Books

With high hopes my friend and I drove to the Veluwse Boekenmarkt. It was only a short drive, about 10 kilometers, down a road lined with trees with peeks through to the moor. We saw the sign to the book market, and we saw numerous cars lining the street. So we parked and then strolled around the corner. And what did we see? A country lane, lined with approximately 20 stalls. There were cows in the field behind the stalls.
Hmmm, it looked cute, but it didn't quite match my expectations. I had read that people came from all over Holland to sell books, and that there would be different areas of expertise represented there.
My worst fears were realized when I walked up to the first stall..... piles and piles of old fashioned christian books. Authors that I have not read, but heard about from my grandparents. Theological books, mostly of the reformed kind. Recorded sermons on CD's.
I desperately walked from stall to stall, politely asking each stall holder if they had english books. Not ONE to be found, ladies and gentlemen. And let me just add that every stall was manned by an older man wearing a suit or by a lady wearing a skirt and glasses, with her hair in a bun.
We had entered the book stronghold of the Dutch Bible Belt.

It was not an experience I want to repeat.