20 years ago. Remembrance with a smile to the expected Millennium bug.

Time flies. I still remember well the world nearly in panic facing end of 1999 the Millennium bug.

At that time, I was commander of the fire-brigade of the cities Kerkrade and Landgraaf in The Netherlands. And although there was regional and national coordination on this expected crisis, I was the executive commander and coordinator for our area in case things would go wrong.

World- and nation-wide people came up with the in my opinion most crazy ideas of all that could go wrong and we, with our full-time and part-time professional staff, were prepared to ‘solve the problems’ that could exist. I still do not know what we were prepared for although we got several regional exercises to deal with all the problems. In my eyes it was all a big show.

That New Years eve we had a special crisis team at the city hall. Our mayor, Thijs Wöltgens, and municipal secretary, Chris Kuikman, the chief of police, etc.. were in charge as well as the main spokespeople. And many government staff were available that night, sad not with their families, to organize things nobody could ever organize. Actually, it was a big joke and, looking back now, in my opinion again a kind of multi marketing campaign. Tremendous amounts of money were earned by the IT-industry. It must have offered lots of bonusses for people working in that sector in 2000.

The remembrance with a smile is due to the fact that both mayors of the cities, so also at that time Bert Janssen from Landgraaf, liked a Burgundian lifestyle. So actually, our crisis and disaster team and all the people at work got lots of good food and drinks. It was a kind of party. Watching the news with a smile to the island Kiritimati (where a new day in the world starts) and Australia.

And yes, exactly at the Millennium bug moment in our country, change of the year, there was champagne as well. And… nothing happened. Not due to the fact many offices and private people got a new computer.

Good old times to remember with a smile.

Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)
email: captijninsight@gmail.com 

Foto blog: http://franscaptijnhisworld.blogspot.com

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