Miles Away

You must have read/heard the news yesterday that a circle of telescopes around the earth had found a large Black Hole. My jaw dropped when I heard that it was 300 million, trillion miles away. I tried to imagine how to write that number. I ended up with 300,000,000,000,000,000. Do you get the same? If correct, my maths teacher will be smiling down at me :-)

Other news is that Frau Merkel's mother has died. She was 90. There will be a private family funeral in the north where she lived. As I am sure you know, Frau Merkel is the Kanzlerin (Prime Minister) of Germany. She was recently in Brussels trying to help Mrs. May to sort out Brexit. Oh, noooooo, don't mention Brexit. What a mess it all is. I also heard that the electors in Australia will be going to the polls on the 18th May. Make a note of that Colin! Finally, I heard that there may be a putsch  taking place in Sudan. Will check this later to see if it is true.

Yesterday, Mr. Postie knocked on the door to deliver a large box. It was from Holger and family near to Bremen. It was full of clothes for the mother and daughter of 'The Family'. Regular readers will know who I mean. Very kind of them. I also found a note for me with a new book. Holger is in a group of 'hobby' writers who agree a theme then go home and write a short story based on the theme. This is then assembled and another book hits the shops. There are 26 short stories in this book.

It is written in German. Here are the details if you wish to buy a copy. T.Martins-G.Reichstein, Tödliche Hanse, Edition Temmen, ISBN 978-3-8378-7055-8. Story 25 is called, 'Stockholm: Den blädiga mandagen (Blutiger Montag) by Holger Wittschen. He likes to use Plattdeutsch and I wonder how he has time to write given his work and other activities. Well done Holger, and thanks for the copy. I'll e-mail you with comments when I have read your story. Here are a few images to illustrate some of my words.