A bakfiets is a bike with a box on the front of it. Locals use these to transport dogs and goods and, mostly, their kids.
When stopped, the bak part of the bakfiets sits on a double kickstand that springs out from underneath. Just now, after crossing Julia bridge (I’ve named many of the 1000 bridges here after people I know) I saw a bakfiets in front of me idling on its stand, a family journey on hold as mom sorted something on her phone.
As she did so, her two passengers, standard issue blond dutch girls of maybe four and six sitting next to each other, played a game of looking forward and then turning their heads so as to yell (I mean yell) into the the ear of the other: “Blrahh.”
Look forward. Turn. Shout “BlraAAAAAAH.”
Look forward again and wait to hear in your own ear, “BLRaaHHH.”
The more synchronized and the louder the more hilarious the game.
Half dance, half human version of the sound a truck makes when backing up, this went on for several rounds until mom finished sorting what she needed to sort, and did that bakfiets move of rocking it off the stand (stand springs up) to get the whole ship moving again.
To announce this, both girls keep their heads perfectly straight and shout in unision, an alarm they are thrilled I add to when they pass. They move on down Julia bridge and I walk on to this cafe, all of us in Dunning Kruger delight: “BLRAaahh ahh ah a . . .”