Ilkley Moor

I finally managed to change this photo from png to jpg so I could edit. I recently got it as an attachment to an e-mail from Alan. As you Silsdeners know very well he is my oldest and best friend. We met when were both 16 and went to college in Leeds.

Alan and Lynne took a few days off at the end of March to spend time with son Peter, who was visiting from his home in Australia. They spent a day out in my old part of the world. This included a visit to Betty's Tea Room in Ilkley. Yes, I always go there at the end of my visits.

Ilkley is north of Silsden in the next valley.  At the bottom is the River Wharfe. Next to the river is a cemetery and there is my mother's family grave. I have always enjoyed visiting this town and its area. I have so many memories and that is perhaps why I keep looking at this photo.

It was taken by Peter on his smart phone. Alan gave me permission to publish on my blog. I like all of the image and did not change anything except the size. Well done, Peter. Alan is facing north and looking into the valley. I like the whole composition and the view into the mist hanging over the valley bottom and river.

I shall be there in July and perhaps with Alan and Lynne. Now that really would be special and even better if we had tea in Betty's Tea Room!

Spine and Discs

On Thursday I went to a department of a hospital specialising in the spine and discs. This was my second attempt to get an appointment. I succeeded but all the computers were not working so the staff were busy making new appointment for patients. I thought I was in a NHS hospital!

My Doc didn't need a computer. He looked at my X-Rays and that was enough. He explained the images. Disc numbers 5 and 6 at the top of my spine are collapsing and the passage ways for nerves are under pressure. Doc said I could have an operation now ....or later. I took the latter option!

I think it is only a matter of time before I shall have to have such an operation. There are risks and he told me about them. Entry has to be made via my throat - hearing that really turned me off! There is also a risk of being lamed if the operation goes wrong. That means life in a wheelchair and living in a home. Not too happy about that either!!

I notice the problem all the time now. When I move my head I can hear noises as if things are grinding against each other and I have permanent pain at the back of my neck. The Doc said if I had pains in my arms and fingers and could not pick things up anymore then I would need an operation. The picture above reminds me of the relationship between my head and my spine :-))

Now to a happier report. I went to a birthday party last Saturday, as I told you in my last post. Guests donated money for The Family. Thanks to all and for the Birthday Boy for such a nice party. I've been busy with all the usual things plus doing two translations. The first was for Maude who is an artist and it was about her latest exhibition. The second was for Holger. He wrote a 100 line story with some platt deutsch vocabulary and I found it interesting and challenging to translate.

Tomorrow I am off to an SPD meeting to discuss local issues for the election in September. Then I am meeting my Kowalke Gang and going to a restaurant. On Sunday I'm going to visit Oldie H and make sure he is okay and does not burn the fish/kitchen again!! On Monday 1 May I'm going to help at an SPD event in the garden in front of the district town hall. It's called an 'Infostand'. I hope the weather is fine and sunny. We need that.

Jawohl, Capt'n

Yesterday afternoon my Photoshop Gang promoted me to Captain of the Oldie Navy Reserve. Now I shall have to learn to swim properly and use more than the breaststroke! Here is a pic of me complete with Capt'n cap. I would have preferred them to have made me Captain of the Oldie Ski Reserve and then sent me off to the ski slopes for a week.

The week started with bad news. My second oldest friend died of MS. His name is/was Ian and some of you know/knew him. He suffered from MS for a long time but even so it was a shock to get such news. I'm in contact with some of his family and will visit his grave when I go to the north of England next July.

After a long lunch with my Kowalke-Gang last Sunday I went home and Imre visited me. He recently went to Manila to visit his lady friend so showed me lots of photos of his time there. Very interesting and large city and he certainly enjoyed it.

He has a collection of cameras and recently bought a Canon reflex camera. We spent some time talking about using such a camera and about editing a collection of photos. For example, I said he could reduce his Manila collection and then edit them using a programme. This is new for him so we agreed that he would visit me again and have a session with one of my programmes, such as Photoshop. It was great to see him and hear his news. Here is a photo of him taken by me and edited!

On Tuesday I had a nice Kaffee und Kuchen session with my SPD Oldies and next day met my Oldie Keep Fit Gang led by Kerstin in a local Chinese restaurant. A pleasant relaxing few hours. On Thursday I spent 2 hours in an allergy doctors practice and had tests. All my old allergies are still there but I have new ones, manly from different kinds of grass! I also have new medicine.

Now to get ready to go to Alt-Landsberg which is way out in the country. I get there via S-Bahn and my bicycle but the weather is not looking too good at the moment. Going there to celebrate a birthday. I expect lots of grilling later in the evening. Enjoy your weekend!

Special People

You know people at work and those who are your neighbours. But some of them are special people. To call them friends does not really describe the relationship. The key word is special and this is defined by each of us according to our values.

I'm lucky to know such people. Some of them are members of what I call my Kowalke-Gang. I've talked about them before so they are not new to you.

 I've spent some time recently with some of them, and all of them. We gathered last Saturday and Sunday to eat, drink, talk and make jokes together.

Colin is in town. He lives in Australia but is finding his family roots by visits to Germany. He can now take part in a conversation in German!
Here is a photo of him with Jutta and one of the rest of the K-Gang. We are planning some trips to various places in the next few weeks. I'll share the events with you via blog posts.

Music and Hasi

The weather is mixed here. Cool, with rain and sunny spells. I think it has kept many people at home over Easter. I enjoyed the concert I mentioned in my last post.  What do you know about Pergolesi and Stabat Mater? Perhaps you heard it on the radio, or in a concert hall, on Easter Friday. Here is some information about both,
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi

Born near Ancona 1710. Died of tuberculosis at Naples in 1736. He was only 26. Italian composer, violinist and organist. Studied music in Naples, 1725. He was only 15. Principally a composer of comic operas, but his Stabat Mater, 1729, (he was only 19) is perhaps his most performed work.

Stabat Mater = Devotional poem about the Virgin Mary’s vigil by Christ’s Cross. Used as a sequence in Roman Catholic liturgy since 1727, to plainchant melody. Note that this was only 2 years before Pergolesi wrote his Stabat Mater. He was also one of many composers to set the words to music. In short, the music is his but the words are not

Franz Joseph Haydn

The music for Die sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlöseers am Kreuz/ The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross, was first written by Haydn in 1785. He wrote the music but no text for singers/choir. He revised it in 1796 and this is the version we heard in the Philharmonie. He took the original words and set them into seven sections. Four solo singers sing the words alone, then this is developed by the choir and orchestra. He revised it after his successful visits to London towards the end of his life.  We can clearly hear other musical influences from Handel, Mozart and perhaps Beethoven in this late Classical piece. 

Smile: Friends sent me a number of cards and online greetings. I must share one with you. It is about the Easter Rabbit/Bunny which figures a lot in German Easter celebrations. The words in the cartoon are in German and can be translated as, 'Easter's cancelled: Something is not right with Hasi!' I replied to the friends who sent it that I gave Hasi a large whiskey and he is now staggering back onto his feet :-))  Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend. 

More Trees and pills

Trees: We've got more trees in the garden. A couple of days ago some gardeners arrived and started to dig big holes in the grass. They planted three trees that day and then two more the day after.

Another change to the garden since the land at the front was used to build another 78 flats. Some trees and bushes were re-planted in the back garden as building began. Nice, for the garden will have more green and shade in summer.

Health: I went to the new allergy practice yesterday morning. I had to wait 2 hours to see a doc. I wonder if the public health system here is getting more like the NHS in Brexitland? My eyes, nose and throat were checked and I got new nose and eye medicine.

I also got an appointment to have a new allergy test next Thursday morning. I hope I don't have to wait another 2 hours for that! I've just telephoned the hospital again re: my spine/discs and got an appointment in two weeks. Last time I went there they did not have my name on their patients list! Making slow progress.

Meeting 'The Bros' later to look for affordable sport shoes then off  to the Philharmonie with Johanna for an Easter concert. On Saturday The Kowalka Gang is meeting for breakfast and on Sunday I'm off to Johanna's for lunch and a chat with her cousin Colin, who recently arrived from Australia. Looking forward to both sessions around the dining table. Enjoy your Easter holiday no matter where you are.

Health and Silver

Last Thursday I went to my docs. I told him my appointment at the local hospital had not been recorded and that was after waiting for 4 weeks! He was not happy about that but asked me to make another appointment. I got a new Überweisungsschein = transfer form or letter of referral. I have to register with the Neurochirurgie section and my problem is Protusion C5/6 li. Now you know as much as I do!

Its about problems with my spine and the collapse of some discs. It is not new but it appears that discs at the top are now collapsing as those at the bottom of the spine did a few years ago. In addition to that I got a form for more antibiotics. The bronchitis I had before I went on my skiing holiday has returned.

I also got a transfer form for Allergologie and have an appointment on Wednesday morning. My allergies have been very bad this year. I wonder what the new doctor will do. I had treatment for 10 years and nothing stopped the power of the allergie sources against resistance in my body.

I also got a transfer form for Cervicalsyndrom and Gelenkfunktionsstörung = all to do with my back and movement. I need to find a doctor who specialises in this area.  Anything else? No, but three transfer forms and a prescription for antibiotics is more than enough to keep me busy at the moment

On the brighter side. I had a visit from The Bros this morning. Bro1 has to prepare a short talk about the history of Berlin up to 1486 and didn't know what to do or say. Fruit juice and slices of cake got us into the mood to find the material. We found it on the internet, edited it = reduce to the required period, print it out then had more orange juice and cake!

Meanwhile, I put Bro2 to work. His task was to polish my silver. Here you can see him at work and he did a good job for a beginner. They both asked if they could shower and of course I said they could. I will not bore you with details of the poor facilities for bathing in the home where they have to live. We are meeting next Thursday to buy new sport shoes for both.

April 2017 Things

I'm late with this post. Had a busy and good start to the month. I have not had such a happy time with health. Here I refer to my flu and bronchitis plus spine/collar problems. I told you about this before. From my Doc I got a prescription to have an X-ray. This was delayed once and took place over a month later!

I then made appointment with a local hospital department to check my spine. I arrived this morning at 9.00 to be told my name was not on their list. Now into the 4th month and still no treatment. They said I could have an appointment at the end of May. I said I could be dead by then and just walked out. This series of non-treatment events could have happened in the NHS in Brexitland from what I hear in BBC news reports.  I shall just report all this to my Doc and see what he advises.

Yesterday I went to a concert at the recently opened Pierre Boulez Saal (Hall). It is in the centre of Berlin and is a project supported by Daniel Barenboim. I went with Johanna, who organised the visit and tickets. The building is the latest catering for concerts, opera, shows etc. in Berlin. The hall is oval and has a simple wood walls.

It will offer 'modern classics' as well as music from earlier centuries. We saw/listened to three quartets written by Joseph Haydn and played by the Hagen Quartett. They played superbly and the audience really liked their interpretation. I could have spent all afternoon listening to more. We are going there for a concert later this month.

Who has a birthday this month? Horst in Berlin kicks us off with his 83rd on the 4th. He is followed by Uli for his 70th on the 6th followed by wife Petra on the 8th. Daniel B. in Ozland will be 38 on the 9th. Dennis celebrates his 62nd with his family in California on the 11th. Writer and teacher Neil Deane will be 60 on the 13th - thanks for the invitation Neil! Matthew B. who lives near to Silsden will be 19 on the 14th. My great-nephew Henri will by all of 7 on the 18th and my old business partner Mathias hits 53 on the 19th. I am going to Peter L. birthday party to the east of Berlin to celebrate his 54th on the 23rd. Peter has given a lot of support and money to 'The Family'. Birgit F. in Berlin ends the birthday month with her 53rd on the 24th.
To each and all: -  Have a wonderful day with family and friends! 

Armpits

Here is a photo of me cleaning a lady's left armpit. Why? She couldn't do it herself! It all happened last Saturday morning. There is a tradition here to mark the advent of Spring, when people go out and clean public areas.

In Karlshorst, this is usually done by members of political parties and the local citizens association. The latter organises the event and provides the cleaning material. As a reward for our work we get a plate of hot potato stew with a large sausage on top to put back the energy spent on cleaning.

I was with the SPD group and our task was to clean the area around the S-Bahn/Rail Station. After that we cleaned up two parks. I found this lady in one of the parks. She whispered to me that she would like a quick Spring clean.

I quickly responded but did not have a hosepipe so all I could do was give her a yearly 'brush down'. She smiled throughout and thanked me at the end. I promised I would do it again next year and she said she was looking forward to that :-))

The evening before I was at our local SPD annual reception (der Jahresempfang) with Johanna. It was her birthday and we had enjoyed a long breakfast with the Kowalka Gang at her place. It was her first time at such an event and she enjoyed it. It is basically to get members together socially. We were met by glasses of sekt and later for supper with a range of wines or beer. Yes, a very nice time!

Good News

I am pleased to share some very good news with you. Jump back to yesterday when 'The Bros' called to ask if they could visit. They duly arrived and then the big smiles started. Bro1 said he had news for me.

I guessed correctly it was about permission to stay in Germany. He then said they had got a letter from the responsible office to say the family had permission to stay another three years with possibility for further extension! WOW!! Lots of big smiles and hugs.

Bro2 then said there was a problem to wash/shower in the home/shelter where they live. I did not believe him for I know his parents are very attentive about personal hygiene. I am sure it was his way of asking to enjoy the privacy of my bathrom. In the home there are only shower rooms so the males shower wearing underpants and only have cold water!

Bro2 disappeared into the bathroom as I took Bro1 into the garden to do some English homework. He recently good very low marks in English at school so that has pushed him to learn more. The weather was really nice. We've had sun and blue skies for a couple of days with temperatures of 20°C plus. Just my kind of weather.

We had tea and cakes in the garden then Bro1 went to the bathroom to shower while Bro2 sat with me in the garden and did some basic English exercises. He does not have English at school but he will from next semester. Here you can see a photo of them with books.

I then took delivery of four large bags of children's toys, books, games and a range of learning activities. All donated by Barbara and family. She is in my Tuesday English Gang and had asked me if she could donate things for children in the refugee home.

I was surprised at 4 bags but the kids will really enjoy her donation. Here is a photo of three and a half bags. The Bros took half a bag to give to their sister. They will take the rest after further visits. There is only a limited amount you can get on the back of a bicycle!