Fabulously sunny.

It's rare I know, but the sun came out today in full force. And it got up to a balmy plus 6.
I do feel a tad sorry for my friends and family back in certain parts of Canada who are experiencing their annual deep freeze.

Really.
I feel your pain.
Bundle up.

Meanwhile however, after experiencing a minor mystery involving the dishwasher this morning, I decided to set off for the store on "new and shiney" since although I didn't really need too many things, it hit me like a bolt of lightening that last night I had quaffed my absolute last beer! Yikes!

How does this happen? I mean, back home there's always the possibility that another beer drinker has been helping him/herself to the stash but here, I got nothin'.

Thankfully that near tragedy was averted, and Dirk's still has six packs of Heineken on for €3.99. That's a hard price to beat, so Heineken it is, and Heineken it will be until something else goes on sale.

Beer, Yogurt, cheese slices and paper towels.....just in case there's a problem later on. (I sometimes wonder, do the cashiers ever take note of what goes past them and are thinking, "what the hell is this guy doing?")

After getting back home I wasn't quite willing to let all that sunshine go to waste so decided to...

wait for it...


go for a bike ride!


When I went to the store I bravely went "sans gants", but ended up having to shove one hand in a pocket since it's just a tad too cool for the bare hand program, so the gloves were coming too.

Decided to head for the canal. We've gone as far as that other bridge off in the distance, which is the A35.
...and the city limits for Hengelo.
And yes, that's ice. But since this canal is used by barges all the time, it didn't get a chance to freeze solid as some of the smaller canals had done last week.

I took the third picture from the bridge in the distance that the barge is just about to go under.

Oh, and you'll notice if you squint a certain way, that there's a car on the back of that barge, since (and you probably know this....sorry) entire families live on these things as they take freight from city to city. So they take along all their worldly possessions, including a means of getting about on dry land, whether it be bike or car.


There's new and shiny....


sitting at the side of the aptly named, Kanaldijk.

I hadn't ever gone this far before by bike since frankly, it was not the most pleasant experience. This time it was pretty nice. I mean, I'm still basically in pitiful condition and get winded at the slightest provocation, but when I got home after an hour or so at least my ass was not on fire.

That can make a substantial difference.

Trust me.

As a matter of fact, I feel so great that I just might go out again.

Well no, actually that's not going to happen. But I could...really.

Tomorrow will be pretty much an all car day, since I have to go to the airport to pick up Gabe.
Oh, I guess I skipped over that part. Gabe's been in Birmingham since Tuesday night, and I know, I said I'd never go to the airport again on a Friday afternoon, but I'm going to go early...and maybe take a detour by way of Alkmaar,just to check out that whole cheese market scenario.
Besides, she's my wife, and she asked me. It might have been in the wedding vows, "and thou shalt fetch thine wife from distant airports regardless of traffic problems".

I don't quite remember since I'm sure I blanked out for at least part of that ceremony.

If you saw the pictures....you'd completely understand.