February 22, 2026

Monday. Left around 9:40. Nikor. Overcast, not as chilly, but stiff southwesterly breeze. Koningsweg to Wayen and Lekdijk. Bakery smells on the Sluispad. The river very quiet, and just a few cars along the way. The sun trying to make it through the cloud cover but not really succeeding. Fierce cross winds just before the ferry to Beusichem. Across the locks and left onto the Wijkersloot. Two guys with a wheelbarrow and a shovel pouring gravel into the puddles by the side of the road. Spiegelweg and Bredeweg toward Cothen, then left onto the Ossenwaard. Watertorenweg to Zuwe and on to Driebergen. The talk of some early spring weather is all around, but today was just a decent winter day. Mini croci and snowbells in Driebergen. Traaij with damp to wet pavement. Same on the way to Zeist/Huis ter Heide. Home into the wind by way of de Bilt. Four years of war today, and new Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. However, the Hungarian government, supported by Slovakia, is happy to block urgently needed EU aid for Kyiv as well as new EU sanctions on Moscow. Perhaps the Hungarian prime minister is playing one of his extortionist games, making his assent conditional on Brussel's transfer of funds to his corrupt government. This has succeeded in the past, but perhaps it should not be allowed to succeed this time, since that would only help the prime minister and his allies in the national elections in April. While we do want him to lose, we don't want to make Ukraine's predicament even more serious than it already is. We need some creative thinking in Brussels and other European capitals, and we need some Taurus missiles finally to go Kyiv's way.