sunday 1 – painting printer boxes to represent houses in bethlehem for the nativity play with the sunday school children
monday 2 – working at home, then in the evening the last lesson of the cooking class at harras night school, walked back with stephan and we talked about starting up in the new year with me coming along to the swim training which he goes to
tuesday 3 – went for run round west park, first time out for a while, went ok but some pain in the chest where the bruising was
later preparing for katie’s birthday by getting flowers from shop and wrapping presents downstairs with eve
wednesday 4 – got up at 6am and prepared a few presents for breakfast, worked at home until 4.30pm then started making evening meal – poached fish with caramelised root vegetables (petersilien, pastinaken, karotten)
lovely souave white wine, shame to have wasted so much of it in cooking the veg and fish!
thursday 5 – went out to the office
friday 6 – went out to the office again, katie and eve went to gospel concert (Gospels at Heaven), sabs and i stayed at home
listening to the radio and relaxing on the sofa, including listening to the last of Will Self’s point of view on radio 4 “It’s Always the Others Who Die”, which is a quote by the artist, marcel duchamp, which links a bit with film which we watch on saturday night
saturday 7 – doing 10km in the Nikolauslaufserien in Olympiapark, not such a good time but pleased to finish given the recent injury
came back to spaghetti carbonara and a nice film which katie had chosen, “night train to lisbon” by Pascal Mercier with Jeremy Irons and Martina Gedeck
the film has some nice quotes, principally from the novel which the film researches around the time of the portugese revolution to overthrow the dictatorship in 1973/4, examples:
was sollte man mit all der Zeit die man vor man hat – offen und ungeformt – federleicht in ihrer freiheit und bleischwer in ihrer ungewissheit
when dictators are a reality, revolution is a duty
angst von dem tod und das angst als angst von dem unerfüllten leben
der wirkliche regisseur des lebens ist zufall
wie es ist ein andere mensch zu sein? die einbildungskraft ist einer der letzten heiligtümer und die intimität das allerletzes heiligtum
have you ever been so in love that you don’t eat or cannot speak?
sunday 8 – practising nativity play and looking after the shepherds, then went on to an open house at emily’s and jan’s which was nice to chat with everyone and overlook the christkindlmarkt at pariser platz/rosenheimer platz
watched a worker wheeling his trolly of cleaning materials getting on the u-bahn train at poccistrasse and getting off at goetheplatz, with a sticker on his cart which read “ay up me duck, nottingham, england”!
monday 9 – working at home, helped Sabs with her Social Sciences Referat on reviewing a week’s news, created the powerpoint for her, but it didn’t go so well, she said
tuesday 10 – went to GBR to see jose and bumped as ever into a couple of old acquaintances
helping Eve with her physics homework, continuing the understanding between potential and current, volts and amps – had used the water analogy on Saturday, this time we just reviewed it again in 10 minutes; afterwards she gives us a short “referat” on the travels of Paul for her evangelisch homework
wednesday 11 – went out to hallberg to amuse dan, had camembert with preiselbeeren for lunch
in the evening sat down with eve on the sofa and got onto football teams since she was keen on two questions – which manchester team i preferred and if united/city were parts of manchester or just names (actually laura had said that and eve knew it wasn’t right, just not sure why). so we went through each division covering where each team played and if it was a part of a larger city like chelsea or fulham, was good fun. finally she revealed her real interest in it all – it was to find out about the teams where 1-D members live and where in the country they were located – so this meant more or less, wolverhampton (so she was asking about sout-hampton and nort-hampton etc); doncaster and bradford. there was another guy from ireland and one from holmes chapel, who had then the choice of stoke or manchester clubs. all very funny, especially doing wolverhampton accents.
we all sat down to watch “what maisy knew” a lovely film about a child growing up and being parcelled off between 2 divorcing parents and their respective partners or child-carers. fortunately even the bad characters, played by julianne moore and steve coogan (who has transitioned so well from comedy into acting like a hugh lawrie), plus their respective other halves, who maisy really likes and are in tune with her needs. in fact what i did like about the film, all told fairly positive, was that each person, even those who were messed up with their childish problems, was understanding and gentle with maisy. the girls fell in love with the little girl maisy and her cute, off-beat clothes.
the film also linked in with something i read earlier:
“The truth hurts, but the truth heals … and brings me closer to the person and parent I want to be.”
–Rachel Macy Stafford
or the easy guide for stopping oneself diving into non-constructive self-criticising or criticising other is:
SOLT – “Stop! Only Love Today.”
or
STOL: “Stop! Today, Only Love.”
also tying in with this wonderful quote:
“Love is not something we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow, a connection that can only be cultivated between two people when it exists within each one of them – we can only love others as much as we love ourselves.”
–Brene Brown
thursday 12 – got up early enough to get out to hallberg again
on the way out the door, eve informed me that i was for her at rank #6 or rather she said i was for her like the 6th member of one direction! well. i suppose it doesn’t get much better for a dad with a girl who has a crush on a boy band!
went to Hilary’s concert for the asylum seekers, was very professional with own sound engineer and equipment, a keyboardist from MICC, bass player and drummer, both experienced musicians
jenny sang a lovely haunting scottish melody about the baby king, then a near perfect rendition of “o holy night” – pretty much up there with celine dion’s version and got a standing ovation to boot
alistair and anitra concerned about the noise levels, much fussing around hilary to bring the concert to an orderly close
late back since tidying up after a late finish – payment for a half-hour late start with neighbors in the building complaining, dropped some prosecco off by each door to make up for it
friday 13 – overlooked an article about “arabs got talent” and an american singer called jennifer grout who is supposed to be very good, inspired by an artist called Fazour
later found a link as a follow up to the article from wednesday, entitled “steps-to-being-less-harsh-on-our-kids”
eve laid in bed with us for a while to warm up a bit and cuddle, it was nice simply enjoying her company and energy
saturday 14 – went to saturn to start shopping for pressies
made hünerbruhesuppe with griesnockerln together with katie
sunday 15 – hurried start to the day, since nativity play, assisting/leading with the shepherds, was good fun
went to basketball to watch fc bayern win fairly easily against rasta vechta
monday 16 – went to GBR and met up with claudia, roland, janette, as well as jose, whom i had the meeting with, then bumped into karl and dieter in the corridor
went to evening weihnachtsfest meeting up with rainer at the schwabing office, then on to gartenlaube near westfriedhof, a nice greek restaurant with decent food and drinks, good atmosphere all round
tuesday 17 – working at home, since tired and getting a touch of cold
wednesday 18 – went into office, met up with valerio, otherwise pretty empty
helping saby with her ohms law physics, went thru a couple of examples of resistances in series and parallel, then showed her the VIR triangle which she thought was awesome for remembering the formula
picked up on this link from allan on facebook, which quotes: “all that happens must be known” a motto of the eponymous dystopian Internet company in Dave Eggers’ recent novel The Circle.
thursday 19 – again made it out to the office and ordered last set of stuff on amazon, unfortunately, was hoping not to have to use it
looking at books, incl the brownlees triathlon story, got diverted as ever and end up delving into chrissie wellington’s ironman story in “a life without limits” and also, this book with interesting quotes: “finding ultra – rejecting middle age …” rich roll:
… profound knowledge not just that I needed to change, but that I was willing to change
(after his epiphany moment on the eve of his 40th birthday when he staggers to bed past his daughter’s bedroom door and has a vision of her wedding where he is not there, ie. has died due to his overindulgence – he was over 200lbs)
… addiction recovery, I’d learned that the trajectory of one’s life often boils down to a few identifiable moments – decisions that change everything
(and that these moments are not to be passed up on lightly)
a crucial spiritual principle … You can stand in the light. And you can set a positive example. But you simply cannot make someone change
The previous night had given me a gift: a profound sense not just that I needed to change, but that I wanted to change – really change
We celebrated later back at home with saby when she got home from dancing – she’d taken some biscuits which everyone enjoyed – we had lasagne and salad, followed by eve bringing in the cupcakes/brownies
girls laugh loudly and get out of control after looking at photographs, eve especially
sabs seemed to enjoy the evening, although she didn’t like the bow tie i got her, oh well
eve showed us a photo of her class – with 11 girls, all on the left of the photo and 19 boys pictured all on the right, eve sitting next to lina, her new best friend since this year
friday 20 – katie packing the baking for both of them – both had events at school to celebrate the last day, saby has one lesson free, a film for 2 lessons and then just one lesson
overlooked another story in a newspaper about break-ins around munich, there has been over 600 cases since october!
take some shortbread biscuits into the office which katie has baked, delicious with a little semolina in them!
chatting with dan in the office about education and the children’s discussion as pater familias, then he came out with couple of things he’d learned in elementary school which were nice:
a noun is a person, place or thing
stars are masses of hot, liquid gases that make their own light
more surfing on amazon:
“the best way out is always through”
– Robert Frost
this is taken from a book called “eat and run: my unlikely journey to ultramarathon” by scott jurek and steve friedman, with quotes:
not all pain is significant
… keep going in situations where most people stop
Eventually I ran because I turned into a runner, and my sport brought me physical pleasure and spirited me away from debt and disease, from the niggling worries of everyday existence
his Mum’s quote: “you don’t have to be a chef to cook great food”
and at her “insistence, we did sit down for a full hour at dinner”
he was “learning a lot about food and its connection to love”.
She was “the one who limited my TV watching to 5 hours a week”.
We have a surprise party for sabs at home when becky, foriwaa, lisa, irene, lily and eve of course
girls start eating cake, we serve pizza and main course, then sing and cake etc
saturday 21 – wrapping presents and mass baking session for doing church coffee tomorrow
make zwiebelkuchen and obstkuchen
katie makes quiche and the birthday cake itself
go to alistair and jenny’s for christmas party, meet up with john and liz, very enjoyable
sunday 22 – rushing around to make church coffee, which on the whole goes well, helped by many, including hanna and franciska
then generally getting ready for the flight tomorrow
monday 23 – chap on radio 4 today program retiring from standard life fund management after successful career gives 3 tips for evaluating when to sell an investment – when it’s realised its fair value (since hopefully, it was in any case bought at below its fair value); when the 2 sentence investment thesis as to why you bought it no longer is true/makes sense or when you compare it with other investments available, this investment no longer wins out/make sense.
eve’s writing about friendship and what it means for her, elucidates perfectly friendship:
you’re there for me, you make me strong, you don’t pass my secrets on;
then a quote from Adel’s “make you feel my love”, just beautiful. She later explains that her 3 best friends are: Lilly, Lina and Ilda.
Leave for the flight which goes ok, then take the hire car to skipton. get back at 9pm, quick tea and make beds.
tuesday 24 – go to abbeyfield, then through town to meet up with katie
wednesday 25 – katie mentions to robert who has a eureka moment at the most profound statement of the year with her comment:
you go under or you change
which ties in a little with: “the best way out is always through” by robert frost.
she later adds a slight extension with:
“you go under or you change and sometimes you do have to go under, before the option of change is more preferable to all other options available or attempted so far” … do hope she’ll elucidate in comments below, since this is my interpretation of what she means
thursday 26 – visit rachel’s farm, girls playing cards together whilst we sit around, chat and drink tea
friday 27 – visit keighley and have b/fast or lunch at rossi’s cafe overlooking the ex cycling club building then look around the shops – quite a mini-level of sophistication on offer but doesnt seem to appeal to our 2 (am starting to feel sorry for these small provincial towns, when i was young going to keighley seemed the height of sophistication)
drive back to intercept and meet up with jonathan and margaret on the high street
we make the evening meal of asparagus which is a little overcooked in the microwave; then bacon, sausage, mash, carrots and brocolli
then we sit around for some interesting conversations around careers driven by margaret, jonathan and mollie: easy for eve as a dentist, but some good ideas for sabs – around art possibilities
mollie talking about the kasbah venue in coventry and her recommendations for music, listening to sabs music docking station:
the wombats – techno fan
palma violets – best of friends
jonathan and his comments, which evolve and crystallised some of my thoughts as follows:
– use of wh smiths for ordering books online; we use this a lot going thru uk airports and it is good to have this approach extended to reduce amazon’s hold
– HS2 rail line is not going into coventry central, this is a disaster imho and reinforces the view that this is a waste of money which doesn’t really address regional infrastructure in the uk
– poor east-west rail connections, eg. even coventry to birmingham is only dual track; leeds to manchester is not fantastic and for norwich to cardiff better forget it – give me the thought: make no mistake, were a German government (or to be less provocative, French), this would have been sorted decades ago, irrespective of government colour (something imho which is down to stronger democracy and accountability, even coalitions and the longer-term thinking that brings: they are not just in it for 5 years of power)
– speaking of which, that the lib dems could have pulled the plug on the coalition after losing the AV vote and this would have been more or less accepted; above all, it’s important to stick to your principles
– that football clubs, witness the state of coventry city playing 30 miles away and selling highfield road are indifferent to the fans and only focussed on money/power/self-indulgence
jonathan, fred and i go to the railway pub, had the chance of a game of dominoes but choose to sit in the back room for a discussion – must rectify that when they come again!
saturday 28 – short meeting up with jonathan and margaret before they head back and we head off to wigan via clitheroe and a brief stop to visit swales cafe and townshend records, where we ended up buying everything the girls wanted, one direction, beyonce, calvin harris and an off-the-cuff comment from sabrina, pushes me into the wallet again to buy a pink floyd’s “a foot in the door”; still something for the journey over to john and paulines!
we arrive after getting a little lost and meet up with pauline’s mum and sister, as well as john, pauline, dan and sophie. we go for a walk and john explains his current situation, between jobs and looking at options with regards to writing for kids etc. all sounds exciting stuff
sunday 29 – listening to broadcasting house on the way to clitheroe in the car and got a couple of interesting inputs:
stephen grosz – The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves, looking at quotes from the book from karen blixen (isak dinesen):
all sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story or tell a story about them
vince mulligan – Breaking Bad – about how a high-school chemistry teacher diagnosed with cancer who turns to producing crystal meth, ie. a law-abiding citizen turns to law-breaking, about how the writer experiences his “eureka” moment, realising that from that point on it would be a success – also about the learning which occurs through failure
went to the craven pub in the evening for a game of pool with jamie, ruth and john – lots of fun including a pie and pea supper courtesy of grassington united fc team who were also meeting there for a bingo night
monday 30 – listening to the radio in the car going to the airport and michael gove discussing the role of history with the likes of simon sharma on “start the week” led by andrew marr
tuesday 31 – try and do some work downstairs then go to joint service at 6pm, then Sabs goes to Lisas and we 3 go back home to have spaghetti bolognese as Eve’s favourite meal, which was spiced just right, then sit down to watch dinner for one and listen to some music. eve is a cat on a hot tin roof and eager for the new year to begin. we go out at 23.45 and go into west park past the fire station and watch the fireworks – eve wants to wish everyone happy new year, bless her and a few do respond, but she is a lone voice.
presents wish list
books
The Power of Doing Less by Fergus O’Connell (management book)
Morissey’s autobiography
Malcolm Walker – iceland boss – autobiography
Seeing Yourself See : Eye Exercises for Total Vision by Jim Jackson
Relearning to See: Improve Your Eyesight Naturally! by Thomas Quackenbush, very comprehensive
and for a contrary view:
The Myopia Myth: The Truth about Nearsightedness And How to Prevent It
The natural way to better eyesight by J.I. Rodale
Conscious Seeing by R. Kaplan
How to improve your eyes by M. D., Corbett
Improve Your Vision Without Glasses or Contact Lenses by S. M. Beresford
Perfect Sight Without Glasses (Paperback) by William H. Bates (Author)
the original Dr. Bates books should be available free on-line.
CDs
george benson – inspiration: a tribute to nat king cole
dobrinka tabakova – string paths
pj harvey – england
soundtrack to “about time”
nick cave’s latest album
OMD – english electric
cooking
chopping knife for herbs and spices – nothing fancy, just a basic one
links
Hi Phil I think your blog is totally stupid! Sorry but very boring! I mean who wants to know how you helped your daughters Saby and eve in homework just STUPID!! PLEASE STOP!!!!!!!!
Just kidding nice things you’re saying about this eve girl! She sounds really nice!
Lots of hate xxx Eve