Saturday 1 January

First of all, Happy New Year!
The amount of fireworks let off after midnight seems to have been somewhat less than in previous years. In this village at any rate, the noise subsided after only 40 minutes or so. Unfortunately, the use of fireworks has claimed two young lives overnight. Two teenage boys died of their injuries after a bomb, made of illegal fireworks, exploded near them. Elsewhere, a number of people were injured, and many others were arrested for public order offences. In other words, a typical New Year's night in Holland.

In the afternoon of New Year's Day, my father and I walked to the River IJssel, which is about 3 miles away, beyond the town of Velp. The thaw had cleared most of the snow from the roads, but the pavements, although slushy, were still bad. The waterlevels in the river have fallen by about 2 metres over the past few days. I'll close with some images of the walk.