May 2014 Things

Considering all things, I had a good April. Of course I was disappointed at not flying to Den Haag, as I reported on this blog, but I was pleased that Jan returned safely from his work assignment. This means more than anything else.

May starts tomorrow and all of the EU countries, except the UK, will celebrate with a 1 May holiday made up of different kinds of festivals. Many are based on food and beer, but not only. Family, sport, children, and even 'Senior' events are on offer in many places.

Here the weather is forecast to be dry and sunny, but not as warm as today. Even if cooler, it will bring millions of people out of their homes to celebrate the traditional 'Workers Day' in Europe. I shall be at an SPD Info-Stand at my local Town Hall, which is hosting a Middle Ages Festival.

There will of course be lots of Wurst, Bier and events for families and children. I am looking forward to it. Later in the evening I shall be joining other SPD members to spend a couple of hours canvassing for the SPD candidate in the forthcoming Euro-Elections. Most of my May is dominated by events about the election. Should keep me off the streets!

Who has a birthday in May? Max in Berlin has his big day on the 2nd when he will be 31. Getting old now Max! A certain Marcel Mester will be all of 20 on Tuesday 6th May. I attach an image of a special toy just for him. Another very special person will be 71 on the 8th May but I am not going to reveal his name:-) Hans will be 63 on the 11th, Trish will celebrate her 62nd in Turkey on the 13th, followed by Heike in Berlin on 16th. On the 21st, Sylvia will be 58 in Brighton and my darling cousin Barbara, for whom I also write this blog, will be 69 and celebrate with her nearest and dearest in Silsden. Have a wonderful day each and everyone!

Weinfest

On Sunday I went to the last day of the Köpenicker Weinfest. I was there last year and it is a timely reminder of entering Spring. I met some of my Muggelsee Gang. Uli, Petra, one of their daughters and her young man were there, with Falk and Elvira.

I took the tram and got out at the magnificent Rathaus/ Town Hall. Opposite is the River Dahm in all its glory just before it flows into the River Spree and continue their joint journey through Berlin. This river then flows towards Potsdam before joining the Havel which takes all the water north and empties into the North Sea.

The Weinfest spreads itself along the banks of the river in front of the Town Hall. At one end you can find amusements for children, but we stayed at the other end which is full of amusements for 'Big' children. These are endless booths offering a wide range of food and, of course, lots of stalls offering wine.

Most are from small family wineries in the west and south of Germany. Each offers tables and chairs to relax in as you smell, then sip their products. A far cry from Silsden and what it can offer! The prices are reasonable and so you can afford to have another one ..... and even another one!

The weather played a large part in bringing so many people out of their homes to the Weinfest. I also liked seeing so many young families there, and so many children enjoying the amusements. It appeared that many of the 'Big' children had a good nose for quality wine and clearly enjoyed the day.

Here are a few photos of the afternoon so you can see for yourself what a good time was had by all.
 Na, Prost!

Style Shift

If you scroll down a bit, you will find a post about Rubbish English. I really enjoyed that 'rant' and was later surprised to find a radio programme touching on the same point.

It was on BBC Radio 4. I heard it on Tuesday 15 April. You can still find it via the internet. It was one of two programmes on the same topic. The presenter is Michael Rosen who is not only a presenter, but journalist, writer and poet.

The programme is called 'Word of Mouth' about social register. It sets out to examine the question, "Do we change the way we speak according to the social class of the person we are speaking to?"  You will hear some discussion about 'to style shift' and 'social distance' to explain how UK native speakers make changes.

The programme includes archive clips of comedy shows clearly using these changes, and of children who are able to switch from local to standard grammar and vocabulary. There are links to other programmes covering the topic.

I don't have any images to support the above, but I do have some photos to share with you. Mathias sent them as a momento of his special birthday party. You can see me next to Freda, who I told you about earlier and look forward to seeing again.

I also decided to share the latest of my 'works of art'. It was made yesterday. It is based on a flower photo I took on my last visit to Britzer Gardens, and posted a report to this blog. I had fun changing the image to create what you see as a card. Perhaps I should have thousands printed and sell them:-)

In Prison

I went to prison last Tuesday! It began when I met the SPD Oldies, jumped into a car and was driven to what is know as the Stasi-Prison. It is in Hohenschönhausen which is the northern part of the district of Lichtenberg, where I live.

In the 1970s, the area took on its current appearance when lots of big blocks of flats were built. The prison, however, continued to function regardless of its surroundings. The building complex was originally a large factory producing machines used to produce consumer goods.

In May 1945, it was taken over by the Soviet secret police and turned into 'Special Camp No. 3'. It served as an assembly and transit camp for about 20,000 prisoners. Many ended up in a Gulag in arctic Siberia and died there.

Living conditions in the camp must have been terrible. At one time 4,200 inmates were penned in like animals. Nearly 1,000 died. They were buried in nearby bomb craters  Image the hygiene conditions. You were lucky to have a bucket as a toilet never mind washing facilities.

The camp was dissolved in October 1946. The prisoners were transported to other places. The building did not close. It was renamed as a Remand Prison and became the Soviet's main prison in their zone. Business as usual!

Work started on expanding facilities including turning the underground stores into cells with no windows. Just a wooden bed and a bucket. Interrogations were mainly held at night resulting in many prisoners signing 'confessions'. Soviet Military Tribunals then sentenced them to years of forced labour.

In March 1951, the East German secret police (Stasi) took over the business! Opponents of the regime were then housed there. At the end of the 1950's, prisoners had completed construction of a building with more than 200 cells and new interrogation rooms.

Business continued until the end of 1989, when the SED government was overthrown, the Stasi dissolved and the prison finally closed in October 1990. A memorial was established in 1992 and two years later an independent foundation was established to run the site.

Most of the guided tours are conducted by former inmates. In 2011, more than 340,000 people visited of whom 160,000 were schoolchildren from different countries. Plan a visit the next time you are in Berlin.

Happy Easter

I had a very happy Easter. A mixture of sharing time with people, celebrating and having quiet periods at home. As you know, I didn't get to Den Haag but I received a message from Jan that he got to his destination and was okay. That was the first of a series of good news.

Easter Saturday started with a solid breakfast at Johanna's with the usual 'Gang'. She had a guest visiting from Switzerland, although she was originally from Peru. We got on very well and had some interesting conversations. A wonderful way to start the day.

Later I went to Mathias' 50th birthday party. It was held in a small private hotel. Excellent service and atmosphere. Mathias had clearly taken time to plan everything. He surprised all in his opening speech by announcing that he and Sylvana had secretly married a month ago. Lots of cheering and smiles!

Sunday was a quiet day. Dozing, lots of reading and I cooked. On Monday, Marcel arrived for a bicycle ride. We went down the Wühletal. It is a small river in the east of the city which flows into lake Muggelsee. It was the first time he had been on this tour.

Later I went to the Pardons' house for a Grill Party. The bonus was that they grilled real Thüringa Rost Bratwurst! Mmmmh....my favourite :-)  Very interesting guests from a number of countries and conversation. And so ended the holiday.

Easter weekend

Yesterday I bought some chocolate Easter eggs. I shall take them with me tomorrow morning to share with other guests at Johanna's Easter Breakfast. I have posted stories and photos about her and her now famous breakfasts before.

Later I am going to a special 50th birthday party. Also looking forward to that. On Sunday I hope to go on a bicycle tour east of Berlin with Marcel. I think we both need some fresh air and movement. The weather forecast is also good for then. At the moment it is cold and rather miserable. On Monday evening I have been invited to a Grill Party. 

I recently visited the AWO where I do some relief teaching and made some new friends. They normally play with children but this time they came to talk to me. Here you can see Leo Lion, Freddy Frog and Micky Mouse. Ollie Octopus was tired and thirsty so I put him on a glass of water. That cheered him up.

Have a pleasant and relaxing Easter holiday with your nearest and dearest!

Adam's 'Pot'

This is a 'pot' created by Adam, or another way of saying it is that it is Adam's orchid. Adam's proud father Ghalib recently shared it with me and a few other select people. Both have now allowed me to share with you.

Ghalib and his wife were at university with me many years ago. Ian is godfather to Adam and his younger brother.

Adam is now 23 and studies computer science at a university in London. One of his hobbies for many years has been ceramics.

This is his latest creation and I hope he will send more to share with you for I find he has a real talent and I wonder what other pieces he has created.

Adam - how about changing your studies to ceramics instead of computer science?

Rubbish English -1

It appears that more English people cannot use their first language correctly. Here are some choice examples taken from interviews on BBC Radio 4. It is supposed to be the ‘flagship’ station of the English language in the UK! 

He has disability issues = why not just say he is disabled?Long term issues/looking at the issues/issue of local issues = what happened to problem?To fast track somethingShe dropped it = the speaker wants to say that she lost!To come back over that whole time frame = a women in a news interview trying to talk about a women returning to work after giving birthPeople who stay engaged = what is this person trying to say? Is it that some people get engaged for the rest of their lives and never get married?It’s kind of about/A kind of a/A sort of a /AbsolutelyOutcomes? What happened to the word result? The deep history of data collection. If so, then there must be a shallow history.They are being brought to sort of Babylon. Either they are are they are not. I looked on a map and could not find a place called ‘Sort of Babylon’. A programme to run more smoothly = another example of native speakers not knowing anything about adjectives and the comparative and superlative forms. What has been taught in English school for the last 30/40 or more years? Data present it out to a larger population = I still can’t work out what this speaker was trying to say. Do you understand it? We are kind of involved in that tension now. Either we are or we are not. What tension? Are you talking about a rubber band? In the years going forward = does this just mean the future?

Here is a Bock Wurst in potato soup for anyone who is able to read this rubbish and NOT explode!

Still here

I'm still in Berlin. I did not go to Senftenberg. See my last post. I finally get a call about the trip on Friday to say it was cancelled. The reason being our organizer was taken ill and had to go to hospital for checks. Perhaps we shall get to Senftenberg before next winter!

I did go to Kerstin's Keep-Fit-for-Oldies session. They all said how pleased they were to see me again. Nice to hear that. After, I went to Stefan's Oldie-Photoshop-Gang. They were very surprised to see me. I was greeted with the obvious question, 'Why aren't you in Den Haag'?

We did some work combining images, text and Microsoft's Word programme. I have this on my Acer laptop but only use it for writing letters. This time we are learning more about how to use it. Here are my two works of art.

I created them as cards. Fortunately we have good printers and thick paper/card so we can produce what looks like a greeting card. The others were surprised and pleased at my creations based on the simple theme of a flower. What do you think?

Den Haag

I should be lifting off from an airport in Berlin and flying to Den Haag as I write these words. Clearly, I am not on the plane and lifting off! There were a number of calls to Jan and Arancha, who wanted me to visit and enjoy Spring with them.

Some of you may remember I did that a couple of years ago and posted to my blog. It was high time to repeat, so I booked a return flight. A few days ago it all seemed unsure. Jan told me he may have to fly out to another part of the globe to help resolve a problem. Given his work there is always such a risk.

It was all still unsure, so we kept to our plans. I then got confirmation yesterday that he would be moving, but to another part of the globe to assist in problem solving. We agreed that I stay in Berlin and try later, or that we meet in Berlin on his next visit.

I am of course very disappointed, but I know has to take on such work when there are problems and this can be anywhere in the world. Take care of yourself Jan, and don't take any risks! See you later for a beer in Berlin.

It looks like I shall not be able to escape from Berlin this year!  You know my attempt in Malta failed, now Den Haag is out, and so is my planned visit to Ireland in May. I spent my 'big' birthday there last year and planned to return this year to see more of Dublin and surrounding area.

I recently got an e-mail from the people I know in Dublin to say they were coming to Berlin in May. I look forward to showing them around my part of the city, but I cancelled plans to fly to Dublin. Perhaps later in summer, or even in autumn. Let's see. So this is the third 'no-flight' in less than six months! Perhaps I should just plan to stay in Berlin this year :-(((

Instead of enjoying the delights of Den Haag, I shall enjoy reading the latest edition of a satirical political magazine (see cover photo above). I can only compare it to Private Eye in England, but with more cartoons and sometimes really 'black' humour!

On Saturday I plan to go on an 'Oldie Gang' trip to Senftenberg south-east of Berlin (See map on the left). The call to confirm or not will come this evening. If so, it will be my first visit to the town and area. I shall post photos and share the experience with you on my blog as part of my 'Travels in and around Berlin'. Hope you have a relaxing weekend no matter where you are.

Kino and camera

Yes, you have guessed correctly. The film we could not see on Saturday night was, ' Grand Budapest Hotel'.  On Sunday, I let him sleep late for he has a part-time job which sometimes means he has to work to midnight.

Then I woke him and poured lots of hot tea down his throat before we both galloped again to the S-Bahn and travelled to Neu-Köln. This is an inner city district with a high immigrant population. It is also where the regional office of the AWO is situated.

I joined the AWO (close links to SPD) at the end of last year and so was invited to a new member 'brunch' last Sunday. I was allowed to bring a guest (with an appetite!) so chose Marcel. We arrived just as the event opened and had a great time.

The nice thing about a 'Brunch' is that you can fill your plate again, and again, and again! Marcel was hungry and so filled up with breakfast and lunch menus. There was also a friendly and happy atmosphere which made the event even nicer.

We returned home and later decided to try to see the film again. Another gallop to the S-Bahn and finally arrived at Potsdamer Platz. This time we found the early evening cinema show almost empty.

We laughed out way through 'Grand Budapest Hotel', and thoroughly enjoyed it. See it for it really is worth the journey to the cinema!

In addition to the cinema visit, I found my old camera when I was sorting out some storage boxes. It was a big surprise to find it. Today I bought a film and put it into the camera. I shall take some photos in the next few days and re-learn how to use my old camera! I was able to put the film into the camera so that shows I have not forgotten everything.


 

Cooking again

Over the last few weeks I got messages from blog readers asking me if Marcel had stopped cooking. They asked because I had not posted a story, or photos, about him cooking. The answer is that he always cooks when he visits, but I just stopped posting stories and photos of him doing so.

When he arrived last Saturday I told him about the comments. He agreed that we should post photos and tell my 'food/cooking' readers that he was pleased they were interested in his cooking, but we would not report each cooking event.

We later galloped to the S-Bahn and headed to Potsdamer-Platz. There you will find the Sony Centre. Inside you will find a cinema complex. We asked for tickets for a film and was told it was sold out. I could not believe it. I have never experienced this before!

We went around the corner to a cinema complex where they only show films in German. We were also told that it was sold out. The lesson to learn is only go there when you have booked the tickets in advance!

We returned home, relaxed in front of the TV and watched a film. What was  the film we had missed? See next blog post.

April 2014 Things

First day of April and the sun is shining into my kitchen. Forecast for the rest of the week is good. I even planted some tulip bulbs in my window boxes. The stalks are just peeping into the air and light. March was generally a good month. The exception being the very bad cold and cough, which I still have. Perhaps I need to doze in the sun more :-)

Last night I went to my local SPD Annual Gathering. I really enjoyed it. Dressed up for the event, of course, as did most present. Met many people I got to know over the year, listened to the speeches, applauded those who got presents for helping others less able to help themselves, and then into the buffet room.

I sat with Angelika, who I presented in a blog post about a year ago when she gave an exhibition of her paintings, photos and designs. We were joined by others and ended up as a large, talkative group with lots of jokes, not to mention plates of food and drinks! A good evening was had by all!

April has my usual activities and groups, such as a new exhibition at the AWO. All the creation of  local disabled people with lots of fantasy- see painting on right. I am also waiting for the next phase of building in front of my flat. You can also see this on the right.


For me there are two special events in April. The first is my flight to den Haag on 10 April to spend a few days with Jan and Arancha. Looking forward to this very much, not least so that I can try the first batch of the future famous, 'Trautmann's Best Beer'. Also meeting Jeff to catch up on news.

Shortly after my return, I am going to celebrate business partner Mathias' 50 birthday. He decided to celebrate in style with a party in a local hotel/restaurant. Looking forward to that and to seeing members of the family I have not seen for too long!
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Who else has a birthday in April?  Horst from my Oldie-Keep-Fit-Gang will celebrate his 80th on 4th. He, his wife and assorted family members will celebrate at a resort on the North Coast. Closer to home, Uli hits 67 on the 6th, followed by wife Petra, who will celebrate being over 40 (again!) on 8th.

Moving swiftly to Australia to join Daniel who will be 35 on the 9th, then to California on the 11th to raise a glass with Dennis and family to toast his 59th. Moving onto Essen, back in Germany, fill your glasses to toast Neil for his 57th on the 13th. Lot of birthdays this month.

My nephew Henri will be all of 5 on the 18th. We can fill our glasses with orange juice for him! Next day is Mathias' big day (see above). Moving east of Berlin we can toast Peter for his 51st on the 22nd, before ending the month back in Berlin for Birgit's 50th on the 24th April. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all and each!