Friday 21 December

A foggy and cold day, with visibility only a few hundred yards. The former airforce base at Deelen, 6 miles north of here, reports a temperature of 4C / 39F. It should be getting milder over the next few days, as the cold continental air is pushed back east, where it came from. The Atlantic will then hold sway; which is what I'm used to at any rate.

Went to Arnhem this morning to purchase a new pair of hiking boots. The old ones had fallen to bits on my last foray to Strawberry Hill in the Castle Grounds at Stornoway. I'm fussy about my footwear, but managed to locate a suitable pair. I'm wearing them (indoors) as I type this, in order to get used to them. If I do not encounter any unexpected problems, I'll try them out of doors in a few days' time.

It was nice to have a short amble around Arnhem city centre; I grew up in this area, and it has not really changed that much. The only thing that changes is the shops. It was as busy as it always is on a Friday morning, just ahead of Christmas. Arnhem boasts of an extensive network of trolley-buses, which run on electricity, supplied through overhead cables. The buses are very quiet (except for the number 1 bus we used on the return trip) and you have to be careful if you are along one of the routes - you just don't hear them coming, certainly not among the noise of the rest of the city traffic.