{"id":7314,"date":"2026-05-11T15:23:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T12:43:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.apeldoorn.nl\/bestuur-organisatie\/college-van-b-en-w\/collegeleden\/burgemeester-ton-heerts\/columns\/okay\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T14:31:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T12:31:04","slug":"okay","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.apeldoorn.nl\/en\/collegeleden\/burgemeester-ton-heerts\/columns-burgemeester\/okay\/","title":{"rendered":"Right!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-acfblock=\"Tekst\" class=\"section a section--green-lighter e-tekst\">\r\n\t<div class=\"container\">\r\n\t\t<div class=\"row justify-content-center elementOnTop\">\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col article-content__content-custom-1220 editor elementOnTop\">\r\n<p>Time is flying by.<\/p>\n<p>When I speak to young people, I sometimes notice that they often talk very quickly and use words I don\u2019t know. Whereas they probably think, on the other hand, that my generation is slow and uses old-fashioned language (which, of course, I don\u2019t think at all\u2026\u2026\u2026.). What your own generation does and is familiar with is the norm. Everything before that seems old-fashioned; everything after seems exaggerated and superficial.<\/p>\n<p>The trick, of course, is not to draw that line too rigidly, but to extend it just a little. To preserve the best of the old and embrace the best of the new. Everyone\u2019s happy.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the thought that crossed my mind when I attended the reopening of Stay Okay Apeldoorn last week. Opened in 1962 by Princess Irene as the De Grote Beer youth hostel. And now completely refurbished, fully brought up to date. Yet it retains the atmosphere so characteristic of this sort of place: welcoming, cosy, with a young and energetic vibe. It features a brilliant \u2018Apenkamer\u2019 (a nod to the Apenheul, of course) and contemporary tiny houses. But it still has bunk beds and a communal dining room. And the beautiful Veluwe remains the unchanging backdrop.<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t meant to be a sales pitch, of course, but many generations have grown up with the concept of youth hostels. And so it\u2019s really great to see that they\u2019ve simply evolved with the times. With a trendier name \u2013 Stay Okay \u2013 but with the same \u2018spirit\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Time flies, but fortunately there are quite a few lovely things that manage to keep up with the pace.<\/p>\n<p>Ton Heerts<\/p>\n\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\n\n\t\t\t\t<div data-acfblock=\"Afbeeldingen-enkel\" class=\"section editor section--green-lighter\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"row justify-content-center editor__wide-image elementOnTop\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"col-12 col-lg-10 editor__image-container\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<picture>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.apeldoorn.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ton-portret-nieuwer.jpg\" alt=\" \"\/>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/picture>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption>\r\nTon Heerts. Photo: Robin Fotografie\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\n\n<div data-acfblock=\"Lijstblok-type-1\" class=\"section section--green-lighter\">\r\n  <div class=\"container\">\r\n    <div class=\"row justify-content-center\">\r\n      <div class=\"col-12 col-lg-11 elementOnTop\">\r\n        <div class=\"editor__content-block editor__white-content-block\">\r\n<div class=\"editor\">\r\n<h2>Be sure to read the other columns too<\/h2>\r\n<p>Mayor Ton Heerts writes a regular column. Why not have a read?<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"button\" href=\"\/college-van-b-en-w\/collegeleden\/burgemeester-ton-heerts\/columns-burgemeester\">Columns by the mayor<\/a><\/p>\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n        <\/div>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":5278,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"bestuur-standaard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","ep_exclude_from_search":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"folder":[],"class_list":["post-7314","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.1 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Column Okay! | Gemeente Apeldoorn<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lees de column &#039;Okay!&#039; van burgemeester Ton Heerts van Apeldoorn. In deze column deelt hij zijn persoonlijke visie op dit onderwerp.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.apeldoorn.nl\/en\/collegeleden\/burgemeester-ton-heerts\/columns-burgemeester\/okay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Okay!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lees de column &#039;Okay!&#039; van burgemeester Ton Heerts van Apeldoorn. In deze column deelt hij zijn persoonlijke visie op dit onderwerp.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.apeldoorn.nl\/en\/collegeleden\/burgemeester-ton-heerts\/columns-burgemeester\/okay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Apeldoorn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gemeenteapeldoorn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-02T12:31:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.apeldoorn.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/gemeente-apeldoorn.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.apeldoorn.nl\\\/en\\\/collegeleden\\\/burgemeester-ton-heerts\\\/columns-burgemeester\\\/okay\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.apeldoorn.nl\\\/en\\\/collegeleden\\\/burgemeester-ton-heerts\\\/columns-burgemeester\\\/okay\\\/\",\"name\":\"Column Okay! | Gemeente Apeldoorn\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.apeldoorn.nl\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-23T12:43:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-02T12:31:04+00:00\",\"description\":\"Lees de column &#039;Okay!&#039; van burgemeester Ton Heerts van Apeldoorn. 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