January 2014 things

2013 was a good year for me. The exception was the bad experience of Malta which ended the year. Being a good boy, I took my medicine, stayed mainly at home, did not infect others, kept warm and am now free of the flu virus.

 It gave me time to catch up on reading/books about philosophy, logic and mathematics. Yes, new discussion topics at request of M. as preparation for his studies. Today I found two books about/by Nietzsche. Read them during my first semester at uni. Now I have to read them again and make notes. At least it will keep me off the streets for a week!

I have just checked the statistics for my blog after logging on. I was surprised so decided to share the info. Please note: I cannot see any details of who visits my blog. I can only see from which country, which operating system and browser they used, and which post had the most/least clicks.

As you know, I started writing for sister Frances and cousin Barbara in Silsden, in the north-west of England. Since then my readership has changed. So far this week I have had 137 views. Topping the list is Australia with 31, followed by Germany with 18, Russia 18, Ukraine 16, Spain 11, Hungary 11, USA 11 and then comes UK with 10, before China 6 and Serbia 5. Wow - but how the readership really has changed!

I had 37 page views yesterday, 812 last month (Nov.2013) with a total of 24,990 since I started. Another 10 and I've hit the 'magic' 25,000. 68% of you use a Windows operating system, 26% use Internet Explorer as your browser followed by Apple's Safari at 24%. I have no readers in Africa, Latin America, India, Middle or Far East. I'm very happy that people who I do not know read my blog. Try leaving a comment and introduce yourself. It is easy!

All the world is preparing special meals and parties to welcome in the New Year. I have been invited to a small party starting with coffee and cakes this afternoon. Those who know me well, are aware that I never spend the start of New Year not at home. And so it will be the same this year. Have a wonderful time with family and friends wherever you are celebrating. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Who has a birthday in January 2014? Peter hits 55 in Canterbury on 5th, Daniel in Brazil will be 29 on the 8th, Hannelore in France will celebrate her 71st with Peter - before I visit them again! Harald P. in Berlin hits the big 50 on 21st, Prof. Dr. Peter von LL slips into his 30th year in Potsdam on the 24th followed by Paul B. who will celebrate his 29th on the 27th with his new wife and son. Raise a glass and shout with me....Happy Birthday to each and all!

Smaug

I've just returned from seeing Smaug breathing a lot of fire, and doing some great slithering around pillars as well as on huge quantities of gold coins and objects. Yes, it was the film Hobbit - 2.

In German it is called, 'Der Hobbit: Smaugs Einöde'. This is translated from the English, 'The Hobbit: Smaug's Desolation'. Okay, but the German word can also be translated as solitude, wasteland or wilderness. In case the Silsdeners are confused and asking themselves what a Smaug is....no, it is not a device for unblocking the sink, but the name of a dragon.

Yes, I know there have not been dragons in Silsden since before the Roman soldiers found it by accident, but this creature features in a book called The Hobbit. It is a relatively slim volume and easy to read. It has been 'blown up' by screenwriters to make three long films. The first came out in December 2012, the second (Smaug) appeared in mid-December 2013. The final part will appear in December 2014.

I know the film format very well by now, but I really enjoyed the film. Go and see it! Get into your seat, turn off your brain, put on your 3D glasses and settle down for a good old fashioned fantasy yarn. It runs for 161 minutes but you get a break in the middle for a toilet, coffee or snack break. Go on, find a cinema tomorrow and enjoy it.

Memorable Day

I've had a memorable day. I wondered which adjective to use and settled on memorable. It best describes the day. It started lazily with tea, medicine and a small piece of fruit bread, followed by reading another chapter of a book about philosophy and making notes for a discussion with Marcel on his return to Berlin.

Today it was about rationality followed by ideas about self-deception. I think I am in for some interesting evenings in January as we discuss these points. Many relate to logic, maths and physics. I like preparing such things for it takes me back to my life in academia before I entered English teaching.

I then got ready and walked over to Marita's home. First meeting for ages. She has had a mixed year with health problems, and worries about her aged and ill mother, plus problems in the school where she teaches. Hours went by as we caught up on news, sipped tasty wine and enjoyed a traditional German Christmas dinner - very close to an English one! See the photo and guess what we ate!

She had a Christmas tree in her window and it was surprising how many people stopped to look at it - particularly children. Here is a photo of the tree. We decided to meet more often in the new year and do more things together - as we did in the past. Perfect ending to a memorable day!

Best Wishes

It is Christmas Eve and all Germans are hurrying to family and friends - or getting ready to receive them. All shops and businesses closed. Trains and airlines full and cars hurrying to take families home. The weather is unusually warm at 10°C.

I've been to visit a few people, last minute food shopping and then I cooked. Yes, me- and not Marcel. Surprise! I created a new dish. Salmon baked in the oven with white wine, seasoning, sliced tomatoes, chopped onions, hot paprika from Hungary, sliced gurken and a dash of soy sauce.

This was served with Cappelletti filled with Ricotta cheese and Basilikum. I admit that I cheated on the latter and bought them ready prepared. Mmmmmh....it was tasty but next time I shall add some garlic and perhaps more hot chilli. All a matter of taste.

My German friends are now settling down to coffee and cakes, lots of chat, perhaps a drink and later this evening tucking into a warm meal. I beat them to it. I decided not to eat anything later than 6pm over the holiday period. Need to watch the waist line!

Father Christmas visits families/children this evening. In the UK it is in the night so the kids have a big surprise when they wake up tomorrow morning. Both cultures share a big Christmas Dinner on the 25th.

 I have been invited to spend it with Marita and friends. Lots of tasty food and things to drink for sure.  On Boxing Day I have been invited to an Italian meal with Max and family. At least it is different from the usual fare and should be an interesting experience. 

Let me end this post with a seasonal postcard I received on my return from Malta from Stefan. It is by Gerhard Glück and called Weihnachtsfreude = Christmas Joy.

I defy you not to smile as you see the pleasure on Mary's face as Joseph plays with Jesus having fun jumping through Papa's halo. Well, in those days they didn't have TV to waste the evenings and had to make their own entertainment!

Have a great evening all, wherever you are, and if you have a halo see what fun you can have with it too:-)

Greetings

We greet people every day and, on special occasions such as birthdays, we send greetings. These usually take the form of cards. And so it is at this time of year when lots of people celebrate Christmas, if they are Christians, or to celebrate the passing of the shortest day.

It was a pagan festival in the north of Europe many years ago. Some say it was hi-jacked by the early church. Who knows, but for sure we all enjoy this holiday period for whatever reason. I was very happy to receive lots of cards on my early return home.

As usual, I saved all until the 24th then opened them. It is so pleasant to read the messages, news, attached notes, photographs and catch up with all kinds of family news. On photographs I note that what I remember as a baby is now romping around and what were boys and girls and now big teenagers. The passing of time!

I always enjoy looking at the range of cards sent. From the pious religious to the opposite. This year was no exception.

Lawrence of Arabia belongs still is a brilliant film made by David Lean. The actor who played Lawrence was Peter O'Toole. He died a week ago. I heard a dedication to him broadcast by BBC Radio 4. It included the following:-
                Interviewer: How do you know you are God?
               O'Toole: Because when I talk to him I discover I am talking to myself!

He should have got a gold medal for that never mind for acting!

Sliema

I've already told you that the apartment/s  was/were a five minute walk from the hotel and offered no facilities. If you wanted anything you had to walk to the hotel and ask at the reception desk. The dining room for breakfast and evening meal was also there.

The hotel has seven floors. On the flat roof there was a small swimming pool, not heated :-(  and lots of sun loungers. All empty except for one. Each time I went there to relax in the sun, one lounger was always occupied.

The occupant was a gentleman of  mid/late-50s with a wild white beard which made him look like a brother of one of the band members called ZZ Top. Anyone under 35 will have no idea what I am talking about! Said gent was rather large. That has to be an understatement. He was big and round.

He must have hit the scales at 250 kilo at least! He always lay on his stomach, head down to do some kind of crossword puzzle and listen to music from the 1970s on his small mobile radio. He looked like a beached whale! I always stared when he tried to get up.

His feet and arms did not reach the floor so he had to roll around. When a foot or hand hit the ground he held it and then levered his body so that he could roll more and eventually get up. I wish I had taken a photo. His technique was amazing and he had clearly practiced a lot to be able to do it.

On my last morning I watched 'the beached whale' rolling around then decided to take out my camera. I got a death look from the whale so didn't snap him. I took some photos of the harbour below. Here they are.

I end with a shot of the walls of the old fortress at Valletta. When I see them I can image being a soldier in an army in the Middle Ages and  arriving to capture Valletta, looking up at these walls and deciding to give up and go home!

 I did go home early, but for different reasons :-(

Grand Harbour

A number of places use this title, but the oldest has to be the very deep natural harbour complex at Valletta. It lies on the north-east shore of the main island and is one of two accessed from the same entry point. To the north are the natural harbours around Manoel Island, which includes Sliema where we stayed.

The Grand Harbour was the base for the Knights of St John ( not me!)  for 268 years, and after their departure became a strategic base for the Brits for a further 170 years. The area was the scene of much of the fighting in the First Siege of Malta when the Turkish navy/army attempted to take it over.


The whole area was heavily bombed in the Second Siege of Malta during World War II. The docks and military installations were targets for Axis bombers. They destroyed much of Valletta and surrounding urban areas and caused large numbers of civilian casualties.

The dockyard is still active but with the departure of the British military forces the harbour lost much of its military significance. A considerable part of Malta's commercial shipping is now handled by the new free port at Kalafrana so the harbour is much quieter than it was in the first half of the 20th century.

On my last afternoon, we took a boat for the two harbour tour. I enjoyed it including the strange accent of the speaker telling us about the history of the harbour. He had an amusing and original way of pronouncing many words in English!

I took eight photos during this tour but only a few are posted here. I smiled to hear that the giant dry docks had been built by a Chinese company a few years ago and only two years were needed to do so.

A bit like the Olympic Village in Beijing about which I reported on this blog two years ago - remember, or have you already forgotten? 

Mosta

Last Monday we decided to take a bus to Mosta. It is a town situated in the middle of the island to the north-west of Valletta. It has a population of about 19,000. The main attraction is the Rotunda - a huge round church with the third largest unsupported dome in the world.

On 9 April 1942, the church was nearly destroyed during World War - II  An Axis bomb hit the dome of the church but failed to explode. The detonator was removed and a replica bomb is now displayed. I hit it with a large hammer when no-one was looking but it didn't go off. I wondered why there were so many old cannons around the church. Perhaps to stop the Protestants getting in and taking it over!

The Rotunda was designed by George Grognet de Vasse. Mosta residents, at that time totaling not more than 1500, built the church. It took them 27 years to complete but "the result is a tourist attraction of world standard" =  according to the tourist guide. Guess who paid for it! You have one guess and it wasn't the Catholic Church!

From there we continued by bus to arrive at Golden Bay on the north-west coast of the main island. From my research I established that there are three sandy beaches on this island. Imagine what it is like in summer when all the residents and tourists are elbowing each other to find a place to sit on the sand! No thanks. I'll sit on the stone.

We had a walk along the short beach. Took all of five minutes, then found a cafe for a light lunch. More wandering around before we jumped onto a bus to head back to Valletta.  A bit of shopping at M&S ended the day as the sun went down and the cold evening/night returned.

Malta

Here are some views of Malta. It is made up of three small islands south of Sicily and east of Tunisia.

The capital city is Valletta. It dominates the main island. The Grand Harbour is said to be the largest and deepest natural harbour in the area.

It has an interesting history of settlement, conquest and civilisations.

The English took it over from the French at the end of the Bonepart era and stayed there until 1963.

I am old enough to remember them leaving the islands with lots of military blah, blah!

Here is a pic of a map of the islands and of Valletta showing some of its old forts overlooking a number of harbours.

 Lots of interesting old architecture and you can spend many days just exploring the many squares and streets.

Early Return

I flew back to Berlin last Wednesday evening. I paid for a four week holiday and had one week. Why? Short answer is that the apartment did not have any heating! The first evening I got an extra three blankets from reception, but it was still cold.

For the next five days we registered complaints and then we got a small electric heater (see pic on left - it is in my bedroom = the rest had to freeze!) Too little and too late. By then two of us had decided to return early. The couple of Oldies who organised it decided to stay.

My decision was influenced by the return of influenza, a doctors visit, prescription and medicine. I had a bout of flu in Berlin before the flight to Malta and it returned with a vengeance. We managed to do journeys each day to local places of interest, but the evenings and nights were cold. Temperature in the apartment was 6°C.

We stayed at Bayview Hotel and Apartments on the Strand at Sliema, which is a district in Vallatta the capital of Malta. On arrival we discovered that the apartment block was five minutes walk from the hotel and offered no facilities. The couple who booked it said they did not know this. Perhaps a problem of language for the information was in English and I discovered they had about twenty words!

There were other problems such as a toilet that did not always work, a sofa for only two people. The alternative was to sit on a dining chair or the floor! No German channels on TV. I was the only English speaker in the group. Power supply that was erratic so one never knew if one had lights or not. In short: Never book a room with this company if you ever go to Malta.

The holiday booking company was a German one called Neckermann. They had a local agent called Richard who was all but useless in being able to improve our situation. Put that company on your 'Never do business with list'. It was the first time I have not been in charge of booking a holiday. It will be the last time.

Can it get worse? Well....er...yes! The doctor gave me medicine for a health problem I didn't have. I discovered this yesterday afternoon from my doctor in Berlin. He said I had been given the wrong medicine so that was probably why the flu got worse.

I got the right ones from my doctor yesterday, which I have to take regularly and stay at home with the heating on for the next few days. In the pic on the right you can see the Malta Docs prescription and his medicine called Solupred = is for asthma.  The correct tablets are at the top called Doxycyclin = is for bacterial infection = that is what I had/still have!

I hope your last week was better than mine.  I shall post stories and photos about my day trips in the next posts.

Seasons Greetings

Tomorrow I am flying to Valletta, the capital of Malta. It is an island south of Sicily and east of Tunisia.

 I return on 8 January 2014.  There may be no posts to my blog during this period.

Seasons Greetings and a Happy New Year!

UPDATE: Just heard from Marcel. He passed his examination and can now register for academic study. Hurrah! Congratulations to Marcel! Now relax and enjoy your holiday :-)

Breakfast

Warning to Alan - this is about eating again. You can skip this post! For the rest of you here is a small report about breakfast with some special people yesterday.

 Just after 10:00 am I arrived at Johanna's for breakfast. In your part of the world this may seem a strange time to meet for breakfast. It was Saturday, so no hectic start to the day to get to work. One of the nice things about Berlin culture is taking your time at the weekend to enjoy a lazy, late breakfast.

Jutta and Gerald were already there, but they have the advantage of living at the top of the building so it is not far to go :-) Very warm greetings for we hadn't seen each other since summer. Shortly after, Marcel arrived to complete the party.

I noticed how he charmed the ladies on arrival before announcing he was very hungry. To break-our-fast was why we had gathered so the tasty breakfast started. It is always a pleasure to meet there whether for breakfast or an evening meal when Johanna has visitors from all over the world. She is a very cosmopolitan lady!

As we ate, we exchanged stories about what we had been doing since our last meeting in summer. A very interesting exchange of adventures. I asked Marcel to tell them about our time at the Abgeordnetenhaus Berlin (which I told you about in a recent post). He spoke very well in German and there were lots of discussions following his report. Well done, Marcel!

I really like such long weekend breakfasts with interesting people, but alas the clock ticked away and it was time to go. The photos remind me of a memorable few hours, which I am happy to share with you.

Brewing

The art of brewing is said to go back into dim and distant times when humans began to live in primitive settlements and others still roamed around gathering fruit and looking after animals. A relatively long time ago!

Some people have learnt to brew as a hobby. Jan has just joined their ranks! I don't know the background but he sent me some photos of him making a tasty liquid called beer/bier.

He has always liked it. He is not a fan of any other drink with alcohol, but he likes a cool tasty beer no matter where he is on the planet.

He allowed me to share these photos. As I write I am thinking more about the 'lads un lasses' from CasVegas who, I believe, share his taste for a cool glass of beer in down-under-land:-)

I really like one photo of him working on the beer in his pyjamas. No time to get showered, dressed for work or have breakfast. Check the beer is brewing okay! I salute such dedication.

Jan, I expect to drink a sample of your finest when I visit in Spring. Now get brewing a special one:-)

Bliss

I have had a blissful three days! No appointments and no reason to go out into the cold. I can stay at home and read, clean the bathroom, put up a new shower curtain and then read more - and even go for a nap in the afternoon. Bliss!


That is exactly what I have done while taking my medicine for flu/di Grippe. I finished reading one book in German and one in English. I have resumed reading a thick tome about post-war Britain. Tomorrow I am going to my Oldie Breakfast. By then I hope to be clear of any flu germs and so shall not infect any of the Oldies.

After that I teach a lesson and in the afternoon I have two oldies as guests for Kaffee und Kuchen, plus lots of chat. I expect them to delay their departure so I have prepared a light supper just in case!

On Friday, I am going to Kertin's Keep Fit for Oldies Gang. After doing some stretching and movement we are having our Christmas Party. I have been asked to bring 2 bottles of sekt = German version of Champagne. I'm looking forward to the delicious food the women members of the group prepare.

From there I gallop to my last Photoshop Gang meeting of the year. I then gallop to Alexander Platz to the Institute to teach a new student. On Saturday morning I am having a nice big lazy breakfast at Johanna's in the company of Marcel, Jutta and Gerald.

We decided to meet for it is the last chance to do so before Christmas. In exactly one week from writing these words I shall be packing my large suitcase-on-wheels before heading for the airport. Four weeks in Valletta. It is the capital of Malta. I decided to spend Christmas there in 18°C , than in cold, gray Berlin.

Instead of Christmas cards, my family and friends will receive postcards from Malta. Even so, I have to get through the rest of January and February here, but then Spring is waiting to smile on us. I've done a number of things to prepare for my absence. One was to vote in the SPD coalition agreement. I posted my vote this morning!

Perhaps these images say something about my time on Malta. Not sure how much dancing I shall be doing, with or without ice skates, but I like the composition. I particularly like the other photo of a smiley aircraft taking me on holiday!

Kunst/Art

After refreshments in his flat, we set out along three floors of corridors making up the building. About half the occupants are artists and hire rooms in which to create their art. Some also live there. The owners are repairing and modernising the building. As a result more students are moving in.

Many are non-Germans so you hear a number of languages. The common lingua franca seems to be English. When I visit and we meet occupants, or go to the cafe/restaurant/meeting place for all residents, I invariably have to speak English with all, except German residents. 

Even so, the younger, non-German speakers are busy learning German, or improving it, and moving to higher language levels. When I toured the exhibits with Marcel, I used both in conversation with the artists. In some cases I asked for contact details to pass onto the AWO in Lichtenberg, which has lots of walls and is always looking for new works to exhibit. The artists happily gave me this information when I explained why!

One such artist is Dario Puggioni. Yes, with a name like that you know he hails from Italy. Both Marcel and I were very impressed with one of his pictures. He readily agreed to pose next to it. I couldn't resist posing next to a sculpture of what can only be an image of primitive man - it doesn't look like a women!

Marcel was interested in one large portrait of what looks like a women being silenced. Women's liberation still has a long way to go!

I was fascinated by a statue of what looks like soldiers from 1920/30, in a square form and with pink bendy rifles. We pondered over the meaning of this for some time and came up with many possibilities. The artist wasn't around to ask. Pity!

This is just one small example of the many things happening each evening in Berlin. Should you ever visit you will have no reason to say there was nothing to do or see :-)

Flat revisited

On Saturday, after the SPD Klausurtagung,  I went to Marcel's flat. I took his washing, a few other things he needed, and my camera. He wanted to show me how much progress he had made in settling in, and to take me around an exhibition in the building.

It was nice to see him at home in the flat and how he had personalised it. He had decorated his door, which I liked. Here is a photo with the three monkey faces of see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil next to his name of the door. A nice idea and it came from him.

The corridor leading to his flat had been cleaned and looked very welcoming. Here is a photo. I liked a poster in his room. It was of Darth Vader pointing and the words, 'You should be studying and not shopping'. The perfect poster for a student over the study desk!

On the inside of his door he had a simple poster. He told me it was a standard one for students. Not in my day it wasn't. We discussed such comments and did not have, or need, a poster! It is the famous quote from Nietzsche that 'God is dead', with a comment from God when Nietzsche died in 1900, that 'Nietzsche is dead'.


With Schopenhauer, Nietzsche must be one of the least read, least understood but most often quoted philosophers in the western world! I had to study both when I went to uni. Interesting that both had a strong connection to the composer Richard Wagner, but that is another story.

Let's look at the quote attributed to Nietzsche. To say that 'God is dead' means you accept that before then God was alive. I am not sure Nietzsche accepted that!  He knew all about A-Priori knowledge. A-Priori assumptions (on which religious belief is grounded) will not admit that prepositions can be doubted or refuted. Most people have many, particularly believers of religion regardless of which one.

Philosophers, such as Nietzsche, were/are concerned with the rational grounds for belief, and not with whether a certain person believes this, or that, or why.  The Christian churches have had two thousand years to prove the existence of God. So far they have failed, but then an apologist would say they are not concerned with proving anything.....it is all about belief!

One could go on for a long time about this topic, so let me end with a quote from a thinker called 'House'. Think about this one: "If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people".

December 2013 Things

Today we crossed into the last month of the year.  Last week, illness ruled the days. I had a nice lazy Sunday, did all my German homework and on Tuesday went to Frau Fox for my lesson.

She checked a letter I had written to the Mayor of Lichtenberg, about  last Saturday at the Berlin Abgeordnetenhaus, and an e-mail. She said my writing was getting much better. Praise indeed from her! On Wednesday morning I went to the AWO centre where I meet my Oldies each Thursday for breakfast.

This time it was to meet Janos. He is the 'Boss' of the AWO and he asked me to help him to start his own blog. He was able to do this fairly quickly and even prepare a photograph to upload. I then took the opportunity to join the AWO and paid my membership for next year.

By then I clearly knew that I was starting with either a bad chest cold, or flu! I battled on with medicine from the chemist's. Thursday evening saw me at a meeting of Lichtenberg SPD Migration and Integration committee. I am a member and we discussed organisation and events for next year.

On Friday I cancelled training with Kertin's Oldie Gang and went to the Docs. He confirmed I had flu and prescribed two kinds of liquid medicine and anti-virus tablets. Stefan was also ill so the Photoshop Gang meeting was cancelled. Yesterday I went to Marcel's flat to see an exhibition of paintings, photographs, and sculptures in the building.

I took some photos and will present them in a later post. He then came back to my place where we had supper and watched a new film. A lazy day today, spent chatting with him and cooking. A new recipe and it should be ready in 15 minutes.

December offers changes but more of this in further posts. Who has a birthday in December? Michael N. hits the big 50 on the 5th, followed by Photoshop Stefan on the 7th who will celebrate his 53rd, my fav. bro-in-law Geoff has his birthday on the 13th. Evie will celebrate her 7th on the 18th December, Julie B. in Yorkshire will be 39 on the 20th, Niel D. in Sussex with be 67 on 28th and Ian M. in Sydney ends the month with his 54th on 30 December.  Happy Birthday to each and all no matter where you are!