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.

Last Weekend

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

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 will rock you!

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

Daylight in Your Eyes

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

Juli in Januar

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