Looking back is of course a nice place to live, but the fear of the millennium bug turned out to be unfounded. Hospitals continued to operate, we still had gas, water and electricity and the prison doors also remained closed. “It is as quiet here as in a retirement home. All prisoners watch television at their leisure with an oliebol,” says Constant du Fossé from the prison in Hoogeveen on New Year’s Day to the Nieuwsblad van het Noorden.

