thursday 5 – in the evening watched a film with sabbie, “it won’t last a year”, unremarkable apart from its crass, vulgar sense of humour and thin romantic plot, some interesting variations on 2 classics:
don’t dream it’s over from crowded house
when loves breaks down from prefab sprout

friday 6 – got up and got going, cycling into the office there and back, for a nice 42 mile round trip

sunday 8 – take children to church and see reiner’s beautiful photos from france
get back and the usual nap on the sofa, since so tired
go for long run at around 4.30pm, do 3 big laps, about 17km and felt ok, so well-prepared for the forthcoming tegernseelauf now

tuesday 10 – listening to louise hay’s affirmations again and her thought’s distilled are :
peace replaces fear
terror is replaced by tranquility
scariness by serenity
uncertainty by confidence
love replaces hate
represssion is replaced by freedom

go to mcdos for tea, eve explodes when i offer to buy 20 nuggets, instead of what they wanted 9 for sabs, 9 for her and 4 for ilda – all over 2 extra nuggets, calm down for half an hour, then go and get 9 + 9 + 6 – in the end she wasnt being listened to and had a point, ok should have approached it in a better way and been calmer all round – welcome back to the world of family!

wednesday 11 – went into the office via s-bahn, got on ok i suppose
eve came out of her room in glee and started prancing like a horse when she realised that her friends were in the same class and that laura had got thru the exam to stay

thursday 12 – on the radio 4 news headlines there were a couple of interesting articles on the headlines for the day:
a report that said children were better starting formal lessons from 6 or 7 – needless to say the govt report was that the findings were “misguided”
recognition that there are too few suitable homes for elderly people
a shortage of geriatric or super-geriatric wards which are geared towards a range of problems with the elderly, which typically the elderly have, ie. without the need for constantly moving from one specialist ward to another

first day back at school for girls, seemed to go off ok, although it is a massive transition to get up so early,the 3 of us have breakfast together at about 6.45am; then the usual goodbyes first to sabrina at 7.10 then eve, raring to go, at 7.20.

go out for light jog, 3 laps round the lake at slow pace as last training before the half marathon on sunday

during the day, called margaret who said she was taking mum to abbeyfields tomorrow for mum to get used to it, then called gail who confirmed that they want to get a tenancy agreement signed on 25 september, i mentioned to start on 1 oct, fits perfectly with my next visit

go to haralds for lunch and pfifferlinge penne pasta, eve has nuggets and sabs is back later – both seemed to have reasonable first days back
katie has made penne pasta with brocolli, carrot and ham, oh well, well prepared for running!

friday 13 – travelling to stuttgart on ICE in 1st class for the last time in a while (card runs out!), listening to chesney hawkes’ latest album, which i’d bought secretly/sheepishly at rewind, but which is a real classic

coming back on the train after using “du” in a really bad situation where I’d used “Sie” for ages, how embarassing

travelling back at the front of the train as if driving, noticed a lovely quote which I’d forgotten:

Morgenstund hat Gold im Mund

saturday 14 –

sunday 15 – completed my first “enjoyable” half-marathon around Lake Tegernsee in 1 hour 58 minutes 8 seconds, some great views of the lake and perfect conditions – cool temperature and a light drizzle.

splits were 11km at 1 hour, 16km at 1 hour 29 minutes, couple of inclines at the end, but still feeling good and managed to power on through the pain, although felt a little cramp at 18km.

monday 16 – went out to hallbergmoos

wednesday 18 – met up with paul, guan and michi braun playing pool and going for mexican meal near isartor, nice lads night out

sunday 22 – titilayo’s farewell at church and a lovely service and sermon from emily.

left on 3.20pm flight to london heathrow and from there a bus to harrow to stay with john until friday.

monday 23 – go into office, via 140 bus, tube to hatton cross, then the #26 bus.
working my way around bedfont and getting to grips with it, bit of a late start in the lab building the network i need, then return back via the tube
take john for meal at the vegetarian indian restaurant near the cinema then go up to visit ruth

tuesday 24 – go for meal at the windmill with andreas, he has huge fish and chips, i take a burger, also way too much

wednesday 25 – finally sussing out how to best get into the office, via 140 bus to LHR “free” bus area, basically the bath road, then go round the corner to the northern perimeter road and pickup a 90, 285 or 423 bus to hatton cross, then depending on time, take either the free works bus to bedfont lakes or the number 26 which stops at the side of bedfont lakes

thursday 26 – too early at hatton cross this morning, croissants arrive at 6.30am! take a couple of apples instead
go for indian meal with andreas then the bus home

friday 27 – bus has a crash on the way there, car rams into the back, have to get into a #90 and there meet up with a nice lad going to feltham community college – bright, intelligent boy with brazilian mum and english dad, talked to him about germany and got him to work out how to count to 100 in german

saturday 28 – had a flying trip to clitheroe. visited mabel and jack – they were very confused at first as to who i was. mabel had had her hair done in a perm and looked well, bright and happy. jack had a big cut on his head and the carer explained that he’d had a fall about 2 weeks ago, whilst nodding off on the inhaler in his wheelchair and had fallen out – there were some bruises on his head, as she said he bruises easily. Also his hands were bruised/discoloured from his recent hospital visit and presumably the needles and drips they had used. he had a bandage on his left hand. after a fraught 20 minutes when he repeated endlessly, where’s katherine and that i should be with her looking after her and asking when we are coming to visit, i mentioned the proposed visits in november and december, shortly after his birthday, he asked how old he was etc. i left to visit the loo and when i came back they were both noticeably more communicative and alive, getting a smile or two, even from jack. i asked him about his trips to school from halton east and he still remembered it well, although didnt give any descriptions. we listened a bit to the service from peacechurch the week before, mabel miming the words along to “immmortal, invisible, God only wise”, until jack told us to turn the noise down. the carers came round with cups of tea/coffee and biscuits, mabel is putting on weight. i mentioned about the girls, one of the carers mentioning that her cousin was also called sabrina, also born at QPH Blackburn and 13 years old. jack said clearly my name and the girls names fairly loudly, really making an effort to communicate and listen. he opened his eyes more and they were generally more cheerful, when asked what they wanted me to tell katherine, he said to say they were fighting fit. mabel in good spirits. left to catch the bus into clitheroe.

visited bright street and dropped off washing up liquid and a sleeping bag, had a quick look round, all was ok, turned water off on leaving.

saw mum in the afternoon and snoozed since i was so tired.

went to see a lovely film on my own in the evening, after taking josh shopping at tescos – we did a little laughing game on the way there where you had to copy the other person’s “unusual” laugh and actions – he thought it was hilarious.

the film was “about time” by Richard Curtis, far better than 4 Weddings and about where I’m/we’re at at the moment, bit carpe diem but very touching, mind you I’m very touchy/emotional at the moment

The girls would twig where I’m at at the moment and why i want to play table tennis and do sports etc. it would be lovely to watch this together and Saby would know and love the music, eg. ellie goulding singing “how long will i love you” and Nick Cave’s “Into My Arms”. I’m never quite sure with Nick Cave’s music , where he stands, he seems to walk a tightrope between staying a well-respected, Goth/alternative musician and coming right out and proclaiming faith in some beautiful christian/spiritual lullabyes (remember “God is in the house”, although with that one I seem to remember reading he was being satirical) have to read more background on him. well, this confirms some of it:
http://sfd.at/english/texts/lovesong.pdf
and this disputes it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Cave#Personal_life

sunday 29 –
watched video on the science of cooking, with a book by harold mcgee
went to chapel with mum for service, alan hickman, from the salvation army, spoke, stepping in for someone.
talked about the parable of the rich man and the beggar, lazarus
– rich man didnt have a name, beggar did (canonical ordering)
– coal board chairman (ian macgregor?) giving himself a half million pound pay rise during the miners strike and then justifying it that he was worth every penny, the thought for the day afterwards had the classc line, “well, if that’s all i’m worth, then it’s not very much”, ie. life is more than money, some things can’t be measured quantitively
– then about the poverty they had seen on holiday in peru, how happy people were and the impact of fairtrade

monday 30 – working at home in the morning, then up to abbeyfield at 12 noon to sign tenancy agreemnt and see apartment 20, which mum has been given, no the first floor with a baclony!
went back via swadford centre to get meal at around 1.30pm – interesting that margaret hadn’t known about the place, mum tucked into her cottage pie, even the peas, margaret had a toasted tea cake! chocolate pudding with custard
stuggling with what we need to get and move in to the apartment, went round to bed shop and analysed options there on mattresses