Grasshopper

As everyone in northern Europe knows the weather has been a bit variable this summer with the dice decidedly loaded in favour of lots of rain. This has caused a few problems in the garden, mainly with a fungal infection attacking the tomato plants. this seems to be caused by too much rain and damp conditions. All I’ve been able to to do it cut off affected parts of the plants and pray for sunny weather. I seem to be winning though. I also seem to be mowing the lawn more than usual as well

On the bright side we have had a bumper crop of cucumbers which is fortunate as we eat a lot of them. We have harvested the first of the green sweet peppers and today picked the first aubergine (eggplant). We are munching through both varieties of cherry tomatoes, although it will be few weeks before the maincrop toms ripen. Fruitwise we are coming to the end of the blueberries, which is a shame as Mrs H’s blueberry icecream is a big hit. But now the Victoria plums and Mirabelle are starting to ripen and both taste really nice.

When it was sunny and hot a few weeks ago I managed to snap the above piccy of a grasshopper that was resting on some flowering Silberblatt.

Technorati Tags: Tomatoes, Grasshopper, Marburg

Klose Du Arschloch

This year my birthday came early. For my present Mrs Haddock acquired some tickets for the Ligapokal games played in the LTU Arena in Düsseldorf last Saturday. Schalke beat Karlsruhe 1–0 in the first game, and to be honest Schalke didn’t look too impressive, whilst Karlsruhe looks nervous and over whelmed by the occasion. It was ok to watch, but the main event of the day was the Werder Bremen v Bayern Munich match. This is the first meeting of the sides since Miroslav Klose transferred from Werder to Bayern, and because of the way the deal was handled by Klose he got a lot of stick from the fans (us included).

We were over the moon when Werder went ahead from a goal from Tim Borowski (the Juniorettes favourite player), but unfortunately Bayern hit back soon and were leading at half time by a margin of two goals. Werder fared no better in the second half and eventually lost the game 4-1. But at least in the second half Ollie Kahn, the goalkeeper for Bayern got stung by a wasp!

Whilst leaving the stadium we spotted the team buses and went to have a look and managed to get to see all the players from both teams quite close up. Nobody was signing autographs, which was bit of a downer for the Juniorette, but at least most players smiled and waved at the crowd. When Klose appeared lots of people were calling to him to sign autographs. He totally ignored the crowd which quietened down when they realised he was blanking them. Then a voice rang out loud ‘Klose Du Arschloch’ – Klose would have heard it, and I was shocked but very proud of my wife. It seemed a bit out of character for Mrs H to shout out such a thing, but she said it was an impulse and he fully deserved it – I can’t argue with that!

Even though Werder lost it was a fantastic birthday present and a great day out. Werder were under strength and I am sure the next meeting with Bayern in the Bundesliga will be a lot closer affair.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Werder Bremen, Football,Düsseldorf

Schools Out for Summer

Yesterday was the Juniorettes last day of her second school year, and she finally got to receive her first school report. She was very proud of herself, and she had good reason too. She attained a one in every subject except sport, where she was awarded a two. This is quite ironic considering the amount of swimming and football she does, but the school sport seems to be more biased towards jumping over objects, and throwing things. In a nutshell we were over the moon with her results and the comments in her report indicated that her social skills were developing just fine as well.

Since I have started playing football again I have been suffering from Shin Splints (medial tibial stress syndrome), and to help combat the effects of this I attended physiotherapy this week. Hopefully my Physio can help me. She cleared up the problem I used to have with my sciatic nerve; the trouble is I couldn’t explain in German exactly what Shin Splints were. Looks like I will be needing the help of Herr Google before my next physio session!

Technorati Tags: Marburg, Juniorette, School report Shin splints

Unfucking glaublich

Last week we visited the local Deutsche Telekom shop in Marburg. The purpose of the visit was once again to apply for a DSL internet connection. Once again I was told that due to technical reasons DSL at our house was not possible, so I politely told the woman that she was talking bullshit (I work in the Telecoms industry) and informed her that true reason was simply a matter of money. DT need to install more equipment and are not prepared to do it.

I then impolitely told her what I thought of DT. The company is bleeding customers and ultimately she would lose her job if DT didn’t provide for its customers. I then asked to see her manager. She told me he was on holiday for 2 weeks, but I could smell the farmyard, so I told her I would stand in front of her desk for the next 2 weeks. Even though I was obviously lying she looked quite worried.

I had my fun, and the news that we will never have DSL was not exactly world shattering. I had figured this out long ago. But maybe if the DT lady was smart enough she my have glimpsed the future, for the following day I read in the paper that DT would be slimming down their workforce again. Perhaps I did not further Anglo-German relations today, but who won the war anyway! (Twice infact!)

Technorati Tags: Marburg, DSL, T-Com

More lanes please!

For the last month the Juniorette has been doing another swimming training session, on Wednesdays in addition to her training on Mondays and swimming club on Fridays. Along with her football training on Tuesdays and Thursdays it means she is a very busy little girl. But she would not have it any other way.

This is her last school week before the summer holidays and this Friday she will be given her first school report and grading. She is very excited about this and was disappointed last year when she discovered that there was no grading for the first school year.

She has a pretty much full program arranged for her during the summer holidays including a week’s football school in Frankfurt and two weeks of organised fun & games by the local community which all her friends are attending. Of course Mrs H and I will be on hand to provide entertainment should boredom strike in any quiet periods.

Technorati Tags: Marburg, Juniorette, Swimming