Sunday 12 May 2024--Today is the fifth anniversary of me dear old mum's passing, just after midnight on Mothers Day of 2019. It's her I'm thinking of when I write out postcards; I used to send her one a day. I miss doing that. I'm grateful that she left us before the pandemic hit, and that she didn't spend her last days in isolation in the nursing home.

I'm up fairly early today for a quick breakfast, and then it's off to the ferry terminal. I'm there in time to board the 9:00, but it's full--a dozen cars ahead of me don't get on. Not surprising, I guess, on a Sunday on a holiday weekend. I have time to climb to the lookout atop a small hill for a last look over Texel.

Drive back to Schiphol, where I drop off my rental car, and train back north again to Hoorn, where I'm staying three nights. I'd originally thought to stay in Amsterdam, but hotel prices there have gotten a bit mad. I found a cheap place here, and it's not too bad. Hoorn will make a good base for a couple of days. I have dinner and a beer or two down in Roode Steen, the main square, then check out Proeflokaal Charlies, back up towards my hotel. This looked like the most suitable pub in the neighborhood, and it is that; but it closes early tonight, and won't be open at all the next two nights. Barrels, a few doors along, will do.