August 16, 2025

 Saturday. Left a little past 8:30. Blacksmith. Overcast, moderate breeze out of the north. Cool-ish, even some very thin drizzle leaving the city, but not enough for wet pavement. Straatweg to Maarssen, then across the ARK and north, all the way to the Nescio bridge. Few people, some good views, and the trucks of the waterways with their curious names. Fishermen (all men, apparently) with their gear north of Maarssen. Nescio to Schellingwouderbrug, then into Waterland. Bike path on the southern edge to Zunderdorp (still torn up) and on to Broek. The little road to Broek empty as usual, save for that humongous tractor and trailer. Why would someone farming in that area need such huge machinery? It's not the only thing that's out of proportion there these days, because the greatest deception came on the way back, via Zuiderwoude (still fine), Uitdam, and Durgerdam. The road along the dike has reopened even though the upgrade of the dike is ongoing. First, between Zuiderwoude and Uitdam a new village has appeared north of Uitdam, apparently vacation houses. At least they've tried to build in keeping with the area's architecture, more or less, but it's still more stuff where we don't need any. Worse is that there already, sticking up above the dike, are the high rises on the Almere side. It comes in addition to the new windmills north of the village--not great either. The worst comes after the right turn in Uitdam, when the proliferating high rises in Amsterdam, particularly those at the Oranjesluizen, might as well be in Waterland proper. There appears to be more on the way, so Waterland coming from the north is definitively ruined. The new dike, judging from where is has been completed, one may yet get used to, but it really doesn't matter. IJburg to Muiden. A detour led to the straatweg, the first time in several years. Where there used to be just trees, up ahead on the left, now a big apartment building looms (containing, it became clear later, a supermarket). The whole Krijgsman wilderness has been turned into a posh neighborhood to feed the hungry city, and they're not done yet. The old buildings are still there, but they almost disappear amid all that's new. Apparently they're planning to build on the south side of the straatweg also. No great loss at this point any more, what with the new freeway, and the way they're filling in the Bloemendaler Polder. Vecht from Muiden all the way to Utrecht. The monstrosity at the end of the Spiegelweg has ruined that view. Along the Zuwe toward Vreeland the tentacles of the city are also visible, just as earlier on the eastern shore of the Vecht, outside Weesp. In the news of course the upshot of the Alaska meeting. The picture of an applauding U.S. president on the tarmac really said it all. To underline how things are, the president afterwards just repeated what he has said before: having been attacked by Russia (he left that out, naturally), it's Ukraine's problem to achieve peace. End the war in a day? Deadlines and ultimatums, threat of sanctions? If stuff gets real, it's someone else's problem. And yet, it could have been worse, and maybe all (of a constructive U.S. role) is not lost. That's what others in positions of responsibility (Zelensky, European leaders) are clearly thinking, also because having the administration openly speaking and working against you would certainly be worse. The president added that the Europeans should step up too, which is, indeed, good advice given how he sees the world. More than ever, this part of the world has to put itself in a position to defend its own interests, starting with helping Ukraine enforce a durable peace. Let's hope it will happen, and still in the current decade, and that in the meantime Ukraine can maintain itself.