Headboard

Headboard means," an upright board at the top end of a bed" and is a single countable noun. Screwdriver is also a single countable noun. It is not 2 words. See comment on my last post and the Oxford or Macmillan Dictionary if you wish.

I started with a cold yesterday and it got worse as I crawled into bed last night. I woke three times due to coughing and the need to clear my throat and nose. I finally managed to hit the land of nod and woke at 7.30 as my alarm went off. I got ready and waited for the delivery of the new bed.

At 9.30 the bell rang and a workman began to bring in parts of the single bed. He worked very efficiently and I noted he had clearly done all this before! He then opened the box containing the headboard and said, "Oh, no"! He pulled it out and I could then see it was broken!

He completed building the bed and rang his company. They said they would send a new one in 10 days. I think I can sleep in the bed without its headboard for that time. Sleep well tonight. Now where did I put my tissues and nose spray? Cough, cough!!

Bed Time

I spent most of the morning with a bed = das Bett. The day began with a visit to my dentist's, the local bakery and some shopping. Back home I vacuumed, then put my equipment box into the bedroom. I am taking delivery of a new bed tomorrow morning so had to dismantle the old one.

The old bed is a double and was given to me a few years ago when a friend moved to Prague. I decided I wanted to reduce the dominance of a double bed in my room. The new one is a single. I removed a mattress and a support board to get to the basic structure. To begin with I had to unscrew 8 screws which was not easy. Rusted to the metal. With my big screwdriver and other equipment I finally removed them.

Next was to remove the headboard from the rest of the wooden structure. Not an easy task but with a bit of pushing and muscle I succeeded. Here you can see all parts of the old bed resting on the walls. Next I made up a bed for tonight. It is a wooden support with a mattress on top.  Here you can see where I shall later be resting my head as I enter the land of nod. Sleep well :-))

Visitors

Yesterday was a really special day for me. I told you in my last post that I was expecting visitors. They were Jeff and his wife Ike. I met Jeff many years ago when he registered at Sussex Uni for his doctorate He comes from California, fell in love with a lady from The Netherlands and went to live in Amersfort. He re-married a few years ago and it was my first meeting with Ike. Speaks perfect English in addition to German and Dutch.

They arrived after breakfast and we soon started to catch up on news over coffee, tea and biscuits. They told me they had seen all the standard tourist sites in the centre of the city on Friday so were happy to go to other places. Off we went to the German-Russia Museum. I have posted about this before and regret that not many tourists know about it or visit the building. It was completed in 1937 as an Officers Mess in a complex designed for training officers for the then German military.

The complex was not destroyed by bombing so the Soviet military took it over. On the evening of the 8th May 1945, a number of senior military officers met in the large hall to sign a document for the unconditional surrender of German military forces, and so ended WWII. Jeff and Ike were very impressed with the museum presentation and said they were very glad to have seen it. Here you can see them in the hall where the signing took place.

We had a late lunch with more catching up on news and then to the S-Bahn for the short ride to Friedrichshagen in the east. We walked down Böttcherstrasse, which is full of interesting small shops, and reached Muggelsee, which is the largest lake in Berlin. By then it was dark, but they were happy to have taken the trip there, and said they would like to see it in summer. We then found a place to sip a glass of red wine/beer before taking the return trip.

They are now on the way to Tegel Airport for the flight back to Amsterdam. Looking forward to Spring and showing them more of Berlin. Hope you had a happy day and re now relaxing. 

More Wise Words

This afternoon I saw Stefan and my Photoshop Gang. It was to say goodbye to two members who are are longer able to travel there. One of them can now hardly walk. We had a happy time talking about all the things we had done. The couple promised to visit for special events and exhibitions so we shall see them again even if not regularly.

Jeff and his wife arrived from Amsterdam this afternoon. We shall be spending tomorrow looking at some of the sights Berlin has to offer. They are coming to my place after breakfast and I shall take them to the German-Russian Museum which is only 10 minutes walk away. Then off to other parts of Berlin, including the things all tourists see in the centre of the city.

I got some nice calls about my last post so here are a few more to make you smile and think! Here goes: In just two days, tomorrow will be yesterday / I plan on living forever. So far, so good / A day without sunshine is like night / If marriage were outlawed, only outlaws would have in-laws / It is frustrating when you know all the answers, but nobody bothers to ask you the questions / The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment (Now that is a difficult one to think about!) / Age doesn't always bring wisdom. Sometimes age comes alone / Life not only begins at forty, it also begins to show / You don't stop laughing because you grow old, you grow old because you stopped laughing. Have a nice weekend!  

Wise Words

I have just posted the latest spoken rubbish so will now share some Wise Words. They will certainly make you smile. Some more than others. Many are funny because of the word play and change of meaning even with the same word. Now settle down, get something into a glass and smile!

Love is grand; divorce is a hundred grand / Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician / Remember, amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic / Conscience is what hurts when everything else feels so good / Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand / Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there / Politicians and diapers (Windeln) have one thing in common. They should both be changed regularly and for the same reason / An optimist thinks that this is the best possible world. A pessimist fears that this is true. There will always be death and taxes; however, death doesn't get worse every year.

Even more rubbish

All going well so far this week. We are now wearing winter clothes, boots and hats/caps as we adjust to low temperatures after a long summer of high temperatures. I need some new boots but I have enough winter coats and jackets. I'm listening to the news on my radio and it is all about the latest events in Brexit. It dominates the UK news at the moment.

I also recorded more spoken rubbish as I moved into warm clothes. Here are the latest sayings via BBC Radio 4. I am still surprised that a lot of the rubbish is spoken by politicians and business people. Settle down and try to understand what someone was trying to say.

A window of time / a sealed situation / impact on their matrimonial status / even horizon / That is a concerned piece of information to hear / we have rectified the conditions / within the football family / democracy is not fit for purpose / we have outsourced legal thinking / for too long fashion has marked its own homework / we need to heal this country / it might have been he.

That's enough rubbish for the moment. Relax and smile.

Settling In

We are settling into Autumn here in Berlin. See the photo of the big tree in my back garden. Most leaves have fallen and you can see they have covered the picnic place and ground. Still not enough rain but temperatures now just above freezing. Nice to get information from friends in Australia and see photos of them emerging into summer.

Last week was full of the usual plus I went shopping in Alexander Platz with Johanna. Very nice time and I bought a new pair of glasses and a single bed. I have decided to make some changes to my bedroom and create more space. I have to wait for the glasses to be made and for the bed warehouse to organise delivery. I told you in an earlier post that I had an accident and broke the glass in my glasses.

I have been learning about "Saurer Regen". It means acid rain. I can hear you asking, 'Why?' The answer is, 'Bro2'. I got a call asking for help with his chemistry homework. He has another week to complete the task. I cheated by going onto Wikepedia and reading about the subject. Bro2 sat in the kitchen with my laptop and started the task of writing. He has to prepare an essay, do a Mindmap, list the sources and include details of the damage it does to the environment. He plans to return on Thursday after school to complete the task and print it out for the teacher. The things I learn from the Boyz!

Big Bro visited yesterday as well. His parents have bought some weights for the boys to build more muscle and help them with sport. Here is a photo of him pumping up the muscles in his arms and chest. Now to get ready for the rest of the day. Looking forward to meeting an old friend and his wife next weekend. More about that later.

UPDATE: Don't forget to watch football on TV this evening. The German team is playing against The Netherlands. Poor Jan won't know which one to cheer for :-))

Remember

Last week was a good one with all the usual routines and surprisingly good weather for the time of year. Hope you had a good week. This weekend is dominated by a number of words such as remember, remembrance day, memory, memories, remembering. It is interesting that so many historical things happened in early November.

Normally I do not post about national or international events for you get these on your local TV or radio stations, depending on where you live. I make an exception now. Three things happened that changed the world in the last hundred years and many people are now actively remembering them in different countries and continents. An estimated 18 million people died in that war including 700,000 British soldiers.

Let's begin with today the 11th November. On that day in 1918 - exactly one hundred years ago - an Armistice was signed in the north of France that ended WW-1. I am sure you have seen reports in your local media. German TV and radio are full of reports both historical and actual. For example: lots of shots of the German Prime Minister with the French President at the Armistice site and then later with many EU-World leaders.

As I write they are attending a commemoration ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. This morning at 11.00 am, there was the usual ceremony in London with guests including the German President. In the evening of the 9th - 19th November 1938 was the 'Kristallnacht' when 1,500 Synagogues and religious building were set on fire by the Nazi Government. 30,000 Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps and so was the start of the mass murder of Jews in Europe. I have been to Auschwitz and shall never forget that visit. I go cold just thinking about it!

Moving to 9th November 1989, we remember the opening of the Berlin Wall. This led to German Reunification which formally took place on 3rd October 1990. This is now a national holiday. Three historical important things that happened between the 9th and 11th of November. What a weekend!

I wondered how to add photos to this post and decided to return to local images. The scaffolding was finally removed last Friday and so I bought some plants to put onto my balcony and make the view from my kitchen window nicer. I have prepared everything for next week so I can now relax with my book and doze off on the sofa. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

UPDATE: Today is also the Centenary of Polish National Independence Day. BBC Radio 3 dedicated the programme 'Through the Night' to Polish composers and music. Very nice. I have always enjoyed my visits/tours/holidays in Poland. I am happy to say that I am a fan of Poland and its people!

More Rubbish

I'm not sleeping very well at the moment. I wonder if it has anything to do with the change to winter time and if anyone else has the same problem. Moving to something nicer, how about this. I saw it in a newspaper as a poster on a wall. "A smile is the prettiest thing you can wear". It made me smile when I read it. I'm not sure if the following will make you smile!

Here is some more spoken rubbish and collected from  BBC Radio 4 news interviews. I think I should title this: 'How NOT to learn/speak English!'  / the square is not a circle / I want to inquire of you / we have leverage to press ahead / people who is /you can't actualise your values / he is duke-ing it out / I'm completely, absolutely on board / to set a spending envelope / they fly to Africa to overwinter / the removal of agency / a huge big bucket of people / that these terrible things are not happening on our watches / positive and negative benefits for the organisation / it is less good / they have no-one to unpick their issues with. 

I think that's enough for today. Now read them again and note why I call it spoken rubbish. I'm off for lunch now, then a doze and get my papers in order for next week!

November 2018 Things

November started here with some sunshine, blue sky with clouds and 14°C. Not a bad start but I notice people have switched into Autumn or Winter clothes. I wore a scarf last week for the first time since last Winter.

I had a good October some of which I shared with you via posts on this blog. A few things worried me and that was mainly to do with bad weather. For example: Worrying about Shirley and family in Florida under threat from Hurricane Michael. Fortunately they are all well and did not suffer the full force of the hurricane.

Looking  at my diary for November I see all the usual weekly appointments and meetings. I have another 2 meetings for treatment to my back/upper spine and a dental check up. My Photoshop meetings start tomorrow after a very long break. I wonder how much I have forgotten? Analogue connections for radio/TV will end in a couple of weeks. I am going to a meeting this evening to learn more about it, although I have a digital connection.

Who has a birthday in November? Daniel starts the month with his 22nd tomorrow. He is busy with university registration and funding at the moment but I am sure he will find time to celebrate. Jeff in Amsterdam will be 63 on the 19th. We met many years ago at uni. Sarah in London will be 58 on the 22nd. My old flatmate Stephen S. will be all of 61 on the 29th. I'm sure he'll call me the next time he is in Berlin so we can meet and enjoy a glass or two! Have a great day no matter where you are :-))

There are a few more things of note this month. On Saturday 3rd it will be the first anniversary of Hermann's funeral. I still miss not going to his place each Sunday for lunch and a slow walk. On the 9th, Alan and Lynne will take a plane to return to the UK after seeing family in NZ and Ozland. Have a safe journey. On Saturday 24th I'm meeting Jeff and his wife to show them a few local sights and enjoy lunch together. Looking forward to that!