friday 1, clitheroe – jigsaw comes round to do the tiling and katie points out the inconsistency, which he fixes whilst we go to swales for breakfast, then she goes off to her mum’s whilst i do a few jobs on the house
we drive over to see my mum and she is a little depressed having been consigned to her room for the last couple of weeks having spent a night without going to bed, think it was a bit harsh
katie sings some songs to her and she joins in, she really enjoyed it and we lifted her spirits which was nice
we drive back to the lower buck for evening meal
saturday 2, clitheroe and skipton – again back at swales for breakfast, a few jobs round town later driving over to skipton picking up josh and visiting mum again, we sing to her, she doesn’t join in unfortunately, but has a whale of a time laughing when katie puts on her pink wig to go the party
we go to martin’s 50th birthday party and it is a good laugh, nearly half have dressed up, it’s nice to see auntie jean, elizabeth, andrew etc as well as most of the robinson side of the family; have a good dance to the 80s music
sunday 3, clitheroe – breakfast at nero’s then few tidy up jobs before going to manchester airport, late back
monday 4 – swimming was quite good, just what i needed, although i didnt really feel like it, but since it is on at dantebad now, which is so close to us, i can hardly miss it
girls busy with studying, help eve with a klasur she has tomorrow, asking her about constructivism, kant and christian subjectivism (i think those were the subjects)
tuesday 5 – out to the office for monthly breakfast, met up with dan and fynn
wednesday 6 – guitar was quite good, some more on tears in heaven and stille nacht picking
thursday 7 – on-site at gbr, was quite productive
friday 8 – night off from band, spend too much time sofa surfing about the brexit phase 1 talks concluding today,
eve had got upset at supper about how one of sabs’ friends whilst we were away had dispirited her with her violin playing, since he was so good, she got quite tearful and i wish afterwards i could have been more supportive and comforting – was too caught up and the couple of beers i’d had didn’t help, but regret it and go to bed late, tired
saturday 9 – getting bench and chairs covered with polythene to protect against the weather and so that girls’ friends can go outside
tosh’s telephone does not work and in trying to help him, we end up rebooting his modem which takes off his internet as well
we meet up with danny at the fountain in marienplatz, go round hofbrauhaus which is heaving, then to the place which serves schmalznudeln (like an ausgezogene) and raisin/plum-filled nudel:
then we go on to the deutsches museum looking around the aircraft and ship exhibits, before departing again at marienplatz for him to go back to his work colleagues
we go on to evening meal and julia’s and klaus’, where we have a wonderful chilli and play lots of board games, becky is partilcularly good and keen
finally get to understand how mühle works and what a zwickmühle is
we get back at about 11pm
sunday 10 – nativity rehearsal and the usual battles to get anything workable, despite the 5 of us, cathy, graham, lizze, katie and i all working together
monday 11 – go out to office and lunch with dan and guan
swim training and weihnachtsfeier in blau stern next door, we covered a lot of lengths freestyle:
16 lengths – legs one way, full stroke back
badewanne 2l
4x 2l breastroke arms then 4l slowly full stroke
raising arms out of water to clap 2l
6l slow full stroke
tuesday 12 – christmas concert at st mattias kirche near sendlinger tor – a wonderful kaleidoscope of musical talent, amazing that the school has such committed and professional teachers
girls sing “In the Bleak Midwinter” and “The Holly and the Ivy.”
wednesday 13 – guitar was good, still studying tears in heaven
whilst eating evening meal, Eve calls us all together to discuss our wichtel presents and what we’d like to do on the days and evenings coming up – she wants it planned, Sabs wants it spontaneous
thursday 14 – out at gbr and was good, saw most folks as it was weihnachtsfeier the night before, simon, ali, joerg
working with guan we managed to move our bgp add-path problem on further, which was a real achievement
read about robert forster playing at feierwerk tomorrow and see he has an interesting book in „The Ten Rules Of Rock And Roll“.
friday 15 – finally got up for a run around west park
eve has a 3.5 hour german klausur.
graham comes round and we practice songs for the nativity together with katie in the snug
go out to watch robert forster at feierwerk, was a lot fuller than i imagined, was an appreciative, slightly older but not by much crowd
he played a few songs on his own, then violinist joined him with some nice soaring chords taken over by the violin
some ideas on how to integrate guitar and violin
impressed with just how many chord changes he does, refer video, also how many are barre – it really is a key
on some songs he plays a lot of alternate bass accompaniment (since there was no bassist)
on others he focuses more on the treble strings, which gives a nice variation
guitar is just a straight forward western acoustic which he plugged into the DI box to use the main PA
saturday 16 – jim naughtie on meet the author, nick harkaway talking about his novel “Gnomon“, a dystopian view of total surveillance.
thought for the day was interesting from Dr Chetna Hindu practitioner of Bakti Yoga, how to seek isolation through prayer, meditation or yoga. how Vedic texts suggest:
give gifts
receive gifts
reveal one’s mind and heart in confidence
to inquire from others confidentially
accept sanctified food
feed others
keep society healthy and cooperative
help connect with our roots, cultural origins or the divine
knowing our spiritual roots as well as our parental or cultural roots helps in understanding who we are and we are better connected
in any personal relationship, the more secure i am in my identity, the more successful that relationship will be
sunday 17 – nativity play with the 3 of us playing, just sat down at the front, seemed to go alright, albeit we forgot to put a speaker in the back part of the stage so that the cast and direction (kathy) could hear it – one to remember
monday 18 – in garching office, then into gbr to meet up with justin and matthias, have meal at greek restaurant above the italian at OEZ
marko is there with a couple of bottles of landenhamer schnapps from the weinbörse
tuesday 19 – give cards and eve gives her present for birthday, sabs not in such a good mood, baptist had cancelled the evening at his parents, so not sure where sabs is going this evening as she doesn’t want us around it seems, she has been letting out her anger on me recently, which is painful to take
wednesday 20 – still surfing far too much about news and brexit
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/20/change-your-mind-social-media-jeremy-corbyn
“I’ve changed my mind about changing my mind. I do it all the time.”
“John Maynard Keynes said: ‘When the facts change, I change my mind’. And the facts change a lot over a lifetime.”
“there is a danger – in this age of hyperbole and CAPITAL LETTERS – that uncertainty comes off second best. No one ever won an argument with ‘I’m not so sure’.”
“If we treat someone else’s views with due care and attention, perhaps they will do the same with ours.“
maybe to listen to:
Esperanza Spalding: Radio Music Society album
and a comment
“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wise people so full of doubts.” B. Russell
guitar was good, we started also on the carole king song “you’ve got a friend”
sabs quote over tea, talking about crows stealing a pheasant’s feathers and then the pheasants getting their own back by taking the crow’s feathers, then noticing some beautiful feathers underneath, the moral being that everyone has beauty within, then she quoted the rapper goldroger, whom she’d seen recently:
“mit fremden federn kann man gleiten, aber doch nicht fliegen”
was a nice supper together, even if it became the water bottle argument, katie and i at odds on that, and now i can’t even remember what is was about – later remembered – she was dismissive that the water bottle i provided and which saby used (pavelka) was a cheap and nasty giveaway, but she retracted when i said it was hard won prize in a keep fit contest at work, by completing the equivalent of 58,000 swim “strokes” in the months of june/july – i knew I would have a reasonable chance due to the sporting events going on at that time and i managed it – actually the prize was for submitting a sporting photo whilst trying to make the 58,000 “strokes” and my cycling one, being one of only 4 entries, made sure I got a prize! but i didn’t let on about this
thursday 21 – team meal with quite a few of the garching members, mArtin, reinhold, fynne then rares came into office later
katie texts to say she has got a tree, was quite a trek back with it under her arm
after meal of soup, as we’d planned to go to the weihnachtmarkt at harras, but it was too rainy and unpleasant, we put up the christmas tree, but not yet the decorations, struggling to cut the stump a little more and get it straight, eve obliged with providing the requisite christmas schmalz music
friday 22 – working at home
saturday 23 – went out to the big supermarket “real” near kieferngarten where we used to live, to do my christmas shopping, setting off around 9am and taking U6 and then a linking bus – was quite easy and lived up to its expectation: “einmal hin, alles drin”
sunday 24 – lazy and quiet day, since most places were closed but managed to get all pressies wrapped and then it was time for the service at 7pm, read a lesson
was a nice “party” afterwards with isata, reno and vanda singing some carols and everyone enjoying food and mince pies, happyily joining in like it was re-take for “wonderful life”
monday 25 – we get up around 9am and laze about till the girls get up, which doesn’t take long, then we have breakfast of tea and croissant, before sitting around the tree passing one another presents and opening them
eve helps me prepare the chicken by buttering it and filling it with the stuffing which katie had prepared
eve is getting into helping out more now and she really wants to know how to cook a christmas dinner
we set the oven to come on a little later and then go out for a walk, along the isar and ending at fugazi at baldeplatz
http://fugazi-munich.de/index.html
we enjoy a pizza bread just as a bit of a starter to put us on before getting back for our main meal of the day
was nice to sit and chat all four of us, doesn’t happen that we go out much these days as a four – have a couple of enjoyable beers
we take the 132 bus to harras and enjoy the meal, then sit around chatting
tuesday 26 – finished reading David Van Raybrouck “Against Elections”
discusses the political demise and how it can re-vamped with the system of drawing lots like it was in Athens and later Venice, Florence, Aragon to create a real democracy in the fullest sense of of the people, by the people, for the people, which it so clearly is not now … being a firm fan of Proportional Representation was taken by the title at the local library.
The book has upended my views that fair elections are the only way, since that leads to dominance by parties, lobbying and vested interests. The older and longer-lasting democracies (100s of years) found a way to ensure vested interests were neutralised; plus we really do need 1000 year thinking if we as a species are to survive.
wednesday 27 – prince harry editing on the today programme
barack obama – how his new year’s resolution is just to improve himself each day, be better today than yesterday (this is a Jordan B. Peterson rule, will refer to later) and with his ties to Canada, can see how he would have picked up on it
interesting how positive harry is for the youth of today, tolerant, accept diversity, intelligent, connected and aware
prince charles – about the circular economy, how nature doesn’t waste anything
harry’s quote from edmund burke – “the best way for evil to prevail, is for good men to do nothing”
surfing away unfortunately, for rules to schafkopf and mühle, since am planning to ask Tom about it tomorrow on-site:
thursday 28 – in the office at GBR and tom gave me this link
http://av-wiki.de/start
it is so dead in the office and we play a game of schafkopf after lunch with guan my colleague who is a citizen over here, having been in the chinese state ballet performing at the munich opera house for many years, tom who is the main contact and deniz who is from croatia – both tom and deniz were pretty good, guan and I beginners – we basically just played a few rounds wth open hands so we could follow what to do. Schafkopf is an interesting Bavarian card game, a bit like a complicated version of whist.
friday 29 – not doing very much today at work and finding enough distractions, eg:
http://www.irish-folk-songs.com/forty-shades-of-green-lyrics-and-chords.html
which is my Mum’s favourite song, I finally found it after all this time, she must have been around 40 when she first told me this, so over 40 years ago
get through what i needed to at work, mainly finishing and issuing documents for review and replying to a few queries
katie and i have pizza and wine in the evening, back to a normal friday!
saturday 30 – looking for back light for eve, since in a rush one morning she had noticed that the cover had come off, but hadn’t had time to stop and pick it up, since her and hannah were in such a rush (refer previous entry in october – yes it has taken me a couple of months to get round to fixing it):
https://www.zweiradnetz.de/lampe/dynamoruecklichter?start=20
in the end got one from karstadt sports at stacchus and fitted it ok, although it was bit fiddly to get the wire attached and it has no “standing” function with a capacitor so that it stays charged and lights up when you are not pedalling, but I think around the city that should be ok, but i put a couple of reflectors on the spokes of the rear wheel just for good measure
sunday 31 – lazy day since service was late at night
go to anke’s after service, to meet up with gunther and annette – just like last year!
we have a nice fondu meal together with delicious wines and good conversations
play a hilarious game of “word up” where you have to guess the best word matching a category and starting with a letter
we watch the fireworks from anke’s flat balcony, perhaps more impressive than last year then take our leave just after midnight, since everyone is tired
watch some of jools holland’s show until around 2am when sabs turns up, eve is staying over at friends
ed sheeran was on, singing “layla” the clapton song, which he said he first covered when aged about 12 in a school talent show, interesting when listening more to the lyrics of his latest song “perfect”, it reminds me of “wonderful tonight”. he also comments on why he is so prolific and says he is just going with the flow, since he’s aware this moment might not last
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