Woke up with some really freaky dreams. Also freaky is the fact that I recalled them – for years I’ve been listening to people recount dreams whilst I never seem to have any. Apparently everyone has dreams but not everyone recalls them..

Had a ham & cheese croissant and some yoghurt for breakfast at the Camp Winkel (shop). Netted up for a couple of hours because it was raining. Around lunchtime I gave in – Sod it! I can’t sit around here all day! (I should’ve).

I was aiming to explore the Weerribben National Park, but I only made it 7 kilometres short of Giethoorn before I gave up and turned around. Watching the Tour in a warm, dry pub should’ve been my daily goal from the start!

The rain sucked but I put on my rainjacket and headwarmer and lived with it. The wind was something else though! Weerribben National Park was supposed to be earie due to the “silence, interrupted only by animal noises”. I couldn’t hear anything except wind rush – and that was while I was stationary! It was a boring ride (well, one highlight) and I was low on energy – my legs still feeling weak – so I turned into even worse wind and headed back to Zwolle. It still ended up being a 70k+ ride, which surprised me.

I rushed into a small pub in full cycling kit, ordered a coffee and tosti (toasted ham & cheese sandwich – their only food) and watched the Tour. Ended up talking to a guy (his name sounded like “eye anne”) who had just retired, aged 43, from his job at an aluminium smelter where they make custom aluminium components (no, not bike parts). I spent five hours in there talking to him! It wasn’t just the fact that he insisted on buying me drinks (“yeah right”, you’re all saying!) he was actually interesting. Chatted about darts and the upcoming competition(s) in the pub, politics, the UK bombings, the Tour, his job, all sorts of shit.

Tried one of the “digestive” spirits they had too – he insisted – it was made from herbs or something and tasted like scented vodka? I think he was lonely because none of his mates were able to make his ‘last day’ celebrations.

He was saying how his wife had worked the same job for 23 years but hated the last 6 of them. Apparently, if you are over 40 here you just don’t throw in a job because there’s too many young people who will step up and learn it (sidenote: The Dutch seem to breed a lot, there’s babies all over the place!). He kept insisting she leave. Eventually she wrote an application letter to a job and got it! Didn’t even go to second round interviews! Just like that. Guess experience still counts for something?

He was also telling me how he’d love to holiday in Australia (doesn’t everyone!) because 1) he’s the outdoors type and 2) he wants to be totally alone (with his wife) somewhere. In NL, you can’t go anywhere and not see someone else within the hour!

He also suggested I get a camp stove and as he explained it (and the cooking of the pasta meals I’ve been craving!) I thought to myself “I can’t believe I dismissed the idea of carrying cooking gear so quickly!!”.

But! Camping sucks when it’s raining (and it still is). Can’t dry clothes, so can’t wash clothes, can’t take a piss, can’t go into town and I finished reading “Hard Questions” so being in the tent is boring. Lucky the rain is on and off so I don’t really spend too long stuck in.

Went to “Sofra”, across the road, for a donner schotel dinner around 11pm. I relented on my “kebab ban” because “eye anne” said it was the best in NL. It cost 10 euro with another coffee and I ordered rice instead of frickin’ frites! I don’t know about it being the best but it was pretty good.

Showered, finally! Frickin electronic shower ate a euro of mine as I tried in vain to get it to spit out hot water. I love technology. Bed. Sleep. Rain.

The song with the lyric “Later you can sing to me like a shining star, but I’d rather do you on the back seat of my car” just came on. It’s pretty popular and I wonder if it’s playing much/at all in Australia?