greenhaddock

The Rain in Spain

2010-09-11T14:26:00.006+02:00

.....falls mainly in Germany if it's August. Germany has just had its rainiest month of August since records began. Eastern parts of the country had some flooding. Fortunately Hessen and Marburg didn't record the heaviest amounts of rain but it was still a lot wetter than normal.

The weather data for Marburg for the month of August 2010 can be seen here.

The online Marburg weather station from Wettereule is a great resource for finding out up to date weather information for Marburg and the surrounding area,

FV Wehrda Mädchen

2010-08-05T19:55:00.004+02:00

Its been a while! - I haven't blogged in a very, very long time! I have a million excuses why not, but the main one is lack of time. Since stopping shift work, free time is at a premium, and something had to give, but perhaps I should do the odd entry now and then.

The Juniorette and Mrs H are fine. The Juniorette is still a very busy girl, excelling at school and still doing a lot of sports, primarily Football and swimming, but she really likes wakeboarding, and recently completed a surfing course when we were on holiday in England.

Football wise she has changed clubs to FV Wehrda Mädchen where she now plays with a girls team.

The team has been quite successful and the Juniorette is having a lot of fun.

The Five Generations

2009-01-13T18:48:00.005+01:00

At the end of last year my nephew became a father. His son is lucky not just to have a grandmother, or a great grandmother - He has a Great Great Grandmother!

I'm not sure how often this happens in families, but I reckon it's not that often.

Featured from Left to right. Young Cody, my Nephew, My Brother, My Mum, and my Nana.

Christmas Greetings

2008-12-22T21:58:00.006+01:00

A very merry Christmas and a very happy New Year to one and all!

I'm still alive, but with the changes in my job, I have very little free time, and therefore haven't blogged. Lots has happened - I gained a stomach ulcer, which is now healed. The Juniorette is doing really well at school, and still doing lots of swimming, football and guitar playing. Currently she is quite into ice skating.

The garden continues to develop, but due to time constraints Mrs H has now taken over the lawn mowing duties which I am very thankful about. I haven't made any resolutions for the New Year, but perhaps I'll blog a bit than I have done lately.

Captain of the team

2008-08-23T10:27:00.007+02:00

Earlier this week the Juniorette had the plaster removed from her broken arm. The X-ray was good but the doctors decided she has to wear a splint for the next 10 days. Once this is removed she can start some light swimming, but no vigorous swim training for should be attempted for a while. The doctors also said she should not play football for a couple of months. Hopefully she can start some light training with the girl's team in a few weeks, but competitive games with the boy's team that she plays for will have to wait until her arm is 100% again.

She is naturally disappointed about this, especially as she has missed the start of the football season. Her team is now in the E-Jugend, and now plays in a league rather then playing tournaments. But her spirits improved immensely when her team trainer told her that she is the captain of the team, even if she is out of the side injured for the foreseeable future. Personally I think it's a good decision for the team as she is a good defender, with a good overview of the game, and likes telling people what to do! :)

Slowly nearing the half century

2008-08-14T21:19:00.003+02:00

My birthday hat got another outing this week, as I clocked up another run on my personal cricket innings. I now stand at 47 not out. My birthday hat has been in use now for seven years, and just gets updated every year. I had to work on my birthday this year, but I'll celebrate it quietly this weekend with Mrs H and the Juniorette.

Unlucky break

2008-07-22T21:21:00.006+02:00

Last week the Juniorette broke her lower right arm. She fell off a rope swing at the local summer day camp. As they were in the woods at the time one of the helpers had to carry her through the woods and fields to the ambulance, which couldn't get any closer because of the terrain. She was very brave about it despite the shock. The break was quite bad which resulted in a lot of swelling. This meant that the Juniorette had to stay in the hospital for 3 days. Fortunately she was then allowed home and didn't have to have an operation to put a plate in her arm as was originally feared.

She is doing well, and is reading a lot of Harry Potter (she is now on the 4th book), although she is missing swimming and playing football. She has adapted quite well to using her left hand; probably a lot better than me, if I broke my right arm. School starts again in a weeks time, so she has tried a few times to write with her left hand. Hopefully in 4-5 weeks time the plaster can be removed and life for her will get back to normal.

The football in Spain.......

2008-07-09T16:43:00.004+02:00

We have just returned from our holiday in Mallorca, and we had a very nice time. We stayed in Alcudia on the eastern side of the island. It was bit of a tourist trap, but the main reason for the holiday was the beach, and that was pretty good. We hired a car and had a good look around the island. It is definitely an island of contrasts, and my favourite part of the island was the eastern side, with the mountains and beautiful coastline. We met up with friends from Marburg that were also on the island vacationing, and that was good fun.

The Juniorette did a PADI discover scuba dive which she very much enjoyed. I did the dive as well. It was good to get back underwater after a break of a few years, even if it was only to a max depth of 4m. The most important thing was to share the experience with the Juniorette, who now cannot wait until she is old enough to complete the PADI open water certification.

The weather was very good for our stay, and we had a lot of fun, but I have now discovered where all the bald/short haired, overweight, middle aged, tattooed English people go on holiday (and that was just the women – jest!). Beer at 10am may be fun when you are young and partying with the lads, but when you have a wife and kids, it’s just a little bit sad. That aside, everyone was friendly and we had a good time. I would like to visit the island again, but next time perhaps stay a bit further away from the main tourist areas.

It's a shame that Germany didn't beat Spain in the final of the European championships, as I might of been able to sleep that night. But in reality the German team didn’t play well, and the Spanish were better.

My pride and joy

2008-06-15T08:23:00.002+02:00

The Juniorette of late has been a very busy bee. She is still swimming 3 times a week, and is now football training 3 times a week. Twice with her normal team, and now once a week with an all girls team. She is really enjoying it all. Last weekend was her last football tournament as an F1 player, in a couple of weeks she becomes an E-Jugend player. She really is becoming a very good defensive player, and has a pretty hard tackle which surprises a lot of the boys.

Last weekend the Juniorette also competed in the Berirksmeisterschaften Bezirk West 2008 (West Hessen) Swim meet in Dillenburg. She improved her times in all the events she competed in, and in her age group she came 4^th in 50m backstroke and 5^th in the 200m breaststroke.

To top the week off she has just found out her results for her school report. All 1’s with two 2’s. She’s rather pleased with herself and, we are very proud of her. Next week we are off on holiday for 2 weeks to Mallorca. This holiday is really needed, and I believe relaxation will be top of the agenda along with lots of snorkelling and swimming. Only a few more years to go and then the Juniorette will be old enough to learn to Scuba dive – I just wonder if I’ll be able to squeeze back into my wetsuit then :)

Still alive & kicking

2008-06-02T21:43:00.006+02:00

Since I have become a normal day worker, my time management has gone to pot. How people manage their lives with only 2 days off a week, I will never know, but as Mrs H says, I need to adapt. One of the consequences of so little free time has been my lack of blogging – both reading and writing. The Juniorette has had a lot of football tournaments in May which has eaten up a lot of my weekend time, and all my garden projects have been rather time consuming. Somehow I still have to find time to relax. This upcoming weekend is taken up with a football tournament on Saturday and a swimming competition on Sunday. I need more hours in day. Too much to do, and too little time to do it in.

I’ve just got to learn to manage my time a bit better, which I will do, and I will have to set aside some time for blogging, and if I don’t finish my garden projects this summer, it doesn’t really matter – there is always next year. The upside to all of this, is that I now get to see the Juniorette at all her sporting events, which really does make me quite happy.

Above is a photo of the the Juniorette & I when we were both a bit younger!

The Willy Goal

2008-05-23T16:10:00.004+02:00

After a long winter layoff I have started playing football again with the Alter Herren. It has not been easy as my fitness has dropped somewhat sine last year, and my legs & feet don’t always do what I tell them. An evenings training with the Alter Herren consist of standing around and talking bollocks for 30 mins, before finally playing footie for an hour.

This week the score was tied at the end of 6o mins so we decided which ever team scored next would win the game (The Golden Goal). Well I scored that Golden Goal! – Unfortunately it was at the wrong end. I scored an own goal, but to make matters worse, the offending appendage that poked the ball over the line, wasn’t a foot – It was my willy!

Although rather funny it was bit on the painful side. But I soon recovered.

Fathers Day

2008-05-01T11:31:00.008+02:00

Today is Fathers Day here in Germany and I am currently sat here in Frankfurt working day shift, whilst my family are up near Köln visiting an adventure park call Phantasia Land, with the Juniorette’s godparents. The Juniorette has been there several times and loves it. She’s a bit of a rollercoaster junkie I think. This shift is my penultimate one. On Monday I become a normal office hours worker. After 24 years of shift work normal days is going to be a bit weird.

The Magnolia that I planted for Mrs H has finally bloomed (see upper photo). The flowers have a really sweet smell and could be a bit overpowering for some people, but I really like the scent. I also planted another Japanese Maple (see lower photo) this week. This one has red leaves and is called Fireglow. The leaves look terrific when strong sunlight shines through them. I have spent quite a bit of time in the garden doing various jobs, and it’s almost been nice to come to work today for a bit of a rest from the physical activity

I Love Tits

2008-04-18T09:23:00.004+02:00

I've always considered myself a tit man. From an early age I have always been interested in birds, and have always had a great love of tits. Over the winter we have had quite a few Blue and Great tits visiting our feeder, and now that spring is allegedly is here I have erected a nest box underneath the eaves of the roof, in the hope that a nice pair will take up residence for the summer.

Sick as a parrot

2008-04-09T22:48:00.004+02:00

The last couple weeks the Haddock house has been struck down with flu. I am fortunately back on the road to full health, but Mrs H is still quite affected by the illness. The Juniorette was lucky, she had an intense 48 hour version which was over quite quickly and didn’t interfere with her week at football school in Frankfurt. Once again she really enjoyed her time there and is looking forward to attending again later in the year.

As many of you know, I am a shift worker and have been so for the last 24 years, but starting next month my own personal nightmare is coming true – I have to work normal days, 9 to 5. I work for an American company (I have worked for a few), and management have decided to outsource the shift element of our job to an eastern European country. For many reasons, which I will not go into here, it is a bad decision. But the decision is made. All I can do now is watch the wheels fall off.

But on a brighter note, I have planted my Tomato seeds for this year and they have already sprouted in the seed tray. Later this week I will plant the Bell pepper seeds.

Happy Easter

2008-03-17T21:48:00.000+01:00

I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist! :)

Bomber Harris was a bastard

2008-03-02T10:39:00.004+01:00

........and that's all I have to say on the matter. Anyway the Juniorette was on a school trip for a few days this week, so Mrs H and I headed east to Dresden. We really enjoyed our short break there, and would like to visit again sometime. We stayed in a hotel on the Sächsen Weinstrasse, which is Germany's easternmost and smallest wine making region. We were particularly taken by the kötzschenbroda area of Radebeul, and enjoyed a rather tasty Indian curry there.

We decided to do the sightseeing bus tour rather than just wander round Dresden as we were short of time. I was quite surprised, the tour was really good and informative. The bus driver was quite a laugh as well. Overall we were really impressed with Dresden and found the Baroque style architecture of the restored older buildings to be outstanding.

Before heading home we drove to the Czech Republic. We started to drive to Prague but turned around about half way. The lure of the sofa at home and a nice hot cup of tea were too great. I found the contrast between Germany and the Czech Republic quite startling in terms of landscape and housing. I found it quite weird that the grass was brown there, whereas just over the border in Germany, it was green.

We are planning to return to the area again sometime with the Juniorette, and then we will visit Prague properly.

Step into the seasons

2008-02-27T22:01:00.001+01:00

Last weekend the Juniorette was on stage at the Marburg Stadthalle with her dance school performing in a show called Step into the seasons. The Juniorette's group performed in the Autumn section and were dancing as foxes. She loves being on stage and had a lot of fun. Mrs H and I attended both shows, with family and friends also attending for the Saturday performance.

I wouldn't consider myself as a lover of theater or dancing - It's just not my thing, but I really did like this show. I was impressed with the quality of the singing, dancing and general professionalism of the whole arrangement.

The Juniorette was considering that she may stop dance school after the show, as she has so many appointments in the week, but I suspect she may have changed her mind. Personally I think the dancing nicely compliments her other sports of football and swimming.

Below is the Juniorette still wearing her fox makeup a few hours after the show

The Italian Man Who went to Malta

2008-02-21T20:52:00.001+01:00

Now this really made me laugh. I think it's the accent that does it!

Open book meme

2008-02-20T00:38:00.004+01:00

Fruits of My Mind tagged me for this little meme, ‘Open Book’. These were the instructions:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open it at page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence/ phrase.
4. Blog the next four sentences/ phrases together with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig your shelves for that very special or intellectual book.
6. Pass it forward to six friends

I don’t read books too often and can go many months without touching one. So this is the last one I read whilst on holiday in Süd Tirol at the start of the year. It's about an ex SAS soldier going deep undercover and was a good read.

As everyone may have noticed this blog has been a bit thin on the ground lately. Maybe this meme may just jump start me. So here is the extract from the book.

Others are hear-seekers, whose nose cones ‘smell’ the heat of the aircraft’s own engines and home towards it. Blowpipe was much more basic than that; it was styled ‘command to line of sight’, or CLOS; and it meant the firer had to stand there and guide the rocket all the way to target by sending radio signals from a tiny control stick to the moveable fins in the rocket’s head.

I decided to pass on, passing it on. Apathy rools ok.

Saving Leon

2008-02-04T22:32:00.000+01:00

In addition to the Juniorettes swimming training, she still attends Swimming club on a Friday evening. She sees it as a fun time, but lately a couple of older boys have been giving her and Leon (a school friend) a hard time. It came to a head last week when one of the older boys grabbed Leon’s hair and ducked him under water. After 10 seconds or so the Juniorette kicked the older boy as hard as she could in the bollocks. He immediately let go of Leon, who could then thankfully breathe, and then chased the Juniorette, who easily out swam him.

She reported the incident to her swimming instructors who concluded that the boy deserved the kick for his actions. It seems that these older kids have been causing a bit trouble for some time. I was really proud of my daughter. I have always taught her to stand up for herself and for her friends, and that sometimes violence needs to be used to resolve a situation. Don’t start trouble, but be prepared to finish it.

The busy guitar girl

2008-01-20T22:01:00.000+01:00

The Juniorettes already busy schedule has become even busier of late. She started having guitar lessons a couple of months ago and she is really enjoying it. She is currently learning to play Perfekte Welle which was a hit for her favourite band Juli, and requires daily practice. Most of her weekends are currently taken up with rehearsals for the show that her dance school will be performing at the Marburg Stadthalle next month. And to top it off her swimming trainer recently enquired if the Juniorette would like to do another training session per week. We had to politely refuse, as with all her other commitments, it hard for her to find time just to chill out and relax. Hopefully after the dance show life won’t be quite so hectic for her.

The Italian Alps

2008-01-10T16:11:00.000+01:00

One of the disadvantages of shift work is that I quite often have to work on public holidays. Last year I worked Christmas day and Boxing Day, which really isn’t a problem as Christmas is celebrated on the 24^th here in

Germany

and I was off work on that day. For the New Year we spent a couple of days in Munich followed by a week in Süd Tirol in the Italian Alps. I found Munich really quite interesting and was rather pleased to find a Bayern Munich fan shop in the centre of town. By pure coincidence I happened to be wearing a Werder Bremen scarf. A photo was a natural formality.

On New years day we headed south through Austria and via the Brenner Pass into

Italy

. Our destination was the Sarntal Valley where with had rented a house on a farm along with family members Deepblue, Mr Blue and Boyblue. We had a wonderful relaxing week, with really good company and excellent food. The weather varied from lots of snow to clear blue skies. We visited Bozen to see the Otzi exhibition which we all enjoyed. It’s weird to see a 5000 year old corpse. The Juniorette and her cousin were learning to ski most days and after 5 lessons the Juniorette skied down from the top of the mountain with her ski instructor. This included a black run. Mrs H and her sister were on skis for the first time in 20 years and both did very well indeed. Rather then risk broken bones Mr Blue and I decided on filming events instead, although I have promised the Juniorette that I will learn to ski next year.

The week was over far too quickly. The Juniorette loved sledging every day and feeding the chickens & ducks on the farm. The farm house was built totally from wood and great to stay in. I think it’s safe to say we will be going back again next year.

Seasons Greetings

2007-12-25T10:35:00.001+01:00

Wishing everyone a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!

The Winter Break

2007-12-19T01:05:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday the Haddock family ventured north to Bremen to watch Werder play Bayer Leverkusen in the last Bundesliga game before the winter break. It was a cold day and we wrapped up warm but we still got pretty cold by the end of the day. But it didn’t matter as we saw a great game of football. It didn’t start so well, as Leverkusen took the lead, but the Weser Stadium erupted when Ivan Klasnic equalised. Bremen then made two early substitutions and then their standard of play really picked up.

The second half saw Werder Bremen step it up a gear. Some exciting football was played and the hosts came out on top winning 5-2. The hero of the day was Klasnic who is back in the team after having a kidney transplant earlier this year and he got on the score sheet twice. This result means Werder are in 2^nd place in the Bundesliga on equal points with Bayern Munchen going into the winter break.

After the game we walked into town to visit the Christmas market. It was without doubt the best one I have visited so far in Germany. We had a nice time having a look around and the Juniorette bought herself a couple of little items. Eventually, when we were too cold we headed back to the car and then south back to Marburg. It was a great day out.

Girls wanted

2007-12-10T15:35:00.000+01:00

On Saturday the Juniorette attended a football event in Offenbach, which is near Frankfurt. It was the Girls Wanted Nikolaus Cup for girls aged between 8 & 14 years old. The event was arranged by Louise Hanson (who also runs the 1.FFC Frankfurt football school) and was attended by 160 soccer mad girls. It was held in an indoor hall and was split into two sessions, divided by lunch. In the morning session the girls were divided up into groups which then rotated through the 14 training stations. Then in the afternoon the tournament session began, with each child player 4 games.

The whole event was very well organised and the kids had a lot of fun. Renate Lingor (member of this years Women’s world Cup winning team) was on microphone to commentate on events and provide instructions. Several other 1.FFC Frankfurt players were in attendance too as trainers and Conny Pohlers made an appearance dressed as Nikolaus.

The mix between training and tournament was about spot on, and the Juniorette was very happy that her group attained first place for her age group in the training stations. What made me happy was the quality of football. If this event was anything to go by then Germany has an up and coming talent pool that other countries would have a problem rivalling.

The idyllic coin

2007-12-07T22:13:00.000+01:00

I've lived in the Marburg area of Germany for over 10 years now and I really like it here. One of the things I like is that the area is very rural. Lots of countryside and lots of trees. Another aspect that I like is the attitude of Marburg to the environment. Many buses run on natural gas, and there are many private vehicles that run on bio-diesel or gas. One of my neighbours has an all electric scooter which he charges up from the PV solar on his roof. The powers that be in Marburg also want to make it the first city in Germany to require all new buildings to have solar included on the roof. This is I think is an excellent idea.

Of course there are always two sides to every idyllic coin, and this week the new virus lab opened up in Marburg. Here scientists will work on some of the most deadly virus known to man, including Ebola. Interestingly enough if you Google Marburg you will find out just as much about the Marburg virus (and it’s pretty damn dangerous) as you will about the University city. In fact the virus is named after the city after an outbreak of the virus here in 1967.

So if we have an ever have a bad earthquake here I just hope that the prevailing westerly wind are blowing, as I live north of the lab. But I guess it must be safer than living close to a nuclear plant. Over the years I have worked and lived in a few places around the world, all had their good and bad sides. Here I have settled and I'm glad to call Marburg my home.

The tram nutter

2007-12-04T22:45:00.000+01:00

This current shift cycle of nights has been a bit of a bugger. Too much work and too much stress. So this morning when I left work my brain was on autopilot. I entered the tram which takes me to the train station and I smelt cigarette smoke. When I looked around it was obvious that everyone was trying very hard not to look at a big bloke in his late fifties with a very large beard, who was holding a lit fag.

Without even thinking about it I made eye contact, then looked at his ciggie, and then shook my head. He said something I didn't quite catch (as I had Mötorhead playing rather loudly on my mp3 player), so I told him its not allowed to smoke on the tram. It was about this point I realised he was a nutter, as he then kept on going on about losing his rucksack and other stuff I didn't understand. I told him not to worry about it, but at the next stop he got off and in doing so wished me a safe journey home (not sure how he knew I was going home and not to work). He then just stood in the road, and I had the terrible feeling that I had just thrown him off the tram. I really felt quite guilty about it, as, after all he was a harmless nutter who just seemed to have lost his rucksack and was probably having a smoke to calm himself down.

Roar!

2007-12-02T00:05:00.000+01:00

Recently swenglishexpat over at Fruits of my Mind awarded me a Roar. I would be the last person to describe myself as a writer, as I am not. But nether the less my humble little blog is honoured to receive the award. Greenhaddock really started out as a journal to document the changes occurring over the seasons in our garden, but rapidly changed more into entries about the Juniorette and football. I guess I should put a bit more green and garden stuff in some time, and I suppose I should use spell checkers more often, but hey life's too short for good grammar!

Here are the details of the award: Those people I've given this award to are encouraged to post it on their own blogs; list three things they believe are necessary for good, powerful writing; and then pass the award on to the five blogs they want to honour, who in turn pass it on to five others, etc., etc. Let's send a roar through the blogsphere! The image at the top left can be copied and pasted onto other blogs. Also, a small size of the award for sidebars can be found over at the writing circle site.

My tips to good and powerful blog writing are:

Content is the most important thing. It should be interesting.
Not too long an article as many people have short attention spans (me included)
Pictures of naked women do help (not really, but I couldn’t really think of a good third one!)

So for my award nominees (I know it's only 3!)

Bob Gentry – Bob’s Journal was one of the first blogs I came across in the blogosphere and I have been reading ever since. He is also a very talented singer/songwriter and his music really rocks!

Red Baron – Der Roter Baron writes some very thought provoking posts. He tackles the more serious political issues in the world, and isn’t afraid to say what he thinks. I like his style.

Beaman’s World – A very powerful writer who has written some extremely good short stories and beautiful poetry.

A day of football

2007-11-23T12:25:00.000+01:00

Wednesday was a day of total football. We picked the Juniorette up straight from school and then headed down to Frankfurt to catch the second half of 1.FFC Frankfurt v WFC Rossiyanka in the quarter final of the women’s UEFA cup. Frankfurt won the tie 2-1 against their Russian counterparts and now advance to the semi final. After the game the Juniorette went autograph hunting and I managed to get a couple of photos of her and some of the players.

In the top photo she is with Steffi Jones who has recently been made President of the organising committee for the next women’s world cup which will be held in Germany in 2011. The middle photo shows the Juniorette with 1.FFC and German national team player Kerstin Garefrekes.

Later we went to an Italian restaurant to eat and warm up, and then drove out to the Commerzbank Arena to watch Germany play out a rather dull goalless draw with Wales in a Euro 2008 qualifying game. The stadium was sold out, and reality of the situation was that Germany had already qualified for the finals next summer. They didn’t play bad, but they didn’t play good either. This resulted in a lot whistling in the second half to signal the crowd’s dissatisfaction. The Welsh fought hard and fully deserved the point. But as I explained to the Juniorette later, to truly appreciate a very good game you have to occasionally experience mediocre ones.

The Welsh fans cheered when they heard the result of the England game. England lost against

Croatia

and therefore have failed to qualify for next summers European Championship. I think with hindsight this will prove to be a good thing.

England

have good players but consistently crap management. It’s not just the coaching staff, but the Football Association committee as well. It’s time for some sweeping changes. I just hope someone has got the balls to make them.

When the north wind blows

2007-11-17T00:05:00.001+01:00

The first signs of winter are apon us - minus temperatures at night and the first snow flurries have already happened. Technically winter doesn’t start until the 21^st December, but when I see the Cranes flying south for winter it heralds the start of winter for me. During the past couple of weeks I have made the garden ready for winter. The grass has been mown and fertilised, dead plants cut back and the patio furniture has retired to the cellar for the winter months.

I have recently had by blood rechecked because of my thyroid condition, and all appears as well as it can be. Cholesterol and a few other things are border line, but since I developed a dodgy thyroid this seems to be normal. I exercise, hardly eat meat, and have a low fat diet. Not much else I can do really. Since the weather has got colder I have restarted going to the gym and have found it not as hard work as I thought it would be, considering my last visit was 5 months ago. I guess playing a bit of football and going jogging over the summer has really kept me in shape.

Well the advantage of my personal winter starting early, is that spring will come early as well. The Cranes will be back overhead in February, and I can’t wait to see them, as spring is without doubt my favourite time of the year. It’s like a rebirth.

7 Random things

2007-11-07T13:27:00.000+01:00

I have been tagged by Expat Traveller for the 7 Random things meme. Check out her blog. She is an excellent photographer and a very good swimmer.

1. I have no middle name.

2. I have one grey pubic hair called George.

3. I really don't like driving. I'd much rather be a passenger. Infact cars don't really interest me at all.

4. I have an under active thyroid gland. Which can sometimes explain my sloth like nature :)

5. Whilst drunk during my teenage years I fell out of a first floor window whilst looking for the bathroom. I survived the fall with no injuries.

6. My favourite bird is the Peregrine Falcon

7. My grandfather participated in the last British square formed by the British army. Quite ironic really as he was in the Navy at the time.

Here are the rules which you must abide by if you are tagged.
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 3 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

I am tagging Fruits of my mind, Combe Martin Life, and Cheeseburgers & Sauerkraut

Happy Faces

2007-10-30T08:35:00.000+01:00

On Saturday the Juniorette had another swim meet. This time it was held in Darmstadt and she was swimming with her partially sighted training team mates in the Hessische & Thüringische Schwimm- Meisterschaften 2007 for disabled swimmers. The Juniorette was the only non disabled swimmer at the meet. She loved travelling there on the team bus and had a really great day. She improved her times over 25m & 50m breaststroke and competed for the first time in the 100m event.

The competitors consisted of physically and mentally disabled swimmers and everyone was overcoming some sort of challenge to swim in the heats. For me the highlight of the day was the medal ceremony. I don’t believe I have ever seen so many truly happy and joyous faces in my life. This was the first swim meet I have ever attended and it was a very relaxed event. The Juniorettes swim team felt like an extended family, but Mrs H did point out that the non disabled swim meet she attended a few weeks ago was a lot more manic.

The Juniorette really enjoyed herself and the organisers even arranged a certificate and a medal for her, so she wouldn’t feel left out.

Getting naked

2007-10-23T09:46:00.000+02:00

We’ve been back from our break in the UK for just over a week, and last weekend we went to the home town of Mrs H which is situated in the Odenwald to celebrate the birthday of our nephew Boy Blue. With family members we went to the Miramar fun swimming pool complex near Weinheim. The kids had a lot of fun on the various slides and in the wave pool, whilst the adults mainly relaxed and chatted. Mrs H and I visited the sauna which was pretty big, with 4 saunas inside and various ones scattered around outside. There were also steam rooms, ice rooms and whirlpools. There’s nothing quite like getting naked with a couple of hundred Germans.

The first few times I ever visited saunas I felt a bit freaky, but once overcoming a church upbringing and old fashioned British values I discovered that the sauna is not only good for your body, but its very good for the soul, so now that winter is approaching we will be visiting the sauna more often.

Back in North Devon

2007-10-12T09:19:00.000+02:00

We Haddocks are currently back in the UK staying in the town where I was born and grew up. We're visiting family and friends and having a great time, I forgot how much I miss the sea. Ilfracombe hasn't changed that much, apart from a few more hotels have burnt down (when will the insurance companies catch on), but the town is essentially the same. The sea air is making me very tired and I am going to bed earlier every night. In a few days time I'll be going to bed before I get up! :)

The first Swim meet

2007-10-07T08:45:00.000+02:00

Yesterday the Juniorette attended her first Swim meet. She has wanted to do this for a very long time. Her trainer had arranged that her first competitive swim would be in Marburg, so that she didn’t have the added stress of a big journey to contend with. She was quite apprehensive before meet and was quite anxious that she may be disqualified if she didn’t perform the dives and turns correctly.

She swam 25m & 50m Breaststroke and 25m & 50m Freestyle and wasn’t disqualified (which she was very happy about!). She attained first place in the 25m & 50m Breaststroke, 2nd in 50m Freestyle, and 3rd in 25m Freestyle. As it was her first meet she was in the first timers group, but in subsequent meets she will be allocated to races where her fellow swimmers have comparable times.

I wasn’t able to attend the swim meet as I had to work, but I did see a very happy and proud girl when I returned home. There is a further meet at the end of the month and hopefully I will be able to attend then.

Technorati Tags: Marburg, Swimming, Juniorette

World Cup Winners 2007

2007-10-01T01:20:00.000+02:00

On Sunday the German Women's football team beat Brazil 2-0 in the World Cup final to become the first team to successfully defend the title. It was an exciting game with the Brazilians dominating possession for large parts of the game. The German defence managed to absorb the intense pressure from the opposition and then scored goals from Birgit Prinz and Simone Laudehr when they had the chance. In the second half

Brazil

were awarded a penalty which the German keeper Nadine Angerer (photo credit to FIFA) saved superbly. In fact she made several fine saves, which meant that Germany conceded not a single goal in the whole tournament (a record feat).

Personally I was not taken with the samba magic of the Brazilian team. Sure they can play beautiful football, but they dived too easily, fouled too often and seemed to lack a sense of fair play. In the semi final they celebrated when a USA player was sent off, and that is not sporting.

It was a good football weekend for the Haddock household as Werder Bremen also won. They beat Arminia Bielefeld 8-1 on Saturday setting a new Bundesliga record for the highest win.

Technorati Tags: World Cup, Football, Germany

Return of the Trick Cyclist

2007-09-30T01:38:00.000+02:00

I finally got round to filming the Juniorette on her unicycle. The result is shown above. She now needs to start to learn how to juggle and a career in the circus is on the cards.

It was a sad week for the Juniorette as she learnt that her school teacher and head mistress will be leaving her school next February. There were a lot of tears as the Juniorette really likes her. It’s such a shame as she really is a great teacher and has great control of the kids. She also loves to speak English, which is very handy for me.

Later today the Juniorette will be playing football for her team in a tournament, and next weekend she will be taking part in her first swimming competition. For both events I will be working. Such is life

Technorati Tags: Marburg, Unicycle, Juniorette

The Birthday Girl

2007-09-24T15:32:00.000+02:00

Last week the Juniorette turned 9 years old. A few days earlier we celebrated with our family and the Juniorette’s Godparents in a local restaurant. The weather was kind to us and everyone had a nice time. On the actual date of her birthday we took the Juniorette and a group of her friends to Giessen by train to visit Mathematikum. This is a science museum for kids. The staff prepared a birthday table for the Juniorette and then showed the kids round. They participated in a rally and had to track down the answers to the questions in the museum. After being fed and watered we headed back to Marburg by train.

The kids had a great time and all really enjoyed the train trip. Not sure if the other passengers enjoyed it as they were very loud. But birthdays are meant to be loud when you are 9 years old.

The Juniorette’s favourite present was her new Werder Bremen (away kit) football shirt (see photos) embossed with the name of her favourite player . She has worn it to football training already and I am slowly realising that she is amassing a little stockpile of footy shirts (8 at the last count!).

She had a great birthday and really enjoys celebrating it twice; once with her family and once with her friends, but I wonder how many years that will last?

Technorati Tags: Mathematikum, Football, Giessen, Juniorette

Womens World Cup

2007-09-14T23:41:00.000+02:00

The Women’s football World Cup 2007 has been underway in China for the last 5 days. All of the favourite teams have done well so far, and Germany (see team photo) broke a few records by destroying Argentina 11-0 in the opening game. Earlier today Germany fought out a goal less draw with England which was a fair result. This means if both teams win their respective last matches then they will both be through to the knockout stages of the competition.

It appears that the Chinese had been spying on the Danish team prior to the match between the two countries in which China won 3-2. One incident included Chinese men with cameras hiding behind a one way mirror in a room where the Danish team were holding a discussion about tactics for the upcoming game. The Danes reported the incident to police and FIFA and it has been consequently decided that no more action will be taken - Intriguing stuff.

The Haddock family were disappointed that Louise Hanson did not play for Denmark against China as we have met her several times when the Juniorette has attended football school in Frankfurt. Hopefully she will play in the game tomorrow against New Zealand.

Technorati Tags: Louise Hanson, Football, Germany, Juniorette

Kinderkirchentag zum Elisabethjahr

2007-09-09T09:51:00.000+02:00

This year marks the 700^th anniversary of the birth of Elisabeth von Thüringen and Marburg has been running lots of events this year to celebrate the event. One of these events is the Kinderkirchentag which is being held in the Elisabethkirche (St Elisabeth’s church) next Saturday 15^th September. The local newspaper ran a competition several months ago for children to draw a picture of Elisabeth. The winning picture would then be used for the flyers and posters to publicise the event. The Juniorette won and shown below is the resultant flyer.

St Elisabeth was famous for helping the poor and needy and was canonized in 1235. The Elisabethkirche was consecrated in 1238 and was the property of the Order of Teutonic Knights. It once housed the remains of St Elisabeth, and is reputed to be the oldest Gothic church in Germany.

Mrs H and the Juniorette will be attending the Kinderkirchentag on Saturday but unfortunately I have to work.

Technorati Tags: Marburg, Elisabethkirche, Juniorette

Luxembourg of the south

2007-09-06T11:01:00.000+02:00

We spent the last weekend in Switzerland visiting friends in Bern. They have recently moved to Bern from Marburg and seemed to have settled in very well. We had a wonderful time with them and we were very impressed with the city of Bern. You could definitely see that the Swiss were not involved in the world wars as there was an impressive amount of old buildings. I particularly like the river Aar that flows through as the city. It flows quite fast and is green in colour. I was surprised to see people swimming in it – or rather getting carried along by the current. Drownings are not unknown. Due to its geography, Bern reminded both Mrs H and I of Luxembourg.

We also visited the little zoo, which the Juniorette rather liked, the Bärengruben, which housed a couple of sorry looking bears, and the Rosengarten which over looks the city. Here we managed to find 2 types of rose that we have in our garden at home. The dialect of the Bernese I found interesting and very hard to understand. It was a bit like what the Wurzels would sound like if they tried to speak German.

The weather was very good for our stay and that meant we were able to see the Alps from Bern which really impressed the Juniorette. She has a thing about mountains. I think perhaps she may have watched too many episodes of Heidi on kids TV.

Technorati Tags: Switzerland, Bern, Juniorette

The new Wembley

2007-08-24T08:30:00.000+02:00

England faced Germany at the new Wembley Stadium on Wednesday evening with Germany winning 2-1. The result I think was fair and I found myself supporting Germany more than England. Germany played well considering the team was so understrength due to injuries to key players, and England looked in parts a lot better than they have played recently. Overall I was happy with the result. At least there wasn't a penalty shootout!

Earlier in the evening the German Womens team played and beat Switzerland 7-0 in an European Championship qualifying match. The German team played very well with Birgit Prinz in superb form. With the world cup only 2 weeks away that certainly bodes well for die Frauen.

Technorati Tags: England, Germany, Football,Birgit Prinz

Trick Cyclist

2007-08-22T11:46:00.000+02:00

Over the school summer holidays the Juniorette has learnt to unicycle. Many of her friends have been unicycling for a while but the Juniorette showed no interest, but after having a try on a friend’s unicycle she decided to learn. After 2 weeks she had pretty much mastered the basics, and now she can do curves, and go up and hills etc). Above is a photo of her on her Einrad. I keep on meaning to video her on it as a still photo doesn’t really do her achievement much justice. So all she has to do now is to learn how to tame lions in her autumn holidays and then she can join the circus!

Technorati Tags: Marburg, Unicycle, Juniorette

The Amber Queen

2007-08-19T09:12:00.000+02:00

The rose bed that I planted a couple of months ago is coming along nicely. I planted 3 different sorts, a red Rose (Montana), a yellow rose (Friesia) and an amber rose (Amber Queen – see above photo). They all should grow to an approx height of 80cm but wont reach that height this season. We chose rose types that are hardy and relatively disease resistant and so far we haven’t had any problems.

I am currently extending the Juniorettes veggie bed and plan to plant a bit more hedging in the Autumn. Vegetable wise we are enjoying the first of the ripe sweet peppers and aubergines, as well as having stacks of cucumbers. The tomatoes this season have not been as successful as other years due to the crap weather we have had this summer. But it’s all swings and roundabouts as I haven’t had to water the garden so often.

The Juniorette starts back to school tomorrow. She is looking forward to it, but she will have problems getting up early in the morning again. The footy season has kicked off again here in Germany. Unfortunately Werder Bremen have not made a good start, but its early days yet, and yesterday we went to watch a Frauen Fussball match. Local team RSV Rossdorf beat FC Mittelbruchen 6-0 in the Hessen Oberliga. It was a good game and we very much enjoyed it.

Technorati Tags: Marburg, Football, RSV Rossdorf, Juniorette

Soccer School

2007-08-05T09:12:00.000+02:00

This past week the Juniorette once again attended the 1. FFC Frankfurt football school for girls. This is the third time she has attended now, and she still really enjoys it and has a lot of fun. She also learns a lot and we can certainly see her developing from course to course. The Juniorette still very much enjoys playing with the boys in her local team, but I think slowly over time she will want to change to an all girls team. Fortunately more girls teams are springing up around Marburg, and I suspect the change to an all girls team will probably happen in about two years time.

The Juniorette’s trainers this time at the soccer camp this time were Louise Hanson, Karolin Thomas and Meike Weber (all Bundesliga players with 1. FFC Frankfurt). At the previous camps the Juniorette attained a Bronze medallion in the skills assessments, but this time she managed a Silver and was very proud of herself; and quite rightly so. As usual on the last day there was the Parents v The Kids football match. The kids had the advantage of not only younger legs and youthful spirit, but they also had Karolin and Meike playing for them. Needless to say it was a lot of fun and the Kids won.

Technorati Tags: Frankfurt, Football, 1.FFC Frankfurt, Juniorette

Grasshopper

2007-07-28T17:03:00.000+02:00

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

2007-07-23T18:59:00.001+02:00

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

2007-07-07T11:51:00.000+02:00

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

2007-07-05T09:51:00.000+02:00

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!

2007-07-02T09:02:00.000+02:00

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

Wind damage

2007-06-27T15:34:00.000+02:00

The weather of late in Marburg has been rather wet and on occasion quite windy. But at least it hasn’t been as bad as in the UK were flooding has caused serious damage and some deaths. But it has taken its toll on my garden. The lawn has a serious case of red death this year caused by the wet and humid conditions, and some very windy conditions a few day ago ripped off a truss from one of my Russian Plum Yellow Tomatoes (see photo). These plants are growing really well and are setting staggering amounts of fruit. The trusses on the plants are going to need some serious support soon.

At present the blueberries and blackcurrants are ripe, and we have eaten the first of the Red Onions. The Sweet Peppers are setting fruit, the Aubergines (Eggplant) are in flower, and we should be eating our first home grown cucumbers of the summer within the next couple of days.

It would be good for the weather to become a bit drier for a while as the hedge needs cutting, the grass needs cutting and new flower beds need to be prepared. But at least our water tank is full

Technorati Tags: Tomatoes, Red Thread, Marburg

She shoots! she scores!

2007-06-25T21:58:00.000+02:00

The Haddock family have just spent the weekend at a wellness hotel in the Black Forest celebrating the 75^th birthday of my mother-in-law. The rest of the family were in attendance and we had a really great time at the Schiffkopf Hotel which is situated just over 1000m above sea level. The views over the Schwarzwald were breathtaking.

We spent a lot of time relaxing, swimming, walking and sweating in the sauna. I even managed a bit of time in the hotel gym, which is good as I haven’t been to the gym in Marburg for a while. The food served at the hotel was outstanding, as was the wine. I was drinking grape juice. We had a wonderful time, but we had to leave after breakfast on the Sunday as the Juniorette had a football tournament to attend. Her team won the tournament and the Juniorette scored the final goal of the last game. I actually remembered the camcorder this time.

Technorati Tags: Schwarzwald, Football, Juniorette,Schliffkopf

Tagged and released

2007-06-21T09:50:00.000+02:00

I was tagged by Beaman a few days ago for a meme. I’m not really a meme person, but I thought I would give it ago. Beaman added a twist to his meme by asking his readers to pose questions and then he would reply with the answers. I thought about doing the same, but in the end opted for the original version.

Rules: Each person posts the rules before their list, then they list 8 things about themselves. At the end of the post, that person tags and links to 8 other people; then visits those people’s sites and comments, letting them know that they have been tagged, and to come read the post, so they know what they have to do.

If I drink vodka I lose my shoes. This has happened on several occasions, so I have subsequently stopped drinking vodka.
Many years ago I broke an international trade embargo and bought a boat from South Africa. This was during the years I worked and lived on Ascension Island and I went fishing most weekends, catching mainly Tuna, Wahoo and the occasional Sailfish.
I have dived several times with sharks. I have great respect for these hunters of the ocean. Scuba diving was my greatest passion in life for a lot of years. I had a lot of fun, but I was also in a few dodgy situations that could have cost me my life.
I have been locked out of hotels rooms in the middle of the night a couple of times. Once with underwear, and once without. It’s a long walk to reception to get a spare key when you are stark bollock naked.
My great grandfather was born in Georgia in the USA, and emmigrated to the UK. This was deemed unusual at the time as most people were emigrating the other way.
I was expelled from the 6^th Form at school for disruptive behaviour. To the dismay of the Head of the 6^th Form I was allowed to continue with my A level education when I promised the Head Master that I would change my attitude and work hard for the remainder of the year. I was of course lying.
I am prepared to kill what I eat. I have over the years slaughtered Sheep, Pigs and shot the occasional rabbit. Nowadays I still eat meat, but not as much as what I used to.
When I was 5 years old, there was a mix up between my mother and a neighbour about who should pick me up from school. When nobody turned up I decided to walk home. A man helped me cross the main road. He didn’t let go of my hand and started to take me on a different route. I realised something was wrong, escaped his grip and ran home like the wind. Later I described him to the Police and he was arrested a couple of months later, but only after sexually assaulting another child.

In the spirit of memes or what ever, I now tag - Island Girl, Surfermom, Rooks Nest, Seedlings in Stone, My Thailand Diary, Fruits of my Mind, CanadianSwiss & Chanceless

Birds and the Bees

2007-06-16T11:34:00.000+02:00

The Haddock house seems to have become a bit of a wildlife reserve of late. We have Mason Bees in the roof (as we did last year) and on the south side of the house we have 2 separate Bumble Bee nests in the ventilation gaps in the outside brickwork. In one of the ventilation gaps on the west side we have a Wasp nest, and on the north side a Hornet nest. So we shouldn’t have any pollination issues in the garden.

Before anyone freaks, the Mason Bees are solitary bees (they don’t swarm) and die off at about this time of year. They are not a problem. Bumble Bees are harmless as I regularly demonstrate with catching them with my hands. Hornets are good natured if you don’t upset them (not actually sure what does upset them though) and they are a protected species in Germany. Wasps will become a problem later in the summer when we dine on the patio, but Mrs H and the Juniorette know to stay calm around annoying Wasps, and then let me deal with them.

A couple of days ago I found a Vole outside our cellar steps, and a few weeks ago a Lizard (see photo) took up residence there for a while. We have a bird problem in our living room. Great Tits keep coming in through one window trying to take a shortcut to the bird feeder located on the patio. Unfortunately they keep on stunning themselves by flying into closed windows once inside the house. Our tomcat then pounces on them and eats them, feathers, bones and all. I guess its nature’s way of weaning out the dumb and unlucky ones – shame though.

We of course still get the half eaten, mangled and injured birds and mice that the cats bring home regularly. But so far this year they haven’t brought back any frogs or toads, and the time will soon come when our girl cat Minnie will start bringing home butterflies.

Technorati Tags: Birds, Bees, Marburg,Cats

Too close for comfort

2007-06-11T02:13:00.000+02:00

Friday evening I received a call at work from the Juniorette to tell me that a house just down the road from ours was on fire. Mrs H had been in our garden and noticed some smoke and flames coming from the carport of the house. She informed our immediate neighbours who called the fire brigade and then went with them to examine the fire closer. Within minutes the fire was raging and had spread to the main part of the house and another neighbour’s carport. The fire brigade turned up very promptly and got the fire under control. Luckily there was no wind that evening to fan the flames higher and possibly catch light to surrounding houses.

This incident has shocked our little community on the new housing estate. The speed with which the fire spread seems to have surprised everyone, but both carports were also used for storage of wood for wood burning stoves and this would have been very dry with the high temperatures of late. The house itself is not liveable at the moment and the construction company will later this week decide if the house is salvageable or if it will have to be completely rebuilt.

Fortunately nobody was hurt in the fire, and at the present time it is unclear how it started. Initial estimates put the damage at around €250,000. The owners were away at the time but were there the following morning and looked a bit distressed. As a community we all feel very sorry for them. I have been through a fire experience myself many years ago and understand to certain extent what they must be going through.

Technorati Tags: Marburg, Juniorette, Fire

Last Weekend

2007-06-09T01:13:00.000+02:00

We enjoyed our trip to Nürnberg last weekend to watch Germany play San Marino. Germany won 6-0, but it wasn’t the best game I have ever seen. Before the game we went into town and had a little look around. Nürnberg looks a nice town and we would like to re-visit sometime to see the Christmas market. What really struck me was the fact that next to the football stadium was the stadium where the Nazi’s held their rallies back in the 1930’s. For some reason I always assumed it was either destroyed or torn down, so I was a bit shocked and surprised to see it there. It seems to be put to better use nowadays as whilst we were their there was a rock concert going on.

Whilst in the stadium, but before the game started we took the Juniorette to the first aid station to have a tick removed from her shoulder. She also found another on her leg when we got home later that night. We thought this was weird, but then so was the mileage of our trip – 666 km from door to door. But as I have recently discovered the number of the beast is not quite what it seems.

The Silbermond concert at Hessentag was very good, and we managed to find a spot where the Juniorette had a good view, and where we oldies could sit down for a little while. On the way home we used a train where our tickets were not valid. I was too tired to care; besides I pay Deutsche Bahn enough for my season ticket any way. We weren’t the only people in this situation and if the trains had been running correctly (not late!) that this situation wouldn’t have existed in the first place. Nether the less the Juniorette found it quite exciting to be doing something naughty!

Technorati Tags: Hessentag, Football, Nürnberg,Silbermond

Busy schedule

2007-06-01T08:25:00.001+02:00

I’ve had a busy week; unfortunately I am not sure what with. There’s been a far amount of garden work, various minor jobs done around the house and I played football again with the Alter Herren. Doesn’t look much on paper, but it sure used up my time quickly.

Tomorrow we are off to Nürnberg to watch Germany play San Marino in a qualifying game for the European Football Championships. Germany should win quite easily and hopefully we should see a sack full of goals. We intend to get to the city early to have a look around and then meet up with family members Deepblue, Mr Blue and Boyblue before the game.

On Sunday we are going to Hessentag in Butzbach to see Silbermond in concert. Hessentag (it should be called Hessenwoche as it lasts for more than a day), is held at a different town in the state of Hessen every year. The town then hosts various events, activities and concerts for the duration. Aerosmith are playing on the last night of Hessentag and I would really like to go, but unfortunately I have to work. Such is the life of a shift worker. But at least I get to see Silbermond.

Technorati Tags: Hessentag, Football, Butzbach,Silbermond

We are the champions!

2007-05-26T19:45:00.000+02:00

This afternoon 1.FFC Frankfurt won the Women’s DFB cup final in Berlin against Duisburg. The game was 1-1 after normal time with Frankfurt winning quite convincingly during the penalty shootout. Mrs H and the Juniorette watched the game on TV. I only managed to see part of the game as I had to go to work.

Congratulations to the team on winning the cup and hopefully in the next couple of weeks they will clinch the Bundesliga championship to complete the double.

Technorati Tags: Frankfurt, Football, 1.FFC Frankfurt

Tom's and Roses

2007-05-23T15:22:00.000+02:00

In my recent days off I have spent a lot of time in the garden doing various jobs. Most time was spent preparing the new rose bed. There is an incredible amount of stone in the ground that has to be removed. No wonder the grass never grew so well there. Once the stone is removed I will add peat and compost. This hopefully will be a good mix for the roses. We have ordered the roses and they should arrive in a couple of weeks at our local garden centre.

All my tomato plants are now in the ground (see photo) and are just starting to flower. I also planted out the first of the sweet peppers and cucumbers, with the rest of the plants that aren’t big enough, along with the aubergines remaining in the cold frame for the time being. Today the Juniorette ate the first of her strawberries which are now ripening. Now that really is a sign of summer. I guess it means Wimbledon cannot be that far away.

A few weeks ago Mrs H talked me into ordering a Satellite navigation device for the car. We decided on a new model for Tom Tom and ordered it online from Redcoon. After 2 weeks it hadn’t arrived so we rang Redcoon to find out what was going on, only to be told it wouldn’t be shipped for another 3 weeks. So we cancelled the order and went and bought a different model from a local store. The old fashioned way is more expensive but definitely quicker.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Tom Tom, Marburg,Roses

Ascension Day

2007-05-17T11:04:00.000+02:00

Today it is Ascension Day, the day when Christ allegedly ascended to heaven. In Germany it is known as Christi Himmelfahrt and is a public holiday. It is also the day that Germans celebrate Fathers day, where groups of men go into the woods and drink copious amounts of beer. I am stuck here in work. It’s not so bad really as shift workers here in Germany are paid a tax free allowance, which is quite generous on a public holiday. I also haven’t drunk any alcohol in over 4 months so I won’t be missing the beer either. I’ve not quit drinking, it’s that I just can’t be bothered with it at the moment.

The best place to be celebrating Ascension Day would of course be Ascension Island which is situated just south of the equator in the Atlantic Ocean. It was named after the recorded date of its discovery. I spent 3 years working there in the 1980’s at a Satellite Earth Station which handled the Island’s international telecommunications and NASA circuits for the islands shuttle tracking station. I had good time. I did a lot of scuba diving, played a lot of golf (quite badly), fished as often as I could and drank rather a lot of beer.

It wasn’t all plain sailing as the island was rather small and quite often the small town mentality prevailed. I had my moments on the island, including crashing the company car whilst heavily under the influence, which later ended up with me spending the night in jail after assaulting the Chief of Police. Not something I’m proud of but it happened. Incidentally I learned my lesson and I have not driven a car after drinking since. But at the time on the island it was ok to do so unless you had an accident. Weird I know but that’s how it was. Time I think now for a nice cup of tea!

Technorati Tags: Ascension Island, Beer, Fathers Day

Going up a class

2007-05-15T09:17:00.000+02:00

The Juniorette is still doing very well with her swimming. She attends swimming club on a Friday and does further training on a Monday evening. Her swimming club is divided into 3 groups and she has been in the intermediate group for the last 6 months. She has now been informed that she can join the senior group after the school summer holidays. She is a very happy and proud 8 year old girl.

Last Sunday was Mothers day and the Juniorette had her first outside football tournament of the season. She played very well, had a couple of good shots, but was a bit disappointed not to score. She really wanted to score a goal as a present for Mrs H. The team performed well which bodes well for the rest of the season.

Last week the Nintendo DS Lite arrived for the Juniorette. She has been saving her pocket money and xmas/birthday money for quite a while to buy this and was quite excited waiting for it to turn up from Amazon. We ordered Nintendogs for her which is a game where she has to look after and train a puppy. I was surprised at how much fun this was and how addictive it can be. But fortunately with the amount of activities that the Juniorette participates in, she hasn’t the time for it to become a problem.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Swimming, Nintendogs,Marburg

We will rock you!

2007-05-07T22:25:00.000+02:00

This last weekend the Haddock family went to visit the Juniorette’s Godparents in Köln. We met up with them at Phantasialand on the Saturday for a day of rollercoasters and fun. The Black Mamba rollercoaster ride was the highlight and the Juniorette was extremely pleased that she just made the height restriction. We of course had to be in the front row. The ride was exhilarating and I felt a bit wobbly on my legs afterwards. Fortunately the Godfather really likes rollercoasters so the Juniorette didn’t have to rely on her wobbly old papa to escort her on every single ride. The weather was good and we had a terrific day out.

On the Sunday we were due to go and see the afternoon viewing of the Queen musical ‘We will rock you’. Luckily Mrs H checked the tickets early in the morning and discovered that we had tickets for the evening show – oops! – We all had a bit of a laugh about this, and then Godmother had the great idea of visiting the Köln Zoo. It’s the best zoo I’ve been to. The animals looked really healthy, had a reasonable amount of space, and I didn’t notice any repeat behavioural problems that many captive animals demonstrate. We had a wonderful time there and got to see the baby elephant which is only a few weeks old.

In the evening we went to the musical. As it was the Sunday evening showing the theatre wasn’t full and we had pretty good seats with a great view. The Juniorette really enjoyed the show. I thought she would as she is a bit of a queen fan, and plays her ‘Best of Queen’ CD quite a lot at home. I found the show very entertaining and really quite funny in places. After the show we said our goodbyes to the Godparents and returned to Marburg, albeit a bit later than planned. Köln is easily my favourite German city and we had a fantastic weekend there with really great friends.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Köln, Musical,Phantasialand

Grey water

2007-05-04T09:12:00.000+02:00

Grey water is a generic term for household water that has been used once already (bath water, washing dish water etc) and is then re-used. I mentioned in my last post that we are using grey water from our kitchen to water the garden during this current dry spell. We only use it to water flowers and bushes and not anything that is edible. The grey water we use from the kitchen is from washing dishes and from washing hands. Both the hand soap and the detergent used for washing the dishes is biodegradable and is from the firm Sodasan which manufactures many environmentally friendly cleaning products.

Over the last year we have started to use a lot more environmentally friendly products and have been surprised by how good the results have been. We now use green washing powder and softener and our clothes are still clean and smell fresh. I believe the early generation of green cleaning products were no so effective, but the ones we have tried from Sodasan and Ecover have worked very well indeed. This I believe has helped to effectively reduce our negative footprint on the environment. Water use and conservation doesn’t make the news too often, but now and then there are articles about fish populations changing sex, drinking water quality, algae blooms etc, and one of the contributing factors to this pollution is household waste water. So I guess every little bit helps, even if it is just a drop in the ocean.

Technorati Tags: Enviroment, Grey Water, Garden,Sodasan,Ecover

Exceptional Weather

2007-04-30T11:46:00.000+02:00

The weather has been exceptional this spring breaking many records. In the UK it has been the hottest April on record, and here in Marburg we haven’t had any rain in almost 6 weeks. This of course has been great weather for grilling and going to the lake. Last Sunday the thermometer in Marburg broke through the 30C mark which for April I believe is a tad too much.

Our lawn is looking a bit brown in places and the ground is rock hard. On the up side many plants are growing really well, and I have planted out my first 4 tomato plants which had out grown the cold frame. If the weather turns a bit colder they should be ok as they originate from Russia. I am also growing a variety of aubergine that comes from the Ukraine – apparently they glow in the dark (only kidding!)

Fruit is setting on the blueberry and blackcurrant bushes, but unfortunately the gooseberry bush has been attacked again by sawfly caterpillars which tend to decimate the foliage. So everyday I have to pick off the offending blighters. In the next few weeks I intend to plant out my sweet peppers. I am growing 3 varieties this year including a chocolate coloured one.

What would be nice now is a little bit of rain as the Germany is becoming very dry and many areas are at risk from forest fires. Unfortunately there is no rain forecast for our area for at least a further 10 days. Our rain water tank is currently empty as well, so we are now using grey water from the kitchen to help water the plants in the flower beds. Perhaps I should learn how to do a rain dance.

Technorati Tags: Garden, Weather, Marburg

A bird in the hand

2007-04-27T08:45:00.000+02:00

This a clip of the Juniorette with a bunch of parrots at Gatorland on our last family holiday to Florida earlier this year. Lots of other people had bird feed as well but for some reason the parrots seemed to flock to her.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Gatorland, Parrots,Florida

The wrong Indian

2007-04-23T00:48:00.000+02:00

A while ago Mrs H booked us on a Volkshochschule (night school) class about Indian culture and herbal remedies. As I enjoy a good curry and use spices from the sub continent in cooking I thought a 4 hour lecture on Indian culture and herbs would be pretty interesting for me.

So last Thursday before the class began I was joking with Mrs H about how I used to add curry power to almost everything I ever cooked including fried eggs. I was even talking about cricket and how India hadn't done so well at the recent World Cup. Imagine my surprise then, when the lecturers entered the room and neither of them looked remotely related to Mr Gandi. When I saw the man had a pony tail, the penny started to drop, when he announced he was from the Cree nation I finally twigged it. I had the wrong Indian. I explained this to Mrs H who finally realised why I had been talking about curries all the time. She knew all along that this was about Native North American culture and not about bum burning vindaloos.

As it turned out the lecture was really interesting and John 'Blackbird' Summers spoke English which was a real bonus for me. The woman lecturer did translation when needed and presented the herbal side of things which was also very interesting. So all in all it wasn't the evening I expected, but in a way it was better, and I certainly learnt a lot.

Technorati Tags: Cree, Health, Marburg

300

2007-04-20T22:32:00.000+02:00

For the last couple of days the Juniorette has been away on a school trip to the Edersee. This is her first time to stay at a youth hostel and she was really looking forward to the trip. Of course with the Juniorette away the parents get to play. So we went out to a local Italian to eat and then went to the late showing at the Cinema. We decided to watch 300 as it was showing in English. It was a great movie about the Spartans in early Greece, and in particular 300 Spartan heroes that faced the savage hordes of the Persian empire. It was filmed very well, and once you got past the limbs and heads being chopped off, the story was rather good. A lot of the battle seems were filmed in slow motion (in the style of The Matrix), but the acting, the mood of the film and the storyline shone through and the violence seemed secondary. In retrospect the brutality of some of the scenes was needed. Combat is brutal, and in those days battle was done face to face and downright bloody. I suspect this film isn’t for everyone, but I would recommend seeing it as its general message of sacrifice to save those you love is a valid one.

On a less violent note, I trained with the Alte Herren (old Men) football team earlier this week at the same club that the Juniorette plays for. We played for 90 minutes and it was a lot of fun but my legs did feel it and I realise I still need to do a lot more to get into shape. Now over 48 hours later and my knees and ankles are giving me grief. Nothing serious, just strain injuries that will clear up in a few more days. But this hasn’t dampened my enthusiasm as when my shift work allows I will train with them again.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Marburg, Football,300

Wir sind Werder Bremen

2007-04-17T08:12:00.000+02:00

On Sunday the Haddock family travelled up to Dortmund to watch Werder Bremen play in a critical Bundesliga clash with Borussia Dortmund. Werder are fighting to win the championship whilst Dortmund are battling against relegation. The weather was fantastic, sunny and hot, with temperatures reaching over 30°C in parts of the Ruhrpott. The game was a sell out, with 81,000 fans in attendance at the Signal Iduna Park stadium. This ground is the largest in Germany and must be one of the largest in Europe. Even so it is not one of my favourite stadiums as views of the complete pitch are restricted in some seating areas.

We met up with fellow Werder fans and family members Mr Blue and Boyblue before the game (Boyblue seen in photo) and then took our seats for the game. The atmosphere was fantastic, the Bremen away fans were in fine voice and I had a sore throat by the end of the game from shouting and singing too much. Werder took the lead through Miroslav Klose and doubled it shortly after with a curling free kick from Diego which was wonderful to watch. The game ended 2-0 with Werder fully deserving to win. They had a few wobbly moments in defence, but then they always do. One downer was that Tom Borowski (Juniorettes favourite player) re-injured his knee and won’t be able to play for a while.

It was a really good day out and excellent that Bremen won. A couple of years ago I had to work in Dortmund for 6 months which meant I had to spend a lot of time away from Mrs H and the Juniorette which put a considerable strain on us all. So I considered our visit back to Dortmund on Sunday with Werder winning like a little bit of payback.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Werder Bremen, Football,Dortmund

Blooming marvelous

2007-04-13T07:50:00.000+02:00

Spring is here in a big way. Temperatures are very warm here for the time of year, with Marburg expected to reach 28°C this weekend. This has of course had a dramatic effect in the garden with both our Mirabella (see photo’s) and Victoria plum trees in full blossom. Last evening we had our first grill of the season. It was good to be back out on the patio setting fire to things, and the food wasn’t bad either!

The new flower bed that I started a few weeks ago is almost half finished and we have added the first plants – Hibiscus, Lupins, Rittersporn, Pfingstrosen & Sonnenhut. Most of these plants were chosen in respect for their attractiveness for bees and butterflies. The next part of the bed will involve roses which should save me a fortune at the florists (slight exaggeration!). My Tomato plants for this year have now been transferred to the cold frame where they will harden off for a couple off weeks before being planted into the ground.

We have Mason bees under our roof tiles again which I am happy about. These do not swarm or cause problems. They are very important for the environment as they are active a lot earlier than normal honey bees. By June /July their life cycle is over until next year. One oddity of this warm spring is that the Swallows and House Martins seem to be a couple of weeks late this year.

The Juniorette is happy with the warm weather as we have set up a goal in the garden so she can play a little footy with me. This week she is currently attending another football school (mixed) in Marburg with a lot of her friends from the team that she plays for.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Garden, Football,Marburg

Football School

2007-04-09T05:51:00.000+02:00

Last week the Juniorette attended Football school with the 1.FFC Frankfurt Women’s Football club. They are the top Women’s team in Germany and are the current holders of the UEFA Cup. She attended the same training school last October and really enjoyed it. The school is now run by Louise Hanson (FFC Frankfurt and Danish International) and provides a very professional environment for girls to improve their skills of the game. Other trainers included Karolin Thomas and Petra Wimbersky who both also play for the Frauen Bundesliga team.

The Juniorette had a great time and had a lot of fun. She managed to pick up a bronze medallion in the training assessments, which was a little disappointing for her as she was hoping for silver. But her team did win the end of training tournament so she did collect an award for that, of which she is very proud. On the final day I played in the Kids & Parents match which was a lot fun but very hard on my legs and lungs.

The Juniorette really wants to go the 1.FFC Frankfurt School again in the summer, so we have already registered her, as several of the kids attending this time had already done so. In fact we noticed this time that there were more girls attending from further away. One girl and her family had driven from East Germany and were living in a mobile home in the car park. I guess this is a measure of how good this training camp is. In the future, if the demand is there, they may offer an overnight accommodation facility, which of course the Juniorette is totally up for.

Picture above shows the Juniorette (foreground) during a dribbling exercise, and the one below is the group photo. Ten points to the person that can spot the Juniorette!

As normal, click pictures to enlarge.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, 1.FFC Frankfurt, Football,Germany

The true meaning of Easter

2007-04-06T20:03:00.000+02:00

Found the above over at Maryannaville™ and found it very funny indeed.
A very Happy Easter to everyone, no matter what your religion or beliefs!

Technorati Tags: Humour, Easter, Chocolate

It's all Zulu to me

2007-03-31T14:09:00.000+02:00

Last week I was ill for a couple of days. I was feeling generally lousy with a mild fever, but after a couple of days of Zulu juice I was feeling a lot better. During the winter months I take an Echincea supplement to help boost my immune system and it seems to work a treat as I succumb to less colds and minor ills. However I only take Echincea during the winter months, so Mrs H bought me some Umckaloabo drops which helps boosts your immune system with respect to viruses and bacteria, especially when connected with the lungs. It seemed to work and it is really from the Zulus.

It is made from the roots of Perlargonium reniforme plant (a type of Geranium) from South Africa. It is used by traditional healers (which doctors are those – silly joke), to treat a variety of illnesses and is sold in Germany under the name Umckaloabo. It was originally brought to Europe early last century by an Englishman named Stevens. At the time the Lancet medical journal was scathing in its report on the new wonder remedy. But even so over a hundred years later and it works for me, maybe it’s the placebo effect, but who cares if I fell better.

Technorati Tags: Umckaloabo, Health, Marburg

You are what you eat

2007-03-27T18:49:00.000+02:00

As the saying goes "You are what you eat", and over the last few years I have been eating a lot healthier then in the past. I eat more fresh vegetables, less meat and have moderated my alcohol consumption somewhat. Combined with more physical activity this has resulted in me probably being fitter now than I was 10 years ago.

In recent days we have changed the food that we feed to our cats. Last year we stopped feeding them tinned cat food and only fed them dry cat food. This was basically because our tomcat was becoming a lardass, and we found that on the dry food he started to lose a bit of weight. We feed them fresh meat as well when we were having some for our meals. Then a few weeks ago we found out from two separate sources that well known brand cat foods (both wet and dry) are loaded with sugars, which can make cats fat and give them diabetes in later life. So we have now switched to a dry brand that does not have these added sugars, but of course it is a lot more expensive.

The food industry over the years has been adding increasing levels of sugars to the food we consume, so doing to little kitty should come as no surprise. I try not to eat processed foods myself, so it’s only reasonable that we treat our cats the same, plus as an added benefit, without the sugar kick perhaps our tomcat won’t be quite so mental and will stop taking chunks out of our girl cat (shown above).

Technorati Tags: Cats, Health, Marburg

Becoming greener

2007-03-23T21:32:00.000+01:00

In the next couple of weeks Marburg is going to decide whether it should be made compulsory for all new buildings (including private homes) constructed in the Marburg area to have solar panel included on the roof. I think this is a tremendous idea and hope they decide in favour of it. It is still under discussion whether both types of solar panel (PV for electric and absorption for heating water) will be compulsory. Personally I hope they make both compulsory. I do regret not having solar fitted when we had the house built, but finances became tight and some extras we had to do without. But if it had been compulsory we would have found the money somehow.

On our housing estate it was compulsory to have an under ground rain water tank attached to the gutters of the house. Out tank holds 4500 litres of rain water when full and is plumbed to supply our toilets, washing machine and outside tap for watering the garden. I think this is a great idea as during heavy rains the tanks fill up first before the run off enters the rainwater sewer. In our estate the rainwater sewer is separate from the toilet sewer. The rainwater sewer then goes to a filtered reed bed and the overflow from there goes to the river Lahn. This system slows down the rainwater reaching the river thus helping to prevent flooding. It also of course helps lower our water bill and helps conserve water.

Marburg is quite a green town really. A lot of the buses run on natural gas or bio diesel. Also a lot of buildings and houses have solar fitted already. There are 3 wind turbines and they are planning to build more.

Technorati Tags: Enviroment, Marburg, Solar

Different strokes

2007-03-21T00:42:00.000+01:00

It's been a busy week since I last blogged. The new cabinets for the office arrived and had to be built. Thankfully this task is now complete as building furniture drives me mad. In the garden I have started to dig out a new flower bed, but there is still a lot to do. I have also planted the tomato and sweet pepper seeds in the propagator. This year I am growing three varieties of tomato and three varieties of sweet pepper.

Last weekend we went to a family gathering in Calw to celebrate the 80^th birthday of an Aunty from Mrs H. It was an enjoyable occasion and the Juniorette and Mrs H performed a little sketch (as seen above). Later whilst talking to Aunty we discovered she was a very keen swimmer in her youth and she was thrilled to hear that the Juniorette also has a love of the sport. Of course in her day the swimming award levels weren’t named the same as they are now. One was called der Totenkopf (deaths head). I guess things were a bit different during the war.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Swimming, Calw

The weekend that was

2007-03-12T08:16:00.000+01:00

On Saturday we took the Juniorette to Mathematikum in Giessen. It’s a science/maths museum for kids and the Juniorette loved it. We visited a similar museum last year in the Black Forest, but we thought this one was much better. The journey home was hit by the curse of Deutche Bahn. The trains were late due to an accident and the info given out by DB was, as usual, very poor. We had to change platforms several times before finally boarding a train. On the upside the Juniorette found all the commotion quite exciting.

Yesterday was a glorious spring day. With blue sky and warm sunshine it was the perfect day for a gentle stroll in the countryside. Mrs H, the Juniorette and I managed to see 5 species of butterfly on our walk – Red Admiral, Peacock, Tortoiseshell, Cabbage White & Zitronenfalter. Our tomcat Mickey claimed his first victim of a new season. He likes to catch and eat bumble bees and butterflies. Today there is one more buzzer in bumble bee heaven.

In the top Bundesliga game this weekend Werder Bremen held Bayern Munich to a 1-1 draw. Bayern supporter friends of ours came to watch the game on TV at our place. It was good fun, although I must admit Werder were lucky to go home with a draw.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Butterflies, Werder Bremen, Giessen

Swimming update

2007-03-07T21:23:00.000+01:00

The Juniorette has attended her first two swimming training sessions and absolutely loves it. Each session is 90 mins long and she is mainly concentrating on her breaststroke and backtroke. She is very excited and proud to be finally learning how to do turns. She is swimming 25m lanes and has made friends with a blind girl who is a few years older than her.

Above is a clip of the Juniorette with Minnie Mouse on our Florida trip at the start of the year

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Swimming, Marburg

Daylight in Your Eyes

2007-03-04T21:01:00.000+01:00

The work in the garden has started in ernest this week to get it ready for spring. All the pruning was finished and a large amount of weeding was done as well. It was good getting back out into the garden again. I saw a couple of bumble bees and a lone ladybird. As soon as the ground dries out a bit, I have to dig out another flower bed. This will mainly be for roses and various perennials that attract bees and hover flies.

We were able to see the Lunar eclipse in Marburg last night through the gaps in the cloud cover. Apparently it’s the first one since October 2004. In case you missed the one last night there is one on August 28th this year (Daytime), and another on February 21st next year as well.

Above is a photo (taken in 2006) of the Juniorette and Lucy from the band No Angels. The band have recently reformed and are releasing a new single later this month, They were the first band formed from the casting show Popstars in 2001 and rapidly became the most successful Girl-Band in Germany. Their first single "Daylight In Your Eyes" became the most successful single ever in Germany.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Eclipse, Garden, Marburg

Goofing around

2007-02-27T08:22:00.000+01:00

Since returning from our Florida holiday at the start of the year I have been struggling to edit the video I took there. Before the trip we purchased a Panasonic DVD camcorder. It’s a simple to use device, and is great as to can just take the DVD out of the camera and play it in a normal DVD player. However if you want to edit you video it is not quite so simple.

Firstly you need to rip the video onto your hard drive. If your recorded DVD disc has no errors this is straight forward enough, but if there are errors on the disc you need software that will ignore these errors.

Secondly you need video editing software that edits VOB files and doesn’t recode it to MPEG2. Else you lose quality and sync between video and sound. A loss of quality really shows up on a 42 inch TV.

Thirdly a straight forward DVD burning program is required. You won’t believe how many man hours were required to figure this all out. But I finally achieved it. Many thanks to the follow software – Alcohol 120%, Womble DVD Wizard, & DVDClone.

Above is a little YouTube clip of the Juniorette with Pluto, her favourite Disney character.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Disney, Vacation, Camcorder

The Knife Lady

2007-02-24T15:29:00.000+01:00

Whilst on the tram to the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof after my last night shift a mad lady wearing a very bright pink hat got onto the tram. She sat down and then started to talk to her self. Fellow passengers left her immediate area rapidly. It wasn’t the hat, or her ramblings that unsettled everyone it was the king size hair spray can and the big kitchen knife that she was waving around.

Some people looked quite scared, but nobody said anything, in fact most people seemed to try and pretend she wasn’t there. I didn’t find her threatening at all. It seemed to me as if she was carrying her can and knife for protection. I felt quite sorry for her really.

At the next stop she left the tram, and a few minutes later the tram driver walked through the tram trying to locate her. Nobody said anything, so in the end I told him the lady had left the tram. I guess nobody wanted to get involved.

It did remind me of another incident many years ago when a dodgy bloke pulled a knife on me on a tube train in London. Again it was after a work shift, but I must’ve given him a ‘I don’t give a shit look’ as he soon moved on to threaten other commuters instead. I left the train at the next available station. It wasn’t my stop, I didn’t want to get involved, and I definitely didn’t want to get stabbed.

Technorati Tags: Frankfurt, Knife, Tram

Doing swimmingly well

2007-02-20T05:57:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks ago the Juniorette enquired at her swimming club if they could enter her in for some swimming competitions. She was told that her club do not swim competitively but to do so she would have to join a different club. Fortunately the head trainer/instructor overheard the conversation and said that if she was serious about swimming competitively he would help train her. He trains a lot of disabled swimmers and has been quite successful with his blind swimmers in the German disabled championships. The Juniorette would do extra training with the disabled swimmers. Both Mrs H & I think this is an excellent idea as many children grow up with little or no experience with being with disabled people.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Swimming, Marburg

Spring is in the air

2007-02-17T19:32:00.000+01:00

The past few days have been warm and sunny in Marburg. The birds are pairing up, and the Daffodils are not too far away from flowering. Spring is in the air. But for me one of the defining signs that spring is slowly on its way is when migratory birds start heading north again. A couple of nights ago I heard Cranes flying overhead on their way to their summer breeding grounds. They are certainly earlier this year than last, but as a rule of thumb I generally expect to see them around Mrs H’s birthday, which incidentally is tomorrow. So I expect with continued good weather to see a lot more Cranes heading north in the next few days.

Of course with all this spring activity I wouldn’t be surprised if winter turns up in a big way some time to spoil it all.

Technorati Tags: Springtime, Birds, Marburg

Top of the class

2007-02-10T08:07:00.001+01:00

Earlier this week Mrs H & I had an appointment with the Juniorette’s school teacher/head mistress to discuss how she is doing at school. In our part of Hessen children receive their first school report in the summer term of their second year. The Juniorette so wants to have an official report, but she will have to wait a few more months yet.

Personally I believe the chat could not have gone better. The teacher said that she had nothing negative to report about our daughter. In fact she said that at the moment the Juniorette is the top student in the class. Apparently she even has her temper under control. She does well at maths, reading and dictation and most importantly of all has a desire to learn. We were very happy with the feedback and were extremely pleased with the progress that she has made.

The Juniorette was obviously very curious to what was said about her in our meeting. So we basically told her what was said, but we omitted the fact that she is top of her class, instead we told her that she is in the top group of her class, as we do not want success to go to her head. We told her how happy and proud we were of her, and of her achievements so far.

Also this week my Dad had a Stent Procedure performed in hospital in the UK. All went well and he is back home recoving.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Family, School, Marburg

The Skoda Family

2007-02-03T21:41:00.000+01:00

On Friday Mrs H picked up the new car which is the new model from Skoda called the Roomster. It’s a cross between a standard car and a van, with it being a bit higher at the back. The rear seats can be easily removed for transporting larger items, and this suits our needs perfectly. There is a lot of room inside compared to the Octavia which we just traded in. Mrs H gets to drive the new car and I now get to drive her old one (Skoda Fabia).

The Juniorette is very happy, especially as we managed to incorporate her initials into the registration number of the car. She is also very taken with the type of blue that the car is painted in. I’m just happy that it works. For me a car is a tool and as long as it works and doesn’t break down I am happy.

Today the Juniorette played her first football tournament of the year. I couldn’t attend as I am currently working nights and need to sleep during the day, but Mrs H reports that the Juniorette played very well, but most importantly she had a lot of fun.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Skoda, Roomster, Football

Not so wishy washy

2007-01-31T22:23:00.000+01:00

Last week our washing machine took a turn for the worse. During the spin cycle it sounded like it was going to explode. So Mrs H and I decided to order a new one before the old one gave up the ghost. For once we didn't impulse buy. We actually looked at several machines, compared attributes and prices and settled on buying the latest all singing & dancing model from Quelle.

Well to our surprise the new machine leaked water- Not much, but it got worse every time we used it. The leak appeared to be originating from under the machine. We contacted Quelle on Monday and a replacement new machine arrived today. As the old one was removed we found out that it was also leaking oil (presumably from the motor). This is the second time we have returned purchases to Quelle and the service has been really good both times, which for a German firm is saying something.

The new replacement machine checked out good and did not leak any water. It was also a lot quieter on the spin cycle and didn't vibrate so much. A result. On Friday we take delivery of the new car. Hopefully we won't have any problems with that.

Technorati Tags: Washing Machine, Quelle, Marburg

Your plaice or mine

2007-01-26T14:00:00.000+01:00

I feel violated. My privacy has been invaded and I intend to sue!

Your plaice or mine

Well that explains the strange motorbike noises then!

Technorati Tags: Haddock, Fish

Juli in Januar

2007-01-24T11:46:00.000+01:00

This last weekend the Haddock family visited the Odenwald for my brother-in-law’s birthday party. It was a great party, with lots of good food, lots of kids for the Juniorette to play with, and lashings of beer & wine for the adults. A good time was had by all. So good I was still supping at 5am, which is of course far too late for a gentleman of my age. Consequently I was a tad hungover for the rest of the day.

On the way home to Marburg we stopped off at Mainz for a concert by the band Juli. Their most sucessful hit to date is Perfekte Welle which was released just before the major Tsunami a couple of years ago. Consequently many radio stations stopped playing the song. I really enjoyed the concert and forgot I still had a hangover. Infact by the end of the show it had dissipated completely. Juli play Rock/Pop, which reminds me of the early Nena material. The Juniorette had a great time and was dancing a lot of the time. She definitely likes music with a Rock edge to it.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Juli, Hangover

Hurricane Kyrill is in town

2007-01-18T23:36:00.000+01:00

At the moment a lot of Europe is suffering the ravages of Hurricane Kyrill. In Germany it has already killed 7 people, damaged many properties, felled lots of trees and seriously disrupted the rail system. I was lucky to get to work tonight. The journey took over 3 hours and my train limped into Frankfurt at extra slow speed. But to look on the bright side, a couple of extra hours on the train has to better than being at work. I just hope the trains are running normally when I want to go home in the morning.

From the BBC News Website

Meteorologists at London's Met Office warned the weather system would intensify as it moved east across the continent - with Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany expected to be worst hit overnight.

Winds of almost 105mph (170km/h) were recorded late on Thursday in Germany, prompting the national rail company to suspend all its services, leaving passengers stranded.

The head of German railways said the situation was unprecedented. Air traffic too has been badly affected with many flights cancelled. There has also been reports of flooding.

German meteorologists said the storm was shaping up to be the worst in five years and authorities have warned people to stay indoors.

Technorati Tags: Weather, Hurricane

I hate Mickey Mouse

2007-01-15T23:21:00.000+01:00

Well perhaps not hate, probably more like severely dislike, but that's what happens after 2 weeks in Orlando. To be fair I never liked Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald etc when I was a kid. The Disney gang just didn't appeal to me. I liked Bugs Bunny, Scooby Doo, Danger Mouse, and Rhubarb & Custard, to name a few.

The Juniorette on the other hand is really into the Disney gang and she's now got the cuddly soft toys to prove it. But to balance it out we both got a couple of Star Wars light sabers which we have had a lot of fun with since our return to Germany. They light up and make noise, which is quite good for chasing the cats when they have been naughty (incidently our cats are called Mickey & Minnie - I was vetoed on calling them Mickey & Mallory!)

We are back safe and sound in Marburg, but we are parked out, shopped out, and roller coastered out. I rode some rollercoasters that I thought I would never do. The Juniorette made the height requirements in all parks we visited, so it was coaster hell for me at Busch gardens, but coaster heaven for the Juniorette. It was a great holiday and we found the place where we want to stay next time we are in Florida, it's on the Gulf coast and its further away from Disney!

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Disney, Vacation, Rollercoaster

Time to relax

2006-12-28T06:26:00.000+01:00

We are off to Florida now for a couple of weeks holiday. I doubt if I will blog whilst I am stateside. Hope everyone has a great New Year. We'll see ya when when we get back!

I just converted to the new version of Blogger......what a pain the butt. I now have to use Explorer again as with Firefox logging into Blogger crashes my PC. Enter your own expletives here!

Technorati Tags: Vacation, Florida, Blogger

Last Post

2006-12-22T11:05:00.000+01:00

Last evening my mother flew in from the UK (her arms were very tired) to spend Christmas with us and to accompany us on our holiday to Florida. Luckily she flew in from Bristol and not Heathrow, as the London airport has been fog bound for days. Many flights have been cancelled, creating havoc, and causing heartache for a lot of travellers over the festive season.

Our travel problems started when we returned to our car and it wouldn’t start. The engine turned over lovely, but it sounded like none of the plugs were firing. After flooding the engine a couple of times we resorted to calling the ADAC to come help us, but they reckoned they would take an hour to reach us. I didn’t try to start the Octavia again for 30 mins and at the next attempt it fired up ok. Mrs H promptly cancelled the call to the ADAC and we headed home to Marburg. Whilst leaving the car park the engine idling speed was extremely high for about a minute and then settled down, so I suspect the engine management unit is starting to get a bit flakey. Fortunately the new car arrives in February, and this one is effectively (traded in) sold already.

This is probably my last post before Christmas, so the seasons greetings to everyone, and I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Technorati Tags: Travel, Cars, Skoda

Fitter, but only just!

2006-12-18T00:41:00.000+01:00

Last week Mrs H & I went to the fitness studio for a fitness check and a change to our training program. I was still suffering from a heavy cold, but still thought the fitness check would be a good idea. I have learnt a lesson here - its a lot better and easier when you are feeling well.

Mrs H's fitness levels approved dramatically, but mine barely improved. But at least the trend is in the right direction. My blood pressure was bad, my flexibility a joke and heart rate a bit high. But I was pleased with my weight loss and decline in body fat. Personally I doubt the accuracy of the fitness check as I know I am a lot fitter than I was earlier this year.

The new training routine is quite interesting and seems to be targeting different muscles as we were both hurting a lot the next day. Hopefully at my next fitness check my fitness levels will improve a bit more. As the trainer pointed out to me I need to workout more often. Honest! it's on my to do list........

Technorati Tags: Fitness, Marburg, Gym

The Juniorette's big day

2006-12-15T01:05:00.000+01:00

Juniorette with Makelele, J.Cole & Ballack

The photo CD finally arrived this week with the pictures of when the Juniorette was a Line Up Kid at the Werder Bremen v Chelsea Champions League game last month. Above is a cropped picture of the line up, showing the Juniorette in front of Claude Makelele (French international player who played in this years World Cup final against the winners Italy). Also pictured are Joe Cole (England International player) and Michael Ballack (Captain of the German national team).

We are also finally in possession of a DVD of the game. I would like to try and edit the walk out scene that shows the Juniorette, but I will need to acquire further software for my PC. I have to do this anyway as we have just bought a DVD Camcorder and need new software for authoring discs and editing footage.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Werder Bremen, Football, Champions League

Brasilien Magic

2006-12-11T17:03:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday Werder Bremen played Entracht Frankfurt in a Bundesliga game at the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt. The Haddock family were there, as were some friends of ours from Bremen and some work colleagues of mine from Frankfurt. Before the game we met our friends from Bremen at the Hauptbahnhof and went into town to visit the Weinachts Markt. This was my first time to the Frankfurt Xmas market and I enjoyed it. After some Glühwein and something quick to eat we headed out to the stadium for the game.

It was a great game with Werder winning 6 – 2. Naldo from Bremen (and Brasil) scored a hat trick which for a defender is quite unusual. It was a quick open game which was very exciting. Frankfurt played well up front, but at the back their defence was a bit ropey. Werder played some fast one touch football which at times was a class above Frankfurt. A good victory which made the Haddock family and our friends from Bremen very happy!

Technorati Tags: Bundesliga, Werder Bremen, Football, Frankfurt

Thinking of spring

2006-12-08T07:23:00.000+01:00

As we all know it’s been a bit of a weird autumn so far. Very mild for the time of year, and it seems to have confused Mother Nature somewhat. I have seen butterflies and bumble bees in December, migratory birds heading south much later than usual and plants flowering which really shouldn’t be. Climate change is happening, but not for the first time in the planets history. In fact I think that the planet is in constant change, it’s just that we humans are probably accelerating the natural cycle of change by over polluting.

The seeds that I ordered from the Real Seed Company arrived this week. With the weather as it is I’m almost tempted to sow them now (not really). This year I will grow some heirloom varieties of tomatoes, sweet peppers and aubergine. I have tried to select plants that fruit early, so therefore extending the growing season. After the great chilli glut of 2006 I intend to grow a lot less chilli plants this year. I have some in pots over wintering in the cellar. I am also trying to over winter sweet peppers & aubergines as well. In theory it should work as they are perennials, but in practice I shall have to wait and see.

Shown above is the Plum Lemon variety of tomatoe which comes from Russia, that I will be trying to grow this summer. It is shaped shaped exactly like a lemon, right down to the point on the bottom!

Technorati Tags: Gardening, Marburg, Seeds, Climate Change

1st Advent

2006-12-03T10:05:00.000+01:00

Today is the first advent, and since the first of the month many children around the world have been opening there advent calendars with glee each morning. There is now a new advents calendar marketed for Men!

Technorati Tags: Humour, Beer, Advent

A new motor

2006-11-29T00:36:00.000+01:00

With all the footy stuff going lately I’ve almost forgotten to mention that we ordered a new car a few weeks ago. We are buying another Skoda, this time a Roomster. For lots of years Skoda’s were the butt of many jokes, and quite rightly as they were utter crap. But since the takeover by the VW they have become solid, reliable cars. Basically they are rebadged Volkswagens without the expensive price tag.

Because the Roomster is a new model we have to wait until March for delivery, but that’s not a problem for us. When the Juniorette heard that the Octavia would be going (Trade in), she shed a few tears. She said she has always known this car for as long as she can remember, and would miss it. I never thought about it that way before.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Cars, Skoda

Champions League

2006-11-25T10:09:00.000+01:00

Last Wednesday the Haddock Family travelled up from Marburg to Bremen for the Champions League game between Werder Bremen and Chelsea. The Juniorette was one of the Line Up Kids who walk out onto the pitch with the players before the game, so she and Mrs H had tickets. I went on the off chance of getting a ticket at the stadium. Luckily we were really early at the Weser Stadium and there were a couple tickets left, albeit the more expensive ones, but I wasn’t going to miss this match, so naturally I acquired one.

As we were early we had a walk into town, had a bite to eat and a browse around the shops. I really like Bremen and the locals are really friendly. We bumped into a few Chelsea fans who were well humoured, but the English abroad really do stick out like sore thumbs at times. We made our way back to the Stadium where the Juniorette met up with the other line up kids. They then went into the Stadium to practice the Line Up routine. Mrs H and I after picking up a few goodies in the fan shop then took our seats. She was in the West Curve, and I was sat in the block above the VIP section in the South Stand with an excellent view over the field. The other fans, in particular an older Bremer gent were rather amused that an Englishman was sat with them who didn’t support Chelsea and was a Werder fan.

I must admit that when the teams walked out and I saw the Juniorette, a speck of dust must’ve flown into my eye. It was a magic moment. She was on the hand of Claude Makelele of Chelsea, a French international player. She was wearing a Werder football kit (which she got to keep), and after the Champions League hymn where the kids stand in front of the players, she and the other kids ran off to the tunnel and the changing rooms, to get changed and take their seats in the stand.

It was an exciting game, the atmosphere was terrific, and Bremen won 1-0 with a headed goal by Per Mertesacker. The Juniorette had a fantastic day as did we all, and we were all very tired when we arrived back in Marburg at 3am. My sister-in-law (Deepblue) recorded the game and reports that the Juniorette is seen quite clearly a few times. Next week we should receive a photo CD from Bremen, so hopefully I can post some photos then.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Werder Bremen, Football, Champions League

2nd Whiney Expat Blogger Meet Up

2006-11-20T22:16:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday the Haddock family attended the 2^nd Annual Whiney Expat Blogger Meet Up in Bonn. All the usual suspects were there from last year and quite a few new faces were present as well. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay for too long as we had to travel onward to the Odenwald to celebrate the 81^st Birthday of my father in law.

It was great to see everyone at the meet up, and this year the English contingent increased by 100% as D, the boyfriend from Heather hails from London. J acted as tour guide and took us on a little tour of the city centre which I found quite charming with its pedestrian streets and open markets. We took a look in the cathedral and then headed off to an old German restaurant (where Beethoven apparently had dinner, got drunk, fornicated etc) for lunch. Unfortunately after lunch we had to say our goodbyes and then drive south. Hopefully we can attend for longer next year and I can then get to chat to everyone for longer.

The Juniorette enjoyed the meet up and was quite shy at times, which believe me is quite unusual for her. Tomorrow evening she will be in Bremen for the Champions League game between Werder Bremen & Chelsea. She will be one of the Line Up Kids that walk out onto the field with the players before the game. If she gets to walk out with Tim Borowski her evening will be complete as he is her favourite player. The game is televised by Sky Sports in the UK and Premiere in Germany.

Technorati Tags: Juniorette, Bonn, Football,Whiney Expat

Wine & Cheese

2006-11-17T21:44:00.000+01:00

Researchers today released the results of studies that showed that a substance found in red wine, resveratrol, allowed mice that were fed high-calorie, high-fat diets to avoid the ill effects of their resulting obesity. This, in turn, increased their longevity. The scientists, were, however, shocked at how appallingly bad the mice were at choosing the right kind of wine to go with each type of cheese placed on their plates.

Technorati Tags: Humour, Wine, Joke