cloth

 Utterly exhausted walking along by the overfilled river. The river's water is the colour of milky tea, on account of all the mud flowing downstream. It is swollen because of the rain, and there are logs and other bits of wood flowing down with the current. These tree trunks and branches have been washed out of the woods at the side of the river, and are now causing a nuisance by forming small log jams against the bridges, and getting caught in the huge rakes placed before the power plants.

The paths under the bridges have been closed, walk down the left hand side of the river today. The Italian coffee shop has closed too, for whatever reason. Find an empty park bench and watch the gulls scavenging in the river, and the swallows flying close over the surface of the water hunting insects. The gulls all float downstream, then all at once they all take to the air and fly upstream. There, in the distance, they settle down in the water and start to float downstream again. They keep on repeating this performance.

After a while continue walking along beside the river, until the Theater street lies on the left. There is a stall there, a man selling special cloths for cleaning windows. Let him demonstrate, and watch. Tell him that there is no way that this will work on the windows at home. The special thing about these cloths is that they do not require any form of detergent. The man has a few windows to demonstrate upon. He demonstrates, and it is all very convincing. Still, this cannot work.

Buy the smallest set of cloths that he has.

Try it out later, after a sleep, the pills this morning have sunk the blood pressure down to a level that is just not fun any more.

six miles

 30 yesterday and with one thing and another, forgot the entry.

Woke early and packed parcels, things to send to people wo had bought them. Email notes to write to others, those who want particular service, or to save the costs of mail by combining present and future purchases to one parcel.

Brought the stuff to the post and then did the usual round, much later. It was nearly three in the afternoon before returning home, with sore legs and a dizzy head.

Check the blood pressure, it has gone low again. That would explain the sore head and the dizziness. The legs are probably because of the the six mile long walk.

stuff.

 The shoes bought on Friday grip well, and the mud is not so slippy any more. It was a long walk today, longer than yesterday, with a long straight run back along the river bank.

Landshut is getting smaller every day, all the distances that were long once are shortening. It is strange going everywhere on foot, it is less stressful even if it is not faster.

But there must be a limit somewhere. Now, after fifteen kilometres, think back to the times when a walk of only four would have caused more suffering.

And spend all afternoon selling the old gear on Ebay and being surprised at the amount of money that people will pay for stuff.

12.9

 New shoes were bought yesterday, especially for walking with. Try two shops, and the one had a young man trying to sell the shoes by brand and price alone, the second had a slightly older woman who sold shoes by suitability and fit.

A pair of shoes were bought in the second shop.

Today the weather was wet and nasty in the morning, so the nice new shoes stayed at home and the older ones were taken out again. 

Behind the second viewpoint, the path was coated in slippery mud, especially the less formal one which was really just a shortcut through a field of maize. Suddenly, a slippage, and the discovery that the grass and the mud were just too wet to lie down in today. In the mud those cheap old trainers had simply slipped, and in no time at all caused the mishap. 

In passing, took an apple from a tree in somebodys orchard that had fruit hanging over the path. The apple had a worm in it, and was bitter inside.

Finally, the cup of coffee at the italians. Halfway through the cup it started to rain.

Go home and take a rest. Twelve point nine kilometres are enough for today.

shoes make a difference

 The path leads up the hill in serpentines, hardcore path and steps made with logs. Count out the steps in fives to make climbing them easier. Farther up there is a man with an electric blower clearing the leaves away from the steps. He is a municipal employee in a bright orange high-visibility uniform. He stops work and in the ensuing conversation he explains that it is just easier with a blower. The paths are well kept, and he explains that they have to check the wooden railings, because of vandalism.

Leave him to his work. The blower is pleasantly quiet, unlike the petrol driven ones that are used elsewhere. He is a friendly man with a simple job which he likes to do well.

At the top of the serpentines there is the viewpoint. At this hour in the morning the sun is shining directly at the old buildings of Landshut, the two big churches standing out.

What it to be done but to take a picture? It is such a typically postcard view, despite the threatening clouds in the background. Nearby is the house belonging to a painter, and he used to paint this view from his window many times. And when that is done, go on up the path, the Landshuter Höhenwanderweg again. Because the weather is damp and misty, the light is soft and pleasant.

A runner comes rushing along the path, a man on his morning run. He is probably one of the inhabitants of the nearby luxury suburb. There are fine houses all with a view, all with big gardens. The man is unfriendly, he does not return a mornings greeting.

The path goes on between the maize plantations, all precisely planted in their field, mechanical precision that does not really suit a plant at all.

Take a picture of the wild grass beside the cultivated field.

The old shoes today are causing the feet pain, and tiring the legs. It is a thing that would not have been believed before now, that shoes would make such a difference.

caught in the rain, buy an umbrella

 Cross the busy trunk road to get to the shops. It is pouring rain in a steady downpour, it started about half an hour earlier and there are still three kilometres to go until todays walk is finished. Put on the mask and go into the drugstore, the place that will sell you anything but drugs. They have umbrellas, and buy a small black one.

After that, it is possible to continue the walk along the river called Isar, all the way up to the town.

Sit down outside, the waitress in the café insists on putting a cushion on the seat. She is right, it is more comfortable.

She brings out the coffee, and gives a cheerful "bis Morgen". She is a cheerful person, even if the weather is bad for business.

Perhaps tomorrow will be better.

see you tomorrow

A longer walk today, make an experiment and take a bridge underneath the road. It is a tunnel, tubular, with corrugated walls. It is like a flat-bottomed pipe leading underneath the wide main road to Vilsbiburg.

For all that drama it actually leads nowhere special at all. To the left there is a metal gate in the fence, in front there is just the fence and to the right a tarmac road leading up to a forest. Maybe the last will be worthwhile, but not today. Turn back, go through the tunnel again. There is Racozki's fountain again, with the sign upon it saying that it is not for drinking.

Use the traffic lights to cross the main road and walk along the pavement beside the old barracks, which are now being used as social housing. After a hundred metres or so there is a side road which leads past the youth club, and the boxing club and the alpine climbing club. And the town's department buildings dealing with the affairs of young people. All stuck out here in the suburbs.

Now there is a road with smart houses and upmarket condominiums. At every entrance there is a sign informing the reader that this is private property and that there is no through way here. After another hundred meters walking away from the town centre there is a path. It leads through an estate of not so upmarket flats, and there are no signs. Walk through and arrive at the path beside the river. It is pleasant here, and one could imagine that this would be a place for a picknick at the weekend. The owners of the upmarket flats are possibly fed up with people taking short cuts through their property.

Walk all the way back to town along the river, crossing it once at a bridge.

The young woman at the café is as friendly as ever, and says

"see you tomorrow"

And later in the day, realise that the walk was nearly eighteen kilometres today.

pleasant

 Leave the building that is home

go through Saint Martins graveyard, 

Walk along Altstadt Street, that unfriendly woman in front of Torreta's pizza place is as unfriendly as ever. Never need to go in there again. 

Cross the Dreifaltigkeitsplatz, avoiding the building site and minding that the umbrella does not get caught up in the scaffoldint

Walk up the Alte Bergstraße to the start of the Ochsentreppe to the castle. Pick some damsons for the birds, the big Nandus. Then climb the Ochsentreppe, it is no problem any more.

At the top, touch the wall of the castle, there at the moat. Then walk around the walls to the castle park, and walk on to the viewpoint over the town. The town is still there, even though it is raining today. 

Walk along the gravel paths, and climb the short steep path up to the car park. Cross the car park and use the public lavatory there. Then go on through the playground, and walk around the animal's enclosure. The Nandu's are there, waiting. Give each one a few of the plums, they like them even though they just swallow them whole. And then onward, to the old mulberry garden, where they used to keep the silkworms. Leave this, and go on down the Landshuter Höhenwanderweg, passing the children's clinic on the way.

At the bottom of that hill, wait at the traffic light junction to cross the main road. Then walk up the steep Pulverturm Strasse, taking a left to go to the second viewing platform. It is as high as the last one, the climb is really steep. But get there, and look out over Landshut again, again the two churches, now a little bit more distant.

Instead of going down into the valley, like the last time, take the higher path through the woods. After a long walk along the bluffs on a muddy path, and a stairway down the side of the hill, arrive at Rakoski's fountain. There is a sign on it that the water is not drinkable.

Walk down the main road and cross the river on the bridge there. Then follow the river using the gravel path all the way to the centre of Landshut, stopping at the Italian café for a cup of decent coffee. Watch the people on their bicycles again, and enjoy the coffee.

Today's morning walk totalled thirteen kilometres, and it was really pleasant.

forgotten

 It rained today, quite persistently. The sound of the rain under the glistening trees is relaxing, and on the long walk there was nobody else around. The birds were as greedy as ever, it really makes no difference to them what the weather is doing. Maybe it would take a real downpour to drive them to shelter under the trees in their enclosure.

The small extra part to the walk is pleasant. The viewing platform at that side of town much the same height above the river, it is possible to see straight over from the one platform to the other, past the church spires and over all of the old buildings.

The waitress is back at the Italian café today, and she brings over the usual black coffee done to perfection.

Today is the day for doing all of the official home things, clearing up all the things that are not needed any more and selling them on Ebay. It is a lot of work, but it is surprising how much money is to be made with things that were forgotten.

bloody peck

 A man walking ahead, short, heavy, wearing a baseball cap and a black padded vest over his long sleeved shirt. He is wearing blue jeans and runners. He is walking ahead in a determined fashion. 

Keep some distance, follow him as he passes the monument to Ludwig the Rich on the site of the synagogue closed in the fourteenth century. Follow him around the corner, let him proceed up the hill. After fifty about fifty metres he stops, the way is steep. Pass him by and go on to the turnoff for the steep path to the castle. Reach up here and gather a few low hanging damsons for the birds in the park later on on this mornings walk. The man passes by, going up the steep brick path at a great speed. Let him go ahead there is currently no wish for company. Gather a few more damsons and put them in the pocket of the blue linen jacket, before proceeding up the path. The man has vanished around the corner. Proceed at the usual slow pace, and once around the corner see him barely ahead, slowly negotiating the last stage of the climb before vanishing into the first buildings of the castle complex. The path was steeper than he had expected.

Up in front of the main castle building touch the wall and turn back to leave the castle compound by its main entrance, with all of its defences and  double walling. Walk around the castle to the viewpoint with the view all over the town of Landshut. After a short look leave the place. The man with padded vest is there, catching his breath. Perhaps he is dressed up to warmly for the weather today.

Walk around the park, and over the car park at the top, and through the playground. At the enclosure for the animals, there is the man again, looking at the ducks. He had taken a short cut. Walk around the enclosures, and stop at the fence and feed the birds.

Today there are five of them, and the one that is larger is distinctly more aggressive, finally biting the hand that feeds it enough to draw blood.

Give the greedy bird a slap. It gives a bird-like look of surprise. Feed the birds the remains of the small fruit from the jacket and pocket, and go on through the park, on the walk that will be twelve kilometres long and take two and half hours before it is finished.

Birds

 Yesterday there were four, and today there are only two, a large dominant one and a smaller, more or less submissive one. Are they being given away in pairs? This is a thing that will need investigation. Perhaps it will be possible to ask one of the gardeners.

The smaller of the two birds accepts the proffered damson and after tasting it, throws it back down its throat. Just like that, in one piece. No chewing, the whole thing is swallowed whole, complete with the pit.

Walk all the way, take the long route around the town. Stop at the cafe to be served by a waiter using both braces and a belt to hold his trousers up. It must be the waitresses day off, and the other thing is that the coffee is flat and weak. The barista must be on a day of as well. Return home to find the family in a state of argument, the son and the wife are in disagreement over something. 

Life without work is becoming increasingly difficult, and it is getting more and more difficult to care about anything. Perhaps the most sensible thing is just to keep on going for longer and longer walks. There is no point in becoming involved in these arguments, it would only be painful

half of one and half of the other

 The doctor says half of one pill and half of the other one too. Two half pills instead of one and a half, for the blood pressure was put down too low by one and a half. Because of all the fainting, you know. This is all complicated in appearance , but actually is not that difficult at all.

After the appointment is finished, an appointment pushed into place just before the doctor went on her holidays for three weeks, take the walk up to the castle, remembering to pick a few of the damsons growing by the side of the path for the birds. The walk up to the castle gets easier every day now, maybe it is the reduction in weight, or the training of the muscles, or the lungs, or whatever. Success is satisfying, despite it's taking time.

The birds are greedy, wonder why there are only four of them there now, it used to be six. Maybe a pair of them have been given away.

Take a picture of a crucifix painted on tin and nailed to a tree near the children's hospital, near the portal for the children born in secret, and left to the care of unknown adoptions.

pills

The dizziness of yesterday turns into the dizziness of today after the eight and a half kilometres of the daily walk, Stand still and start swaying, move and the sensation goes away. Then after a few more hundred metres the sensation comes again at a traffic light, hold onto the metal pole of the device. Do not take the last climb up the hill, but walk along the road. At the junction for the Kirchgasse go on down the Altstadt to a nearby bakers shop which does a good buttered pretzel, one that has more flavour than the others. 

Sit on a park bench beside the street and eat this, use the paper serviette kindly supplied to wipe the sweat that has formed in the face away. The source of the dizziness may be the pills, perhaps it is a mistake to take them but without advice it would be a mistake to stop taking them.

Return home, feeling stranger and stranger as the distance progresses. Upon reaching home climb up the stairs, the cat is watching from the top of these. In the bedroom, strap on the blood pressure measuring the device, and it returns a value of one hundred and eight over fifty-six. This is lower than it used to be, is this bad? The answer to all this uncertainty will have to be a visit to the doctor.

18

 The eighteenth was a long walk, a drink of coffee at the Italian's by the power station, followed up by the rest of the walk along the river and up the hill.

There was a talk with a man who spent a long time going on about short cuts to no where.

And then home, the pills to be taken, the packages made, and brought to the post. All of the old gear that is not needed any more is being sold, piece by piece.

Online makes it possible. Return home, and collapse into bed. Measure the blood pressure again, it is lower than it should be yet again. Is there something wrong? it will be necessary to talk to the Frau Doktor again. Talk about the pills and general health. It is now the early morning of the nineteenth, 36 minutes into the new date.

brick path

 At the bottom of the steep brick-paved path stop and reach up to the damson tree to pick a few barely unripe damsons for the birds. Then walk up the long path. It has ridges of brick  every thirty-five centimetres to stop slippage when wet or icy. Try to keep up a steady pace, and manage it all the way to the top, to the walls and turrets surrounding the castle.

This would have been impossible a week ago. Just carry on for the remainder of the one thousand three hundred metres from the house door to the enclosure, without stopping.

At the fence split the damsons open with a metal badge attached to the keyring. The big birds are slowly coming over to the fence now, and as soon as they see that the one has been given half a damson to eat they are all there in a rush. Give each one a damson, then move on.

Take the long walk today, but stop for a cup of coffee at the power station.

low pressure

 Carry the big blue sack with the eight packages to the post office. The son has come along too, he wants to go for a coffee later on. This is all very pleasant. Take the packages into the post office, the postmaster looks astonished as more and more small packages come out of the big blue refuse sack, then he points his barcode reader at all of the labels. The son helps him with one of the fallen packages. And when all is done, he prints out a small reciept. There are only seven items listed, because one was classified as a small package. This is not listed with a tracking code. And that is the second load of bits and pieces all sold, things that are not needed any more.

Decide to go to the café in the Neustadt Street today. It is only a small café but it used to be the sons favourite. Things are different now. The person who used to run the place has now gone into retirement, and her replacement is young and in some way incompetent.

And the coffee is the worst ever. The filter machine has kept the brew warm for what must be most of the day. And still they want one Euro ninety for a black brew with notes of burnt rubber and car oil. Such badness is seldom reached. So bad that it is not even worth complaining about.

Go back down the Altstadt Street and visit the drugstore. The son buys some chalk, he needs this for one of his projects.

And on the way down to the river it starts to rain.  This will not be a day for long walks. At home, lie down, there is a strange feeling of drowsiness. After an hour, take a blood pressure reading. The machine says ninety over sixty. A new appointment with the doctor will be needed. Low blood pressure may be better than high blood pressure, but surely high blood pressure is better than no blood pressure.

tired

 Take the long walk through the luxury area again, this is an area where walking into town does not happen at all.  

A family and neighbours get out of the car. Listen. They have come from town, and that is barely a kilometre.

When the family has a big Porsche and the dad drives the small one to work, then walking is probably not a thing you want to be seen doing at all.

Watch the group talk, and then wander on towards the castle. That will do for today, nine kilometres is far enough.

nothing to be done

 There is a couple there, on the path. The woman is holding an infant, wrapped in a blanket, keeping her face close to the tiny bundle. The man is talking and talking and seems to be being ignored.

The woman avoids passers by, turns her face away. She is not in any way old, and the man is young too. Greet the man in passing, and he returns a friendly greeting. Listen to their discourse from further on the little woodland path.

The path goes by behind the hospital, it is in fact right next to the children's hospital. There is a side entrance here, and in large lettered signpost pointing to the "Babyklappe". This is German for "baby hatch", and that is what is to be seen a little further on. A door with a hatch on it, the hatch leads to a small space with blankets, and a light, and peaceful colours. 

The purpose of this is that women who have no other choice but to give their infants away after birth. They cannot keep them for whatever reason. To save the infants lives, to save them from being left on strange doorsteps, this service is run by the hospital. As soon as the outside hatch is shut, a nurse will take the child inside the hospital and see that it receives the care that it needs, and as much of the love and attention as possible that it deserves.

The sight of the young couple and the mother with the infant causes a strange chain of ideas, and is the reason for a long rest on a park bench further down the path. Just thinking about what might have been taking place just then is worrying.

It might have been nothing but a couple with their new born child who happened to be walking just there.

It might have been the end of a terrible situation and the beginning of a lifelong of recriminations for the mother and the father.

It might have been a number of other things.

But there was nothing else to do but to continue with the walk, and to take a long break on the park bench beside the path.

Hand prints, white on black

 Sit down at the café, it is deserted. There is one young woman arranging the furniture and the sunshades for the day, hear her rush around in the background. She is very active, all dressed in black clothing. She is Italian.

The news is that they will only be open at nine, and it is twenty to nine now. Italians are punctual, but she says that she will make a cup of coffee for me anyway. That is good of her. Watch the people passing on their bicycles. If the electric bicycles increase in number there will be accidents, for they all seem to go at the top speed. It is said that this is only twenty-five kilometres in the hour, but if everything suddenly starts to move at that speed, something is bound to happen.  A young woman with a barrow-like contraption on the front of her machine  hurtles along between the footpath and the river on a gravel path that  demarcates the border to the water. A swerve, and she is back on the main path, passing closely between a maple and a chestnut tree. She has her offspring in front, in the barrow, two small helmeted toddlers.

The young woman in black brings the coffee.

Drink, and watch the first guests arrive at nine. They are a couple of woman, two friends, who spend all their time laughing and conversing very loudly.

After another while has elapsed, attract the woman in black's attention, and she comes over, and 

She has no coins. But a note would be too much of a tip. There is only one Euro in the wallet, the rest is all ten Euro notes.

She says to come back later with the Euro.

Much later, return with the desired change. Stand behind her and see that she has been serving pizza, with flour on it. Later she must have stood there with her hands on her hips, and her fingers left clear marks on the seat of her trousers. In the shape of hands.

Perhaps that would be a design idea.

maple

 At the far end of town, trying to find a new path along the valley so as to avoid having to walk along the busy and noisy streets. Follow a steep little street, called the Kellerstraße in the hope that there will be a turnoff somewhere. The path is lined with high cost developments, sold to those who probably cannot afford them. The traffic noise volume is high here, there is a junction down below between three trunk roads and the main road from the town centre.

Admire the uniform green of a stretch of lawn.

Upon closer scrutiny see that this is fake grass, a plastic imitation of the real thing. It is strange, all this perfection looks like a three-dimensional rendering on a computer. Perfectly plastered white walls, neat little metal borders.

Out of the culverts in the centre of all this green self-seeded maple trees are growing. In the middle of all this artificiality, even they look unreal. They are alive, here where nothing else is alive.

path

 At the gate to the house of the collector of cameras see the man himself behind his gate. He has complaints over his electric lawnmower, the machine has broken down in a terminal way. And he is deliberating on whether or not to buy a new one with rechargeable batteries or just using a cable. The question is not whether or not the batteries will hold their charge, it is whether or not the batteries will last any amount of time. Also, he is worried that the accumulators will catch fire.

Listen to his worries, and then consider that perhaps a warranty from the manufacturer might help.

Then he suggests a walk down by the children's hospital as being better from the point of view of the scenery. Listen to his description and resolve to try the path. The path is pleasant, it provides good views over the town. It is longer than the sunken path, and steeper at the end.

plastic toy

 The second time to do the round about the castle. The round is getting easier all the time, maybe this is because the feet know where to go and there is no reason to think about the path any more. Maybe the small amount of training is having an effect, that would be good too, but the cautious soul is wary of wishful thinking. To be able to discard ten kilos just like that would be nice, and the doctor's sneering latin remarks about adipositas and hypertonic complications would be a thing of the past.

Near the top, at the castle there are three youths each enjoying a bottle of beer, they wave in greeting at the sight of one struggling up the hill. They are probably part of the crew redecorating the tower on the castle, and are enjoying an evenings relaxation.

Wave, and carry on.

There is a family on a walk in the woods, the father pause to take a picture of his daughter. Stand back, out of the way.

She makes her photo face, then carry on . A small boy running along the path clutching a plastic toy, exchange grins in passing.

And just at the top of the sunken pathway, a son taking his aged father out for a walk. The father is absorbed, absent. The son returns a friendly greeting.

Think thirty years into the future, will there then be the same scene, or will weather changes have put an end to everything by then? 

And back in town again, the same family with the pretty daughter. They went down by the front path, and so it is: all the paths seem to lead back to town.

disaffected cat

 The walk up the path past the castle, steep and tiring today as well, but at least there were no demoralising runners lithely hopping past on their way to a state of fitness that is way beyond this old bodies possibilities.

Follow the path behind the ramparts of the first circle of defence, never mind the castle itself.  Pass through the small entrance to the park, the Hofgarten, and follow the path for almost half a kilometre. Take a right turn up to the parking place, there is a public lavatory there that is kept most impeccably clean. There are a few campers up there, the big holiday homes with their many facilities, parked illegally on the public parking space, but who cares?

There is a man in shorts filling his water supply from the tap at the public toilet. 

Walk through the playground, there are mothers and their children there, the children all happy to be out and to be able to play with other children. Pass the enclosures where the animals and birds are kept and just walk on down to town. The shortness of breath is gone now, now it is the legs getting a little bit tired.

Stop at a picturesque corner of the sunken path that leads down to the town and wait for a cyclist to come up the path for a photograph. Wait for a while, there are no cyclists. Stop waiting, and meet the first cyclist at the bottom of the hill. She is a non-electric cyclist, struggling slowly up the hill in a very low gear.

Respect that, most people are using the big electrically supported bicycles these days.

One hour later, go into the doctor's practice on the way home, and ask for a new prescription. The pills for reducing the blood pressure have run out. Get an appointment to collect the prescription in the early afternoon.

And then go back home.

It is eleven.

And the family is still in bed.

Except for the cat, she mewing in a disaffected way. 

She is hungry.

more training

 Take the steep route again today, but go slowly. It is later, and it is Sunday. Because of these two factors there are more people about. Also, there are more people heading up to the castle now, let them go ahead. A man passes by running up the hill, he is a fit man with a beard and a top knot.

Watch the man walking ahead, he is slowing. Slow too, there is no need to get close.

At the final corner, see him up at the entrance to the buildings, his hand resting on his knees, fighting to get his breath back. Plod on, and watch him hurry off.

He does not want to be overtaken by a white haired man plodding his way up the hill.

At the top, see all the walkers admiring the view, taking it easy now.

Head on to the park, there are another five kilometres to go

Steep

 Take the steep path up to the castle, leave the town centre behind and walk up the climbing road until there is the signpost pointing out the shortest route on foot to the castle. This is a brick-paved pathway that goes almost straight up the hillside on which the castle is situated. It is steep and has ridges made of brick every half metre or so to provide grip when it rains and snows. 

The weather is neither providing rain nor snow today, the path is just steep with it's uncomfortable ridges. There is a seriously overweight couple farther down the path who are making a considerable speed. They are young, and maybe not so short of breath. The path takes a turn, and the final steep stretch is ahead. The breath is coming in gasps now, the heart beating furiously. This is as bad as a the bicycle at the doctors. Take only short breaks and reach the part of this path where there are steps. These steps lead through old fortifications and other small buildings until finally, there is the lawn in front of the castle, and the car park for those authorised to drive all the way up. Sit on a wall, breathing heavily until the body recovers from the strain.

Stay there for quite a while. and then move on. It appears as if the overweight couple have given up, or maybe they are sitting on a park bench half way up.

The pedometer on the mobile 'phone says that these are the first nine hundred metres. It feels like so much more.

inefficient

Grey morning light is a thing of great beauty, especially when the demons of the night have fled, the crazed hallucinations of yesterday evening that developed into nightmares. Things dreamt that were so impossible that the dream itself dreamt that these things were impossible.

In the greyness the first aircraft fly over towards Munich, not as many as there used to be, but there are getting to be more and more of them. The human population of the world is adapting to the pandemic.

Get up and go to the bathroom, it is all still gloomy, but there is just enough light to see by.

The wife wakes to say that the son has an appointment later on in the day.

Later, the first of several cups of coffee. The container for biological waste has been filled, so take it out to the waste bin on the balcony and empty it. Line the bottom of the container with a sheet of paper from the roll in the kitchen. This will prevent the waste adhering to the bottom of the small plastic bucket, making it easier to empty whenever it will have been filled again. 

Most likely that will take place tomorrow.

The first cup of coffee is a success, maybe this is because the machine was well warmed up.

Go into the sons bedroom and wake him, remind him of his appointment later in the morning.

And then read the news on the computer.

...  And after that go and wake him up again.

...  The cat wants attention

... The wife has gone to sleep

And the neighbour has started his defectively silenced motor scooter to go to work, the roar of the inefficient little vehicle filling the street.

greedy nandu

 The workers are all gathered under the trees. They are on their morning break, they are all drinking cups of coffee, some are eating a sandwich. Some years ago they would have all been drinking beer, but that seems to have gone out of style. They are recieving a pep talk from a man in office clothes and rubber boots. It is raining, and the light is dim under the trees.

Pass by after wishing them all a good morning. They had all stopped to look at the stranger approaching, maybe they had thought that it was somebody important. It was not.

Enjoy the appearance of all the soaked foliage, glistening in the soft dim light of the woods. The colours appear in a completely different contrast, it is nice, a little bit dramatic in a sinister sort of way. Further up the path, after the Devil's bridge, it becomes misty, adding to the strange atmosphere. Pick a few maple leaves for the birds in the enclosure at the top of the hill.

With the back to the fence hold up the leaves and start to make a selfie film with the enclosure in the background. Soon enough one of the birds comes up and starts to demolish the bunch of leaves. Wish the sister in law happy birthday, she is due to turn sixty soon. The bird has stopped snapping for the leaves and is instead now picking at the camera bag, in the hope that there is something to eat there.

The birds are rheas, or Nandu and come from Argentinia, and they like the German climate. They are about five feet tall, they are still small and young.

bad

 Start the engine, back the car out of the parking spot, taking care to let those using the road pass first. Take the road to it's end and then do a turn, to drive down the mains street to the traffic light. This is a drive without there being any particular place to go and nobody to visit or anything. Just to drive anywhere out of rage and because of a certain loneliness at home. Work had given a certain direction to activities, that is gone now. There is no direction any more that is dictated by others, there is just complete freedom.

Take the car out of town, take the road to Regensburg. It is not that there is any particular reason to go to that town, it is just a direction to be taken, much the same as any other direction to take.

On the road there is a building site, and, because of the heavy traffic, a traffic jam. Take the first road away and go to a small town. It is called Bad Abbach, and surely it cannot be bad. There is the usual agglomeration of large hardware stores and supermarkets and electrical stores and then the town itself. It is strange, but it does not appear to exist at all. Find a parking spot close to the centre and go to a nearby cafe. They have a special offer of coffee and a piece of cake. So go in to the shop, get a tray with the order and sit down. The cake is not particularly good plum cake and the coffee is machine made push button stuff. Look around, this is like a really ugly suburb. 

A group of cyclists arrive, they are all getting on in years, they are all equipped with electrical bicycles. One of them leans his bicycle on one of the tables of the next door café, immediately the proprietor is there telling him to take his machine elsewhere. He is probably upset that he is not getting the business himself. Then the group of locals at the next table start shouting at the cyclists that they cannot leave their bicycles standing in the street, because there are other cyclists and that there are proper cycle stands over at the junction. Then they start talking loudly among themselves about cyclists and telling each other that they are not being ureasonable.

They are not friendly.

Share a few crumbs of the cake with the small wrens that arrive. They are very brave, they take the crumbs of cake directly from the fingers, keeping a close eye on the human activities all the while.

Maybe they are not brave, maybe they are just hungry. And maybe the people are just mean and self-important and not really unfriendly.

That was all a disappointment, go back home. It will be necessary to do other things to escape boredom.

breakfast

Awaken at four in the morning and arrange the appointment at the opticians. Choose an appointment at nine, there is a free slot there.

And then, a cup of coffee, and a lie down on the couch in the sitting room, all quiet except for the sound of the clock. After every interval of thirty seconds the clock still makes a click, to close electrical contacts to send a signal to filial clocks. There are no such filial clocks available, but the mechanism is there.

Lie on the couch, and doze for two hours. The clock's clicking is actually relaxing.

Just before nine get up from the sofa and collect the camera bag and the wallet and the mask, all in preparation for the optician. It is only to collect a pair of glasses, but there is no point in being late or anything. 

Walk through the town's main street, watch all the cafés prepare for breakfast. They all have their seats out on the street, it will be a warm day. There is a crowd in front of the opticians, stand back. The tension is enormous, everybody seems to want to be served first. After the crowd has dissipated go into the shop and give my name.

Inside five minutes a charming young service person has the new glasses.

Spend some time trying them on, testing their focal distance. They are made to make it easier to read the screen on the computer, and they seem to work well.

A short visit to the till to pay the bill, and then back to the street. The cafés are all filling up with breakfasters, that seems to be a good business.

informal lesson

Step out of the car, leave the key in the lock. There is a steady beeping sound, because the door is open and the key is still in the lock. Perhaps this is a system to prevent the users of the vehicle from locking themselves out of the vehicle with the keys still inside.

Go over to the other side of the car open the door there. The son is inside the car and has changed over to the drivers side.

Explain again how to release the clutch and press the accelerator. He does all these things and the car begins to move.

Tell him to depress the clutch and to press the brake.

The car stops with a jerk, he did not realise that, unlike the brakes on his bicycle, the brakes on a car are sudden and powerful. 

We laugh.

Then he does it again.

This is first informal driving lesson.

On a Monday, on a quiet, disused stretch of road.

And we continue for a few hours

bananas

 Stride up the path, it is late, but as it has been raining there are few people about. Meet the collector of Leica cameras and his wife, both young, sprightly, above, eighty years old. Chat for a few minutes and then go on up to the birds. 

The intention today is to make a short video of the birds as a greeting to the sister in law. For her birthday, as a greeting, the video would show her brother in law with the birds looking over his shoulder. That was the idea, and as a special treat a banana.

Two things go wrong. As it is late, the birds have already received their official food and are not hungry. And they appear to hate bananas. The one sniffs at a piece of banana and shakes, as if nauseated. They do not know bananas. They were happy to eat apples, but bananas do not appear to be a good idea. The whole plan was a failure, try again tomorrow.

Walk back down to the town, walk along the river. Make a long telephone call to a dear friend.

And then go back home, it is good to hear that the son is practising his piano prior to the piano lesson.