Bermtoerisme / Roadside verge tourism
Bermtoerisme “Roadside verge tourism”, emerged as a Dutch phenomenon in the 60s when owning a car became the norm. Families would park their car and set up chairs, table and sometimes tents in the grassy roadside verges without even bothering to look for some place more quiet in the woods or parklands. Instead they would while away a whole day passively gazing at passing traffic, having picnics and conversing with fellow road-siders. No one can really explain why this pastime was such a hit in the Netherlands. Perhaps because automobiles were still a novelty: the feeling of autonomy not only from having your own car but also watching others. Or maybe because the Dutch only feel at home and on holiday in the midst of human ingenuity and infrastructure.
Bermtoerisme whittled away as cars became ordinary and road networks became quadruple-laned motorways, which, aside from breathing in a cocktail of carbon monoxide is downright dangerous. But I really think this road-side leisure is kindled in the Dutch psyche for I often see people still sitting perplexingly close to verges next to bicycle lanes. Not to stray too far from the transportative action, I guess.
