Ridin' to Leiden and Delft Interest Part II

Francesco and I biked 14 km (8.7 miles) to the University town of Leiden on Saturday. Holland rained on us all day. We talked health care, philosophy, Obama, and freedom. The trip took about an hour because we took the long way. Francesco knew of a park that we decided to visit on the way out of town. This park illustrated how the Dutch, for all their faults, are prone to flashes of brilliance. I think it is where they put all the water that should be the ocean. As you know, Holland is supposed to be the floor of the North Sea (kinda like how New Orleans is supposed to be the floor of the Gulf of Mexico). It only exists because the Dutch don’t want to live in Germany so they pushed back the sea and created their own country, hence the reason for all the windmills. The park is full of canals and what looks like swampland. Algae and funk covers the canals and various deformed wildlife- seahorses, sharks, whales- roam about unfettered. We saw a local football game being played and I wondered aloud whether the local recreation league teams have hooligans like the pros do.

Leiden is beautiful. I have a few pictures but they will have to wait because I inexplicably left my camera at Chris’. Speaking of Chris, his mother was in town and she made a home cooked American meal. We had stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, fried chicken, salad, and a round of jump high fives. It was awesome. We (I) followed the meal by watching the Packers at the Titans. It was Thanksgivingesque. The dinner had been preceded by a second trip to Delft. Chris’ mom, Julie, had a little trouble adjusting to the bike culture but she caught on much more quickly than Rhett. Delft was just like the last trip aside from the fact that this time the square was not full of a carnies and death traps.

I faxed my absentee ballot today. If this election is as close as I think it will be, they will have to either throw out my ballot or get Bush’s lawyers on the case. Incredibly, you can fax your absentee ballot and have it counted just like all the others. The only caveat is that you waive your right to secret ballot. This is fine with me as I am willing to shout from the top of Mount Holland (the bridge that slightly rises over the canal down the street) that I am voting for John McCain and against King Obama. But I keep thinking that if hanging chads were an issue in 2000, what are they going to say to five-page-copy-of-ballot-faxed-from-Europe? What will they even call that?