Entrepotdok, Amsterdam

No, the person in the cherry picker isn’t fixing something, just cleaning the grime off the windows. Like many other cleaning rituals, this is an obsession in Amsterdam. You can also still occasionally see a fellow with a long ladder balanced on a wagon, but the more modern equipment is commoner now. In addition to the national fetish with sanitation, letting the maximum light in is important more than halfway to the North Pole. This building is part of the Entrepotdok redevelopment which was an early example of the conversion of historically important buildings (in this case a warehouse) into social, i.e. public, housing.

Although I’ve been to Amsterdam’s airport dozens of times, I’ve never failed to see windows being washed, whether outside or inside, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there are people who do nothing else.  Even the internal windows are gleaming, and the glass you can’t see through reflects as perfectly as any mirror.  Although I think of myself as a good housekeeper, the Dutch are so much better.  Our apartment rent has nearly always included a weekly or bi-weekly cleaning to be sure standards were kept up.

In my upcoming novel An Address in Amsterdam, cleaning is an important part of everyday life.  After the family’s Gentile housekeeper is no longer allowed to work for a Jewish household, my heroine Rachel and her mother do all the work themselves, which was unusual for the middle class at that time.