Tip-toe evolution

Our trip to the STRP festival in Eindhoven taught us a practical lesson: "Never attend festivals/gigs in the Lowlands". What with the average Dutchman's vertical dimension ranking among the world's highest, visibility at such events is greatly compromised for wee short-arses like my girrel and myself.

As Jo called upon my scientific expertise to explain why the Dutch have shot upward so much the last few decades, I felt compelled to deliver the -in my humble opinion- most plausible explanation *cough*.

"It's merely evolution at work, hun. What with a third of the Netherlands located a solid couple of feet below sea-level and 2 thirds of its population actually inhabitting said lowly one third of space, survival of the fittest principles were bound to kick in along the vertical axis at some point! Height offers a competitive advantage for the Dutch, as it greatly enhances one's chances of survival in times of flooding. My guesstimation is that they -as a nation- will grow 6.85 meters tall in the very near future, as this would enable one to keep nose and mouth above water in case the lowest area in the Netherlands (6.7m below sea-level) floods."

For all my efforts in explaining, I got a raised eyebrow and a shove. Ungrateful girlfriends... tsk! ;-)