Fathers Day

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

Sick as a parrot

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.