September 2015 Things

I hope September will be as exciting as August! I got back from Lisbon/Lisboa just after midnight. I finally managed to sleep but woke early. Oh, no! Now I need a few days to adjust. Lisbon is great and I had a marvelous time exploring it with Prof.Dr. Peter von LL and his Mutti. 

Peter was invited to give a paper at the ERSA 55th Congress. If you remember I went with him to such a conference last August in St. Petersburg. I shall be posting more information about this during the week.

I shall also post about a number of visitors I had, and some nice people at a wedding. I just need time to select the photographs, re-size them with my programmes and post with text. I note that as we enter September a lot of my usual activities start after the summer break. Happy to say that it is still hot and sunny in Berlin.

Who has a birthday in September? Lynne starts us off when she celebrates her 'over 65th birthday' with Alan in 'Casland' on 1st September. The 6th September is special, for Charlotte in London will be 24, Nevand in Berlin will be 8 and Arancha in Holland will be 31 on that day. Not often we get so many on the same day. Liebe Andrea will celebrate her 30th birthday with husband Marco on the 8th. Stephen G. in Cambridge will hit 45 on the 22nd, Sylvana in Berlin will celebrate her 55th with Mathias on the 25th, and back to Cambridge where Lew celebrates his 'one year older' birthday on the 27th with my sister Pauline! Silke has her 45th on the 28th in Berlin and my nephew Jefferson hits all of 42 and will celebrate with his family on the 29th. Happy Birthday to each and all!! 

Have A Break

Sorry that I have not posted recently. My excuse is that I have been entertaining 6 visitors from the UK, going to a wedding and packing my bag.

Yes, at 4.00am (!) on Monday I am flying to Lisbon for a week. The reason is a conference, but I shall have time to be a tourist as well.

I shall post again from 1st September. Meanwhile, have a break and enjoy the last of the summer - if you live in Europe.  

Refugees

Yesterday I met my Kerstin Oldies as usual for a bit of movement and 'keep-fitting'. I think I have created another stupid English word! As I left, the trainer asked me what I had planned for the day. I answered that I was going to meet some refugees.

That afternoon I cycled to a large complex on the outskirts of the district in which I live. I met the No.1 and No.2 of the district SPD en route. Shortly after we arrived at the entrance to a complex of buildings erected in the DDR.  A private investment company now owns it and plans to build flats/houses there. Not now, for they have just signed a contract with the local council to allow it to be used to house refugees for a couple of years.

It all happened quickly. As you probably know, Germany takes a lot of refugees from the wars in Syria and Iraq and the numbers are growing. The UK does not. For example, Berlin alone took in 4,150 refugees in July 2015 which was more than in the whole of 2011. They need to live somewhere so the decision was taken to use this building.

Last weekend, 1,000 refugees were moved into the complex now run by the German Red Cross. Lots of organisation problems such as sleeping arrangements, toilets and showers but extra specialists were drafted in and are improving the facilities.

Local people were asked to donate anything, so they duly arrived with big bags full of clothes, toys, washing/shower liquids and other essential things. I helped to sort the gifts out into piles yesterday and also got into discussion with one of the 'Bosses'.

He found my idea to set up a Senior Refugee Group very interesting and wondered why they had not thought about that. I am going to a meeting of my SPD Seniors on Tuesday afternoon to appeal for help. Lets see what happens.

 Meanwhile I take off my hat to all for organising such a rapid response and my local Karlshorsters for finding all the things to donate to the refugee individuals and familes. Well done!

Keeping Cool

Another wonderful day of sun, blue sky and 30°C temperature. I decided to have a lazy day. Why not for I did not have any appointments.

 I spent most of my time on the balcony with a book called The German Genius. I've posted about this before. I got to page 621. Only another 247 pages to go!

Starting next Sunday I have two very busy weeks. Visitors, wedding and flight to another country. That is another reason I relaxed all day. Tomorrow starts with Kerstin and the Movement Oldies, before going to a SPD meeting outside a large disused building not far from where I live.

The building is now used to house 1,000 refugees mainly from Syria and Iraq. They need help of all kinds for they do not speak German. The younger ones speak English. Let's see what happens. I also help senior refugees in another centre/home in the same way.

Today, Colin and gang left for a week in, and around Dresden. It is a really interesting part of Germany and well worth a visit and spending some time there.

Two days ago they visited me. We started with a very cool G&T before moving to a restaurant/bar of their choice. We had a meal which started with a round of beer - as you can see from the photos :-))

2 Parties

Where did you go yesterday? I went to two garden parties. The first was at the home of a friend of Johanna, who is a music teacher and performer. I saw him in an open-air concert at Schloss Biesdorf a couple of years ago. Again, he was a accompanied by his talented daughter.

I cycled to Johanna's flat to meet the Australian Gang. This time increased by the arrival of Greg. We went to the local S-Bahn. One stop later, and a short walk, we arrived at our host's nice big house. He had even cut the grass.

Then started the 'Musical Summer Garden Party'. More guests arrived and neighbours settled into their gardens to enjoy the music. They even joined in the applause. I got as far as the first round of coffee and cakes before I had to leave to attend Party No.2.

I got back to the S-Bahn and noted how empty the streets were. Half the population is on holiday and the other half was seeking the cool of a garden with trees. Yes, it was nearly 30°C again!

Again onto the bike until I reached the home of Herr Dr.M. and Frau Dr.I. Pardon. I have told you about them before and shared photos of relaxing in their very big garden. Traditional grilled food, salad, fruit and beer/wine were on the menu. Delicious.

I reflected on a day of simple pleasures, or just being with other people and enjoying time together. That is why I always like to spend summer days in Berlin - particularly with blue skies and such temperatures :-)

Ex-Tall Crane

I left the story as the two specialist engineer 'climbers' had separated the front part of the Tall Crane and started the same on the rear section. They were very organised and it was clear that they must do this regularly.

To begin, they did not wear a safely belt, but as they started to dismantle it they anchored themselves to the crane. This allowed them to safely move onto the section that would later be lowered to the ground.

In the photos you can see this, including the stand-alone crane tower. I later went into town and missed the dismantling of the crane operator cabin, but I did get the dismantling of the lower section. This included a wave from the 'climber' who actually did it all.

Interesting that as dismantling took place we went from three to one man. My last shot is of the main shaft section being lowered to earth. The climber who had waved had gone down to the next section and safety. I still could not do such work. Could you?

Smaller Tall Crane

As you know, there is a building site opposite my flat. This morning I awoke to new sounds. A large mobile crane was being positioned around the corner. The 'climbers' arrived in a separate van, parked it outside my flat, munched on sandwiches and sipped coffee.

Other workers galloped around the mobile crane getting it ready. This allowed me time to wash my face, make a pot of green tea and get my camera ready. I now have three lenses to choose from and selected the zoom lens.

The 'climbers' got word all was ready so off they went to climb the tall crane. Its little brother is not far away! The driver went with them making a team of three. They set to work immediately and it wasn't long before they were ready to remove the long forward part of the crane. Here is a photo of it hanging from the mobile crane.

Next was to dismantle the rear part holding all the counter weights. They also had to separate two metal support lines. Here is a photo after they had just done so. The rest of the story is in the next post. Just look at the blue sky. Yes, it really is summer and today we enjoyed 37°C. Nice weather to dismantle a crane!

Müggelsee visit

I have made a number of posts about Müggelsee over the years so I don't need to tell you much. Perhaps just to remind you that it is the largest of Berlins many lakes and you can find it to the south east of the city. I have never understood why most tourists never go to this lake.

It was very hot and humid yesterday so I took Colin and Jan to Müggelsee to cool off and later have a swim. Both asked to visit the lake and see it for themselves. I had an interview at 12 so we met up at my local station at 2pm and jumped into a S-Bahn.

We walked down the long main street and decided to stop at a restaurant next to the old brewery. Traditional German dishes with beer brewed in the next building. Tasty! We had a very long late lunch before walking around the corner to the lake.

We found an almost empty ferry about to leave so we jumped on. The upper deck was empty so we settled in and ordered a cold beer. We sipped them as we took a one hour tour of the shores of the lake and even went into the smaller lake called the 'Small' Müggelsee.

Back on shore we walked under the lake channel tunnel and stopped at a nearby beach. There were lots of people enjoying cooling off. Colin and Jan joined them be changing and jumping into the warm water of the lake.  They enjoyed cooling off before we walked back to the S-Bahn and back to our respective homes.  Next time you come to Berlin in summer, take time to visit Müggelsee.

Spandau Music

Spandau is a district in the north east of Berlin. Muscles recently moved there and I posted a report recently.  It was incorporated into Berlin in the early 1920s. From my local station I can get there on a regional train in less than 30 minutes. The S-Bahn takes much longer.

I went there last Monday with Johanna and members of her extended family/friends from Australia. Yes, Colin flew in last Friday with his cousin, wife and kids, and friend Jan. Another friend flew in this morning. We met up at Alexander Platz, without the kids, and took a regional train to Spandau.

Most were hungry so we ended up in a Vietnamese Restaurant. Here is a photo of us cooling down with a few beers. Yes, summer has finally arrived and we are enjoying nearly 30°C and it should last until the weekend.Nice,  more please :-))

We went there to show our visitors part of Berlin and enjoy an open air concert of mainly Klezmer music. Some of you may know that it is part of the Jewish musical tradition. It is traced back to the 15th century. It was secular music created by Ashkenazi Jews in eastern Europe. It is mainly dance music/songs typically in Yiddish, for weddings and other celebrations.

As you can see from the photo of the audience, most of them will not see 60+ again!! I have no idea why so many 'oldies' gathered to enjoy this musical event. Even so, there was a wonderful, happy atmosphere and our guests from Australia really enjoyed it.

August 2015 Things

Summer arrived today! Amazing and it is supposed to last until Thursday! Yes, apart from a few hot days we have not had much of a summer so far. My balcony recorded 28°C late morning before I left for a bicycle ride.

I had a very interesting and varied July. The high spot was of course a special wedding in Oviedo. The month ended with a very quiet week with lots of time for me to relax and read. From next week things begin to return to normal.

I'm meeting Johanna, Colin (over from Australia) and friends tomorrow for an evening concert in Spandau, next day is a job interview for teaching. On Wednesday is my Fotoclub and I have some photos to show them. Thursday is a meeting with my Oldie Fitness Gang led by Kerstin. It is our big summer garden party meeting. I shall make a special post about this :-))

Later in August is a visit from Nicholas, Julie and children, another teaching interview, meet Alan and Lynne in Berlin, then fly to Lisbon to end the month. Lots of interesting things on the monthly agenda!

I attach a photo I took very late on Saturday. From my balcony I could see a bright moon shining behind drifting clouds and all framed by leaves from the big tree in the garden. I took lots of shots with different lenses and settings with mostly very bad results. Problem of capturing so much darkness. I finally settled on this to share with you. I am still learning how to use a camera!

Who has a birthday in August?  Shirley in Florida and Christian D. in Berlin started us off with their birthdays on the 1st August. Beatrix D. will be 42 on the 6th, Jerome will be all of 21 on the 8th. Jürgen in Juterbog will be 71 on the 24th, Angelika hits 63 on the 25th followed by my dear sister Pauline in Cambridge who will celebrate her 71st on the 26th. Dieter in Juterbog celebrates his 71st with Jürgen on the 27th and my Jan will be all of 32 on the 28th. He shares this day with Bernard P who will be 55 on that day and they end this birthday month. Happy Birthday to each and all!!!

Update

Have you updated your computer/laptop/netbook to Windows 10 ?  I did yesterday afternoon. Before pressing the update button I had all my documents and records about the computer and its systems - just in case! I didn't need them.

The online update went smoothly. Just allow at least one hour. In my case nearly two for I read all the conditions and download contract, and all in legal German! As the download began I had to smile at the text. Microsoft making a joke at its own expense.

"Windows-Upgrade wird durchgeführt: Ihr PC wird einige Male neu gestarted, währenddessen können Sie sich entspannt zurücklehnen."  This translates as: Windows Update will commence. Your PC will be re-started a few times, while this is happening you can lay back and relax."

I did with a few cups of tea. Now I am learning changes to the system and how to use it. It is not very different from my old one.