Fire

Last week during the good weather we finally got round to having another barbeque. I have always had fun with fire, as the photo shows I still like to have a bit of fun when grilling. At a young age my brother and I were always setting fire to things. A few fires got out of control and on one occasion the fire engines and police turned up. We weren’t caught and only a few trees were damaged (they carried on growing).

In my early twenties I had a close brush with a major fire in my hometown of Ilfracombe. The fire burned down several shops (in one of which the fire was reputedly to have started), several apartments and a hotel. I was the last person out of the apartment building, and the only one to get dressed. Before leaving my flat the lights went out and so I had to navigate the smoke filled corridors in the dark. I wasn’t scared, I just knew I had to vacate the building quickly, and chose to use the front exit which I had previously never used. With hindsight if I had used the other exit which I would have normally used I would have ended up as toast. So I exited into the street wearing a Mötorhead t-shirt, black bikers jacket, scruffy jeans, trainers and no socks. Apart from my portable TV and guitar that I grabbed at the last minute, these were the only possessions I had in the world, and guess who had no fire insurance.

Later that night I saw a person die at my feet and it didn’t upset me. He had foolishly re-entered the building to search for survivors. This was how it was portrayed by the media. In reality he went in to loot the place. The gas main exploded and he turned into meat. Before the ambulance arrived he was dead. There was nothing we could do, his face was gone, but we could still see he was still breathing by the blood bubbles.

But the fire was a turning point in my life. Within 9 months I was living and working in Hong Kong and my life had completely changed. It was almost as if losing everything had wiped the slate clean ready for a new start. I sometimes wonder how my life would have turned out if the fire had never happened.

So now as the nights draw in, it will be soon be time once again to fire up the wood burner in the evenings. I then get to play with fire every evening, and it’s usually more entertaining than the TV.

Technorati Tags: Fire, Marburg, Ilfracombe

That time of life

During the last weeks my family back in the UK had a few health issues. My Grandmother was taken to hospital with a mild stroke. She is now back at home and recovering well. A few days later my Father suffered a heart attack, but after being hospitalised is also back at home. He needs to change his lifestyle to stay alive, so after 50 years of smoking he has quit, and has made it through his first week nicotine free with no real problems. He now has to change his diet and take regular gentle exercise. This he will do as well. Life or death is quite an incentive.

Technorati Tags: Health, Family

Dance like a butterfly

Yesterday the Juniorette celebrated her 8th birthday. Her ‘Party’ this year was a horse & carriage ride, followed by a picnic with her friends. The weather held out and the forecast rain did not spoil the day. The carriage ride was lots of fun and the Juniorette and her friends had a great time. The highlight for the Juniorette was when she was allowed to take the reins - she was beaming from ear to ear.

The Juniorette had a new bike at the start of the summer, which was an early birthday present from us (not much use getting a new bike just when the weather is about to turn bad!), but her wish from her English grandparents was a punch ball and boxing gloves. Where she got this idea from I do not know but she’s been hitting hell out of the ball and really enjoying it. Look out Muhammad Ali.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Marburg, Boxing, Birthday

Round 2

Bob made it through the first round and is now up against another band in round. For those of you who voted in round 1 can I ask you to vote for him again in round 2. Those of you who didn't vote last time can follow the instructions here of how to do so.

Check out Bob's Blog for latest news and what's happening!

Technorati Tags: Bob Gentry, Star Tomorrow, Music

A new Bed

During the last few days I have created a new flower bed which is all part of a crafty scheme to have less grass to mow. It took longer to complete than imagined and was quite knackering. Removing the turf did my back no favours. See the photo for the completed result. The plants are all placed reasonably far apart as they will all grow quite a bit. We planted three Aster, a Sage bush, a Caryopteris Clanonenis ‘Summer Sorbet’, and another which I have lost the name tag to. Already in place were a Buddleia davidii and a Jasmin bush. The prime purpose of this bed is to provide food for bees and butterflies late into the season.

After a months break I ventured back to the gym this week. It was hard work. It seems a lot easier to get out of shape than it does to get into shape. I need to workout more, but trying to find the time at the moment is a little difficult. I’ll put it on my to do list (Just like everything else!)

Technorati Tags: Gardening, Marburg, Gym

Too much of a good thing

The summer holidays for kids finished last week in Hessen and the Juniorette has just completed here first week back at school. She absolutely loves it which is in stark contrast to when I was at school. I strongly disliked it from day one. I am really happy that she so enjoys it. This year she has 2 mornings where she doesn’t have to attend school until 9am, so she gets to have a lie in. She is pleased about that as she does have problems getting out of bed in the mornings. It must be a gene thing.

We have been picking quite a lot of Aubergines (Eggplant) from the garden lately (see the Juniorette in the picture with a fine specimen) and to be honest the Haddock family are slowly becoming tired of eating this vegetable (note to self – plant less Aubergines next year). Mrs Haddock has been very inventive in the recipes that she has included aubergines, but she is running out of ideas. The last was scrambled egg and aubergines. It looked quite weird but actually tasted pretty good. If anyone has any recipes suggestions I would love to hear them.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Marburg, Aubergine, Eggplant