sunday 1 – usual quiet sunday I imagine, ‘cos I’ve forgotten and the first of the month really needs an entry so I’m making this up: probably went for a run and picked up some chocolate croissants from the bakery on the way back for the girls
monday 2 – katie ill and in bed a lot of the time from today
working at landesamt for statistics near ostbahnhof, quite easy to get to on the 54 bus, had nice indian buffet meal, ate 5 smallish courses, was nice chatting with martin and the 2 customers
burnley got promotion today after winning against QPR, brighton having earlier drew against derby and in the premiership, with tottenham only getting a draw at chelsea, it meant that leicester were champions today
tuesday 3 – went out to landesamt again to check on the data collection, found it had not run, so set it up to run again overnight
wednesday 4 – went out again to check on the data collection which had run this time
reading 10 habits of highly effective people on amazon by a.i. abana, actually this was browsing as part of the preparation for next week’s course, the 10 points this chap had were:
plan
schedule
purpose
keep cool
cherry-pick
believe
hear
bold up
look
hold it
went to guitar practice, only 3 there instead of 3, but the 3 who most need some practice – got pulled up on the picking pattern since it should be the same as the ‘loch rhythmus’ we do, we didn’t do very much but it was nevertheless good to have gone and got the basics sorted out
thursday 5 – lovely day off, going on cycle ride with sue and andy, cathy and graham, catching the train down to wolfratshausen, for coffee at berg after a very long climb, lunch at iffeldorf, around the osterseen and stopping at hanshausen for afternoon break, then a rush for the train back at tutzing.
very tired so didnt go swimming, another opportunity missed, but had to help saby with her tea as she came back from the b-b-q very despondent having wasted 5 hours and didnt get anything to eat
friday 6 – read this wonderful quote from someone at work:
“Time is the coin of life. Only you can determine how it will be spent.
To be successful; you have to believe in yourself when nobody else will.
Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.
Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.”
have the very first band practice with scott (drums), graham (guitar and vocals), reiner (acoustic guitar and recorder) and papa (bass and vocals), we practised amazing grace/peaceful easy feeling, a strange hybrid of a song; i can see clearly now and come now is the time to worship. becky listening said it had sounded good, but am not so sure, apart from making a lot of noise!
saturday 7 – working on the home LAN and changing WLAN AP out in flat for better reception, otherwise just getting on with a few jobs like sorting out the trip to barcelona and getting sab’s name on a flight changed to edith
burnley won the championship after beating charlton away
sunday 8 – went to church with eve, but saby was busy doing her GEO referat on “eine Zukunft ohne Öl” in the united arab emirates (which also includes dubai), came back to do some more work, practiced guitar a little – am amazed that with perseverance it is possible to make an albeit slow, plodding effort on both ‘yesterday’ and ‘can’t help falling in love with you’ – picking out the difficult bits and going over each slowly with repetition
was working downstairs on trying to sort my computer out with a java problem and then some script was wasn’t working – got a little further. saby came in sheepishly because she knew i was in a tetchy mood, as I’d had not been sleeping so good and had upset katie since returning from the uk and suggesting a different plan for bright st; anyways she just asked if i was working in a rather soft tone, which just reminded me of her as a child, that fun girl just wanting to be acknowledged and get a smile.
went for decent swim, first time for ages, got about 40l knocked off before tea, 12 with legs
monday 9 – katie up to get girls and breakfast going
travelling to stuttgart for a meeting on the train and read an interview in the bahn mobil magazin for may with udo lindenberg where he is asked what he has learned from life and can give to young people, as he turns 70 this year:
“Dass du das meiste durch sensiblen Umgang mit Menschen erfährst. Und dass es so was wie eine endgültige Erkenntnis nicht gibt, und für jeden, glaube ich, eine andere Wahrheit.”
tuesday 10 – meeting out near OEZ, had lunch on park bench, couscous and a butterbreze, then met up with guan and alexander for interesting discussions
wednesday 11 – have been reading the book ‘work, life, bull*’ by thomas vasek from the library but will take it back today, might make sense to go through and study more thoroughly, had some interesting vocabulary and references
thursday 12 – managed finally to make the swimming practice, travelling via x30 bus to brudermühlstr, then u3, could set off around 7pm and make it in good time
friday 13 – good practice session, this time katie came along
saturday 14 – helping katie with meal in the evening, we are back on good terms after both of us being a little out of sorts recently, katie’s explainable through being ill and mine not really, but just extremely tired and irritable
sue and andy, cathy and graham round in the evening, katie had made a lovely starter of falafel and ricotta paties, then potato bake and brocolli, then chocolate pudding and cheese
stayed up late watching the end of eurovision
sunday 15 – went to church with eve but extremely tired, came back and fell asleep for 40 winks
monday 16 – went for walk to thalkirchen with katie, stopping for breakfast at a bakery at brudermuhlstr.
working downstairs to clear up some paperwork and pack, cancelled with direct line etc
left kissing the girls as usual a little behind schedule at 6pm and took the late flight to london heathrow arriving tired at john’s via the bus around 10.30pm
read a couple of good articles in the magazine, ‘a tempo – das lebensmagazin (mai 2016)’, which is in a free magazine from DM markt, has an interesting book about child development and parenting:
“Herzensbildung, von der Kraft der Werte im Alltag mit Kindern” by christiane kutik, think it might generally be a good book about empathy
also an article about “ein Bild als Lebensbegleiter” by Mario Bretti on the Rembrandt picture of “A man in armour”:
http://collections.glasgowmuseums.com/viewimage.html?oid=166852&i=390248
the light on head and heart and the balance and strength in each
he says it helps one to remind us of the ideals in each person, about always looking forward, having courage never to lose sight of one’s ideals
tuesday 17 – first day of 7 habits training, gerhard was extremely good and it was very informative and lively. i found the training and learning combination of:
presenting,
relating stories and analogies,
listening to the stephen covey videos themselves,
writing out our own thoughts/answers to exercises alone and for only our use,
explaining to a second person what we’d learned in a particular session,
practising aspects like empathy in small group situations,
splitting into 4 groups to discuss the 4 quadrants or brainstorming ideas synergistically.
all really brought home the points made in a varied and fun way.
went to the harrow hotel for meal in the evening and met up with tim
wednesday 18 – second day of 7 habits training, got a chance to discuss about john’s situation and got some good pointers and ideas from gerhard
went to watch liverpool lose against sevilla in the europa cup and we sat in front of the screen at the harrow hotel discreetly eating the sandwiches which the costa girl had donated to john and which were going out of date that day, whom we’d met on the way
thursday 19 – day in the office at bedfont, then back to john’s and sorting out filing with john
friday 20 – working from the city office, then lovely train journey to leeds with a challenging conference call and then the bus over to clitheroe to meet up with kats, having visited duckett street for an hour to quickly tidy up
meet up with imogen and paul in tescos, then arrive back eating tea when katie walks in after her flight and drive
saturday 21 – go to swales for late breakfast after working a bit on the house, then visit mabel and my mum before parking at steeton&silsden station for train to bradford forster square – foolishly pass the taxis to go up the stairs to the top and then struggle to find a taxi – it has all changed massively around this are and the grand old entrance a bit reminiscent of bristol temple meads has disappeared, presumably long since sold off
we struggle on with my map in the rain and wind until i eventually find a taxi to hail down, which gets us there in good time only we havent eaten and the bar has sold out even of crisps, but we manage on weissbier and tea, then the concert where sherry is offered before the performance part of schwa’s ‘threshold’ about welcoming begins
it is a wonderful concert covering literature, song and music, i particularly like the quote from Bead about life being like a bird rushing in through a window to fly over a huge table in a banqueting hall where a feast is prepared and being enjoyed, rushing over it with great speed and disappearing out through another window – our time offers the brief glimpse of all life’s riches
there’s a large variety of instruments and the arrangements by the youngest richard are carefully thought out
there’s a chance to chat with the 3 of them at the interval, they’ve only been together for around a month.
we get back to clitheroe in good time via the car parked at steeton&silsden station.
sunday 22 – go to sunday service with katie and it has some interesting ideas, the author timothy keller and his books including the meaning of marriage; the triquetra as a representation of the trinity: in relationships, of relationships and calling us to relationships. readings are from psalm 66 and romans ch 5 v 1-5, interesting because that ties in with the 7 habits focus on character over personality:
“we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance, and with endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us”
which for me ties in nicely with the covey quote on the 7 habits training, by samuel smiles:
“sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”
katie mentions that she’d disagreed with the rector, but didn’t have time to really discuss, i knew what she meant as the sermon was mostly talking about an authoritarian/patriarchal view
we eat lunch at nero’s cafe on clitheroe main street
katie goes for walk and i stay to finish off some work on a report to send out this evening when we get internet access
we drive to the inn at whitewell to have evening meal but have messed it up because we are too early and half nearly 2 hours to wait, sitting in the room where the bar used to be, where we discussed the work needing doing at bright st and katie sketches out a project plan, there is plenty of time to sit and chat since evening meals are not served until after 7.30pm and after ours we go back via imogen’s to call in and say hello, paul insisting on a generous glass of wine
monday 23 – we’re up and out by 8am, katie in the car to the airport, me on foot to the bus station to get a bus to skipton for the appointment with the gas boiler servicing which i have planned
went up town and dropped in on harrison boothman, then mostly working on getting the cupboard doors to fit neatly
took water bottle to chico’s as celine was working there diligently and i offered to drop it off on my way to tescos
tuesday 24 – quite a sunny start to the day, topped up gas and electric and sat for a while at the canal bank near where the elderflower tree was and still is, where we used to play down by the mill straight on from opposite the end of westmoreland st – it will likely go or not be accessible when the development is done, so enjoyed just sitting there and listening to the birds and looking at the elderflower in the end of its spring blossom
finished fitting of cupboards, then bathroom ancillaries which make it look quite stylish now it is all in white, chrome and glass around the sink
spend time getting stuff from m&f then long call with katie to get more details of what the requirements are, she tells me how sabs is struggling to get down to studying, spend evening taking the wood off and cleaning the shed roof
josh came down in the evening and we played charades with action verbs, acting out things like washing up, posting a letter etc
wednesday 25 – covered the shed roof with polythene to keep it dry as it was due to rain today and tomorrow
took first bus over to clitheroe to arrive at 10 in time for 11.30 appointment with electrician/plumber and had interesting 2 hour discussion about the various aspects of what is possible and sensible to do
later working on the form for john which he has to return, not quite finished but moved it a long quite a bit
took bus back to skipton and josh came down again and we played reading and acting out actions from one of the books he brought down
thursday 26 – working on the house before taking train to leeds to watch ‘kes’ at west yorkshire playhouse – a dramatic a production as i have ever seen, mind you i was in the front row and at times only a metre away from the 2 actors – billy played by Dan Parr, all other parts by Jack Lord
the play was just spell-binding from start to finish, spoiled only slightly by a phone two places along from me going off as billy was about to open the dustbin lid, the owner just letting it ring, idiotic but the actors were completely unfazed in their own world, as they also were when right at the edge of the stage facing 100s of eyes
got back and got windows and there was a short viewing of the house, whilst i hastily had some tea and got ready
heavy night on the town with the lads starting out at the sound bar and moving on to the woolly sheep, then the fish shop, but i was already full at that point
friday 27 – up late and priming the windows, not a very productive day but managed to keep going on the painting of the windows and of course, priming and two coats of gloss takes some elapsed time to dry and then re-coat
went to pete’s for evening meal, beef and horseradish!
for roz, it must have seemed like an episode of last of the summer wine, with the 3 old men harping on and moaning about the world in broad yorkshire accents, well 2 of us at least!
saturday 28 – up at 6am to get going on working to get the shed roof, go up to m&f for extra 5m roll and more adhesive (both later needed!), eating lunch noticed the grey clouds over the rooftops and really put a sprint on to get the 3 sheets laid, the adhesive on the first side needed to have dried a little longer but it was ok with plenty of pressure, the other side and the central, 1m piece went well
spent 3 hours sanding down the shed for coat of paint, which looked awful and was really watery until it was mixed properly and then it went on well with the timber really absorbing the liquid
as final, noisy job to around 8.30pm nailed on the side pieces using clout nails – had only used these on the sides of the roof felt, the central pieces were nail-free, just stuck on and keeping the pressure on the joins when the tackiness was still there, tried to make a ‘welted’ joint at the overlaps
final job was finishing off the paint on the areas below the roof line
sunday 29 – up at 6am and the shed actually looked ok in the light, cracked on with packing and tidying up
fortunately james called at 9.30am at the door and helped out with mopping the floors upstairs, then holding the windows in place for assembly, then taking the paint off the glass with a knife
josh arrived later and helped with brushing the yard and washing the kitchen window, as well as holding the ladder for me for the upstairs bedroom windows, front and rear
margaret helped also with cleaning the kitchen floor
so, after the flurry of activity, including spraying the weeds with a solution containing glyphosat, we finally set off for summerfields to see mum at 12.30, staying there for half an hour or so, had a game of chess with josh and we sat mum out in the sun and chatted with her, we left and i got dropped off at steeton and silsden station for the train to the airport
mad journey back with huge queues at security in manchester, a delayed flight and queues at passport control in munich, home after midnight, had met sarah and children on their way back from a long weekend
monday 30 – very tired, working at home, worked upstairs to chat with girls in the evening
the glyphosat had slightly irritated my eyes – somehow a few drops got in even though i had worn goggles and i rinsed my eyes out immediately but checking the mirror it is still red, also a funny taste in my mouth, although i had worn a mask – have to be really quite careful next time, the container had a funny top which was not the easiest to release
tuesday 31 – again working at home, report to write and plenty of things on the go
katie a bit sad in the afternoon as she had heard that frau hupfauer was moving out of her flat and into the hospice soon
anke visited us for evening meal
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