Saturday. Left around 2:30. Nikor. Rain on and off in the morning, light winds out of the east, and a lot cooler than it has been. Tights, shoe covers, and full gloves. Solidly gray skies, providing a fine backdrop to the leaves still on trees, but also to the green fields and yellow reeds and grasses. Yellow bridge to 't Zand and Alendorp. The latter still very colorful, and calm. Rivierpad cut and bare--no reeds, corn, or tall grass. Then Kortjaksepad to Gerverscop. Nobody or nothing at Gerverscop, just a lone tractor in a field. After the freeway at Harmelen what seemed like a rain shower up ahead. U-turn and Reijerscopse Wetering to Nedereindse Berg and Jutphaas. Merwedekanaal behind a scooter to Leidseweg. Cycleworks. The news a mixture of more Russian targeting of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, on the one hand, and corruption cases and presidential overreach in Ukraine itself, on the other. As long as nobody tries to use the credible evidence of the latter even to begin justifying the former. The real story is how for almost four years now, under Russia's relentless assault and suffering unspeakable losses, Ukraine has continued to function and, by and large, maintained a coherent society. Corruption can be found in societies and governments everywhere; government leaders seeking to centralize political power are a dime a dozen. It would be good if there was more transparency in Ukraine's government dealings, and it would be excellent if the country could hold regular elections again. But when day after day, month after month, you're fighting off a big bear trying to crush you and finish you off, good governance can go by the wayside. Not the best way to apply for EU membership, but certainly not a reason to stop the admission process, let alone the flow of aid.
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