Christmas Greetings

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.

Slowly nearing the half century

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.

The Willy Goal

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.

Step into the seasons

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 busy guitar girl

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 idyllic coin

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 first Swim meet

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

Return of the Trick Cyclist

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

Kinderkirchentag zum Elisabethjahr

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

Trick Cyclist

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

Grasshopper

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

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

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

Technorati Tags: Tomatoes, Grasshopper, Marburg

Unfucking glaublich

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

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

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

Technorati Tags: Marburg, DSL, T-Com

More lanes please!

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

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

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

Technorati Tags: Marburg, Juniorette, Swimming

Wind damage

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

Birds and the Bees

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

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

Tom's and Roses

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

Exceptional Weather

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

The wrong Indian

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

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