Wednesday 7th May Our initial destination this morning was the Aalsmeer flower auction. In what must be one of the most bizarre trading systems in the world, flower growers from the EU and nearby countries, send their flowers to Aalsmeer, where they are displayed, bid for and dispatched to the purchaser. Gijs Pol, a computer analyst who has attempted to close the market and create an online version, gives the following example: "Consider the path a bouquet of red roses takes on its way from a grower in Kenya to a wedding in Rome. A jet flies the flowers from Africa to Amsterdam. They are trucked to Aalsmeer, where they are auctioned to an exporter. The exporter ships them by truck to a wholesaler in Italy, who sells the blooms to a florist. By the time
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