bakery

Tuesday 30th June, 2020

Pass by the bakery in Neustadt on the wayto the car. Stop, and consider that one of

their rolls would be very nice later on at work. Fumble taking the face mask out of the top pocket. The strings-that qggo around the ears have become entangled with the mobile telephone When finished with all the fumbling, hook the cords over the ears. Now there is the musty smell of the once, or twice,-used mask in the nose.

In the bakery, select a roll, and pay

the woman who is behind the

plexiglass screen. There is a small

hatch let into the screen, that is for the money, and for the returned change.

Say thank you, wish a nice day, and

walk on. 

Use the shortcut through The Konigsfelder fosse, the car is parked in the Freyang. Opposite to the Druckerei Bullinger.

The car is parked on the opposite side

of the street. Somebody has parked very closely behind it, and it is necessary to go back and forth many times before it is possible to leave.

heart, two views

The lights in the yard are still glowing dimly, the power that the sun gave them running out now, just before first light. The sky is not really dark anymore, it is paling towards dawn. The watch says that it is early, and 

fall back to sleep.

Awake, the light outside is brighter, and the small solar lanterns hanging from the wire in the yard have almost gone out . Unsteady, but go to the bathroom, go have a shower. The shower head has been left in the tray by the son, an untidy habit of his, an untidy habit like so many other habits of his.

The shower is warm, the soap cleans away the sweat of sleep.

Find a fresh shirt in the chest of drawers, Skandinavian, Swedish well designed and cheap.

Try it on, realise that it is too light, take out another.

Underpants from the drawer in the wardrobe, socks from another drawer, and trousers from yet another.

That is all.

Then the cat espresses a desire to jump onto the knees, let her up.

And that is all, because it is time to make coffee, a routine, that will lead to heart failure one day maybe but not today.

And just as all is done, and departure nears, the son gets up, he suggests making coffee, say no need any more.

And then a goodbye hug, see you this evening.

It is a joy, a pleasant thing.

a hug from the heart.

crows

The path under the trees is dark and cool, and there is such solitude, peace and quiet. The gravel pavement is noisy underfoot, a very loud crunching noise.

Up ahead there is the junction, the steep short route and the longer more gentle route. Today, for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, take the shorter route. The breath shortens, but it is not nearly as  crippling as it was.

All the way to the top of the park, a climb of almost one hundred and fifty metres, and then a rest on the park bench. Focus the long lens on the camera, check that the diopter setting makes sense, and try again.

It all seems to work.

Walk on to the small zoo. The idea is to take some pictures of the crows.

The only people there are an elderly couple on a park bench, enjoying the silence possibly, and the man who takes care of the animals. Focus on a crow, and wait.

The crow remains still.

Takes two steps.

Then it continues to remain still.

Look down to check a setting on the lens.

The crow flies away.

Start again.

Later on, after an hour of experiences like that, the peacock sets up it's tail, makes a huge peacock display.

Take a picture of that,

Why not.

Isn't that what everyone would do?

And there are not enough crows around anyway.

The whole thing will do to test the lens, and the crows can wait until another time.

focal, stop

The lens is long and, and after a while, really heavy. Keeping it directed at the stupid bird that will not fly away, A simple project to have a picture of a bird with spread wings is exhausting. The fowl are just not cooperating.

Maybe it is because they know that all they have to do is to wait, then the humans will come into the park and feed them. Perhaps that is the problem.

Perhaps it is just impatience.

A man with an impressive camera around his neck comes over, a long fat lens, grey plastic grips, acrylic windows for the data, and so forth.

He excuses himself and asks what focal length the old huge black lens has.

"600 mm"

The answer was too short, so he asks for the maximum aperture.

Look down at the lens, there it is in large clear writing

"5.6"

Oh.

Tell him that the lens is very old, thirty years now, and that there is no automatic focus there.

He wrinkles his nose.

wishes a nice day

and goes his way.

It is always a drawback, wandering around with such huge equipment. Everyone knows so much and wants to show it.

Go home through the woods. There in the bushes is a man in camouflage gear, another with a tripod.

They are hard to see. The one looks pleading, shushes. So wait.

They were probably some team making cutaway shots for a documentary.

Maybe they had found a squirrel in the tree.

They say thank you.

And that is that.

dust

Friday 26Th Jane 2020

at the loading bay. the faculty for Physics

in Garching they are demolishing the old

service buildings. A very large tracked vehicle with an articulated arm and a set of hydraulic jaws is biting the concrete walls, crushing them to seperate the steel reinforcements from the grey matter.

this causes large amounts of dust, and to keep this down a workman with a hosepipe sprays water over the pieces as they break apart.

This keeps the dust down, somewhat.

The picture of the man with the hose.

It was necessary to return to the office to collect the camera.

Then back to the door in the basement and then to take a picture, in the morning

light, the san law, the big black skips for the waste steel on either side. The steel will be recycled, to be used in an other building.

Take the picture, take more, there are details to watch like the shadow

, the posture. Correct a few things on the  computer

Here it is 1

motor oil and plants

At work, leave the car under the tree. There is a big Mercedes sports car on the other side of the tree, a two seater sports car.

The little black car is a two seater as well, just not as quick.

And far smaller.

Later, the man at the goods entrance is on the telephone saying that he wishes to get rid of his potted plants. They would look good in the yard at home, so why not?

Go downstairs, and load the two small plants onto a trolley. Wheel it out into the yard, it is not far to the car, and open the tailgate of the car.

Then decide to check the oil. It is about time that this was checked, the last time was in September. Open the engine cover, this is in the back of the car, and withdraw the dipstick for the oil. Give it a wipe with a rag and replace it . Look again, and see that the oil level is just below minimum. This is not enought.

There is a canister of oil in the rear of the car, bought in France last September, and it is still three quarters full.

Pour it into the engine, wiping the area around the oil cap with the rag. Replace the dipstick, the oil level is now more than the minimum, more will not be necessary. 

Checking was sensible, for the car would not work any more without oil.

Refit the lid on the engine, put down the carpeting, place the plants into the tiny cargo area of the car.

All done, the plants will wait there untill they are unloaded.

At home.

Return the trolley, return to the office.

Listen to the noise of the demolition machinery outside.

It starts to rain.

A summer shower.

wall collapse

It is a cool morning of what promises to be a hot summer's day. The streets are empty, it is just past six o'clock and few people are awake yet, even fewer are on the street. 

The early shift will be changing soon, a few police officials are on their way already, coming into work early, not expecting any traffic.

Be careful. A car crash with a police officer on her way to work would be a bad way to start the day.

Later, on the motorway, there is a truck ahead, it is very fast.

It leaves the motorway at Munich airport, perhaps it has to meet a flight. The truck has Luxembourg registration plates.

Shortly after arriving at work, leaving the car parked under the usual tree, the demolition people start to work on the old services building. A machine on tracks, with a huge hydraulic arm and a biting tool at the end of it. It is like a big yellow dinosaur.

It bites its way through the concrete effortlessly, the steel reinforcements look like hairs in the grey rubble.

It will be a noisy day at work today, the floor in the office shaking every now and again as a wall collapses.

Social Media

It is very early, still dark, the solstice is past, but it is just because it is early, no other reason.

In the bathroom, decide to take a shower, the whole body system seems to be awake, anyway why remain in bed. Take off the watch and put it on the ledge behind the handbasin and let the shower run so that it will be warm. There is no reason for giving the system a nasty shock.

and when done make a cup of coffee in the kitchen, the kitchen in its usual sordid disordered state.

Sit at the writing desk, read the news, look at the posts left by people unseen for years and years. Everyone presenting good advice for everyone else, nice thoughts, on colourful backgrounds. All so terribly nice.

A man shows an African sculpture, he writes that it is from Gahna (sic), maybe there is such a place.

The wooden sculpture is beautiful. 

There are others there too, writing that people should be kind to dogs.

At six, turn off the alarm, finish the cup of coffee.

Remember to take the phone from the recharging station.

The drive to work is long, the Autobahn is full of steadily moving traffic, a multitude of large cars each containing one person. Stay with the trucks on the right lane, this is simpler.

At work a black sports mercedes has taken up the space under the tree. This does not matter, be flexible and take the free space on the other side of the tree.

Later in work, realise that the wallet is not in the pocket of the jacket where it should be. A short telephone call establishes that it is at home, beside the charging station for the 'phone.  This is a little bit serious, but then it just means going without food today until this evening.

Check the social media on the work computer,

It is no different from home.

she will never learn

The cat approaches kittenlike, human legs the target, and rubs the back of her head there. Then off to her food dish. But the food dish has catfood in it, what is the problem?

Get some more catfood from the refrigerator, and put it on the plate.

A disparaging feline snuffle, she turns her back and goes to the door, looks back over her shoulder when she sees that it is closed, she will never learn how to depress the handle herself.

A shower, done; a shave, done too; a search for clean clothing, done likewise.

All done.

Now for a cup of coffee.

That is soon done too.

And then there is nothing for it but to go to bloody awful Monday morning work.

And then the commentator on the radio in the car says that Monday morning is a state of mind of its own.

Listen to the news, hear that an old fool can no longer draw the crowds he wished for.

apathetic

In the same corner of the disordered living room, loving the peace and quiet more than anything, the light from what promises to be a sunny day causing a glow from all the wooden surfaces in the room.

The solitude is pleasant, the sound of the clocks is relaxing.

It is sad, but it will be just a short while to wait for the relapse into noise, into loudness, and the relapse into the depression that is hiding behind a corner or in a crevice or behind a wall in the mind. Just knowing that it is there is enough to curtail any action.

A person that would walk in and take the hands and lead them out would be nice, but why would any person do such a thing?

It will be necessary to do something sometime but what.?.

The liberation that comes as an external scream mirroring the inner screams would be short lived futile protest leading to an enforced medicinal sedation, an apathy that will leave the ill there in plain sight and the mind in no position to do anything about it.

The cat is awake, it has been awake for some time now, it is searching for food.

Hear the double sound of it's front paws followed by it's hind paws as it hits the floor, jumping down from the worktop. It should not have been up there, but why care.

The day is late and it is not going anywhere.

There is a tinnitus hiss top right in the head, that is where the ears say it is.

There is really no knowing where it is really located, or what the cause is.

Sit in the room alone

Hoping for progress.

And know that there will be none.

Perhaps just taking the car and driving away.

Into the day.

miserable grey saturday.

It has it's ups and downs, and today it is really not up. The head is heavy, why bother, what is to be done?

Awake early, and just realise that this is another day that will go nowhere, caught in a situation that will not allow respite or relief.

Resolve to fix the wall.

But why.

Surely wall fixing should be left to wall fixers.

What wall fixers?

Take the son to to the building suppliers to buy some screws to fix the wall with.

Buy the screws, look at doors.

Then across the parking lot to the grocery supermarket to buy food for the cat.

Get this, the other, and see if there is any of that.

Check out, the woman is friendly, she smiles from behind her mask.

Then realise that the cat food was forgotten.

Go to the car to deposit the paid-for groceries.

The son returns to the store to look for cat food.

Join him later, he is trying to make his mind up as to which one the cat would want. The cat does not really care, does it?

Perhaps it does.

buy three tins.

Today is a perfect day for misery, for depressions.

miserable grey saturday.

no talk

There is nobody awake but the cat, the cat that wants.

Wants attention.

Wants food.

Give the furry animal what it desires.

And make a cup of coffee.

Put on yesterdays clothing, what the hell.

Pat the cat on the head.

Make a second cup.

It is early, it is earlier than six in the morning.

And then decide to move, walk through the town to where the small black car is left on the sidewalk,

put the key into the keyhole between the seats and start the engine.

Rumble over the cobbles, and pass through the tunnel under the castle. The tunnel is one and a half kilometres long.

And at work, leave the car under the usual tree, check in.

And untill now, speak to nobody.

It is ten thirty.

There is no vow of silence, there is nobody to talk too.

Work is just boring.

Make up some maps on the computer, so that strangers may find their way through the campus.

Without asking anybody.

föhn

Wearing a light blue linen jacket over a beige shirt and beige linen trousers, and it is raining, just single drops. Do not bother to go back in to the house to get a jacket.

The rain is light.

The car is quite a distance away, there were no free parking spaces near home yesterday. But it is only a ten minute walk, the car is opposite the small church in front of the old guest house, a guest one time guest house that is now a decaying ruin.

The car is parked as it was yesterday, the other cars round about have not moved.

Because the car is small and takes up little space on the road it is easy to navigate the narrow alleys, staying well to the side to let other cars pass. Out of habit they stop. their drivers are worried about having their car's pristine paint scratched.

Turn left into the tunnel, and proceed along the usual path.

Resist the temptation to overtake on the country road, it is dangerous, and what time will be saved anyhow? A few minutes that are then free to waste elsewhere.

A polish truck, driving fast down the motorway is a welcome shield to stay behind, remain in the draught produced by the huge vehicle, the engine of the tiny car does not need to labour so much. It is probably good for the diesel consumption too.

Later, at work in the office, see the clouds withdraw to the north-east, and a blue and white sky promises pleasant weather.

On the way south west from home earlier, the alps where clearly visible in the distance, over one hundred kilometres away.

tired

The phone rings. It is a man with a small job, a man in confusion. He does not know where the original files are . So he sends out screen shots, and asks whether or not they will do .

They probably will not.

Then the system does not work.

Then it does not matter.

Tiredness sets in. There is nothing

prepared and there is no real idea of

what is needed,

THEY to find a solution in the internet, this does not work either.

Then he terminates the phone call,

he has other things to do. He has still

not understandably explained his     wish.

no wish

A young man enters the hall through the glass door, after stopping to read the notice explaining that masks are mandatory, for the safety of others.

He makes a stupid throwaway gesture.

Approaching him watch his silly grin grow wider.

Go out of his way.

Selfish asshole.

Nothing more to say today.

And no wish to write at all.

okay today

The stairs in the doctor's practice are not a problem. The pain in the knees has gone, how will I explain this to the doctor? Pains in the back, pains in the knee. It was difficult to climb the stairway at home yesterday.

There is a note on the door on red paper saying "please ring".

Press the button.

Wait, and then the door buzzes.

Go in, there is a counter, a woman sitting behind it. Tell her the problem, give her the medical insurance card. She checks the information, then she puts the plastic sheet into the reader.

Then, looking into the screen she says that the earliest appointment will be in an hour.

She suggests a walk in the town.

Take a walk in the rain in the town.

Go into a café, a bakery shop café. 

Order a cup of coffee with a croissant, wearing the community mask. Sit down at a table after removing the mask, drink the coffee eat the croissant. People come in, all wearing masks, order their loaves of bread, or cakes.

Watch.

Stop to talk to a window cleaner, a man met in the park yesterday. He would like to be a photographer, he will buy a camera he says. 

Wish him luck, admire his skill with the window cleaning tools

Return to the doctor's practice.

The stairs that would have been difficult yesterday are no problem today.

After a long wait in the waiting room the doctor takes a look at the knee.

She says that everything seems in order.

It was not yesterday, or last week, but things are ok today.

long lens

The path up the hill is steep, steeper today, the breath is short due to a lack of exercise recently. The long Novoflex lens is slung over the shoulder, today it will be tried out for the last time.

It will most likely be a failure. The lens type never achieved great popularity, it looks like some kind of a weapon. Only to be pointed at birds and animals, not people. A lens with a shoulder stock and a pistol grip, that is silly.

The woods are lovely now, all deep green, there is a light rain.

Recieve strange glances, because of the thing with the shoulder stock.

The aim is to take pictures of crows, to see if it is possible to make an acceptably sharp picture at all.

The birds are all strutting about, they are not interested in flying today.

Wait, take a picture, it does not work at all well.

Perhaps leaving wildlife photography to wildlife photographers would be a good idea.

Along the fence there is a woman feeding a pigeon, the bird is eating from her hand.

Point the camera a the bird, now it is a closeup of the hand and the bird.

Take that as a picture,

And then try for the crows again.

Without success.

Take the lens back down through the park again.

Go home.

pony trap

Saturday, June 13th, 2020

Around the corner by the museum    

See that there is a commotion in front of a building. There are men with a trailer loading an old carriage. The carriage

is a nice structure, made of wood, a two seater with big wooden wheels.

An old man and a young man are working, trying to load the carriage.

The one is shouting at the other, the other cannot lift, it is confusion.

Join them, lend a hand lift the horse carriage with the pivot axle.

Then the axle and the two front wheels fall off.

 The older man starts to shout instructions to the younger man. The younger man starts to shout at the older one. They will get nowhere like this,

Hold the carriage by the side.Tell the

older man to lift on his side.

Then the light old carriage is on the trailer

The old man says that it is for sale.

He is sorry to see it go.

It is a pony trap.

open window.

Outside the window there is the sound of hard-shod feet passing on it's way up towards the police station. It is the sound of  a hollow heel on on pavement.

The window in the sitting room is open, so that the cat may sit upon the sill and observe the traffic. And the few sounds from outside can enter the peaceful sitting room without hindrance through the sheets of glasss of the big windows.

Of course the wife and the son are asleep. They were both awake until late last night, she watching television and he with his friends on the computer. The computer is a great help during the restrictions of the recent times, but the strange isolation is almost post human, there is no contact, and the visual impulse is as moderated by the machine and the person guiding it's input.

Today is the day between a feast day, a holiday,  and a weekend. Many take these days off, and fill in the hours working overtime on other days. It means that there is a stretch of four days at home.

That is pleasant enough.

Sit barefooted at the table, it will be a hot day today. The warm shower in the morning was pleasant, the coffee now is pleasant, and the peace and quiet is pleasant. It will all be over later, as soon as the family is awake.

The cat jumps down from the window sill, and proceeds to the kitchen.

Perhaps it thinks that food ahas been placed there.

It has not.

Out of frustration with the situation the cat starts to chase a stray moth.

And now it is ten to eight.

cc holy feast.

why

why get up early, there is no need.

Wake into the sordid disorder of the family's leavings from the evening and the weeks before.

There is no place to hide from all this but at the little desk.

Read the news, such as the news you get for free is,

Push things to one side in the kitchen.

The worktop is sticky.

Make a cup of coffee.

Do not clean up.

why bother.

It will be returned to it's sordid state in no time at all.

Put on some day clothes, make another cup of coffee.

Today is a holiday.

Sollemnitas Sanctissimi Corporis et Sanguinis Christi 

Today is a holiday. Corpus Christi, and even non believers have a day off from work.

It will be a day cleaning again.

Or a day hiding in a corner.

But it will not be an enjoyable day.

Because of the anger at the state of things.

Calm down, quieten.

window cleaner

Wednesday, 10th of June 2020

There is a man in front of the first flloor office window spreading a foamy liquid with a mop. He is the window cleaner, he is using a stand on a truck. The stand is extensible, he can clean all o the windows from the outside in safety and with ease. The window looks strange with all the foam, take up the camera to make a picture of it. The man waves and signals dissent. Open the window and ask, he says he does not want to be on any pictures. That is his "good right" in Germany. Any one may dissent and forbid his picture to be taken.

And that is that.

So delete the picture.

The man was worried. Perhaps he is being searched for, or maybe his employment is not registered.

Sit down at the desk again.

Finish making the map, a thumbnail maü showing people which buildings are where on the campus.

disturbed

Tuesday 9th of June 2020.

It

a half past four in the morning, there is

no reason to be so wide awake. But so it

↳ "go into the kitchen, close the door carefully

so as not to make noise. There is no need

to make noise, no need to awaken people.

Close the door to the son's room as well.

grind some coffee beams, make a cup

of coffee.

Do not switch on the lights in the living

room, just sit down and drink a cup of

coffee.

prescription pills

Mon 8, June, 2020

at the corner of the alley, take a left down the Neustadt street. Today is the day to go to the doctors to get a new prescription for the prostate pills.

Walk altthe way down the street, the cafes are opening already. They are all hoping for custom, after the period of silence during the lockdown.

There is a woman walking ahead, knee length skirt and long blonde hair. She is walking fast, take care not to walk faster, there is no need to be obtrusive. At the end of the street she walks down the alley to the right.

Take a short cut through the building, using a shopping arcade there..There is a small square there. A square with a restaurant and cafe, they have chairs and tables out in the open.

Across the square, see the woman with the skirt and the hair go into the same building, as the one holding the doctor's practice, Perhaps she works in the bank, There is one in that building too.

Follow, and take the stairs to the second floor.

It only likes five minutes to get the prescription. They are most efficient,

Sun free Sunday

Sunday is a day of feeling nothing. Awake easily, it is light, stay in bed.

It is a strange feeling of a complete lack of inertia, not even drifting.

Just being there, in bed.

If somebody were to say get up and go, then that would not be problem. Nobody does.

So just lie there, in bed.

Get up a bit later, go into the kitchen, the kitchen is a disaster area.

Clear a space around the coffee machine, check that there is water in it, and turn it on. Clear a space around the coffee grinder, seee that there is still ground coffee in the dispenser. It will do for a cup.

Empty the sieve of the coffee machine, just pour the grinds down the drain.

Make a cup of coffee.

Drink, and have a slice of bread and sausage.

The family is still asleep, they were up late last night.

Put on some clothint later on, leave the house for a walk. Feel just too tired to go up into the park, so walk about the town. There are people hurring to the baker shops

Hurrying through the grey damp morning, hurrying to be ahead of forecast rain.

At the rear of the town palas there is a major building site, a temporary bridge has been constructed ofver the road.

The joinery work is fantastic, the bridge and the platform up there have been beautifully made. All that work just to make a scaffold!

There are few birds at the river today, just a few swallows flying and fluttering about low over the water catcing insects.

The depression that was felt in the morning is getting worse.

Walk around the town, return to the town centre.

Wander about looking in to shop windows.

barber

sleeping with the window open is fantastic, fresh air, the sound of rain, and in the early morning a concert by two birds. Is it a nightingale? Or perhaps it is just a blackbird.

The song is lovely, listen and fall back to sleep.

Get up at half past six, take some fresh underwear from the wardrobe, and a fresh pair of socks too.

yoo hoo

There is an appointment with a hairdressers at seven thirty, the hairdresser just around the corner.

This will be the first haircut in the last four months. All the shaggy masses have to go.

Read the news on the computer, there is not so much happening.

The American president is preparing for his reelection, as he has been doing for the last three years.

And he takes offence easily.

There is no news.

Pick up a throwaway mask, and leave the house at twenty past seven.

At the hairdressers be directed to the side room.

The hairdresser washes the hair, and ten, over to another chair.

She asks how much she should cut off?

Say a large amount, about four months worth.

Talk to the woman about all kinds of things.

And leave the shop with less hair and less money

notices

fridayJune 5 2020

Turn on the computer.

Copy the file to the computer in the cellar.

Adjust that computer remotely.

go down to the plotter room in the cellar.

Change the paper on the platter

change the ink.

and then press the button, after having

entered" print".

Let the machine work.

Go to the coffee dispenser, one floor up.

Put in one Euro, for a big cup.

And return to the office, on the same floor.

read the mail, good news and bad.

Drink the coffee.

And go back to the plotter room in the basement.

Take out the roll of paper, now printed with

the plans of the building, and a list of professors

and instructions as to how to find them.

Cut the roll into pages, each oneDIN A1.

Put them on a trolley.

Wheel the trolley through the building.

On the top floor, open the first frame, take out the old notice.

Put a red sticky dot onto rhe new notice,

and put the new notice into the frame.

Four snaps, and the information notice

is up. to date.

Repeat, eight times on this floor.

Take the lift down, repeat another seven times.

Take the lift down to the basement, replace

one of the signs there.

Collect and cut the six newly printed

posters in' the basement.

Take the lift to the first floor

And so on, and on, for three hours

until all the signs are replaced.

It is a buffoons work, but it made

the time go faster.

'Not boring, and the pay is the same.

prefab

Thursday, June four twenty twenty

Turn the corner to enter the tunnel and see that there is a red and white striped bar across the entrance to the tunnel, A barrier, this way out of town is blocked today.

Do u U him in the small car, and follow the main road through the town. This is not a path that is usually taken, it would be all right using a bicycle, but a bicycle may take routes that a car may not.

Cross the river, take a left, then realise that this road will be blocked too. Take a right, a left, stop at the traffic light.

Give it all up, stop trying to find a short cut, take the long route. That is the route past the out-of-town shopping centre with all that easy parking, and then: there is the motorway.

Things are back to everyday normal, follow a big truch moving fast on the slow lane. It has advertising for houses on it's rear, the firm that owns the truck delivers pre-fabricated dwellings too.

Think about this all the way to the turnoff for Freising -Sud.

The truck goes on at the same speed.

A professional driver.

no bark because of beavers bite

Wednesday, third of June.
Walk along the bricked corridor, there is an unpleasant smell in the nose, that face mask needs to be changed. The long corridors at work, with brick walls and brick like tiles on the floor are cool, dim, and unfriendly. At the end of the long corridor there is a glass door, a stairs, and an exit into the remains of the building site for the parking house, the building still unfinished after a full year of construction.

The sun is hot and bright. Walk over the dusty ground, skirting the area where a
big yellow machine is breaking slabs of concrete. It is a nasty crunching noise, very
loud.

Enter the forest, between the trees on the left hand side there is a sewage plant, smelling typically. Walk through the woods, there is the river. It is low, there is not much water in it.

But the sound of the running water drowns all other sound. It is pleasant, and relaxing

Walk along the path by the river. A man and a child approach, both on bicycles.

They are taking the long road to Freising, the pebbles grinding under the wheels.

The trees close to the river bank have had the bark pared off them by beavers. All the trees close to the water's edge are dead, eaten by the rodents, the trunk gnawed, the bark gone. Beavers are destructive, but they are protected.

Further up the river there is an outlet, waste water from the reactor is let into the river here.

There is a man there taking pictures, using his telephone.

Further on, take a right, and back into the forest. It is more a small jungle than a forest, completely wild..

After three kilometres, the morning walk is over, a short break from the current

inactivity of work.

rumble

2. June 2020

Leave the door on the latch, the building workers    

will come later. They will not have to ring the

doorbell, the wife and the son's sleep will not be disturbed.

It is quiet in the street, the light from the sun is at a low angle, there are shadows everywhere The air is still damp and fresh, as it takes up the moisture from the night.

At the end of the alley, there is traffic, early morning drivers hurrying to work. Take a left turn down the

Neustadt street, there is a baker's shop there, it will be possible to buy a roll.

Fumble for the mask, and when it has been removed from the inside pocket put the left ear loop over the left ear, and the same on the right. Enter the baker's shop, there are plastic shields on the counter.

Because of the mask, exhaled breath fogs the glasses Push the glasses up onto the forehead, say good morning and look at the contents of the display.

Pick out a roll and place the money on a tray. The tray is withdrawn through an opening in the clear plastic shield, and the change is put onto the tray which is returned via this same opening. The roll is placed in a paper bag and reached around the plastic shield. The woman behind the shield wishes a good day. The sound is muffled because of her mask. Wish her the same, take the roll and leave.

Outside the shop, take of the mask and put it into the breast pocket of the shirt.

and walk on through the town, down an alley, to the parking spot where the small black car is.

There is a rumble of tyres or cobbles,

and a cyclist grazes his mountain bike just past the door of the car.

He was fast and nearly silent.

But for the rumble of his profiled tyres

on the cobbled street.

or two

first of June, two thousand and twenty.

It is hot and pleasant at the top of the

hill, a view of the reactor in the valley. It is

a peaceful place.

Today, two photographs, both with the

big camera.

One of a hut by the motorway, the

other a view of the reactor.

Up at six this morning, just to do that.

Amateur photography, just for the pleasure

of making a picture.

Or two,

The washing hung up in the morning at first light, so that it may be dry by this evening.
A figure in the distance, with a white shape running ahead of it.
A young woman taking her dog for a walk alonf the dustl lane on the crest of the hill.