Mediatech Limited

Dapperstraat Market (Dappermarkt)

2012-01-09T01:38:00.000-08:00

Everyone has heard of the Albert Cuypt Market in Amsterdam, however there is a quieter alternative in the east of the city. To reach the Dapperstraat take any Metro from Amsterdam-Centraal to the Weesperlein and then change to tram-7 (Dapperstraat). You can also take a train to Amsterdam Muiderpoort.

http://www.dappermarkt.nl/

There are also many other markets in the Netherlands and details can be found here: http://www.hollandsemarkten.nl/

Reforms to the healthcare system

2011-11-14T02:01:00.000-08:00

Every year the Dutch government reviews the items that have to be included in the statutory basic healthcare package, and this means that regardless of your level of insurance, you are entitled to these healthcare items. For details of this list see: http://www.verzekeringssite.nl/

Dentistry is also changing and providers have to publish their charges up-front so that you can estimate how much a treatment will cost, and choose your provider accordingly. The idea is that if one dentist charges €1000 for a crown, and everyone else charges €500, you can see this immediately, and decide if the extra charge can be justified by a difference in the treatment you may receive.

Be very careful that you are correctly and adequately insured from day-one of your stay in NL as mistakes can be costly, and the government is cracking down on those who seek to avoid paying for insurance. You will also most likely find that international schemes are not valid, and cannot be used as an excuse for avoiding payment into these schemes!

Something for the kids

2011-10-03T02:37:00.001-07:00

If you have small children and are stuck for something different to do that does not cost the earth then why not spend a days in the woods? The Amsterdamse Bos is fewer than 10km from the city centre and close to the A9.

There are lots of great things to there including walking and cycling, but my favourite place for kids is: http://www.geitenboerderij.nl/

Expats Exhibition

2011-09-22T03:43:00.001-07:00

For anyone who is in Amsterdam on 23rd October you should check out this exhibition as it is a great resource for ex-pats and those looking to settle here in the Netherlands: http://www.expatica.com/iamnotatourist/

Auto (re)loading public transport cards

2011-09-05T22:38:00.000-07:00

Everyone in the Netherlands is used to using a single smartcard to pay for all their train, tram, and bus transport, and within the next year paper tickets will be gradually withdrawn from many stations, and will only be available from special outlets (and at a premium price).

Fortunately the OV chip-cards are easily obtained from vending machines and main stations. Most people opt for an anonymous card that requires constant monitoring and refilling, and this can be a pain. Fortunately it is very easy to get an auto-reloading photo card simply be applying at https://www.ov-chipkaart.nl/. All that is required is a digital head-shot/passport style photo that you upload directly to the site and edit to achieve your desired look, and your bank details.

You will then receive the card by post within a few days. You then need to manually top it up once to activate it, and then you can enjoy carefree travel for the next five years.

The cost of running a car in NL

2011-08-25T05:45:00.000-07:00

Owning a car in the Netherlands can be a very expensive business due a mix of complex bureaucracy and heavy taxation. The best bet is to lease a car through your employer and then reclaim some of the running costs through expense claims.

If you do more than 500kms per year of private motoring then you have to pay a monthly tax that is based upon a percentage of the purchase price of the car when it was new. This rate normally starts at 14%, and is known as Bijtelling, although some low-emission vehicles are tax-free. If you wish to get a tax exemption because you do no private mileage then you have to apply personally to the Belastingdienst.

In order to reclaim your business travel you need to record the odometer settings at the start and end of each journey, and retain all your fuel (VAT) receipts.

If you buy a car you also have to get car insurance and pay another monthly TAX (wegenbalasting). As in Germany diesels are Each year your car has to be tested for road worthiness (APK) which is like the UK MOT.

You must always carry your driver's licence or passport when you drive, and keep the vehicle registration documents in the vehicle in case you are stopped by the police. Failure to produce your documents can result in a large on the spot fine!You should also carry a warning-triangle for use in case you breakdown.

Ziggo digital TV

2011-08-05T00:49:00.000-07:00

I have finally fixed all my issues with this system. The box requires a lot of ventilation or it just overheats within an hour and you then have to power-off for several hours in order to cool it completely. The best solution is to have the box stood on a hard surface, and without anything else stacked above or below it. If you call Ziggo technical support they seem completely clueless about this kind of problem.

Public Transport Cards (OVC ChipCard)

2011-07-31T23:58:00.000-07:00

The OV (Public Transport) card is now the standard way to access public-transport throughout the Netherlands, and by next year, will be the only way that you can pay for domestic travel.

The card works on both the trains and the buses, however be aware that if you fail to check-out at the end of your journey you will be charged €4 on the bus or tram, and €20 on the train, so it can be an expensive mistake to make. There is a way to claim this back from the www.ov.nl site, however I have never tried it, and suspect it may be difficult.

You should also note that before you can use your card to pay for train travel it must have a minimum of €20 credit on it and you have to go the ticket office at certain stations and they will enable the card.

If you are a heavy user of the card it is a good idea to go to the OV Chipcard site (http://www.ov-chipkaart.nl/) and order an auto-loading card with your photo on it. You start by ordering the forms and then you can upload a digital (passport-type) photo for use on the card. The card is linked to your NL bank account and payments are taken automatically every month, so you never have to worry about having insufficient credit.

Ziggo digital TV

2011-07-16T07:04:00.000-07:00

If you have a second TV in your house or apartment and want to be able use digital TV it is possible to go directly to shops such as Mediamarkt and buy your own decoder from as little as €70. They will then register the smartcard etc, for you (costs approx €30) and hey presto. The point is that this is far cheaper than going directly to Ziggo.

Digital TV

2011-07-13T01:48:00.000-07:00

Most homes in The Netherlands receive their TV, Internet, and telephone via a single fibre connection provided by companies such as Ziggo and UPC. The selection and quality can vary widely, however they are all pushing their customers to convert from analogue TV to digital (similar to UK Freeview). The advantage is more choice and an EPG. The disadvantage is the extra cost and the need to have a digi-box for every TV.

You may also have to negotiate with your landord over the costs. The alternative is to see the number of channels and quality reducing every week!

Watching UK TV

2011-07-11T02:03:00.000-07:00

I have recently installed OpenVPN from http://vpnuk.info/ on both Fedora Linux and Windows-7/64 and it works really well, far better than any proxy solution such as FoxyProxy. I can now use BBC iPlayer, Channel4-OD, Seesaw, etc.

The performance is most excellent although it can slow a little during peak periods.

PrePay Mobile phones

2011-07-06T23:40:00.000-07:00

Hopefully I can warn at least one person about what is becoming a massive and expensive problem!

Smart phones running Operating Systems such as Android will constantly poll services such as" My Location" or "Gtalk" and each connection can cost up to 50 cents, even when you have no mail etc. This is also a massive problem with "assisted GPS" apps such has Google-maps, and data roaming.

All this means that a phone can eat 50 Euro of credit in a day without you making a single call or sending a text. There are some free applications in the Android Marketplace that will kill some of these apps, however every time you upgrade Android, or power cycle your phone, you need to remember that everything is disabled. Another useful way to prevent this is connect to your WiFi and all your data will then go through the Internet rather than 3g, which obviously only works whilst you are at home, and also greatly reduces your battery life.

There are some good SIM-only deals for services such as BEN and Simpel, however you must carefully check that data is included, and that your phone is unlocked.

Parking in The Netherlands

2011-07-06T05:58:00.000-07:00

If ever you park in a Dutch town you may notice a blue line on or around the space. Be aware that this means that parking is limited to two hours and you must display a cardboard clock behind your windscreen, indicating the time at which you arrived.

Some towns/councils can be very relaxed about this and only check every now and again, whereas others such as Amsterdam will police it vigorously and you can get a large fine, or even have your car towed.

Learning Dutch

2010-04-07T02:51:00.000-07:00

This is perhaps the most difficult thing that you will ever do, and here are some resources that will really help you:

http://www.lauraspeaksdutch.info/

http://www.verbix.com/languages/dutch.shtml
http://www.dutchgrammar.com/en/?n=Verbs.Re12

http://www.taalthuis.com/

http://www.bltc.nl/pages/en_dutch.htm

http://www.katakura.nl/

Making friends when living and working abroard

2010-03-28T22:35:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the hardest part of living and working in a new country is meeting new people. I found that joining www.meetup.com was the best thing I ever it. It is amazing how many people are in exactly the same situation, how much you have in common, and how much fun it can be.

So far I have learned to make pizza, got help with my Dutch, had several meals, and visited countless bars.

Try it, you won't regret it!

Dutch taxes

2010-03-16T06:26:00.000-07:00

Its that time of year again when your agency or payroll company tries to con you out of between Euro 300 and Euro 400 to complete your tax return. (By law they need to provide you with a Jaaropgraaf for each employer in this tax year).

There is really no need to pay anything!

Start by going to www.digid.nl and request a digital-ID. You will need an email account, a dutch mobile, and a valid Dutch address to get the conformation code and enter it into the site. First create a username and you should instantly receive a text message with a validation code. Enter your address details and after about three days you should receive a letter with your activation code, which you simply enter into the site.
Now you have your digid (username and password) download the latest Belastingdienst software and enter your totals from the jaaropgraaf. Many Dutch people will be willing to help you with this and it only takes a few minutes to enter all your information, and if you only do part of it, the data is saved and you can resume from where you left off.

Once you are happy with your figures print and save a copy and then hit "submit". You are now asked for your Digid credentials and then your data is transmitted to the Belastingdienst and you receive an instant receipt code, which you should also keep.

Irony

2009-12-20T22:17:00.000-08:00

Isn't it ironic that we have people calling for the head of Eurostar to resign because snow-shields failed on his companies trains, and an unusually cold snap which caused the failure of trains due to condensation. Yet at the same time we seem to be being asked by business and government to have sympathy for greedy bankers that don't want to be weened of their drug of choice (money)?

Am I the only person in the world that follows the arguments about climate change and rising sea levels, and then sighs as the TV reports cut to reports about the future of Dubai World, an artificial Palm Leaf like sandbar constructed almost at sea level?

Bad advice from Agencies when working abroard

2009-12-14T00:30:00.001-08:00

I am currently living and working in Amsterdam and over the past few months I have been approached by several contractors who appear to be have been deliberately mislead by their agencies and payroll companies. I created this article in order to highlight some of these problems.
Many UK agencies are pushing people toward certain payroll companies/solutions citing that this as the only choice. This is patently untrue and you should be able to arrange this for yourself, so long as your chosen company is completely legal and compliant with Dutch tax laws.
This is not as onerous as it first sounds and the Dutch Tax authorities can be very helpful and a great source of free information if you contact them via telephone, or the web.
http://www.belastingdienst.nl/english/
Your agency should also be able to ask the right questions regarding compliance, as under the "chain laws", they are as liable as you are in the event of a problem.
The next thing to realise is that your contract is with the PAYROLL PROVIDER and NOT directly with the agent, thus it is the PAYROLL PROVIDER that is going to be paying you, not the agent. It is VITAL that you understand this as in the event of problems you need to talk to the right people. The agency will bill the client gross; including their markup, and then transfer the money to the payroll provider who deduct their costs, calculate the taxes, and pay you net of tax.
Most skilled contractors are eligible for 30% tax relief, and it is the PAYROLL PROVIDER that is responsible for applying for this. This can take a couple of weeks and whilst being processed you will be paid without the this relief (like week-1 emergency codes in UK). The provider will hold this money and then give it you back as soon as the application is approved.
If you change payroll company they will try to tell you that you will lose your 30% and can never get it back. This is not true, you only lose it until your new company completes the re-application process.
At the end of each (tax) year the payroll company should provide a Jaaropgraaf (P60) which details what you have earned and the tax paid. Tax is calculated on the assumption that you have worked from Jan-Dec, and therefore if you have entered the country in March, then you could get 2/12's of your tax back.
Some payroll providers will attempt to withhold your Jaaropgraaf and charge huge amounts of money to calculate your year-end tax liability. If this happens demand your paperwork and take it to an independent NL tax adviser .
The final think to look very carefully at is the wording of your contract, DEMAND it in English, and read it thoroughly. Make sure that you understand their payslips and that they explain ALL the charges and deductions.

Health and Safety

2009-12-14T00:29:00.000-08:00

I hope this may make someone smile on a Monday morning:

Born in the 30's - 70's?
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's & 80's

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos..
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.
Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Nandos.
Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY,
no video/dvd films,
no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
Only girls had pierced ears!
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time...
We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays,
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!
RUGBY and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on
MERIT
Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes and bully's always ruled the playground at school.
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.

They actually sided with the law!
Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla'

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

QPROPS - Pension portability

2009-10-31T06:51:00.000-07:00

I learned recently that since April 2006 it has been possible to move your UK pension rights offshore under a scheme known as QPROPS (Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme) so long as this scheme is approved by HMRC and you are either an expat, or can resonably prove that you intend to emigrate:

I will publish more details as soon as I have them.

Windows-7

2009-10-26T10:16:00.000-07:00

I have now installed it on several computers and the only failures I have had so far are Zonealarm which I cannot get to run at all, and AVGFree 9, which runs but has some but has some integration issues. I think it is early days for these kind of products and expect both companies to come out with more W7 friendly versions soon.

One interesting new feature is W7's ability to install some intelligent device drivers such as network printing, and I think that this really sets it apart from Vista.

Windows-7

2009-10-19T08:22:00.001-07:00

As a Microsoft Action Partner I received my full copy of Windows-7 and can say that I am very impressed overall. There are a few niggles, but otherwise it is at least 100 times better than Vista.

Strange bug in AIX shell

2009-10-06T03:09:00.000-07:00

Found a really interesting bug in the AIX shell today. If you run "ls -lrt /mydir/myfiles" from the shell prompt, you get the correct answer, however if you run it as part of a Korn/Posix shell script, you get a random answer?

Any ideas on why this happens would be gratefully received.

AIX NMon

2009-09-23T04:39:00.000-07:00

AIX 5.3 TL10 now includes Nmon (Nigel's monitor), which when used in conjunction with the data collector Excel Spreadsheet, can provide detailed performance statistics.

And we complain about the NHS!

2009-09-19T04:56:00.000-07:00

Last week I received a message from my health insurance provider saying that as my contract had finished and I had changed payroll provider, I was no longer insured. Genius as both the old and the new company both use the same insurance company!

I am now waiting for my payroll provider to get them to send me a new policy. Lord alone knows what happens if I had an accident whilst waiting for these idiots at the insurance company to sort this out?

Curiously they are still taking my money.

Another resource for Dutch Health Insurance

2009-09-16T03:27:00.001-07:00

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/healthcarenetherlands/Pages/healthcarenetherlands.aspx

Dutch Health Insurance

2009-09-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

If anyone is interested in the Dutch Health Insurance rules take a look at: http://www.minvws.nl/en/themes/health-insurance-system/default.asp

Interesting AIX Problem - Cannot start llbd

2009-09-15T05:25:00.000-07:00

The llbd daemon is required to generate some hardware alerts yet it abends on some machines as soon as you try to start it and an errpt entry is created. The messages suggests that the srchevn.c is at fault, but I think that this is only the detecting mode.

There is plenty of free disk space and memory, and all the partitions are built from the same mksysb?

Any suggestions are welcome.

Windows woes

2009-08-26T11:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was daft enough to upgrade my Zonalarm-Pro to their latest version; Extreme Security. Brilliant I can no longer save my Firefox windows between sessions. Brilliant I now spent half my day going back through the history to recover my sessions.

Why did I ever stop using Explorer 5?

For all the all the AIX anoraks out their

2009-08-26T06:27:00.000-07:00

Today I was asked an obscure question. Is it possible to run out of Semaphores?

The limits are posted here: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.aix.genprogc/doc/genprogc/ipc_limits.htm

I doubt you'll need this for a pub quiz but it could impress your boss?

Contract Status

2009-08-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

This week I reached he stage of the contract that I like the least.

The go-live has passed now and the chaos and panic has been replaced by what seems like endless calm. It's great to be able to catch-up on that administration, but it soon becomes tedious. There are still things left to be done, however I can't help wondering how long it will be before I need to search for a new challenge?

Single European conundrum

2009-08-24T22:30:00.000-07:00

I am currently working in The Netherlands, am in the Dutch tax, pay Dutch social taxes, and yet my NI contributions are not credited, and thus I am forced to pay multiple times for something I can never benefit from:

1. I can never draw a Dutch pension yet I am forced to contribute to it
2. Even if I am living out of a suitcase, and going home every other weekend I still have to pay full Dutch health insurance! This is a complete Joke when you consider that as a contractor, if I was taken ill or unable to work, my contract would be terminated and I would end-up back in the UK anyway.

Why can't I use my EHIC card just to access emergency medical treatment and pay voluntary NI contributions (AVC), thus protecting my pension rights, and contributing to the UK medical system?

Working in The Netherlands

2009-08-24T01:14:00.000-07:00

Today I posted an Article on Shout-99 describing my experiences with the Dutch system, and it is interesting to read people opinions:

http://www.shout99.com/contractors/showarticle.pl?id=64088

When I arrived here in February I was struck by how much more complicated things had become and how the Government seemed to be seeking-out out each little opportunity to get money from foreign workers. Surely this must be counter-productive and will bight them back when the market receovers?

Welcome to my blog

2009-08-23T11:37:00.000-07:00

I am currently living and working in Amsterdam for EDS/HP on the ABN-Amro/RBS demerger.