thursday 1, düsseldorf and stuttgart – completed 2nd day of IPv6 training and managed to build in some good labs with people logging into the MAC, worked quite well imho.
covered some more complex topics then took train down to stuttgart, missed one train narrowly but was lucky to get on a train which intercepted my planned train at frankfurt airport, so arrived on time in stuttgart at the hotel for about 8.30pm

enjoyed a glass of wine on the balcony of the hotel room reading the paper, for instance, a man of almost 100 had died, Berthold Beitz the head of Krupp, the last patriach – an industrialist still with a moral conscience, who had saved 100s of jews in the holocaust whilst working in poland, risking his life and that of his wife, there were some good quotes about him, here from the Seite 3 article in the SZ:

“Er zeigte, was ein Mensch erreichen kann, der die Freiheit mit Mut und Verantwortung nutzt. Und wie er trotz aller Mühen ein glücklicher Mensch werden kann””

“Das Geheimnis des Glücks ist die Freiheit, und das Geheimnis der Freiheit ist der Mut” – actually this was what Beitz often said, quoted from Perikles:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perikles
(secret of happiness is freedom and the secret of freedom is courage”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pericles

friday 2, stuttgart – get up quite early and go for 2km jog around a park behind the spahr hotel where i’m staying then into office before heading out to customer
late away and would have normally missed my train but fortunately it was 15 minutes late, so managed to catch it

got back home and relaxed in the heatwave conditions we are experiencing, watched some WM swimming finals and then a program about the Great Train Robbery, since it was 50 years ago

saturday 3 – not able to sleep and awake from about 6am talking with katie then she goes out for run, i tell her about the 3 parents and children i’d observed in the various train journeys:

an english couple on the s-bahn back to harras, the mum first telling her 6yr old son off for annoying his sister and then goading him to talk about his new lego sets to a friend, forcing social graces, when it was up to him to talk
a us couple on the train back to munich from stuttgart, the world clearly revolving around their new son, they were foodies and were talking about introducing one new flavour a week etc, but imoho they would come unstuck by following recipe parenting and just relaxing and acknoledge both themselves and their new charge – it was clear they wanted the best, but that can be achieved by active attention, than by aggressive and showy displays
a man of about 30 yrs old and his 2 yr old son on the train to frankfurt airport, the son was kicking up a fuss and saying “nein” really loudly when something upset him but other than that he had everthing he needed, a box of wooden toys/vehicles including a big dumper trick and i suppose was clamoiuring for his dad’s attention, ensconsed in his laptop but the dad did an amazing job, keeping calm and not getting angry (just at one point showing a boundary, but otherwise exemplary, even walking him up and down the corridor to give the son a change – was the most positive of the experiences and the son was being taken seriously and handled calmly by the dad even though at times the boy was screaming out loudly

we go to christine’s for b-b-q in the evening, gives a chance to chat with rainer, nico, plus naomi and lizzie and norbert’s family
we get a little wet on the way back as the hot weather breaks a little – all that stored energy in the atmosphere has to be released sometime

sunday 4 – going through a few old newspapers:
NYT from SZ Friday 15 march 2013: “Doing More May Mean Doing Less” says that a new body of research indicates “strategic renewal – including daytime workouts, short afternoon naps, longer sleep hours, more time away from the office and longer, more frequent vacations – boosts productivity, job performance and of course, health”.

Florida State University found that “elite actors, athletes, musicians tend to work best in 90-minute intervals, rarely more than 3 of them a days, with regular breaks.”

2500 years ago, Chinese sage Lao Tzu wrote “he who clings to his work will create nothing that endures. If you want to accord with the Tao, just do your job, then let go.”

NYT from SZ Friday 22 march 2013: “The Saving Grace of Good Design” mentions that beloved designs in history follow the golden rectangle’s 5-by-8 proportions, for example, the Notre Dame, face of Mona Lisa, facades of the Parthenon, Starvdivarius violin, even the original iPod. We can scan images fastest when the proportions are those of the golden recatangle.

monday 5, frankfurt – rainer parked in the garage spot and we travel on the ICE up to frankfurt, then onto hessenpark and a trip around the park, reinforcing some of the things we’d learned previously:
redewendungen:
albtraum – in the olden days, they used to sleep sitting so that the night spirit “alb” could not sit on their stomach’s and suffocate them, giving them bad dreams -> an “albtraum”
heating up the dinner quicker by lowering the pot over the fire via a chain and tooth system -> “zahn zulegen”
girls before they had a “bottom drawer” for future wedding articles, assuming they got married, would have an open chest/truhe on the bottom of which was painted a dog, the idea was to keep things in it and only borrow in an emergency, however, if they did have to borrow from it, eg. over a long spell of difficulty, then they would say they had “auf dem Hund gekommen” and in this case, unlikely to get married, live prosprously, the equivalent word in “verarmen”, become poor
interesting about the status of women – when they were married, they were quite low in status, since the man was the boss; however, a widow had a higher status since she was the head of the household (story of the woman’s grave next to her deceased husband and a later friend/lover
moving forward in school to the next row, ie. moving up and the place being taken by someone else -> “versetzt werden”
or not coming up to scratch and having to stay behind for another year -> “sitzen bleiben”
schulpflicht in germany was from the early 19th century, pushed through earlier in some länder via frederick

driving/travelling on the right hand side was introduced throughout europe by napoleon for those on horseback and in carriages, previously to that everyone travelled on the left, so that they could fight holding a weapon on the right when passing others on horseback, eg. think of knights jousting

development of federal germany since 1871 and the end of napoleon (recall versailles and the declaration of the german empire)

development of workers social (ie. unemployment/sick) and pension benefits commences from 1870 to 1900 under bismarck
this development was tracked in the uk by liberal reformers such as G.B.Shaw and introduced there in 1913 (the bbc ran a series on the welfare state which also reaffirmed that most of the benefits had come about not after the 2nd world war but before the 1st world war, the main benefit of the second set of reforms was the NHS)

in those days, they would have a misthaufen/compost heap in front of the barn, which served as an open tax declaration, the size of it telling everyone, also the tax collector of the village, how many animals and therefore tax was to be paid
to keep down the smell of this a walnut tree could be placed adjacent to it since this kept the flies away

tuesday 6, frankfurt then karlsruhe – worked in the office after slow breakfast at the hessen park with the rest of the team, a little worse for wear from the wine but otherwise ok

saw a few interesting things/links in karlsruhe in the evening:
hs-karlsruhe.de
gospelkirche-karlsruhe.de

wednesday 7, karlsruhe – reading the paper at breakfast, stuttgarter zeitung came across a couple of interesting ariticles:
recommendation that 30g ballaststoff/roughage per day is the ideal quantity, but not many reach this, often causes flatulence!
there are 2 types of roughage – bread/muesli type insoluble type which gut bacteria cannot digest and fruit roughage which is soluble and gut bacteria like, both are generally ok, just to be aware of and get in balance
interestingly a portion of vollkorm pasta has 9g

an article about democracy from ex SPD leader Münterfering:
stzlinx.de/politikundgesellschaft

finishing off the work and then getting the TGV back to munich, sat in 1st class and got a blissful 3 hours work done in peace on the lower deck of the double-decker train, upstairs pretty full
it struck me that i’d overstayed my welcome a little at work and maybe should affirm a better style:

“i respect my time and that of others, completing my work and then cheerily saying goodbye, this gives me time for relaxation, when i just let time take its course”

thursday 8 – working at home but not very efficiently, then hurriedly packing in the evening

friday 9, skipton – get up at 5.30am get things together and go, kiss everyone goodbye, eve says i’m the “best dad in the world” and rouses to cuddle me, sabs pretty much fast asleep, had started reading “from notting hill to new york, actually”, the book preceding the one i’d got her for christmas

arrive at airport in good time and in britain via lufthansa flight, which I’d booked to use up some air miles.
get train to skipton and start some work on number 11 duckett street, after getting internet to work

saturday 10 – wednesday 14, skiptonworking and getting ready for katie and girls arriving

thursday 15, skipton – katie and the children arrive in the hire car at about 6pm, just as I’m coming back from morrisons getting the various things they asked for, quavers and sausage rolls.
we have tea and setup beds and sleeping arrangements

friday 16, nottingham and henley – travel down to nottingham after reasonable start after breakfast, we leave at 11 but arrive later than expected at 2pm in nottingham due to getting lost from the A1 route.
chat with nick and gill, have some lunch and make some sandwiches for the further journey onto henley and the rewind festival
fortunately, we get a good run down, leaving nick and gill’s at about 4pm, then via M1, M69, A42, picking up the M40 which was clear, then onto the henley turnoff and we drive straight in without queues to arrive around 8pm
the others had arrived earlier with 2 hour tailbacks to get parked up

we meet up with everyone, pete and rosalind, dave and tracey, rob and amanda, for the friday evening meal at the tipis across from where we are staying at tangerinefields – the facilities are ok, bit of a queue for showers in the morning but the portakabin loos at the end are little used and i have the impression it’s my own personal one

later we talk a walk into the festival area and get some more refrehments

saturday 17, henley – we take a long walk and chat into henley for breakfast at the angel inn over the bridge on the northern bank of the thames
breakfast is decent quality with refills for tea/coffee as much as you like
we sit on the river bank on an outside table, getting fumes of diesel and some amusement when a group of festival goers drops a pair of sunglasses in the river and one nearly drowns trying to rescue them, help pull him back in thru the railings

we go on a search for camping chairs, which are mandatory dave explains and get lucky with ones on offer for 16 pounds
we get some reading material for the long day ahead, at first a paper was enough but the queue was too long so katie uses the time to choose a book, which results in my buying one for a pound as well as another newspaper
we come out of the shop with barry wiggins’ my time about his time before, during and immediately after the tour de france yellow jersey result; as well as a guardian and morning star to annoy dave

the girls in the group do a bit more shopping and we head back, briefly to the tents, then get settled slightly to the left of centre to prepare for the bands starting at 2pm

my review and points out of 10 for those which impressed me enough to write about them were:
steve harley and cockney rebel – 7, starting with here comes the sun then including judy teen, mr soft, ending with (come up and see me), make me smile – great musically, poor technically due to sound level issues – main vocals way too low
billy ocean – 10, sun comes out and he gives it all he’s got for an energetic set covering all his hits, brilliant
then jericho – 6, lively singer and good set
chesney hawkes – 8, happy, smiley chap who looked well, well he is 10 years younger than me, who did 3 numbers including comeback which sounded good, later bought his latest album, secretly/sheepishly, real life love, which we listen to on the way back in the car and during the rest of the holiday with the children, saby concluding that i like good words, she like good melodies
steve augeri, ex journey – 8, happy singer from new york with a pleasant soft-rock us sound which pete’s liked, don’t stop believing
heaven 17 – 7, again poor technically due to sound level issues – on the duet for temptation the girl’s vocals were still setup for backing, not lead
kim wilde – 9, played with her brother and his daughter, her neice – mild amusement as the announcer says that kim has aged well, just before her neice ambled onto the stage
great set with lots of dynamics, slow and fast ones, loud and soft, still some sound issues
hits the big moment of day #1 for me with a cover of black’s “wonderful life”, later found out it had brought amanda to tears, as they had played this song at her goddaughter’s funeral, who died after taking ecstacy tablets
the b-52s – 6, not my kind of music but entertaining nonetheless, rob and amanda getting into it, eric schneider the leaad singer sounds at time like ian curtis, they finish with rock lobster and loveshack

general comment technically – video shots were often late and out of sync, someone started a solo on an instrument and the camera focussed on this was live about 20s later – this is simply poor editing, since the camera work was good

sunday 18, henley – went to angel on the river again, for a less generous breakfast – no tea top-ups today – the thought goes through my mind that in analysing something, it makes sense to ask “is this being done with people in mind or with profit in mind” – a spirit of generosity is rewarded, that of meanness is not; breakfast was ok, just the atmosphere was stingy compared to yesterday

my review of the day, today the sounds and video editing was better, suspect a different set of people in charge, here my points out of 10:

aswad – 9, reggae and swing sounds, really enjoyed this from the front with the crowd swaying and grooving
paul carrack – 10, back at our place with the seats, katie and i up and moving from start to finish with some great numbers of his own and as done with mike and the mechanics, starting with over my shoulder, going on with another cup of coffee, living years etc, cracking solid vocals
the orchestra – 9, excellent and hits the big moment of day #2 for me: “mr blue sky” capturing the second day atmosphere for me, perfect record for perfect weather
cutting crew – 6, of died in your arms fame, another one for pete
go west – 6, not my kind of music, but go to the front with tracey to watch this and prepare for the onslaught of acts to follow
blancmange – 8, right up at the front for this, did all the right numbers incl the day before you came, pushing the upcoming tour and it sounded good, just needed a little more energy
belinda carlisle – 8, looking and sounding great, diminutive with a big voice
abc – 9, martin fry looking in good shape and spot-on singing
the pointer sisters – 7, full of colour and energy, in the end better than i expected

fireworks to end the evening like saturday

monday 19, henley, nottingham and skipton – up early enough, showered, changed, packed then a coffee with pete and rosalind, watching dave and tracey leave, chatting a while longer then quickly leaving the campsite to get going back

dave’s great comment about me boring him with “too much detail” haha – reminds me of john, TMD!

arrive at service area on the M40 for full-english breakfast and saw some other festival goers, pete reports that they were stuck in another 2 hour queue to get out – we were lucky once again!

tuesday 20, york – drove over with mum, john and sabrina; katie travels on the train with eve and joshua
went round the castle museum, enjoyed the dungeons and 60s exhibition
arrived at the travelodge near the bridge, very handy for the centre
meal at restaurant overlooking the river ouse

wednesday 21, york – looked around national railway museum and the A4 class locos which were on display, josh and john seemed to enjoy it, mum enjoyed sitting in the japanese bullet train
meal at nandu’s which was great food, girls enjoyed it

thursday 22, york – spent morning getting ready, john and josh went round the viking museum, i rescued them since we were running out of time, by going in through the exit and fishing them out

friday 23 – saturday 31rest of holiday in uk, visiting clitheroe and then flying back home

links
http://bemorewithless.com/choosejoy/
http://www.ancientwisdomtrail.com/about-us#!__about-us/vstc1=spiritual-warrior