be

Gift Ideas Crafted By Creative Expats (2): Gadanke Journals

Beautiful journals, refill
packs and embellishments
from Gadanke

Hot on the heels of my post about soft toy Christmas gift ideas created by Luana, the expat behind La Petite Lulu, comes another fabulous gift idea, again with a discount especially for you.

This week it's Gadanke's turn in the spotlight. Christmas gifts from Gadanke are very special indeed. It's an award winning handmade journal shop using eco-friendly materials. That's it in a nutshell, but there's oh so much more.

The Story Behind Gadanke

The story of how Gadanke came about is wonderful, the idea behind the journals is heart tingling and the journals themselves are awesome.

Katie - the creativity behind Gadanke
(c) Gadanke

Here's the expat bit: Katie Clemons is the face behind Gadanke, which comes from the German word for idea or thought. Whilst living in Berlin with her German husband she crafted her first journal.

And here's another awesome bit: Katie now lives in a converted airplane hangar in the Rocky Mountains in the US, having just moved out of a tire house. You can follow the couple's creation of and move into their dream home via Katie's Making This Home blog.

But what I like best of all is that Katie's journals are more than pieces of paper strung together so that she can make a living. To Katie, it's much, much more and that is so evident in the pieces she handcrafts. She doesn't just make and sell journals, she prompts journal owners to celebrate their story, to get memories down on paper, to record the past for the future. In her own words,

"I believe story is power. It enriches our lives, challenges us to dream bigger, and strengthens future generations."

The Inspiration of Gadanke

She has a Facebook page where she regularly poses questions that often make me stop what I am doing to cast my mind back. Here's an example:

"You and I are 10 years old. It snowed 12", and now we've got the whole day to play. What should we do?"

Where do you go when you think about the answer to that question? I was instantly taken back to my childhood days with my younger brother wrapped up in winter coats, wooly hats, scarves and gloves, playing in the garden trying to make a snowman. We'd beg and forage for all the bits we could use for the snowman's eyes, nose, arms...... I hadn't been to that place for a long time! It was so great to pause and rewind to the past.

Gadanke Journals

Gadanke journals are made predominantly from recycled papers and contain not only writing prompts but embellishments such as tags, little envelopes or library cards, stickers or carnival tickets. The themed journals make the perfect gift for expats.

One of many of the Gadanke
journals which make the perfect
gift for the expat in your life
(c) Gadanke

Take the "Love where we Live" journal. Many expats move from place to place and this journal helps expats capture the essence of the place they call home. Not just bricks and mortar but what makes the town you live in tick? How does it smell? What happens there? What does the room you play in look like? Capture it. Record it. Celebrate it. When your expat adventures are over you'll have a collection of stories and memories to treasure and share with your children and their children. Take a look inside Katie's journal that she used when she lived in Berlin.

And one more idea, I've been talking a lot recently about expats passing on traditions and the culture of their birth country to their children and there's a journal to help with that too: Joy to the World. It's a journal to capture the essence of Christmas and how you celebrate it. It's a way of recording what Christmas means to you and your family no matter where you are living right now.

Christmas Journals to capture the essence of your family Christmas
no matter where you are living. What makes it different each year because
you're an expat?
(c) Gadanke

What Expat Stories Have you got to Share?

Stories of expat living cry out to be captured. Listen to what Katie has to say on this topic,

"As expats, we're venturing into this all-new territory. Even the simplest things like grabbing a few towels at the store becomes a challenge because first you have to figure out which store sells towels! You can have the funniest experiences as well as the most frustrating. I still remember my classmates in language class pronouncing my name "Kevin"! But how much of these stories would you and I remember if we didn't pause to document them? I think that it's so important for an expat to journal. Trust me. It helps you work through your experiences. It helps you celebrate them! So many former expats have told me, "I wish I'd written that down. I wish I could remember how I felt and what it was like." 

Your story matters. This adventure you're navigating through matters."

I haven't talked about the baby and wedding journals, kids' journals and the journal to help you find direction, to capture your travel adventures, to record recipes.... phew, you know what there are so many more why don't you head over to Gadanke and check it out for yourself. 

Web election audience overtakes newspapers

In 2008, the Internet and newspapers were tied in the number of people who turned to each them for news about the presidential election.  This year, the Internet absolutely buried newspapers as the preferred source for campaign news.

The dramatic shift in the relevance, authority and influence of newspapers on this most consequential of news stories was revealed in a comprehensive post-election

The Expat Guide to the Dutch Crazy Season

As the crazy season gets going here are some older blog posts to help expats come through the other side sane and relatively calm.

First things first, an expat in the Netherlands always needs to get used to the Sinterklaas thing. Suck it up because it will happen regardless of whether you approve of Sint's helpers, the sugar feasts, and the fact that children are literally bouncing off walls at this time of the year. Sinterklaas will arrive this Saturday on his boat full of Zwarte Pieten and presents and you can't stop it (times and dates in your town here). And let's face it, why would you want to? It's fun. Honestly. If you have children it is.

Best thing to do is read up on it, accept it and then join in. As soon as the good Sint heads back to Spain, the Dutch dump their Zwarte Piet costumes and start to prepare for Christmas.

Here are some posts from the archive to catch up on about Sinterklaas and Christmas:

5 December - It's a Dutch Thing - the post in which I explain the essential tools for a successful Pakjesavond

From the Dutch Sinterklaas to Christmas - the post in which I explain the relief at transitioning from my lesser known holiday (Sinterklaas) to my centre of expertise (Christmas)

Passing on Festive Traditions - the post in which I explain to my dual nationality child the difference between Sinterklaas and Father Christmas

Eight Tips Series: Shopping in the Netherlands - the post in which I give life saving advice for the gift buying frenzy that you will have to do in the next few weeks.

Christmas Tree Top - Dutch Style - the post in which I explain that the Dutch don't do fairies or angels when it comes to Christmas tree toppings and you may need a safety helmet throughout the festive period if you top your tree Dutch style. You have been warned.

Rent or Adopt a Christmas Tree - the post in which I explain that you have options when it comes to putting that Christmas tree up.

Making Christmas Just Like Christmas - the post in which I explain Christmas can be recreated using your local expat shop.

Home for the Holidays - in which I sympathise that Christmas can be an emotional time for an expat

Gezellig Dining - where I share my first Dutch Christmas dining experience

So that's it - an archive of Sinterklaas celebrations and Christmases gone by. Enjoy!

Gift Ideas Crafted by Creative Expats (1): Softies from La Petite Lulu

As promised here is the first post on ideas for Christmas gifts (or 5 December) courtesy of creative expats.

Meet Beckett the Bassett Hound -
soon to be welcomed into the van
Mulligen household
(c) La Petite Lulu

First up - La Petite Lulu's wonderful handmade soft toys for babies and children. Unbeknown to my children they will each be the proud and happy owner of a unique cuddly animal on the 5th December. That's if I can wait that long to give the softies to them and not put them in their shoes before Pakjesavond. I can vouch first hand that these soft toys are amazing. They are incredibly cute, and unique.

(c) La Petite Lulu

Luana, the clever crafter of these little cuties, is an Australian currently living in California in the US. Up until March this year she called the Netherlands home, which is how I came to follow her expat adventures through pregnancy, birth and now motherhood via her La Petite Lulu blog.

Monty the Monkey - a unique
custom gift for my son
(c) La Petite Luana

All her softies are hand sewn or knitted, made from recycled fabrics and all very affordable. From dinosaurs to cars, and fairies to flowers, La Petitie Lulu has a great range for everyone. However, if your child's favourite animal or item isn't on display.... she's happy to take custom orders. That's how Monty the Monkey was born - I asked Luana if she could make a monkey and two days later she sent me a photo of her creation. You can't get a more unique gift than that!

To buy one of these little treasures head on over to her Etsy shop.

But wait, one more thing before you disappear... for readers of this blog there is an exclusive discount of 15% off La Petite Lulu's softies. Just enter the code DOUBLEBUGGY at the Etsy checkout. 

This one's made a new home
with our family but Pavel the Penguin is ready
to be adopted if you're quick
(c) La Petite Lulu

Meet Fitzroy the Frog
(c) La Petite Lulu

Little Gray Car
(c) La Petite Lulu

 There are many more amazing designs over in Luana's Etsy store!

**I would just like to mention that I am not receiving any commission for promoting any items in this blog series - I am just sharing the love for creative expats because their products are awesome!! :-)**

Gift Ideas Crafted by Creative Expats - Coming Soon!

It's the season for giving creative expat gifts
Photo: Wong Mei Teng

Leaving your home and moving abroad often requires you to think a little outside the box. If you don't want your working life to take a nose dive into oblivion that is. Expats tend, therefore, to be creative creatures. According to the Economist in an article entitled "Living abroad gives you a creative edge" (it's all in the title right?),

"Anecdotal evidence has long held that creativity in artists and writers can be associated with living in foreign parts. Rudyard Kipling, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, Paul Gauguin, Samuel Beckett and others spent years dwelling abroad."

Creative expats are therefore in extremely good company. And there are lots around. At a drop of a hat I can name expat writers, photographers, crafters, bakers, artists - the list goes on.

So.... as the season of present giving is fast approaching (don't forget pakjesavond on 5 December for those in the Netherlands) I thought it might be a good time to share some of these creative expat geniuses with you all. And whats more watch this space for exclusive discounts for some of the amazing gift ideas coming up over the next couple of weeks.

Newspaper endorsements: Out of step?

Supporters of President Obama gasped prior to the election when four of the major newspapers in Iowa backed Mitt Romney for president in that crucial state. As it turns out, they needn’t have worried, with the President breezing to victory with 52% of the Hawkeye vote.



But the endorsements penned by the Des Moines Register, Cedar Rapids Gazette, Quad-City Times and Sioux City Journal were

The Interview About Police Trailers and Falling In Love

Want to read an interview with me about expat life in the Netherlands? Well then today is your lucky day because there just happens to be an interview which has gone live on Expats Blog.

If you want to read about borrowed police trailers, falling in love with a Dutchman, making the switch to a dream career and the difficulty of leaving family behind then head over to the interview now. 

And whilst you are there please take a second or two to leave a kind word about this blog or my expat parenting blog to help me win an Expats Blog Netherlands blog award. 

Newspapers failing to diversify digital audience

Though newspapers have been pretty good over the years at growing traffic on their websites, they are shockingly bad at capitalizing on the social power of the digital media to broaden their audiences.

Audience diversification is important, because the typical newspaper website is read, more or less, by the same senior citizens who take the print paper. Here’s how serious the demographic

Newspapers lost 31.5% of ad share in 4 years

Newspapers have lost nearly a third of their share of the advertising market in the last four years, with the dollars – no surprise here – shifting to the online and mobile media, according to a new study from eMarketer, an independent research company. 

The decline in newspaper ad share – which is far deeper than drops in the other legacy media in the same period – appears to be a direct

Tipping Over to the Dutch Side (2) - Yards and Meters

That'll be 3/4 miles, not kilometres...
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

My last post was about the little things I noticed during a recent trip to England that may mean I have started tipping over to the Dutch side. My Britishness is diminishing a little. Here's another example.

Sitting in my dad's car on the way to his house from Southampton airport he had the sat nav system on. A female voice was telling him about things that he should be doing in a few hundred yards. She may as well have been talking gobbledygook. Yards? I had no idea how long we would need to drive to get a few hundred yards further.

I realised I've gone completely metric. Metres I know. Centimetres I get. Yards means nothing to me any more. A foot is vaguely familiar but not a measurement I think in. Inches I fondly remember. But meters and centimetres are my friends.

Officially the UK has gone partially metric but signposts must display distances in miles and yards and not kilometres or metres. Length and width restrictions on roadsigns are in feet and inches and weight is generally still thought of as stones and pounds rather than the kilograms used in Europe.

It's taken a while to stop thinking of myself as five foot something and remember that I am 166 cm high. However, I'm now there and I recently discovered that tipping over to the Dutch side means that yards, feet and inches are now a part of my history.

Expats Blog Awards: Get your Commenting Hats On

ExpatsBlog.com is running an expats blog award and I'm on the campaign trail. You can help my "Expat Life with a Double Buggy" blog stand out with your kind words.

To help earn an award you simply follow the link through to the listing of "Expat Life With a Double Buggy" on the ExpatsBlog.com site and leave a rating and a comment. So if you're a regular reader and like what you read head on over and comment away. Of course, you can also leave a comment and a rating for this "A Letter from the Netherlands" blog if you enjoy what you read here about expat life in the Netherlands.

And whilst you're over at ExpatsBlog.com......

ExpatsBlog.com provides a list of expat blogs by country to help expats find relevant posts to read. A great place to start if you're looking for an overview of bloggers and information in your host country.

Tipping Over to the Dutch Side (1) - Being Chauffeured

As I already mentioned, I was recently back in England for a few days and I was quite alarmed to see how used to Dutch life I had become. I have realised for some time now that I exist in a world between being British and being quite a lot "Dutchified". But it would appear that with some things I have started tipping over to the Dutch side.

Left side? Right side?
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

Take for example getting in to a car. A very simple thing. However, when I was getting in to the front of my dad's car in England I had to do some swift, hard thinking about where I should be sitting. I was a passenger so I logically had to get in to the left of the English car. But this went against every grain of instinct because of so many years of getting in to the passenger side of a Dutch car so each time I had to do a double take before I headed for the correct side.

I started to understand why Europeans mutter about the Brits making life difficult with everything being on the "wrong" side.

Note to self: probably a lot easier in future to just wait for the driver to get in and then get whichever side they didn't.

There were a more things that seemed a bit foreign in England so look out for Tipping Over to the Dutch Side (2)......

Fluorescent Tape & Jackets: Taking the Thinking Out of British Health & Safety

Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

I recently returned to England for a couple of days and for the first time in many years I actually flew over. I was flying to Southampton with FlyBe and instead of parking the plane in the vicinity of the airport terminal the plane was parked in Rotterdam so a bus took us from the Schiphol departure lounge to the plane. (For those not au fait with the British sense of humour, the plane was not actually parked in Rotterdam..... but it was a little bus ride from the terminal. You won't believe the blank looks I get from non-Brits when I'm being sarcastic.)

We piled off the bus onto the tarmac and formed a semi-orderly queue to go up the plane steps. The plane was a little one. Well, not like a two seater little one, but it certainly wasn't a jumbo jet. The little plane had propellors, which were turning slowly for a little while as we queued to get onto the plane.

Surprisingly no one leapt from the queue to put their head in the way of the propellors, just to see what would happen. In fact, no one moved out of line and instead continued to shuffle forward to get on the plane. No deaths, beheadings, or slight mutilations. Common sense and self-preservation prevailed.

My return flight from Southampton a few days later involved us walking a few meters from the gate to the airplane steps. Same type of airplane. Same propellors but this time no movement from the propellors. Even if they had been moving no passenger was in any danger because a fluorescent green band placed strategically around the side of the plane ensured that we could not get further than the steps leading up to the plane. No chance of a confused pensioner heading for the back of the plane, no possibility that a tall Dutchman should bang his noggin against the wing and certainly no room for a freak accident involving a propellor and a curious passenger.

Planes in Britain are more dangerous than in the
Netherlands.......
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

And if we hadn't seen the fluorescent green tape lining the plane perimeter there were strategically placed people in fluorescent green jackets to ensure that there was no straying. In short, the only way any passenger was getting anywhere near the plane was via the steps and inside.

I've heard lots of expats in Britain talking about health and safety gone mad. I've heard lots of things from family, particularly when they are over here in the Netherlands and pointing out situations that would NEVER be allowed in Britain. They comment that the British are no longer allowed to rely on common sense to keep themselves out of dangerous situations - it's all done for them with fluorescent tape and men in fluorescent jackets.

What do you think: has health and safety gone crazy in Britain? What are health and safety precautions like in the country you live in?

A Foodie Alice Awarded ... For Mushy Peas

I recently wrote about my dislike for mushy peas. Well actually it's a little more than a dislike. It's an intense hate relationship. Mushy peas are evil. Evil. Anyway, where was I? Yes, I recently wrote about mushy peas as the one food I certainly don't miss from my birth country. And The Displaced Nation awarded a Food Alice for the piece and gave a very magical shout out for the blog post.

If you are not familiar with The Displaced Nation, the site for the global voyager, then head on over - you won't regret it.

This is what The Displaced Nation had to say about the award:

"Amanda, we award you this Food Alice for the feat of turning the typical “foods I miss from home” post on its head. That’s what it means to step through the looking glass. You’re a smart cookie and the rest of us would do well follow your example and focus on the “evil” accompaniments to our native cuisines that for health reasons alone, we’re lucky to have escaped from."

It's the second time in a short period that I am reassured that there are people in the blogosphere reading and appreciating my blogs. It's motivating me to get blog posts out a little more regularly than over the last year........

Bringing Up Brits Guest Post

Bringing Up Brits by
Meghan Fenn

Meghan Fenn, author of "Bringing Up Brits", a book about the cultural aspects of expats raising children in Britain, has a blog of the same name. She shares the cultural issues she faces as an American raising her British born children in Britain. Her husband is British, and she's finding that her children fail to identify with her American background and culture, seeing everything from a British perspective.


It's a fascinating topic. How, as an expat, do you share your own birth country and culture with your children when they were born elsewhere? It's an issue I've written about before on my blog Expat Life with a Double Buggy. It's not easy to instil a sense of foreign identity into children when they come into so little contact with the culture, people, language and traditions. She also gives a great insight into how the British come across to a foreigner. It's quite eye opening.....

So I was delighted when Meghan asked me to write a guest post for her blog. You can read "Standing Out From the Dutch Crowd, British Style" over on the Bringing Up Brits blog, and check out lots of other great posts and join in the discussion whilst you're there.

How do your children stand out from the crowd in the place that you now call home?

The incredible shrinking newspaper audience

Once the definitive mass medium, newspapers – in both their print and digital incarnations – have shrunk to being niche players in the typical market, according to a number of must-read research reports released in the last few weeks.With approximately a third of adults in the average community saying they use either a print or digital edition of their local paper to stay informed, newspapers

Dutch Difficulty

There is (at least) one word in the Dutch language that still eludes me. It's a word that I just can't quite my tongue round. It's a word I'll avoid saying if at all possible.

That place hard for expats to say...
Photo: (c) Amanda van Mulligen

The list of impossible words was, of course, once quite long. The Dutch language is not the easiest for a British person to pronounce. There are lots of throaty sounds which don't exist in the English language.

When I first came to the Netherlands I lived temporarily in a place called Voorschoten. Thankfully it was only for a few months because I really couldn't pronounce it properly in those early days. It's the "sch" part that caused issues. The same sound is the culprit when non-Dutch visitors are trying to say Scheveningen. It took a while, but I did eventually master the guttural sound.

Non-Dutch speakers should avoid "Uitgang"
Photo: (c) Amanda van Mulligen

Ui (the Dutch word for onion) was the other word that I avoided if I could, simple enough if you refuse to talk about food. That meant I also couldn't talk about leaving the house (uitgaan) or about exits (uitgang). But I got over those hurdles.

However, one word remains. It sits as a solitary, lonely word on my 'impossible to say' list. It glares at me, sits there with an evil smile, daring me to make a fool of myself, challenging me to find an alternative way of saying it.

Difficulty. I have difficulty with the Dutch word for difficulty. Moeite. There, I've said it out loud. Faced my Dutch demon but alas, I still can't say it like a native.

What word eludes you in your host country language? Why?

Photoshopping the news before Photoshop

For those who think phony photos originated in the Age of Photoshop, there is ample evidence to the contrary in a new show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. 

Titled “Faking It,” the museum has assembled nearly 200 examples of photos that were manipulated via airbrush, multiple exposures, darkroom derring-do and other means to appear to be something other than what they were. The

The inside scoop on hiring outsiders

When former BBC boss Mark Thompson starts work as the chief executive of the New York Times Co., he will become the highest-profile example yet of an emerging trend among publishers to hire leaders from outside the newspaper business. 

He’s also a curious choice, as discussed in a moment.  First, some background: 

The idea of recruiting outsiders is a radical departure for an industry that

How confident are publishers, really?

I can’t figure out what to make of the strangely inconsistent findings in a pair of new polls measuring the degree of confidence that publishers have in the future of newspapers. Can you? Here is what we know:




On the bullish side of the ledger, a survey released recently by the University of Missouri found that two out of three publishers are “optimistic” about the future of the newspaper

Is there a tomorrow for USA Today?

USA Today celebrated its 30th anniversary last week with a plump commemorative edition and a meh facelift, but can it survive another 30 years? As a digital brand, potentially.  As a print publication, probably not.  

The third-largest newspaper in the country by circulation, USA Today admittedly is in a class by itself, as the only general-interest national newspaper.  Its weekday distribution

Do I Not Like Mushy Peas

Prompted by a post written by Marianne over on her "Like A Sponge" blog about pulse discrimination, this post is about mushy peas.

Mushy peas are essentially soaked marrowfat peas which are then cooked. The end result is a thick, lumpy, green splodge. And yes, that is the technical term for them.....

They are traditionally served with the great British fish and chips, which regular readers will know I am a fan of. However, there is no way, no how, I will eat fish and chips with mushy peas. They are vile. Foul. By far, mushy peas are my most loathed food. The most disgusting monstrous green mess that has ever passed my lips. They turn my stomach. Mushy peas are in fact evil green mush.

Mushy Peas in all their glory
Photo: Carol (Flickr) (Creative Commons)

And that green? It's not real. It's an artificial colouring to make them greener than green. Artificial green mush.

And whilst I am on the subject of peas, I don't think much of parched peas either. Also known as black peas, this is a traditional Lancashire dish. A good friend introduced me to them in Preston. She bought them from a food stand in town and then tried to force feed them to me. Their evilness was one step below mushy peas on the food evilness scale.

Reading Marianne's post and being forced to conjure up images of mushy peas, I was hastily reminded to never, ever be diminutive of the mashed up meals that constitutes Dutch cuisine. At least the Dutch do not do mushy peas.

What food from your home country do you NOT miss? Have you ever had the misfortune to eat mushy peas?

Nomination for Expatica's Expat Blog Competition

I am delighted and flabbergasted to announce that my newest blog, "Expat Life with a Double Buggy" has been nominated for Expatica's "i am not a tourist" Expat Blog Competition. The fact that I am sitting in a list with the most amazing expat bloggers that the Netherlands has to offer is an honour in itself. Added to the fact that my second blog is a new venture that I started at the beginning of this year, I am truly delighted that "Expat Life with a Double Buggy" is already striking a chord with other expat parents out there. This blog is still in its infancy, and I'm still finding my feet with it so I'm chuffed to bits.

Writing a blog (let alone two) whilst being a full time mum to three small children is a challenge. But this kind of recognition certainly makes it all worth while.

As part of the competition I had to nominate my favourite post, and I found it tough. I eventually chose What If My Kids Had Been Born in England? A recent holiday (spurred on by my own childhood vacations) to Cornwall got us thinking about a move there in a few years. Which in turn got me to thinking about how different life would be had I not moved to the Netherlands; if my kids had been born in England. It's fascinating how a birth country can mould the formative years of a child. So that's why I wrote the post, and why I chose it as my favourite.

The Expat Blog Competition is open until the 7th October, the same day as the Expat Fair of the same day. Want to cast your vote for an expat blogger in the Netherlands? You can submit your vote by visiting http://www.expatica.com/iamnotatourist/blog_vote.php

Print ads fell 25x faster than digital grew

Print advertising revenues at newspapers in the first half of this year fell 25 times faster than digital sales grew, demonstrating the feebleness of the industry’s response to the shifting (shifted?) media landscape. 

In the fist six months of 2012, the aggregate print sales of the nation’s papers fell by $796.8 million, or 8.0%, from the prior year, according to data released last week by the

'How did L.A. Times get a grant when I can’t?'

Second of two parts. This first part is here. 


For 24 years, hundreds of Los Angeles high school journalists have learned about reporting, writing and life itself by volunteering at L.A. Youth, a free newspaper read by an estimated 350,000 teens a year. 



But the non-profit publication may not live to celebrate its 25th birthday, says founder Donna Myrow, because she can’t raise enough

Does L.A. Times qualify as a charity case?

Of all the troubled news organizations in all the land, the Ford Foundation recently gave the Los Angeles Times $1 million to hire four reporters, even though the newspaper’s parent company amassed nearly $2.4 billion in cash during its 3½-year bankruptcy.



While there can be no doubt that the foundation has the best of intentions – or that the Times will endeavor to make good journalistic

Newspapers getting outsmarted on mobile

Apple and Google, the two biggest powerhouses in Silicon Valley, have stepped up the battle to make their smart phones smarter so they can grab ever-larger shares of the local advertising market. 

Their efforts are a major threat to newspapers hoping to capitalize on the enviable power of their local franchises to become significant players in the vigorously growing mobile space. Unfortunately,

Part Me, Part Expat: Authenticity and Expat Life

Many years ago I read an article in the Dutch daily newspaper, the NRC, about how people wear 'masks' according to the situation they find themselves in and who they are with.

In essence, people are only really one hundred percent themselves when they are alone. With a partner most, if not all, of the facades come down. However, when people are amongst strangers a wall goes up, or a mask goes on. We adapt to the group we are with.

It is an article that struck me at the time because I can relate to that idea. I'm an introvert. I'm uncomfortable in unfamiliar situations and that means there are very few people on this planet that know the real me. Becoming an expat made the idea of wearing a mask in some situations even more poignant. I have a British mask, my expat mask, my mother mask, my daughter-in-law mask, my writer mask....... and I'm sure this is just a selection of my mask collection.

It's a topic I have touched upon before in an article for Expat Harem. The very nature of being an expat means adapting. It often means communicating in a foreign language. It means hanging with people you don't know. It means following a steep learning curve. It means starting again. It means taking on parts of a new culture. It means reshaping everything you know and moulding it into a new daily life.

How many masks then does an expat wear? How many versions of ourselves are there? Do expats hide a part of themselves away to blend in with their surroundings? Can we really be truly ourselves and let our personality shine though when we are communicating in a foreign language and wrestling with cultural quirks that feel alien and uncomfortable? Does leaving our friends and family behind mean we leave a little part of who we are elsewhere?

“Authentic human interactions become impossible when you lose yourself in a role.” said Eckhart Tolle. Is expat life at the expense of our own authenticity?

What do you think? Is a part of yourself hidden because you live in a foreign country? Do you feel that you are only part of the person you were back in your home country?

Twin threats peril preprint newspaper ads

Preprint advertising, a long-reliable source of business that represents a quarter of the remaining revenue for the struggling newspaper industry, is at greater risk than ever before, owing to a perfect storm of challenges. 

Representing some $5.2 billion a year in sales in 2011, advertising inserts from companies like Best Buy, Target, Kohl’s, Home Depot and Kmart represent the second largest

A British Craving: Fish & Chips

During a recent holiday to Cornwall I realised some of the British things that I miss. Things I don't generally think much about whilst I am in the Netherlands. But once I get to Britain there is a sudden Britishness that comes to the surface that makes me notice things I do actually miss because I am living in the land of the Dutch.

One of those is fish and chips. Some eating establishments in other countries offer fish and chips, even proclaiming it to be like "British" fish and chips. But real fish and chips can only really be found in Britain. Well, that's my opinion anyway.

So I made sure that we ate fish and chips whilst on holiday. Our first attempt at a fish and chip supper was scuppered at Rick Steins fish and chip shop in Padstow . The first issue (and a continuous one throughout our holiday) was that we had no change for the car park. But no worries because husband had a cunning plan - to go ask at Steins for some change. He was told, in a manner and tone that would melt the heart of the most expert of Dutch customer service worker, that they don't give change and if he wouldn't mind getting out of the way and getting to the back of the line. Which of course he wasn't planning to do without any change for the car park. And because he was quite affronted by the manner of the unhelpful worker he decided that we wouldn't be eating any fish and chips there.

So we got a takeaway from a fish and chip shop in Bodmin. My two eldest boys enjoyed their introduction to traditional British fare. It was satisfactory but it never really quashed my fish and chip craving.

Fowey
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

Fish & Chips
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

Our second fish and chip meal was in Fowey, a beautiful harbour town where we had a fabulous afternoon out on the beach followed by a stroll to the town. We stumbled upon a fish and chip shop which had table and chairs overlooking the harbour. We were sold and this experience knocked my craving for fish and chips out of the stadium for sure. I'm certain I can last a few more years now without any further massive fried food intake....

My "British" Olympics

The Olympic Park
(c) Sarah Rodrigues

I have to admit hearing about the London 2012 Olympics every day for so many years before the Olympics actually started just over two weeks ago was really getting on my nerves. What particularly bugged me was the negativity in the press in the lead up to the games. It seemed that from under every stone someone crawled out with their own opinion about how the games were being planned, budgeted for or  how the venues were being built. I even started writing a blog post way back when I had finally heard enough negativity. But then I decided the post was in itself negative albeit negative about the negativity. So it never went live.

And of course we most recently had a furore about tickets (or lack of). And then the games arrived. And then the tide turned. In spectacular fashion. For two weeks Brits were captivated. My Facebook was full of photos of friends and family that were lucky enough to get tickets for different events. And wow did they have a great time. Some saw the rowing, others saw women's football, some were lucky enough to see the men's football final, the women's pentathlon, hockey and basketball matches and the closing ceremony.

Whatever the sport, whatever the venue, it was clear that the atmosphere was amazing. The noise at the velodrome on TV was spectacular. The atmosphere in the Olympic Stadium could even be felt at home when Jessica Ennis brought home gold for Britain.

Jessica Ennis in the 100m hurdles
(c) Sarah Rodrigues

Every medal was celebrated. Every medal chance was seized by spectators and hopes were high across the board. And Team GB delivered. In style! Third in the medal table is no mean feat.

The Olympics following on from a holiday in Britain where I was surrounded with British flags and products lathered in the British flag has made me feel suddenly very British again! Don't get me wrong, I cheered on the Dutch athletes too (except for the little matter of a hockey victory by the men's team in the semi finals *cough*) but there was no confusion this time around about where my loyalties lay.

The Women's Heptathlon, including Dutch athlete Dafne Schippers
(c) Sarah Rodrigues

How did your country do in the 2012 Olympics? Were you cheering on your home or host country?

The Olympic Flame
(c) Sarah Rodrigues

Being British

A Truly British Sight
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

Following on from the theme in my last blog post about the very unBritish phenomena of showing how British the British...... I am on Pinterest - as many are - and have a board entitled "Being British" which is a collection of pictures that are, quite frankly, about British things.

This ranges from unusual things decorated with British flags and the British Queen to red telephone boxes and British pubs.

If British things float your boat then check out http://pinterest.com/thewritingwell/being-british/

A Wave of Patriotism: How Un-British!

When I moved to the Netherlands I was struck by the flag flying that goes on here. Many households have a flag pole attached to their house and at least once a year on Queen's Day a Dutch flag flaps proudly from the pole. Remembrance Day and Liberation Day are also marked by residents with flags outside their home.

I was struck by it because I didn't grow up with a lot of flag waving in Britain. There was some British flag flying when Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in 1981. There was a wave of patriotism in 1977 when the Queen celebrated her silver jubilee. But other than that I cannot remember any real notable occasions when British flags could be seen in the streets. Until this year.

Having just come back from nearly three weeks in England I was amazed to see the scale of British flag flying going on: across pub fronts, in shop windows, across village greens and in house windows. A combination of the Queen's jubilee and Britain hosting the Olympics seems to have caused an outpouring of British sentiment and patriotism.

Here are some of the photos I captured of the 'British being un-British'.

Flying the British Flag on your Motor
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

Flying the British Flag at Home
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

FLying the British Flag at the Pub
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

Flying the British Flag at Land's End
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

A Cornish Off Licence Joins the Flag Flying
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

A Wool Shop Shows its Patriotism too
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

British Beer?
(c) Amanda van Mulligen

And not to be outdone, the family Ipad is also showing some British patriotism....

Big Data is a big deal for newspapers

Just when you thought you had a handle on digital publishing, here comes a paradigm shift that will be more counterintuitive and more disconcerting for newspapers than all the technological innovations that have come before. 

The disruptor du décade is called Big Data and it involves the collection, slicing and dicing of fragments of information that can be rapidly assembled to identify subtle

Investigative reporting lives! On YouTube!

“How are we going to get investigative reporting to work for the digital media?” a frustrated editor asked me in a recent conversation.   

“Our newspaper got a tremendous number of page views on the first day of an ambitious eight-part series and a decent number of hits on the second day,” he lamented.  “But traffic just died after that.” 

The answer, of course, is to leverage the power of the

Why ‘future of journalism’ confabs fail

After recently attending the latest in the never-ending series of “future of journalism” conferences, I finally realized why they all fail:  They don’t include the right people. 

While these well-intended yakfests are rich in whining and dining ops, journo-futuramas generate few practical or actionable ideas because they lack the perspectives of four key constituencies:  

∷ Consumers – The

What’s next for newspapers?

Not so very long ago, the newspaper business was a snap:  Build the largest possible audience, sell the most possible ads, charge the highest possible rates, print the fattest possible papers and pump out the biggest possible profits.  

This enviable model worked exquisitely for generations, because publishers had little, if any competition.  But it is now clear, as attested by the 50% drop in

A digital publishing model that works

There’s a publisher whose sales doubled in the first quarter of this year, with display advertising revenues climbing 73%, subscription sales rising 90% and recruitment revenues gaining 122%. 

The publisher’s name is LinkedIn and the quarter was not unusual.  The sales of the digital networking and recruiting site grew by 114.8% in 2011 – at the same time interactive revenues at America’s

Fear of Driving in the Netherlands

Before I moved to the Netherlands I drove a car on the roads of Britain. Quite frequently if the truth be known. Prior to my move I hadn't really thought about driving whilst living in the Netherlands, or more accurately I hadn't given it any thought at all. And then I came here and thought,

"Ok, they drive on the wrong side of the road, whilst sitting on the wrong side of the car."

Now of course, before I moved, I did realise that. It wasn't a surprise. For some reason the whole of Europe drives on the wrong side of the road. But having been confronted visually with the reality, my next thought wasn't,

"Right, screw that. I'm not driving here at all if they can't drive on the correct side of the road."

My Kind of Driving
Photo (c) The Writing Well

But it is what happened. Nearly twelve years after moving to the Netherlands I am now taking driving lessons, with an instructor who specialises in helping those with a fear of driving. So, now I have said it aloud and told the world I have to persevere. Yesterday, in the hours leading up to my second lesson, I tried to think of every and any reason why I couldn't possibly go ahead with the lesson. I couldn't have felt more nervous and stressed about it, and that despite the fact that the lesson the week before had gone okay. I got back home in one piece, as did the instructor and the car. Success in my book!

It's been a strange journey to this point. Driving has never been a love in my life, more a handy skill to have and a helpful way of getting from A to B. My driving career didn't get off to a great start (the words "Tesco car park" and "bollard" are all you are getting) and I passed my test at the second attempt. After that it all went well for a few years.

Then I moved to the Netherlands. For some reason I made a mountain out of the fact that everything was on the other side. I did a few minutes round a car park on one occasion in my first week. Every now and then I would get behind the wheel, drive around for a little but and then declare it all a lost cause.

So for years I drove maybe once a year - in the US so I could say I had driven on Route 66 and once in Denmark. A few years ago I drove my eldest to the local farm. I didn't enjoy it but it went okay. It should have been the trigger to drive more. But for a reason I can't explain it wasn't.

Now with three children getting out and about without my husband chauffeur is tricky to say the least. I want to be able to take them places in the school vacations, and know that if I need to get to the doctor quickly I can thrown them all in the car and get there without the hassle there is now.

However, to feel confident enough to drive with my three kids in the back of the car I need to feel confident about driving in general. And of course with little practical application in the last twelve years that isn't the case. So I want another experienced driver in the car with me, but not my kids who are not only a distraction to say the least but also extremely precious cargo.

So there was the option of getting a babysitter so my husband could sit in the passenger seat whilst I cruise the local streets in our car. When we had finished laughing at that idea (we get out on our own once a year so such so we won't be wasting that on driving - we'd rather have a dinner or a movie together!!) we tried to think how else we could overcome this issue.

After a bit of internet searching I found someone local who specialises in driving lessons for those with a fear of driving. That was a year, a year and a half ago. And nothing was ever followed up. Until this year in March. For my birthday my husband presented me with a certificate for driving lessons to get me back on the road, full of confidence...... You can imagine my face unwrapping that!! However, it's a good thing because, albeit it two months later, I have finally taken the important step of trying to face my fear of being behind a wheel on the Dutch roads.

Traffic Jams are as common as cheese
in the Netherlands
Photo (c) The Writing Well

Having had two lessons I am now able to articulate exactly what it is that scares the crap out of me on the roads here:

• Lots of roads are small. Narrow. Barely enough room to allow two horses to pass, let alone two modern day cars. My instructor has disputed this, explaining that two cars can pass fine on most Dutch roads. 
• Many of the roads which look like they are too small for two horses to pass run next to a body of water. You see where I am going with this I'm sure.....
• Dutch people drive very close to the car in front of them. I had it yesterday - a car lodged on the back seat of the car I was driving. My instructor told me to ignore him, and explained that he knew no better. How the hell did he get a driving licence then? She assured me that he hadn't taken driving lessons with her.
• The roads are congested. At least here in the Randstad - there are cars everywhere, all fighting for space on the road. That means traffic jams and accidents.
• Drivers coming from the right on roads with no markings have priority. That means they can pull out right in front of you and are actually in the right. So you can crawl along at a snail's pace hoping no one hits you, or you can peg it down the road as fast as possible and hope you are out of the way by the time they pull out. The latter apparently is not the method approved by any qualified driving instructor. 
• Many Dutch road users do not see a red traffic light as a sign to stop the car and wait. 
• Not only do you have to watch out for other cars, you also have to check in seventeen directions at every crossing and roundabout to make sure there are no cyclists, pedestrians, electric wheelchairs or rambling groups that wish to cross the road. They all seem to have priority. However, when I am on a bike, in a rambling group (does walking around with my three boys qualify under this?) or just plain walking about I seem to have no priority at all.

As you can tell, the journey will be a long one before I am sitting comfortably behind the wheel of a car here...... but at least the journey has now started!

What Am I?

What if the hat doesn't fit?
Photo: ChIandra4U

I've lived in the Netherlands for almost 12 years . I've no plans to move back to my birth country, England. My family is here in the Netherlands, my husband and three sons that is. My sons are definitely more Dutch than British. I feel integrated into the Dutch way of life (as far as humanly possible with the exception of Dutch circle parties which I don't do).

The family I left behind is still firmly rooted in England and always will be. So there will always be a reason to return there. At least for visits.

I live in a world between being Dutch and being British.

So what am I? No, it's not a trick question. Technically I'm an expat.

According to Wikipedia,

"An expatriate (in abbreviated form, expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing. The word comes from the Latin terms ex ("out of") and patria ("country, fatherland"). In its broadest sense, an expatriate is any person living in a different country from where he or she is a citizen."

In more detail, Wikipedia describes the difference between an expat and am immigrant:

"In common usage, the term is often used in the context of professionals sent abroad by their companies, as opposed to locally hired staff. The differentiation found in common usage usually comes down to socio-economic factors, so skilled professionals working in another country are described as expatriates, whereas a manual labourer who has moved to another country to earn more money might be labelled an 'immigrant'."

So yes, technically I am an expat. I live outside my birth country and the one I was raised in. But I have always felt uncomfortable describing myself as an expat. The reason for this lies in the socio-economic implications of an expat, as described above. 

I worked for a company that sent 'expats' overseas for assignments. I wasn't in the same category as those expats. I was a different kind of expat. And consequently I have felt uncomfortable with the term expat to describe my situation. It doesn't feel like it sums up who or what I am.

Vegemite Vix (and the prompt for this blog post) posed this question on her blog: when do you stop seeing yourself as an expat and start seeing yourself as an immigrant who has moved for good?

Immigrant is defined as:

1. A person who leaves one country to settle permanently in another.

2. A plant or animal that establishes itself in an area where it previously did not exist.

I like the second definition by the way..... Can we change that to a person that establishes himself where he previously did not exist? That has a dreamy quality about it, and I can identify with that. A person that leaves one country to settle permanently in another. Permanently as in forever? Regular readers will know that I just covered that topic!  Am I an immigrant? Technically yes. Do I identify with that description? No. 

So I'm not an expat and I'm not an immigrant. Not in my eyes anyway. So what am I?

One reader of Mother in France's story offered the term "lifer" up. Not in the prison sentence way... but in the "move away forever" way. Vegemite Vix offered the term "New Dutch". Not sure what Geert Wilders would have to say about that...... Mother in France feels like an 'inbetweeny" too. 

I'm certainly not the only one with an expat identity crisis. What about you? What's a good word for us?