← All updates 15 July 2026 · 01:00 read

Day ten: her house is waiting for her

Ten days after the forced admission, neighbours tend the post and the plants. The court order and medical statement have still not been provided.

Today is day ten. Trudy is still in the locked facility in Amsterdam. Her wish is unchanged: she wants to go home.

At home in Gouda

Meanwhile, in Gouda, something small and something large is happening at once. The post is brought in. The plants are watered. Neighbours are looking after their neighbour’s house — not because anyone asked them to, but simply because she belongs to the street and the street belongs to her.

Illustration: the front door of a Dutch terraced house with well-tended flowers on the doorstep, a watering can and neatly stacked mail on the mat.
Illustration — her house, cared for by the neighbourhood. An impression, not a photograph of the actual situation.

Yesterday we wrote that her chair, her television and her newspaper have moved to Amsterdam. Today we note the mirror image: in her own street, the people who know her are keeping her home alive. The house is not abandoned. It is waiting.

What has not changed

For the record, on day ten: the court order and the medical statement have still not been provided to Trudy or to the family, despite requests from day one. Her own phone is still not in her possession. Today, too, no telephone contact could be established: on two attempts, the facility’s phone rang for more than two minutes without being answered.

Trudy’s birthday is nine days away. The plants are doing well. The post is waiting. Only she is missing.

This account is limited to facts and the family’s own observations, dated and sourced. Where a statement rests on the account of the person concerned, this is indicated. Factual errors will be corrected upon verification.