Living in sand

I live opposite a huge sand pit. Just look at the building site outside my window. All of Berlin is built on such sand deposits. If you remember your geography lessons at school you will know that the whole of north Europe is just one big pile of sand with a thin coating of soil.

From the coast of Netherlands to the eastern border of Poland, you only have to dig down about one foot and you hit sand. That is why only certain kinds of plants and trees can grow. I wonder why there aren't deposits of oil, as you find under sand in the Middle East.


Work on the building site is progressing. You can see that other workers have arrived to set down the floors of what will be the underground garages. The flats will be built above them. It is interesting to see how each group of workers just gets on with their specialist work and ignores the others.

I should have written 'men' for so far I have only seen one women and she drives a large truck to take away the sand. I think she could tell a few stories about only working with men.

I got a really nice postcard from Heike. She was on holiday in Portugal and thought of me. Thanks Heike :-)) I really like the calm you feel when you look at the sunset. I decided to share with you so that you can also enjoy the sense of calm.

Nothing remarkable about last week and the next week looks very much the same. The same routine of teaching, including helping Daniel to understand the English tense system. It is not easy! Meetings with different Oldie groups and SPD meetings. And so is my life at the moment.

PS:  UPDATE Saturday. I told you so!  I woke this morning to the sound of a different machine. I peered out of my bedroom window to see something new. A cement lorry attached to another lorry with an extension arm carrying a pipe. The pipe went into the garage foundation. Lots of brushing to make sure the cement was even and the men and machines began the task of leaving the site for the weekend.