September 21, 2026

Monday. Left at 9:54. Blacksmith. Mostly sunny, mild, moderate breezes from the northwest. Not summer anymore, not quite fall yet either. Straatweg to Maarssen, then ARK and Woerdenseweg. Across the ARK at Breukelen, toward Angstelkade. Same illogical puddle on the stretch back to the ARK as earlier; there must be some kind of overflow underneath the grass. Corn still up alongside the Polderweg; elsewhere, the smell of fresh-cut grass. Loenersloot toward Oukoop. Fine views of Vinkeveen from the Haanweg to Demmerik. On to Wilnis, then left along the Wilnise Zuwe. Just before the crossing with the Bovendijk, in a recreational area to the right, an old fat guy standing behind his fishing rod, urinating into the wide open. On toward Kanis, then left to Teckop. Hollandse Kade south, with no evidence of the city in the distance; just some grain elevators or buildings like it to the far right, at Woerden. Laag Nieuwkoop past the carnival at Haarzuilens. The park, the trail, and the Gele brug back into town and Møs. The AD full of sports, but also a timely article on the predicament of the American president with regard to Saudi Arabia. It finds itself at war with Jemen's Houthis, and in spite of the billions and billions spent on military kit from the U.S., it has still gone begging for help from Washington. In the end, the president decided to turn down his friend in Riyadh, which shows the limits of the friendship the two men and their respective families seemed to have built in recent years. Washington has its own deal with the Houthis, and the president really can't use another conflict on top of the disaster he has created for himself and the world with Iran. This emperor has no clothes, and neither does his buddy in Riyadh. Their hubris and incompetence, meanwhile, contiues to create real hardship for people the world over. Nobody ever voted the crown-prince into office, but it's getting high time for people who do still get to participate in real elections to stop plumbing for the kinds of populists now wreaking havoc in Washington--or in Germany, for that matter (or, potentially, lots of other European countries). They have nothing to offer but trouble.