January 21, 2026

Wednesday. Left 9:10 in a light rain. Nikor. The rain stopped within minutes, and toward the east some light already visible near the horizon. Chilly, but in the course of the day it got a good deal milder. De Bilt, Bilthoven, den Dolder, and the train tracks to Amersfoort. Along the trail still some left-over bits of snow. As always happens, on the Vlasakkerweg it is the 1960s. Bisschopsweg to Randebroekerweg and Hogeweg. The last time must have been in the 1980s. The second part is now pleasantly deserted; the bike lane is on the road--what used to be the narrow bike path now serves as side walk. Amersfoortseweg to Nijkerk, which starts a lot earlier than back then. Downtown, stores and restaurants, lots of them. We left going east, Oude Barneveldseweg, past the soccerfields to the Bloemendaalseweg. The Deuverdenseweg to Driedorp. Slichtenhorsterweg to Blokhuizersteeg. Different kinds of farms, the kind you see in the middle of the country, which is what this is. Roundabout way to Terschuur (Hoevelaken, Zwartebroek), the way the bus used to go in 1982. Then Achterveld and the Hessenweg to Stoutenburg. Zwarteweg and Hamersveldseweg to de Mof. It felt a bit like the edge of Leusden, and way back when it probably was, but today it's essentially straight through town. The sun was coming out, the wind mostly at the back. Den Treek, and up the Treekerweg. Pavement clean. Then toward Huis ter Heide, de Bilt, and home. Our interesting times continue; things fall apart visibly on a daily basis. Usually those developments end badly. I fear that the people of Ukraine will suffer even more, for starters. And the Americans are next, even though many don't seem to realize it fully. However, as the resistance to the regime becomes more widespread, the regime may well double down. We will find out how ruthless they can be. Perhaps they will accept there are limits beyond which even they can't go, perhaps not. The behavior of the leader suggests there will be escalation.