Whatsit Wednesday: Mosquito milk

The weather is finally warming up and with the warm weather come moments of discomfort. The buzz around your ears of the mosquitoes. Worrying that they might get to you. Trying to get them first. Our sons, Sean always dreaded mosquitos season. He was a mosquito magnet. We always joked that if we wanted to stay bite-free, we simply needed to invite him to wherever we were. 

So how do you keep mosquitoes away? Citronella candles do a little bit, but you can’t really light those up all over the house. The problem in the past was that there was insect repellant, but it stunk so badly that the remedy was worse than the sickness. 

That is when mosquitos milk came to the rescue. In Dutch, a mosquito is called a “mug” (where the “u” sounds like the “I” of shirt and the “g” is a guttural clearing-your-throat sound). 

“Muggenmelk” was invented by the Belgian Alfons Vandoninck in 1987. In 3 years it had conquered the world and since then people have sworn by this insect repellant. It may be available now under various names, but most people who need it will always find “mosquito milk”. It rolls on smoothly, doesn’t stink and is effective at keeping the little suckers away. What do you do to get away from mosquitoes? 

Whensday - King's Day in Belgium

It isn’t really celebrated here, but today, November 15, is King’s Day in Belgium. In the Netherlands King’s Day is celebrated across the country. There are orange flags everywhere and people set up spontaneous street markets to sell all sorts of second-hand goods and self-made food. Of course King’s Day in the Netherlands is at the end of April and often has beautiful weather. 

In Belgium most people may not even know that it is a special day. November 1 was All Saints day and everyone visited the graves of the loved ones who passed away. November 11 was just several days ago when the veterans were honored, mostly by those who have military family and know what it means. The same day is also the beginning of Carnaval for those who celebrate. Sinter Klaas (Saint Nicholas) is on his way to the country, arriving by boat and riding a horse. That happens on December 5 and 6. The children are especially waiting for that moment. So King’s Day in Belgium passes by without a sound. It is not even in the news. 

Mind you, King Philip of Belgium is a pretty quiet king. He takes his job seriously and is never boisterous, as the Dutch king sometimes has been. Many are waiting for the day that his eldest daughter will take the throne as the first queen of the country. Then Elizabeth will be able to celebrate “Queen’s Day”. In The Netherlands it went the other way around. Since the beginning of the 20th century there had only been queens. King Willem-Alexander brought the change from Queen’s Day to King’s Day in 2014. 

Around this day in 1946 the Dutch government was fighting with a fledgling Indonesia which was forming a new independent country. It would take several years before this fighting ended. The consequences of this struggle, with some Indonesians siding with the Dutch and others fighting deadly battles, have continued to this day. The Netherlands has a strong population of Indonesians who were evacuated from Indonesia to The Netherlands when the Dutch finally recognized Indonesia as a country. 

On November 15, 1948 the weather service recorded the warmest day of 17.3 degrees Celsius (63.1 F) in Maastricht. Today the temperature is not expected to rise above 10 degrees Celsius (49 F).