monday 1 – went out on bike with katie, trying to get to stanrberg through forstenrieder park but settling for turning back after about 15km due to the conditions – snow on the ground still, katie fell off a couple of times and still freezing cold, particularly for the hands, having taken way too thin a pair of gloves.
tuesday 2 – working at home and seeing the children off to go to kundl, the farm in austria, where they are staying until saturday – katie and i have got some time for ourselves.
wednesday 3 – working from the office at hallbergmoos
get back a bit later than planned and we think of what we want to do for the next couple of days, katie decides on kochelsee, since she was in hospital when we visited before and hasn’t seen it; we book the train tickets then go to bed, fairly late.
thursday 4 – get up at 7am to catch 8am train from harras to hauptbahnhof and then the train to first tutzing, changing there for the kochel train and arriving at 9.30am.
we walk to the tiroler kreuz with a nice view over a misty lake then on to the power station visitor centre which was very interesting, i hadn’t appreciated that in bayern the power used for the bahn is 100% from renewable sources. the power station generates 124MW and building completed in 1924; took quite a visionary to conceive and see it through, oskar von miller; it puts electricity at 120kV into the system, in comparison with the other norms of 220kV and 330kV.
(later read that deutsche bahn are on the way to getting to 75% of electricity usage being from renewable sources, wind and water, feeding the electricity directly in as far as possible and ensuring this figure is provable and not just a “green-washing” stunt).
we walk around the lake the best parts are on the south and we even have some good sunshine along the way.
then we go thru schlehdorf, past the kloster and on back to kochel.
at kochel we stop for some lunch, for me a nice mixed vegetarian dish with 6 different sorts incl brussels, then proceed up to the franz marc museum. there it was interesting to see how his fascination with horses from about 1905 resulted in 1911/2 with the showing of the blaues pferd, the characteristic picture for the blau reiter movement; you could see how his work developed with some developments of light and colour, the idea being that the movement was an expressionist way of representing not only the animal but also something of its characteristics and how one feels about it expressed in colour and shape.
there were some other exhibits from kandinski and one-time partner, gabrielle minter, also klee, one of katie’s favourites. franz marc’s work appeared on an avant-garde art journal and there was an interesting article about nietzche, stating about the indifference of him/time, not in the present and not at all concerned about the relevance and pumped-up importance of man, but rather the unending past and inevitable future, death; a bit chilling and i hadn’t seen his views being expresssed in such a way.
this was later reinforced by a piece from a danish artist about taking a piece of paper, colouring it and pressing it through a metal drum to deform, as reminiscent of a life lived, unique and broken, forever changed as a result of experiences which mold and shape us.
we walk past, katie worrying about me taking too long and missing the train back; we go past tyroler kreuz again to see an old lady looking out into the mist, who looked a bit weird at first but at second glance, was just an old lady with a zimmer frame, not her earthly processions as if a beggar, as i had first thought; wish her good day and we go back to the station via the cemetry where we notice franz marc’s immaculate burial plot, finding out that he was killed in action in the first world war, living only 36 years, from 1880.
we get the train and then s-bahn back to home, watch some of the tv series on dvd “Call the Mid-Wife” which imogen has sent us, it’s a good laugh.
friday 5 – get up late and spend the day messing about on the computer, then going for a run before going out to anke birthday party where we meet the usual gang and have a lot of fun, getting back at 1am via the u-bahn from poccistrasse.
saturday 6 – late, slow start to the day, the girls get back from kundl today, they look absolutely shattered as i help them negotiate back from the u-bahn stop; then back to fixing leaking tap then treat myself to the basketball match at audi dome, hard to get in but managed to get a spare ticket, since it was sold out; had to wait ages in line for customer before me and the vented anger spoilt the enjoyment for a while, it jut wasn’t worth it, better to let things be.
sunday 7 – messing about on the computer getting the blogs sorted out and the apple loaded with digikam for example, takes most of the day what with other things like finishing off the video8s for sending out and cataloging.
monday 8, stuttgart – took 6.27 train to stuttgart, a double-decker TGV which was quite full but managed to get a seat since a nice lady mentioned there was one spare, slept some of the way, quite refreshed from the short break but still was an early start and had not slept so well. doing the training in stuttgart which went quite well i think/hope.
found a good restaurant tucked away near the bridge over the River Neckar.
tuesday 9, stuttgart – go out in Bad Cannstatt for walk then find a good restaurant – there are many old, authentic ones in the “altstadt”.
thursday 11 – working from the office then took the s-bahn to the airport for a 6pm flight which was on time, got sat near a national trust fan, lady in her 50s talking with a lad from preston back from a stag weekend, glad i focussed on my emails and work but couldn’t not but eavesdrop on the subjects ranging from stag nights to ghost stories, in the end a bit unsavoury in parts and just goes to show, you tell more to strangers than you would do to close friends.
got back at reasonable time via trains to manchester picadilly and leeds, good connection and home in skipton for around 11 o’clock.
friday 12, skipton and the dales beer bus trip – went up to number 57 and potted about a bit, then up town to sort out a few jobs like the bank ISA for Mum.
Met up with Steve, Brian and Mick for the trip up the Dales starting at 2pm. first stop the Dev at Cracoe, onto the Fountaine at Linton, then the Black Horse and Forresters in Grassington. Had a couple of games of pool in the Forresters, Mick and me against Brian and Steve, we lost both. We got the last bus back at around 7pm completing the evening at the Beer Festival in Skipton. Had fish in teacake supper, went home chatted with family a bit then went back out to get credit back from beer festival and another fish.
saturday 13, skipton and leeds – the big entertainment day – wharefdale rugby and simple minds concert
do a few jobs in the morning then Steve picks us up to go to the rugby match, preceded by food – originally planned to go to the Fountaine, but full, so was the Old Hall, so ended up at the Tennants Arms in Kilnsey, excellent choice – John who wanted to come along and Steve both had pies which was a very individual affair, I had bangers and mash – a cumberland style sausage wrapped around a bed of mash, topped with bubble and squeak and red cabbage.
then we saw a cracking game at THe Avenue – went in at 6 v 5 at the halfway point, lots of pressure from Macclesfield for the first 10mins, then again the first 10mins of the second half, but Wharfedale pressure and running seemed to tire them out both times with penalties coming from the pressure and subsequent fouling by Macclesfield. Excellent close-fought match by 2 teams who both needed to win. Game ended
Steve took us back as soon as the match finished so that we were able to catch the 5.17pm train from Skipton to Leeds for the Simple Minds concert, James brought along Chris his brother, so with John we made up a foursome of brothers.
went to the concert and past the aggressive beggars with empty polystyrene coffee cups wishing us envious good night, one after the other without the sense to shelter from the cold rain.
into the concert and meet up with nigel and elaine we get into rounds of cider which was probably the healthiest alcoholic option, very cold, not much alcohol and 4 quid per pint to boot, so 20 quid on drinks easily spent; bit of needle with chris since he was cadging beers all night long, then he goes along to Pilkingtons in Keighley to play some pool he said. we get back about 11 ish and go home to bed.
my top three from the concert were:
neon lights which the female singer did brilliantly alone (a Kraftwerk cover, whose german version is even better – neon licht), omd have also covered this
glittering prize / new gold dream
don’t you forget about me (final song)
well ok top 4 songs
Jim Kerr always reminds a bit of Mick Elliot, when the latter was in his prime.
we get an early train, james working next day so no chance for another drink.
sunday 14, skipton – the big sports day or was it all about “how do we develop or protect self-esteem?”
help john with mum going to chapel, Mrs Etty is 90 today! She’d done the flowers at church which was a wonderful display. Assisted getting the sound going by turning the power amp on, eileen seemed to a bit put out apologising etc. left service a bit early to get ready for …
the skipton triathlon, a battle through wind and hail up the hills towards West Marton, overtook a lady on her first triathlon on the downhill stretches, then she overtakes going uphill, bit of a battle otherwise the usual story of being very slow on the bike and people passing by a clear 15 minutes ahead and trying to be encouraging but actually it was demoralising and patronising, “you’re doing very well”; “keep going” and “well done” etc.
james, john, margaret, celine and josh turn up to cheer on, they sit down for meal at restaurant whilst i swim but catch me an hour later, james back from work on the 2 laps around aireville park.
tank it down to morissons to get stocked up on cheap pies before it closes at 4pm and with a huge hunger, eat a cheese roll, half a slice, cornish pasty and beans after a relaxing bath.
john and i go out to the woolly sheep for a couple of beers which was nice
Times were:
swim: 00:09:06
T1: 00:02:44
cycle: 01:02:57
T2/run: 00:29:18
total 01:44:07
monday 15, return to munich – get up early, long talk with james then up to #57 for a few minutes playing draughts with john whilst josh plays chess on the computer then a massive effort to make the train at 8.26 which was fortunately a bit late
john and i say our goodbyes, got quite emotional really waving each other off.
train journey passed pretty uneventfully to manchester airport and then not a lot of time before the flight, after going twice thru security since they discovered the tin of syrup i attempted to get on board; anyway managed to swap it for fray bentos pies so we end up with 4 of the things
good flight back, row 3 since plane not full at the front, first thru passport control and onto a waiting s-bahn which leaves after in a minute, so home for 5pm, so from 8am to 4pm UK time, 8 hours door to door via public transport end to end, really quite impressive!
think, what impressed me from the weekend in skipton, was how better josh is coming along, helping out his mum gladly by going to the top shop for milk and bringing back the shopping from tescos with her
josh is still mad on wrestling and he tried to play chess on the computer, keen to learn, maybe a chance to teach next time.
wednesday 17 – friday 19, stuttgart – last of the 4 technical trainings to do, which seemed to go well, although not so much interaction or many questions.
discovered a good jogging route near the spahr hotel where we stay, also some good restaurants
we have the usual friday evening at home with pizzas and wine, listen to any questions which was from columbia university new york
saturday 20 – fixing leaking tap finally with a mixer cartridge i bought on amazon for 10€
made old english salad and french dressing for evening meal, assisted katie peeling veg for the dinner party with sue and andy, chris and joe; seemed to go well.
sunday 21 – arrived v.late at church with the girls
did guitar lesson for elisha, seemed to go well, some new exercises.
monday 22 – went out to the office, using trip to unterfoehring, then getting out and buying short ticket to make it cheaper.
read interesting quote going thru the countless emails i was wading thru:
“you are not only responsible for what you do, but also for what you don’t do”
tuesday 23 – st george’s day, the usual wake-up and out of the flat like yesterday, out of bed at 6.40am, listened to prayer for the day and farming today in the bathroom before getting booted out by the girls as they come in to clean teeth
went out to office again like yesterday using technique of getting out at unterföhring, then taking a 20mins break and catching next s-bahn 2 stops on a kurzstrecke ticket for €1,20.
made a faux-pas by not being able to see screen so clearly and asking to lower blinds – then ute pointed out that i could turn up the brightness, which i’d turned down for a few days due to sitting next to people on the train, embarrassing!
the usual mcdonalds evening meal on a tuesday, have a go about propensity of the children to dive straight for the fridge/freezer after finishing to hit yoghurt or ice cream.
finish off some work then catch up on bayern result 4 v 0 against barcelona.
wednesday 24, duesseldorf – long trip up on the ICE, leaving the house at 5.30am for the train 20mins later via taxi
good meeting and then catch train back and we hit problems – a one hour delay becomes 90 minute delay and am back at 11pm
was interesting to be online via Wifi and more or less follow the dortmund v madrid game which ended 4 v 1 for dortmund, jumping between the guardian and bbc live updates, in between doing some work.
thursday 25, ulm – eve was going to use the bike to go to school but i need to fit a basket for her so that it is safer or check the panniers if they are an option, likely not since they would be decidedly uncool I’d imagine.
she leaves in shorts! we checked the weather and it should be unto 24 degC today with 12 hours of sunshine, not bad, spring is here!
friday 26 – worked from home and went for lunch with eve, rather late but wanted to wait
met her coming up the slope from margaretenplatz with a cloth bag slung over her shoulder
she wanted to go home first so i accompanied her and then we retraced our steps to heralds heisse theme, she told me on the way about laura wanting to change schools at the end of the year and on the way back about lina, a 14 year old in the class, who queued from 8am to get into the justin bieber concert at olympiahalle in march during the easter holidays.
it was nice to get to know her like this, fun and open, full of insights and comment.
the meals at heralds were also good, enchiladas which she had and filet of fish which i had, but ended eating half of hers as well; we had 2 drinks and were well-looked after.
saturday 27 – get up early and go for swim at südbad for half an hour, 40lengths until 8.15am then back with croissants from ziegler bäckerei, long time since i used that one, near the children’s old primary school, plinganserstrasse.
had reasonable day sorting out a few jobs and then we have evening meal at home with klaus, julia and becky.
sunday 28 – taking guitar lesson, went ok, few mic problems in the service.
had an hour’s nap in the afternoon, really tired.
monday 29 – cycled to unterföhring getting lost in the process and getting in for 9.30 but otherwise ok.
Sabrina had some chemistry learning of the periodic table and we discussed how we learned it at school, HHeLiBeBCNOFNeNaMgAlSiPSClArKCa and she seemed to take to it, surprised, she usually rejects all advice I give!
tuesday 30 – went into office then cycled home from unterföhring a fast route along the isar, then had a quick shower, the mcdonalds meal together and then left to watch the match, dortmund v madrid, meeting up with paul and others.
got to el patio which is where we’d decided but it was booked up and they wouldn’t let me in, managed to get a table at wassermann but then paul said they had got standing room at el patio, right near the screen and we’d be standing but it turned out to be better than sat huddled up close on a table, we were standing but able to move about and chat with different people, guan, sven, charlie, paddy and a tall american.
good match – intense pressure from madrid for 20mins, all absorbed by dortmund, then a fairly dull match until the last 20mins when madrid again piled on the pressure and got 2 goals so dortmund got thru on aggregate, 4 v 3.
got bus back and having to struggle to stay awake, 2am in bed.
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