The yearly trip.

To Grolloo, bluesvillage, in the province of Drenthe.

Last chance.

Had this friday reserved for it, an early start of the weekend. Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, daylight hours becoming less. The weather predictions have never been more wrong lately. Much sun, it was supposed to be, temperatures still 20 degrees Celcius or higher. Instead dark moody clouds and I dislike that, when it takes too long for the blue sky to show up again. Spring is my time a year, summer too and winter is okay. But when fall comes I start to count down for the 21st of December. When the next day the light will return to this part of our planet. So, how come the weather preditions are so far off lately. Can it realy be caused by Geo-Engineering? Well then, who ever does that should stop it! Nature will always find its balance again, that is in essence how it works. Nobody should be allowed to mess with that. Imagine the storms that it could have as a result. Tempering with nature's cause, now who would be that stupid...

First I thought that it was just another one of those conspirancy theories. And as we all know those can never be real in practise. So, I was ready to put on a tin-foil hat again, for this one. But then I learned about Geo-Engineering being an actual science!? It is actually real, it is already done, it is happening, I was baffled, really how stupid can those so called smart people be...? But then somebody reminded me of the H-bomb. Developed by so called very smart scientists. Proving that being technicaly intelligent, system calculated high IQ, does not always mean the same as being wise. It must be difficult to understand we are all living on the same planet for some. A closed eco-system, create clouds at one place, cause a tempature drop elsewhere, results in a low-presure area and the whole weather pattern changes. Could be with very bad results. The cause of nature can not be altered without having backfire effects. Nature will always find its balance again.

Drifted off a bit.

Really, I do not only mention this because I am a kind of sunny weather only bicycle tripper. At least the temparature is above 20 Celcius and not much wind from the south. Knowing about this Geo-Engineering thing does worry me though. This could be used with the idea of creating bad weather somewhere on our planet because of a, cold, war situation. Imagine a country that has its crops destroyed because of an extremly changed weather pattern. Yes, I know, do not give ideas to the megalomaniacs who believe that they are almost divine, often mistaken for being wise world leaders. Somehow I think those crazy power hungry sociopaths already have been tempering with the weather on earth. It is in the mainstream media, Geo-Engineering is a normal accepted science. Now that worries me even more.

Okay, the cloudy weather I do dislike a lot, as my mood slowly becomes clouded too. This is not uncommon, more fellow humans experience this. Yet, I do my best to look at the sunny side of it all. And it could change for the better, today too. My trip to the south is planned for the afternoon. It is about a 45 kilometers to Grolloo. Not going full on high gear paddling, it could take me about 3 hours. Leaving early in the afternoon, getting back about 9 in the evening. The hotel-restaurant of Hofsteenge in Grolloo is my goal. It is part of a long tradition. But it has changed over time, as my dad went out off time 13 years ago. He, my brother and me, would go there for two days, well, not fully, just staying overnight. First to nearby Rolde, having dinner at the Chinese restaurant there. After that going for our temporary quarters in a small wooden cabin at a camping site in Grolloo.

Cuby and the Blizzards.

Well, if you are into blues, then you probably know Cuby. In front of Hofsteenge's there is a bronze bust statue of Harry Muskee, as his real name was. But most blues lovers know him as Cuby. His blues made Grolloo world famous. There is a museum dedicated to Cuby and the Blizzards. Window of my eyes, is probably their most well know song. In the evening after we had made our quarters we would go on foot to Hofsteenge's. Not that far, so it was still easy to get back to our cabin at night. Harry would be there, often accompanied by his dog. Sometimes it even looked like there had not even been a year inbetween. But just like cancer put my dad out off time, it got to Harry too. When my brother and I decided to go there again, a few years after my dad had passed away, it looked like too much had changed. Even the corner bench where we used to sit was occupied, as if the they did not know we were supposed to sit there... How dare they, such rudeness.

It felt weird, sitting there in the center of Hofsteenge's. Me asking my brother now and then: "Are they gone yet?" We even thought about leaving. The beer did not taste right, the music sounded bad and the whole ambiance was just wrong. "Should we order the traditional meatball here?" My brother looked at me, already knowing the answer. No 'droge worst' {dried sausage?} with mustard. No 'bitterbal' {croquette ball?} with mustard. Coffee, one cup, holding back on the beer. It was not just, not here. Well, after a while we did brake the no-beer-yet rule. Grolsch they serve from the tap. But I went for the Grimbergen Double. As I do prefer a special brew over pilsner. And finally the people went away from 'our spot'. We left the seat open where our Dad would use to sit. While we picked our traditional spots. But it just was not the same. And it could never be like that again. That was breathing through the atmos from beginning to the end. It felt like a last farewell.

Back to Grolloo, back home.

Part of my family roots, on Dad's side, are in the province of Drenthe. This weekend my brother is going there with his girlfriend and I was, without having spoken about this with him, planning to go there myself. Almost like we have to go there in the early autumn. Just before october comes. We went to Grolloo one last time together, with his son, when he reached the age of being allowed to drink beer. It was promised, and so it was done. We had a good time, but it never made it into a tradition. Some things simply cannot be relived. But in some way, for me, a tradition came out off it. A yearly bicycle trip. Not specificly wanting to go to Grolloo, but somehow I do end up there every time. Have dinner at Hofsteenge's, and raising my glass to my Dad. Sometimes I even think I can handle another Grimbergen Double before my 45 kilomete bicyle trip back home. And that always takes longer as I do tend to take another route.

As october arrives this weekend I had been checking the weather forecasts more than usual. And it looked like today was going to be the ideal day to go south. But every prediction was totally off. Every day that it was supposed to be sunny, it was cloudy. This did give me a bad feeling that even that warm and sunny friday, as predicited, could well be a muddy moody clouded day. And as it turned out to be, so far, it is. Like november came way too soon. Now, I could go anyway, even if rain is predicted. Because the weather forecasters have been wrong all week, then they will be wrong now too. Unless the Geo-Engineers somewhere on earth have done something that will make the sun break through in the afternoon overhere. We do blame the weather a lot overhere, like for the recent stomach flu that took our family by storm. Yet it might be that we need to start blaming the Geo-Engineers for causing this shait weather to happen.

Stay or go?

Well, I am still feeling a bit under the weather and the weather itself is still shait. Looking at the infrared satellite images things do not look good for the rest of the day. Upper cloud regions have a south-west course, while lower winds come from the south. The cloud layers not being that thick at the moment. But it looks like that is going to change in the next couple of hours. Although it could change for the good, as Nederland is on the rim of a change in the weather pattern. It could go either way. Cloudy, colder and rain, or a warm sunny day, starting half way in the afternoon. Not sure yet and if not then I could go and start to read the Steem Smart Media Token {SMT} whitepaper. Traditions change and some just fade out over time.

Have a great one!

Image cc-by-sa @oaldamster.