Guten Rutsch!

Just got time to post before my guests arrive. Not sure how many now and one lady may bring her dog. At least I know it is a small dog but it can be very 'Yappy'!

I checked the weather reports again about Silsden and the north of the UK. Looks like the worst of the storms and floods are over - for the moment. Here is an image of Silsden in warmer, sunnier times.

I shall slip into the New Year in bed and probably asleep - as usual. I have never celebrated the event. I wonder why I have never been able to jump about and get all excited because of a movement in time. It happens all the time.

Later, German speakers will be wishing their family all the best for the New Year so here are a few phrases. You can learn them for the New Year :-))
Ich wünsche Euch allen einen guten Rutsch.
Ich wünsche Euch ein gutes neues Jahr
Ich wünsche Euch alles Gute im neuen Jahr.

Have fun learning this nice German and I wish you ALL lots of happy, good things and most of important is GOOD HEALTH!  Prost!

Bits 'n Bobs 'n Beards

I've been listening for weather news from London most of the day and looking online. More storms in the north west of England in addition to the north of Ireland and south of Scotland. It seems that Silsden is not under further threat - and I still have not heard anything to the contrary from family there so I can breath out.

Before writing this post I thought about what I had recently posted and realised I had not completed a number of things before we slide out of this year and into another. I noticed I had not reported again on Goofie the Goose. Sad news! He didn't make it through Christmas. I wonder if he found the answer to his question. "Is there life after Christmas." His goose was certainly cooked!!! See photo.

The other was that I told you Marcel came to visit on Christmas. I forgot to follow up except that we went to the cinema last Monday. It was a nice surprise to welcome him on the 25th. We quickly caught up on news about his family who he recently visited in Budapest and at the Balaton. He returned to Berlin for Christmas to prepare for an important examination early in January. I really applaud his learning/studying discipline.

He has also found a new room. The move is in a couple of weeks and again convenient for travelling to his university. More about this in the new year. As soon as we met there was talk about his full beard. Yes, it is his first full beard. He has had a chin beard, shaped beard, clipped student beard but this was his first full beard! Here is a pic. Not bad.

By chance I listed to BBC Radio 4 a short time ago. I heard Laurie Taylor's programme called Thinking Aloud. The topic was Fashion and Beauty. This included a report about Male Beards historically and the current trend. Yes, most males over 18 in Berlin have beards of many shapes, sizes and colours.

 I thought back to Marcel's growth as I listened. In the historical section of the programme I thought about myself. I first started to shave when I was almost 15. Yes, rather late and one of the last boys in my class to grasp a razor for the first time. By that time I was getting comments about my struggling teenage beard, and wasn't it time I.............. Yes, I agreed, it was time.

I duly bought a Gillette wet razor with metal blades, soap, brush, with money earned from my paper-round. The first shave was a bloodbath! I not only removed the hair but half of my skin and skimmed the top off all of my puberty spots! I emerged covered in bits of paper stuck to my face to suck up all the blood.  No-one in the family said anything. They just giggled!

I never grew a beard until I was 28. Much later than Marcel, but then I was not a student. Here is the only pic I can find of me with a beard. I was on holiday on/in Corfu. How about those Marks and Spencer's underpants!! Actually, not a bad beard there John! I had one during my first tour of India in 1976. I wonder where those photos are?

Later I grew thick black eyebrows and heavy black moustache. I realised they didn't really suit me except when I was in the Netherlands. And that is a long story we won't go into :-)

Tomorrow is the end of one year in which we celebrate the start of another. I have some Oldies for Kaffee und Kuchen but I suspect they will hang around for even more in the glass and later for supper. Let's see. I shall shave before they arrive, but his time with an electric razor and less blood!!

Weather

How strange is the weather at the moment? I looked at World Weather Reports over Christmas and saw there were storms, heavy rain, forest fires, floods, cyclones etc. in South America, The USA, Africa, parts of east Asia, China and houses burnt down on the south east Great Ocean Road in Australia.

There was also more flooding in north England. My ears pricked up when I heard of flooding in Leeds and York in addition to more towns and villages in the north of Yorkshire and Cumbria. The names of the villages and rivers I remembered from childhood. Day trips in summer to these places to play in the water and nearby fields where we had picnics.

I turned on my computer and typed in Silsden. I discovered that there was no serious problem apart from high water in The Beck near to the post office before the water runs down to the River Aire which is one kilometre away. Silsden has known other high water threats, as you can see from an old photo, but it is higher than the Aire which can flood into a wide valley without reaching the town.

I shall watch weather reports in the near future. I have received no phone calls, or other forms of contact, from family and friends living in the area, so I take it that no news is good news! Meanwhile, I saw the new Star War film yesterday evening.

I met Marcel and we settled into a large cinema, with 3D glasses perched on our noses. It was in the Cine Star in the Sony Centre in Potsdamer Platz. They only show films in the original language. I think it was right to see the film in 3D, which supported the 'Surround' sound system. We both enjoyed the film and it was clear that it was the start of a new round of such films.

Cheers again!

And now it is time to raise my glass to all family and friends in the UK for they have just arrived at 12 noon on the 25th December 2015. I notice I have had a number of views to my blog in the last hour. Hope you liked what you saw.

So now I am enjoying the aftertaste of my sekt again as I think about all who sent me cards, news and greetings. Yes, but where to begin? I was surprised by how many of you added a comment that you read my blog, enjoy my comments about life in Berlin and hope I continue.

Now that was a surprise. How many of you knew that I was thinking about closing my blog? Can you pick up 'vibes' over so many miles? I decided to wait until we were into January to make a decision. The other option is to reduce the period older posts are available. At the moment you can read things back to 2008. I wonder if I should reduce this down to two years.

Meanwhile, I was overwhelmed by the greetings and kind messages. I was also concerned at news of health problems, operations in the recent past or waiting in the new year. I shall of course only communicate directly in such cases and not over this blog.

One thing that brought tears to my eyes was opening a thick envelope from Jan and Arancha. In addition to Christmas wishes were six 'old fashioned' photographs of their wedding and I was on three of them. I shall have to share this in a later post. Memories of a day I shall never forget.

I also received surprise gifts of music CDs from two ladies in my Oldie English classes. We talk about our musical tastes so they know mine. Nice of them to send me these presents. There was also a surprise gift from Ozland. Big thank to Ian and Birgit. I look forward to reading it as we move towards Spring and to sending you my comments.

To end, I shall add photos of the cards, photos, presents I received. Thanks to all of you and I look forward to seeing many of you in person in the New Year. Later this afternoon Mr Muscles is dropping in. Yes, he is here in Berlin and not in Hungary. Nice surprise for me and I'm looking forward to hearing all his news.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to family and friends wherever you are. I started a practice, which has now become a tradition, of raising a glass - or three! - at noon on Christmas Day.  I shall do this in two minutes.

I shall repeat it in 1 hour when my UK friends and family catch up. 

Here is the pic of my glass and bottle. It is a German sekt and I look forward to tasting it in 1 minute.

It is now 12.00 CET so...PROST!! Here is to your very good health and wishing you lots of happy, nice things in 2016.

Mmmmh..but this tastes nice. A half-dry bottle but with lots of non-sweet tastes that change as the liquid melts on your tongue. Must have another 'Schluck' so Prost again.

Now back to opening the rest of my cards and reading greetings and messages. That is the high-spot of my day.

Christmas Eve

It is Christmas Eve in Berlin as I type these words. I've had a really pleasant day. It started with being lazy and reading a book as I sipped a cup of tea. Then I decided I needed to vacuum my place, shower and slowly get into the day. My lazy plan was ended by a telephone call.

It was from Gerald and Jutta to say, "Wo bist du! - where are you? They were waiting for me to have Christmas breakfast with them and the rest of the Berlin Gang. I just left everything where it was, had a quick brrrrr with the shaver over my cheeks, ran through the shower and jumped into some clean clothes.

Packed presents into my rucksack, picked up my bicycle and set off for their place. It is all of 12 minutes but it took me 15 for I had to slow down to avoid dozy late shoppers who wandered onto the cycle tracks. Yes, we have such things in Berlin! I got there just before 11 am - only two hours late.

My mistake for I thought the invitation was for supper and not breakfast. It was great to see my Berlin Gang again. Lots of talking, catching up on news, good food and drinks. Then I told them I had brought my camera for I wanted to take a couple of photos to send to Colin and his Gang in Australia.

You know them all by now for I posted about them when they were in Berlin during summer. My Berlin Gang readily agreed to have their photo taken, so here are a couple of shots. I have just sent them to Colin so he can share the moment when he wakes up in a few hours and emerges into Christmas Day with his family on their dairy farm north of Sydney.

My place still needs cleaning - perhaps tomorrow :-))  Have a great Christmas Eve. 

Add a comment

This post is about how to add a comment to anything I post on the blog. I decided to make this possible on my blog for I enjoy reading comments from readers. Many are funny and show an appreciation of words, wordplay and of what is in the blog post.

Colin recently asked about how to add a comment. Others had earlier asked so here goes:
1) At the bottom of each post is the word "comment". It is in blue which means it is a live link to the add a comment facility.

2) Click on comment and a new window will open in the top left of your screen. Within this is a smaller screen with the words "Leave your comments". Type in your comment and look down to the next task.

3) There you will see the words "Choose an Identity!". There are four.  First is Google Account, second is Open  ID, third is Name/URL and fourth is Anonymous. I advice you to click on number 4/Anonymous for it is the easiest to use.

4) Then look further down the page and you will see the words "Prove you are not a robot". This is for security. There is a small rectangle with a square in the right side. Just click into this square and a small task will then appear. It may be to spell a word or ask you to find a flower in a picture. If your response is correct a green tick will appear in the square.

5) Next step is to publish your comment. You will see those words so just click on them. That is it apart from closing the window.

6) Look at the top right of the Comment window and you will see the words Close This Window. Just click on those words and it closes.  You may have to wait a few minutes to see your comment added to the comment window. It depends on how busy the server is.

Now that was not difficult was it?  Here is what half my garden looked like when I was searching for the too early buds this afternoon.

Spring is sprung!

There is an old 'Britsh' English word play based on the first signs of Spring. Here it is with a small change made by me. 'Spring is sprung, the grass is ris. I wonder where Christmas is!'  Instead of Christmas the last section should be - '--- I wonder where the Birdies is!'.

I thought about it this afternoon when I took the rubbish out to the bins near the garden. I wandered into the garden when I saw some buds on a small bush which, at this time of year, should not be there.  I have heard reports of "unseasonal" weather in the UK, particularly the north of England, including storms and flooding.

The weather 'experts' seem to agree that it is much too warm and generally dry for the time of year - north England being the exception. I wonder if I will be able to sit on my balcony in the sun on Christmas Day. Now, that would be nice.

It has also been very hot 'Down-Under' recently. I got an interesting E-mail from Colin in the south-east of Australia. They had a period of nearly 40°C. Now that really did make me want to be there! At the moment it is cooler and there is rain. He said the plants and gardens need the rain.

He's already headed north to spend Christmas with his family at their dairy farm. Wonder if  they'll be having a 'Barbi' on the 25th with 40°C in the shade.

Yuk!

Yuk! How can anyone eat this? It is called Hackfleisch in German. In English this means minced meat. I think I posted a similar comment last Christmas, but I am sure most of you have forgotten. I thought it was only eaten in Berlin, but friends told me it can be found all over the country.

They also said it had to be eaten while still 'fresh' and not left to stand on a table for hours. It is raw meat. Yes, I wrote the word raw!  I took this shot with my phone camera last Friday. It was after training with Kerstin's Oldies.

We set the tables and opened a few bottles of sekt. This bowl of minced raw meat was set in front of my place. I quickly moved it. It is smeared onto bread rolls, topped off with freshly cut onions to which you add salt and pepper...... then stuff into your mouth!!

Yuk....oh no!! How can anyone eat this? I never was a great meat eater, and for many years was vegetarian, so that may be why I find it so repulsive. I called it 'cannibalism' on Friday, but my fellow members of Kerstin's Gang just smiled. chewed on more and said, "Yummy".

Apart from that I had a pleasant week. Hope you did too.

Goose Theology

On arriving home from the parties yesterday, I checked my postbox. There were a number of letters, cards and this postcard. It really made me smile and think.

My translation of the German words is: ' Do you believe in life after Christmas?' The question is being put by Goofy Goose on the left and Charlie Goose on the right is turning his head slightly to show he is pondering the question :-))

The photo was created by a lady called Anja Kramer. Well done Anja - you deserve a glass of sekt for this idea!

Perhaps the geese were on their way to a Goose Church, in which case they would have been able to 'quack' over the theology in the question with Priest Quackery, followed by a tasty lunch of roast goose!  Quack, any more sekt, quack?

Seasonal Presents

I had a very nice Monday and Tuesday. I went to the AWO on Monday afternoon for the last lesson with my Oldies. They had already prepared the tables with decorations, plates, cups, saucers and glasses!

They were in the mood to relax and enjoy the time with each other. Even so I did get them to do a couple of Christmas games, which they enjoyed. They had some presents for me. See the pic on the left

The main present was the selection of whisk(e)y from the USA, Canada, Ireland and Scotland. The bottle of sekt and After Eight mints were left over from the party, so they were pushed into my bag. I didn't object!

The other pic is of presents I got from my Tuesday Oldies. The pattern of events was very much like on Monday but they had nice coffee. My Monday Oldies drank hot, spicy 'Glühwein' ,which I don't like. I just sipped a glass of sekt.

My present from the Tuesday Oldies was a bottle of sekt. As they cleared the tables at the end of the party a range of things were dropped into my bag. Again, I didn't object!

From there I took the U-Bahn to another AWO building where my SPD Oldies were having a Christmas Party. We had a lot of guests including the local Mayor. Always nice to see her. Lots of talking, coffee and cakes interlaced with speeches as different guests said how pleased they were to have been invited!

We all got a bag of seasonal cakes and chocolates plus a small bottle of ....... guess what! Yes, sekt. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and was one of the last to leave.

Spot the Koala

Just opened my E-mail account and found a very nice message and photo. I just had to share. It was from Ian and Birgit who called me earlier to ask if I was okay. Yes, they live in the opposite part of the world - and it is warm and sunny!

They recently went on a long weekend tour down what is called the Great Ocean Road. I guess it runs along the coast from Sydney. Next time I go there I would like to take a tour down this coast road.

Correction from Colin: No it doesn't, the road is "way down south - about 2 hours west of Melbourne". That means it runs along the south coast of Victoria. Thanks for this, Colin. 

This morning they had breakfast and went into the garden of their B&B. They looked into this tree. Where is the Koala?

Many thanks to both for sharing with my readers, most of whom live in the cold, winter north of Europe. Isn't it nice to see this non-winter image? Just look at that blue sky and the blue sea.

Nice present

Last Friday started, as usual, with Kerstin's 'Stretching and Movement Course for Seniors' at 10.00 am. We were a small group. No surprise there for it is Christmas shopping time. Next Friday we are having our Christmas Party after training. I'm looking forward to that. My contribution is to take two bottles of Sekt = Sparkling Wine.

I did some shopping for the weekend on my way home in the afternoon. I was lazy and did not update my blog!! I took out Daniel's file and waited for him. He rang the bell early and entered. We talked about the English he had to do over the Christmas holiday and started to plan his writing.

We also discussed his holiday plans. He is going to Moldova with his father on a very long bus journey. He is looking forward to seeing a certain young lady again :-)) as well as seeing his wider family.

He reached into his rucksack and pulled out a very nice bottle. Wow! A present from his family to say thanks for helping him with his English. Thanks family. I wonder what it tastes like for it is new to me. I'll let you know in a post-holiday report.

Find me

After lunch with the Foto Oldies last Wednesday, I relaxed at home, didn't update my blog :-(( and packed my papers for a meeting. It was time for my local SPD committee meeting. Yes, I was elected to the committee in 2014. We allow one hour to discuss matters before the doors are opened for a general members meeting.

We followed the usual format last Wednesday evening with time to nibble on Christmas cakes, chocolates and sip a hot spicy wine only drunk at this time of the year. The meetings covered many topics and ended later than I wished. Even so, there are elections within the party next year so we had to cover a wide range of topics.

On Thursday I was lazy again. I didn't update my blog :-((  In the evening I opened my computer to watch the BVV Lichtenberg meeting live broadcast. The Silsdeners are most likely saying, 'What is a BVV?' and rightly so. Standby for this example of a BIG German noun.

It means: die Bezirksverordnetenversammlung. Phew, but is that a mouthful and it is not alone. The language is full of such things. They are sometimes called Compound Nouns and can be formed from 3,4,5 or more nouns! Even German comedians make fun of this aspect of the language.

So I watched the BVV live via the internet. Here is a pic of our Mayor addressing the meeting. Guess what? She is from the SPD :-))  My local party has a webpage and posts reports and photos about meetings. I went to that webpage during a break in the live broadcast. Guess what I found?

Yes, this photo. It was taken a week earlier when the SPD Lichtenberg had a special 'Future Policy' meeting which I attended. There were nearly 100 members present who formed 6 groups to discuss what policy the SPD should follow locally from 2016 to 2025.

I was in the migration and integration group. Now look at the photograph and FIND ME! You can post your comment/opinion direct to this blog, or call me/send an E-mail. I do not have an account in what is called 'Social Networks'. I don't grunt or twitter for I am not an animal or bird!

Concert

Yes, I've been lazy this week and not posted anything. No excuse for my laziness. I just kept putting it off until tomorrow. This morning I got a call from the other end of the world asking me if I was okay because I hadn't posted for a week. How nice of them.

The week started with teaching my Monday Oldies followed on Tuesday by more Oldies. Wednesday started in Alexander Platz at the Ministry of Education canteen. I met Maria there at 11.00 am. It is always nice to see her. We went through the Spanish homework I have to hand in on Tuesday.

She's flying to Spain with her husband so that was the last  chance to meet. She helped me again with word order and pronunciation. We parted and I took an U-Bahn back to Tierpark stop and walked around the corner to a German restaurant.

It was time to meet my Fotoclub Gang for Christmas lunch. It was good to enjoy simple tasty traditional regional food again, plus a small glass of beer. We talked about themes/topics for photographs in 2016. We agreed a list of 12 starting next January.

Last Sunday I met three lovely ladies for Kaffee und Kuchen at my place. Later we went to the nearby church. Yes, it was time to enjoy Bach's Christmas Oratorium. It was a very professional performance given all but the singers are amateur. Here, you can see the programme and information.

Faces

Two faces to make you smile. The first is of......yes, you guessed right. It is Jan. It was great to see him on Monday. He looked really well given a rather hectic weekend of visits. Arancha was in a business meeting, and not in Berlin, so unfortunately I could not meet her.

I offered Jan, water, green tea or coffee. He just smiled, walked to the fridge, opened the door and said he had sound something better :-))) We caught up on important news and then it was time for me to leave for teaching. He offered to drive me there.

I accepted immediately for it meant we had more time to chat and catch up on news. He is now back home with Milady A. They are going to Spain for Christmas/New Year, so I shall see them again when they visit in 2016.

While waiting for him I created a face. Yes, I know I am a little late but I enjoyed creating Freddie the Face! I hollowed out the centre and placed a 'tea candle' in it. I could then see how it looked in an illuminated state. I could see the eyes were not right.

They were too small. Back to the knife and my 'creativity'. I made the eyes larger then noticed Freddie looked rather bland. A thick black pencil was the answer. I gave him eyebrows and a mouth, but then I noticed it looked more like a moustache!

Freddie will be the table decoration on Sunday when three nice ladies drop in for coffee and cakes in the afternoon. I'm sure Freddie will make them smile:-)  After that, we are going to a concert to hear the Christmas Oratorium by Bach Snr.