Yet another reason to curse cars! The driver who pulled up to the lights had the song on so loud I could hear the fatal notes through their closed windows. Either they really like the song (fair) or they asked Santa for new eardrums for Christmas. #Whamageddon

Spent my lunchtime shoveling food in with one hand and writing letters and postcards for Amnesty's Write For Rights campaign with the other hand. It was pretty humbling reading about all these brave people fighting for human rights. I hope they feel encouraged by the mail they get.

Nice try, Herod, not falling for that one.

I can hear you making small holes in the silence rain

I could take photos of ye olde Leiden in the fog for youse, or I can sit inside and read ghost stories from microwrites. It’s been waiting for weather like this!

The Netherlands won’t take part in #Eurovision because of Israel. Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS has issued a clear statement with reflections on their process. Scroll down for English. I’ll be over here playing Europapa on repeat. 💙

Taillée dans la Vraie Croix dommages +12

Very chipper #NS conductor on this train: “All good things must come to an end, and thus also this intercity service to Schiphol.”

Lorde was great, ofc. Loved the staging and very smart use of the big screen. She’s got a serious back catalogue to lean into as well as the new material. Nice thing about the relatively small venue - I didn’t arrive in a timely fashion but was still only 10 phone screens removed from the front.

Overhearing two topics in the queue for Lorde: 1. Why is she in such small venue? (AFAS Amsterdam, 6k) We all want to know actually. 2 How there isn’t a stereotypical looking Lorde fan. (Kinda fair. Though last time it was easier. Us, a smattering of rainbows, vs Clapton fans in plaid and boots 😄)

There'll be jobs for us as intermediaries to deal with the bots, on behalf of the people who can't. yay. I spent an hour today helping someone who can't cope with a bank's phone menu. Talking to ABN AMRO's human rep was hard enough, also because they initially push for everything to be done online.

It’s snowing in Leiden. I can’t recall it ever snowing this early in the season. #whatishappening #snow #smeeuw #Leiden #Netherlands

(piqué sur www.linkedin.com/posts/eduque... )

oh my God

You can't be too careful about the risk of assault and buttery

Waarom doe ik mezelf dit aan? Omdat Lamyae Aharouay en Petra de Koning zo goed zijn. En het is kort. #NLpol

A neighbour was dismayed by the firework debris in the local playground. So I went out before dinner with my #Leiden council-provided litterpicker and cleared it up, including two unlit firecrackers, some sharp plastic bits, and over 100 matches, some also unlit. Roll on the ban! #litterpicking

There are many different flavours of kruidnoten these days: all kinds of chocolate, salted caramel, spicy, truffle cinnamon roll, red velvet, etc. So I don’t know why this bothers me, but it does. Kruidnoten bars -- they’re the right shape but at the same time they’re not! #Sinterklaas

At least we'll always have drop bears.

Time Breaker is a quick game from Looney Labs. Players navigate the mixed up time streams on a small tile grid. Arresting the Time Breaker is easy; returning to HQ before your opponents nick them is hard. But forcing other players into chaotic time travel is the best part! #boardgames #GamesMeet

Ulterior Design is a quick game from Ao/NZ. The goal is to collect trendy Decor cards for an award winning home. The fun part is guerilla decorating your opponents homes to make them look average! “Minimalism is a scam invented by Big Small to sell more less.” — drachii #boardgames #GamesMeet

A sad indictment on the youth of today. I’m the only adult up this early, but all the (proto-) teens are out and they’re on their laptops. Not a single boardgame is in play. Everyone is either studying for tests or doing homework! #GamesMeet

Just passed various tables on my way to bed. Lots of dice are being rolled in the galaxy, the Netherlands is in danger of flooding again, mysterious teddy bears are about, and there’s much disbelief that only one person in the game knows a schooner is a glass. #GamesMeet

Setting sun over flat lands, Noordoostpolder (inspired by @ancientorso.bsky.social)

The marooned #lighthouse Oud Kraggenburg; completely surrounded by fields due to land being reclaimed from the Zuiderzee in 1940. The lighthouse didn’t need to be tall because it was just there to guide ships into harbour.

I may have lost track of things a bit :) and I’m going to be in a car for the next two hours so I’m leaving Vatican Cow in charge of the condiments

I’m taking a break from my previous post, which triggered a multi-country war over sandwiches, to register my distress at the fact that train station info screens now display white text on a dark blue background instead of dark blue text on a white background. Why #NS why?

Mild cultural consternation at the breakfast table this morning. One of the German guests took the apricot jam and spread it over their cheese sandwich. I kinda want to try it now but maybe it’s safer to stick with the hagelslag.

Yesterday, some of our German visitors were apparently treated to the sight of a man running out of a church completely naked, cheered on by his mates. This is #Leiden so the answer is undoubtedly, "students". 🤦 Anyway, lovely mild weather for this time of year, ay?

NRC main page: "The man who believed presidential power should know no bounds. [He…] believed that American military superiority was the panacea for geopolitical problems. The series of wars that Dick Cheney helped to unleash continues to damage the US's standing to this day." Etc.

Now the dust has settled, here’s the Dutch election result: D66 26 (+17) PVV 26 (-11) VVD 22 (-2) Green/Labour 20 (-5) CDA 18 (+13)
JA21 9 (+8) FvD 7 (+4) BBB 4 (-3)
 Denk, SGP, PvdD, CU, 3 each SP 3 (-2) 50+ 2 (+2) Volt 1 (-1) NSC 0 (-20) (1/5) #NLpol

28km into the New York Marathon and Sifan Hassan is back with the leaders after catching up 18 seconds over a couple of k. smh. 😄

It's the Netherlands so of course you can vote in a windmill.

The chairperson of my polling booth actually got a measuring tape out. Their polling booths are 99cm wide. The ballot is 1 metre wide. I had to stand on tippy toes to reach my candidate. 😂 #Leiden

48’ Sherida Spitse is subbed off, as planned. 19 years in the oranje shirt, 248 caps, 46 goals, a pillar of Dutch football. A guard of honour forms to see Spitse off the field, and the Canadians join in. #NEDCAN 1-0

30’ Oooh, New Zealand mentioned! 😂 Wellington to be precise. The Dutch commentator was recalling matches in Chicago and Wellington, and said Chicago was called the windy city but for windy (in tones of some awe) you should actually be in Wellington. #NEDCAN 1-0

27’ The Leeuwinnen have been dominant and it finally pays off. A tidy cross from Brugts, which Beerensteyn didn’t quite get to, but Wilms did. And she’s absolutely delighted with this rare goal. #NEDCAN 1-0

15’ It’s the last debate before the elections tomorrow but I think watching some of the friendly between Canada and the Netherlands is a better use of my time. Especially as it’s veteran Sherida Spitse’s last match! #NEDCAN 0-0

Dutch elections tomorrow, third time in five years. Geert Wilders huffed off in June after less than a year over asylum. But did you know a government can fall twice? Yes, yes, it can. NSC left in August due to the lack of pressure on Israel. The VVD & BBB have 32 seats, polling lower (1/4) #NLpol

The German company that makes the mechanical ladder used in the Louvre heist has used the image to advertise, with the text 'When you need to move fast' 10/10 response, no notes

Half-time and it’s 4-3 to me. I said I’d go bookshopping with someone and I wasn’t going to buy anything, so I’m not sure what I’m winning here.

You already know. That's Cantore.

Thank you @octocon.bsky.social for the great online panels this weekend. There was a really nice variety of knowledgeable guests and good moderators. Hard to pick a fav but Fenek’s talk on cosplay and sustainability was particularly informative and inspiring.

So many great things to see in the parade but I’d like to highlight this person, who is 1 hour into the 3 total, and still intact. #Leiden #3oktober

Quelle vie, cette dame. Mais quelle vie.

New Serj Tankian collab and it's with Bic Runga! The more I listen to this ballad, the more I love it. @listigeplaylists.bsky.social

More than 300 birds translocated in record year for Save the Kiwi: '"It's a little bit higher than previous years, but compared to kiwi conservation historically, it is a scale and pace that we haven't seen before," she said.' www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Nieuwsteeg 2, #Leiden, is being thoroughly and respectfully renovated by its new American owners. Apparently, this is the second year they’ve welcomed visitors for the Open Monumentendagen. One of the features is the tiled angels having a wee in the 13th century cellar.

Diane Duane, Deep Wizardry, Chapter 12

A student house cat keeping an eye on things. Stay vigilant, little guy. #cat #Leiden