Bicycle status: bad. The chain is rattling. The brakes are weak. The front brake line has a hole in the protective plastic and is starting to rust. The handlebars are already rusting, which is visible through the gum tape that's sliding off in some places. In other words, it's ready for a good old adventure trip!
Well, except for the leak in the tire. After a couple of days I find myself with a flat rear tire, yet I cycled for an hour today and didn't notice any trouble. It's just slowly deflating. Fortunately I've still got a spare inner tube. Unfortunately that spare inner tube is a used one that I replaced because it was also slowly deflating. I guess it's time for a new one.
The weather here is getting better. It's been storming for almost a week non-stop, but finally the sky is clearing up a bit and the wind is slowing down. The sunlight is harsh. Bleak. It's one of those hard-to-place things that I don't like about Holland. The sun might be shining at its brightest, yet it doesn't make you feel warm. It doesn't make things look warm, even. It limits photographic opportunities and it limits my excitement to go out and take photos. The sun plays no tricks here. In Holland, the colors are always the same.
I tend to prefer warm colors when I take photos, and I usually edit them in if they're not there in the first place. At least to my own perception this tends to make places look nicer than they really are. In the next two photos, rather than just slapping on a bunch of warm colors, I tried to represent reality a bit better.
Webster says this about 'bleak':
1. exposed and barren and often windsweptWithout a doubt, all of these definitions apply to the part of Holland that I am living in. If only it could be more colorful.
cold, raw
a: lacking in warmth, life or kindliness
b: not hopeful or encouraging
c: severely simple or austere
