End of month

Smoking will become outlawed in all enclosed public spaces in Holland as of July 1st, i.e. tonight at midnight. I'm mightily relieved - tobacco smoke makes me unwell and can in extreme circumstances make me throw up. Has happened. Also, when you come home from a smokey place, your hair, clothes and everything reeks, and you have to change your clothes and take a quick shower. I could not believe the amount of whingeing being shown on Dutch TV tonight from people moaning about the meddling state. The ban, already common in much of Europe, was introduced on health grounds. Since the introduction of a similar prohibition in Scotland in March 2006, barstaff (e.g.) have noticed a distinct improvement in their health.

I've spent today scanning photographs from 1997, from the months prior to my departure to the UK. The pictures can be found on my two Flickr accounts. The photos of a holiday in the Yorkshire Dales (part) and Western Scotland can be found here.
Pictures of a cycling trip round the Frisian town of Heerenveen, and of a daytrip to Vlieland (now well-known to most of my readers) here. Please allow an hour for the upload and annotations to be completed.

The weather will see a brief tropical spell down here. Tomorrow, the mercury will exceed 80F and on Wednesday, some forecasters see us hitting 90F. I'm not looking forward to this at all. A thundery breakdown will follow late on Wednesday and through until Friday.