Pot problem (no, not that pot) in Holland

Sitting here in the problem-saturated Global South, we can only marvel, with aunty-level tut-tuts, at the Global North’s talent for inventing crises – while they marvel at our penchant for making regular molehills out of mountains of misery. Take Amsterdam. The canal city’s biggest headache right now – besides marauding Brit tourists, that is – is pots. Not ganja, which Dutch non-sadhus have legalised and converted into their biggest tourist draw, but pots of the gardening, rather than garden, variety.

So, here’s the story: Amsterdammers are so enthusiastic, dammit, about their greenery that their homes and front doors are turning into personal mini-jungles and food forests. So many potted plants can be spotted everywhere that the city’s central district is rolling out ‘Operation Plant Pot‘. Not to be confused with the plan to spread the ideology of the late Cambodian dictator Pol Pot, this is a campaign to cap residents at two flowerpots, no bigger than 50 cm x 50 cm, made of sustainable materials, and placed against the front walls. Any rogue pots in parking spots or under trees will be confiscated. Given that greenery is the new Oranje, this will be harder than giving a cat a bath. Free-spirited Amsterdammers are girding up for a fight. We’ll see how this pots and pans out. Till then, let’s be kettles calling their pots black.