Who: Dolf van Baarlen
Place of residence: Utrecht
Distance: 52.1 kilometers
Movement time: 1 hour and 40 minutes
Dolf van Baarlen (72) wakes up every morning between five and six. Nothing to do about it. ‘At our home in Hoek van Holland we used to be up at six o’clock.’ He’s taking advantage of the paper not being delivered for weeks and he’s blankly annoyed by the customer service robot that keeps telling him that action is being taken to improve delivery. ‘Yes, then I become a bit obstinate, which is why I found the depot in De Meern with some detective work.’
He lives only 3 kilometers from me, in a tidy apartment in the Utrecht new neighborhood Leidsche Rijn, and just opened the door of those nice brown slippers with sheepskin in them. I can start my bike. Three times he drove to De Meern early in the morning to get the newspaper and a story, twice on Saturday and once on Wednesday. ‘Then I like to make the word cracker, and that’s not possible on the tablet.’
His regular sports morning in the Máximapark was canceled this Monday because the teacher is on vacation, he says while making coffee. The idea was initially to meet with a group. ‘Actually you can do those exercises yourself, but I can’t muster the discipline to go.’
Anyway, about the delivery. ‘I emailed: guys, you’re selling me a product that you just can’t live up to. Then be honest about that and only charge a digital subscription. You rightly put your finger on the sore spot with other companies, but this just isn’t right.’ Dan, laughing: ‘I do talk to myself every now and then, from dude, don’t get too carried away. Compared to what is going on in the world, this is nothing at all.’
His Rotterdam accent survived wanderings as a municipal official throughout the country and suddenly comes into its own: ‘You can have cancer, but what can you do about it yourself, you know.’ Better delivery starts with you, he even thought for a moment – also in view of its deliverergenic biorhythm. ‘But yes, I am also busy with a sustainable vegetable garden project of one and a half hectares at Kasteel de Haar in Haarzuilens, where 220 people come to harvest every week.’
I intend to cycle past it on the way back, for form and for fun I ride 49 kilometers. Just as I want to leave, around half past eleven, the bell rings. There stands the nice woman with the scooter helmet who told him where to find the depot. She delivered his newspaper earlier, until it was no longer possible to combine it with her other work at night. Now she hands over Dolf van Baarlen de Volkskrant and a surpriseNRC. She’s tired, she says, but she’s back. Better delivery starts with Yvonne.
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