August 2019 Things

I got my wheelie-travel-bag out of the cellar this morning and shall place clothes in it tomorrow. I then went through files and papers and now have all the documents I need for the flight on Wednesday. I'm not sure about warm or summer clothes for there is a difference in weather between Berlin and Brexitland. Even so, the forecast is for cooler weather and rain here on Wednesday.

I wonder what awaits me in Brexitland and if I shall understand the mentality of the Brits better after my visit. Listening to Beeb 4 News. The story is about possible closure of a car factory near Liverpool. It is not the first. Many thousands of jobs are at risk. I am staying on the island for two weeks so please note : NO UPDATES TO MY BLOG FOR TWO WEEKS!

Who has a birthday in August? Shirley in Florida starts us off with her 80th on the 1st August. She shares the day with Christian Dix in Berlin who will be 25. Beatrix Dames in Berlin will be 45 on the 6th and Jerome Dix, also in Berlin, will be 24 on the 8th. Martina Müller from my Kowalke Gang will be 71 on the 19th, followed by French teacher Nicole who will be 74 on the 21st. Angelica will have a nice party at the house near Muggelsee to celebrate her 67th on the 25th of the month. I shall be there to enjoy the music. My sister Pauline will be 75 and celebrate with Lew and family in Cambridge on the 26th August. Dieter in Jüterbog will be 75 on the 27th and I shall be there. Bernhard Petro will be 59 on the 28th. He shares this day with my wonderful Jan who will be 36 on that day and celebrate with his better half and his beautiful little daughter. Happy Birthday to each and all no matter where you are!

Other Events: Peter and Andre celebrate their 11th wedding anniversary on the 9th. Andrea and Marco celebrate their 4th wedding anniversary on the 23rd. On the 27th I shall go to Birgit Gast's family grave to place flowers to mark her untimely death 15 years ago. How we miss you, Birgit.

Senftenberg

I went to Senftenberg yesterday with Johanna. A very nice day and it was the first time we had been there. Senftenberg is a town of 25,000 people on the southern border of Land Brandenburg. Land means State. To the south is Land Sachsen (Saxony) and the eastern border takes you to Poland.

The town is on the northern border of Lake Senftenberg which is one of many in  the area called the Lausitzer Seenland. German tribes moved into the area from 1200 AD. Before then it was settled by many Slavic speaking peoples and you will find examples of both languages being used including on public notices.

We took a train from Lichtenberg in the east of Berlin. It runs every hour. Nearly two hours later we got out in Senftenberg. The train stops at many small towns and villages en-route. It was soon full of families and lots of people with bicycles. We walked into the centre, found the market square and had a coffee. We then walked to the northern shore of the lake, found the Information Centre, hired two bikes and set off to explore the area. We decided to cycle around the lake and take in the sights.

We had lunch in the 'Familienpark' in the village of Grosskoschen. (See the Map) After relaxing there we cycled further and returned the bikes before slowly walking back to the station. Back to Berlin and the end of a very enjoyable day. If you visit Berlin for a few days, think about taking the train to Senftenberg and enjoying the lake and sights.

Hottest

I think the English word hot has been used a lot today in Brexitland. Perhaps the comparative and superlative = hotter, hottest - have also been used. The Beeb is full of reports that some parts of England have had the hottest day on record. Germany, France, Belgium and Netherlands are reporting the same thing.

It was also Boris's first day in the House of Commons as the new Prime Minister. I am sure your local news services will tell you all about that. Lot of talk about leaving the EU by the end of October even if there is no agreement. If that happens I wonder if we can change Brexitland to Borisland?

Mini-Trump

Wherever you live I am sure your radio-TV stations are telling you that Boris Johnson was elected the next leader of the Conservative Party today, and tomorrow will become Prime Minister. Goodbye Mrs May and I wonder if she will dance out of 10 Downing Street to a tune from Abba!

Oh dear, Oh dear - where are politics in the UK going? A week tomorrow I shall be flying to Brexitland so it will be interesting to experience things at first hand. Very hot weather forecast there for the rest of the week, about the same as here in Berlin. Keep cool. 

Klinikum

I have just returned from the 'Klinikum im Friedrichshain'. It is a hospital run by 'Vivantes' not far from Landsberg Allee S-Bahn station. That company operates many other hospitals and health centres in and around Berlin. I arrived on time and did not have to wait long until my name was called. My doctor is a specialist in Dermatologie. On my last visit she ruled out the cause of my skin problems to be caused by my allergies.

This time she wanted to check if I had skin cancer. I had to have a full body check. I did as directed and the results came quickly. No evidence of skin cancer! Was I pleased to hear that. We talked about possible causes and she said it looked like a skin disease called 'Rosacea'. It has 4 sub-types and the cause is unknown.

She said up to 10% of people are affected, usually between the ages of 30 to 50 and if so then it is usually linked to family history = you have inherited it. Signs are facial redness, dilated blood vessels on the facial skin, pustules and swelling. There is no known cause, as I said, but it can be triggered by anxiety, emotional stress, hot drinks, alcohol, spicy food and sun burn. She told me not to sunbathe or drink red wine for the rest of the summer. At least I can eat pork pies when I hit Brexitland! My next check-up is early January 2020.

Bridges

I have been told that Berlin has more bridges than Venice. This morning I went under a bridge which was the only one to survive World War II.  I went under many other bridges after joining my SPD Oldies at 10.00 am. We met at Märkisches Ufer 48, which is opposite the Chinese Embassy and a few minutes walk from SBahn Jannowitz Brücke.

There you will find an embarking and disembarking station for boats. It belongs to Reederei Riedel which must be the biggest tourist boat company in Berlin. You can find them in the internet offering details of their services in a number of languages. I went on such a tour last summer with the SPD Oldies and posted a report on my blog.

We had booked three tables but I was surprised to see many other Oldies from different groups about to enjoy the sights on a circular tour of the waterways. Of course food and drinks were available and it didn't take long to order coffee to start us on the tour. Later I went onto the upper deck to experience the cold wind and sights.

A photographer was also on board and took photos of everyone, developed and sold them. Here is a photo of me in a setting of many tourist parts of Berlin. The other picture is of the tour we took on the water. I got it from an information pamphlet available to all. The next time you come to Berlin think about going on such a tour. It is easy to book. Just go to one of many pick-up points on the route and buy a ticket. It's as easy as that!

Mop 'n Book

Last Friday I bought a new mop and bucket. This is just one of the many 'exciting' things about living in Berlin and the daily routine. This is what my blog is about. You do not need me to tell you that Mrs Merkel is having a problem with shaking, about the British team winning a cricket game, or about the latest gaffes from Pres. Trump or Boris Johnson. You get information about all that in your local - national news service. I don't think BBC4 News will tell the world that I bought a new mop and bucket and yet it is important in terms of keeping my place clean, and how I do it, and should make you smile. The latter is the most important :-)

Last Wednesday evening I went to my local SPD meeting, which I mentioned before. On Thursday and Friday I went to Stefan's courses for seniors to learn how to turn on a tablet or smartphone. I had a wonderful lazy weekend reading two books. One in German and one in English. My doorbell rang on Saturday and I was handed a package. It contained a book. It was from Ian in Ozland and contained the simple message, "Happy summer reading". A great way to relax and enjoy the lazy summer days. Thanks, Ian!

Tomorrow I am meeting the SPD Oldies to sit in a boat and enjoy the sights from the water. I did this tour with them last summer which I enjoyed. On Thursday morning I have to go to a local hospital at 11.00 am. This time it is a full body check and will take hours. The investigation is to see if I have skin cancer. On Friday morning I shall be training with Kerstin and her Keep Fit Oldies before meeting Stefan for a Photoshop Gang session.

At the end of my last post I said I had been to a travel agents. The news is that I shall be flying to Brexitland on 31st July for a two week stay. It will be limited to Yorkshire with family and friends. I am also looking forward to eating lots of pork pies from the shop in Skipton. I told you about this before. Mmmmmh......I wish I had some now!

Before and After

We are having changeable weather at the moment. As I write, the sun is shining and it is 28°C. The gardeners arrived recently and started the once a month clean up in the gardens. Of course, we tenants pay for this in our monthly rent. Here are photos of before and after cutting down all the weeds in the garden under our big tree. The weeds are taking over from the grass because it has been so dry. We really need many days of rain.

I've had a usual week starting with Barbara and German lesson on Monday. That was followed by taking my ancient MacBook to Thorsten. He is our specialist for all matters to do with computers each Monday afternoon. I decided to let him install another operating system called Linux. That took a long time then we discovered we did not have a WLAN connection. He is going to install the programme when he returns from holiday in two weeks.

On Tuesday I met Johanna and we went to a local government office to do some 'form filling'. I really wonder at the level of bureaucracy here sometimes! Even so, it was nice to see her and spend some time together. I later helped her daughter to translate a text from German to English - which I enjoyed doing.

On Wednesday evening I went to my local SPD Meeting. We had a guest and that was the ex-mayor and now head of three departments in the town hall. She talked about future plans for the district and the current position of the SPD. I found comments by local members to be very interesting.

This morning I met Stefan for a session on how to use a Tablet. The things I still have to learn! Tomorrow is a meeting with my Photoshop Gang for more work on our photos/images. I've just returned from a travel agency where I booked some flights. More of that in my next post :-)

Summer Party

Yesterday I went to a summer party east of Rüdersdorf. This is a village on the B1 road that takes you from the centre of Berlin to the Polish border. Yes, you need 4 wheels to get to the garden house. I met Werner and his wife near where I live. They gave me a lift. He is a member of Kerstin's Keep Fit for Oldies Group on a Friday. Other Oldies from her Wednesday morning group were also present.

The event was organised by Elka and her husband, who are members of Kerstin's Wednesday group. The have a garden house near to Rüdersdorf which they offered for our summer party. Unfortunately, the weather was cool but we all arrived with warm winter jackets. We settled onto the terrace and started the event with coffee and fruit cakes. Everyone had to contribute something and mine was 2 bottles of dry, white wine and 6 kinds of fresh fruit.

We later moved to the lawn with more glasses and lots of talking. Then it was time to play bowls. This is a part of each summer meeting and very enjoyable. Here you can see a photo of the Gang playing in a flat area next to the garden house. This time I helped to keep score.

We had an unexpected winner. A member of the Friday Gang who recently fell and damaged his right arm. It did not stop him from the best throws and being the winner!

More relaxing and chatting as some members started the two grills and prepared for the main meal of the event. Very traditional grilled sausage and cutlets served with lots of potato and fresh green salads. Pudding was all the fruit I had brought and it did not take long for that to disappear. A really nice relaxing day. I could enjoy such a day once a week!

July 2019 Things

It is cooler today. Only 28°C on my balcony. I shall be meeting Barbara for a German session this afternoon followed by Thorsten for a tablet-smartphone lesson. The rest of the week is much like others.

I collected some more Verbal Rubbish and all from BBC Radio 4 news reports/interviews. Try these:
thanks for that explainer / to ramp up otherness / an elephant trap with little upside / we now to level up / talking about the unicorns being sold. All of these came from 'native speakers'!

Who has a birthday in July? Laura Bolton in Yorkshire will celebrate her 22nd today with family and friends. Tomorrow I am going to Jutta's 71st party = lots of nice things to eat and drink! My nephew's wife Krystle in Ilkley celebrates her 34th on the 8th. Gerald in Berlin hits 78 on the 17th and shares this day with Jutta to celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary and so ends the month of birthdays. Happy Birthday to each and all!

Other things: My Acer laptop will be 8 years old this month - it runs on Windows 7 which will no longer be updated from the end of  the year. Need to find a new operating system. On the 3rd, Jan and Arancha will celebrate their 4th wedding anniversary.