January 15, 2026

 Thursday. Left a little before 9:45. Nikor. Light rain and rush hour traffic on the way out of town. Light southwesterly winds, the sky a gray dome over everything. Mild. Rain ceasing and momentarily replaced by the coffee roasting on the way up the Gele Brug. Traffic thinning out in Leidse Rijn. Alendorp, then Vleuterweide. Alongside the Stroomrugbaan little yellow daffodils, and it wasn't their first day above ground. Rivierpad to Breudijk. Gerverscop very quiet; De Haar towers visible, but otherwise mostly gray horizons nearby. Rodendijk, Schutterskade, Galgerwaard, and across the ARK. On the way down some doubts about the rear tubular, so straatweg back, although by way also of Woerdenseweg. Oud Zuilen to Mos. In the paper reports on the D.C. meetings between the Danes and Greenlanders on one side, and the chief multi-tasker and the vice-president on the other. The latter two are supposed to collaborate in the pursuit of the commander-in-chief's wishes, but they are also rivals for the succession, still assuming this will need to happen by 2028. Perhaps the fact that most of the news about the meeting came from Danish and Greenlandic participants, and that there has been very little commentary from the U.S. side, suggests that in Washington nobody, perhaps including the boss himself, has any clear idea of how to follow up on the bold claims. It could even be that rival camps are fighting each other over this issue. That would potentially be helpful for European efforts to preserve the basic status quo.