Vanity wins

To be recognised is not difficult, every day in an Italian café and they are all happy to greet you, even if the only thing that you consume is one of their cups of coffee.

Watch them all at their work and read the news on the phone. Listen to the radio with those fancy earphones. They drown the restaurant's music and allow the music on the favourite radio station to play quietly in the silence.

Afterwards, go to the downstairs section in the mall and go to a machine to have some passport pictures taken. They have to be in a computer-recognisable format, and this machine is supposed to deliver that.

There is a computer voice that gives instructions on how to pose

Afterwards, look at the pictures.

It is impossible to recognise that person, scowling at the silly computer voice, this will not do, not even for a drivers licence.

Back tomorrow again, and try to put the head farther back in the photo cabin, and tilt the face upwards.Maybe the lighting will be better then.

Vanity wins.

packages

 A day spent getting steadily more and more unwell. The cold weather is not doing any good either, and today was spent packing parcels. Things were sold which were of no use any more, and it is surprising how much people will pay for such things.

Well, they are gone now, and that is a weight of the mind.

But this icy cold feeling should end sometime.

Today was a day to stay at home on, to stay out of harms way.

And there is a bag full of packages for the post office.

shopping

 These big self service shops are all much the same in that the required items are usually not where they are being searched for but somewhere else in plain view. If the items had the ability to laugh at shoppers they would do so. Downstairs in the Drogerie Markt Müller search for cat litter. In the basement of the store there are all the household things and the cat litter, supeabsorbent, standard, and ultra. Get the cheapest, the cat does not care. Buy four tins of cat food too, and then sanitary articles. Tooth picks are upstairs, but before going to collect those take a package with three rolls of kitchen wipes. Upstairs, search and compare the various types of toothpick, and decide for the red ones.They will work well enough surely. Pay at the checkout, use the card. It only works on the second attempt today.

At home, discuss the setup of an old computer needed for a particular purpose. It is planned to produce a few small books of pictures, and it will be possible to run an old copy of a desk top publishing system on this. There is no need for speed, this is a simple task. Take the computer down to the workshop to dust it off, it is in a filthy state. Use the high pressure jet on the compressor, this removes the loose dust, and then take the rest of the dirt off with a clean cloth.

Then go on a short walk to the building suppliers. The most direct way is along the river and then taking a few secretive footpaths. It is only a matter of some four kilometres. Once inside the store, use the sound cancelling earphones, these drown out the background music and the chatter from the advertising videos. They are a big advantage, the visit is not nearly as stressful. Look at various items of interest, buy three small paintbrushes and leave.

noise killer

 At the post office in Landshut a few small brass plaques have been let into the pavement. Each of these four squares are devoted to one of the residents of the house in the thirties and the early forties of the last century. Each was taken and locked away then, and then later murdered because they were of Jewish faith, or a descendant of people of Jewish faith. The brass plaques are a memorial so that such injustice may never be forgotten. Yesterday was the holocaust memorial day, and somebody had left red carnations and a handbill beside the stones. 

In the post office hand over the small parcel that has to go to Finland. Hopefully it will get there soon. Outside the post office again, take a picture of the memorials. In Germany, they are frequent. They are known as Stolpersteine, that means something like "stones to trip over".

Walk around town, eventually go into the Italian restaurant and have a cup of coffee. Listen to music on the ear buds, as they are called now. It is strange how the technology in these earplugs makes the noise in the cafe just go away. Sit there and look, not realising that he next pictures will be taken of the power plant outside.

This will happen this evening

first call

 A slow awakening, even though it is early. The thighs hurt, it was yesterday's walk that is to blame for this. The smart mobile phone says forty-six kilometres, that is quite close to thirty miles. Supposing that there is a limit somewhere this must be close. The memory of the walk is pleasant, the birds shy like wild birds should be, and not hoping for crumbs and food.

Still, another day, Today is a day to take it easy, this is all in the interests of health and not self-destruction. It is early, just after six. Try to remain silent whilst putting on the water for the breakfast eggs on toast. It is necessary to use the coffee grinder, this probably wakes up everybody. Everybody, excepting the cat, who is up and about begging for food. Take down the tin of cat food from the table and put some on her plate. She backs away, showing signs of disgust. She will not eat this. Leave it there, she will be back later as soon as she realises that none of the high quality stuff is coming.

Have breakfast by the light of a computer screen, read the news. There are things to be paid and two emails to be answered. When the eggs are finished and the coffee drunk deal with these things. The black and white camera has been repaired and the lens with the strange defect too. Look forward to these things coming back.

There was an unexpected sale today, the parcel is ready now, and that will be the first call tomorrow. A visit to the post office to hand over the neat package with the prepaid stamp on it.

No, that is wrong. 

The first call tomorrow will be breakfast again.

A blue swan.

 Start early today, find that the paths are slippery down by the river because of the cold. They are covered in frozen snow. Walk carefully, and enjoy the new ear phones. They silence the noises from the motorway and it is possible to play music softly.

Resolve to take the long walk down to the reactor, and because it is earlier, decide to walk down one bridge further. This bridge is at a town called Niederviehbach.

Today is a grey day, foggy and cold. The swans on the lakes are doing a great deal of flying, much more than usual. Perhaps they are thinking of migration. There are plenty of cormorants too, they have a strangely symmetrical pointed shape when in flight. It looks a bit as if the body had been made on a lathe.

It is dark in Landshut at the end of the walk.

Going over the footpath look down into the water. There is a swan there, swimming against the current.

Because of the effect lighting in the power plant it looks blue:

A blue swan.

doc

The appointment is at half past nine, and that is fine because it is only a ten minute walk to the doctor's practice. He is going to search for signs of cancer, the last examination was two years ago. There is time for breakfast, it is not the kind of examination to worry about. Make a second cup of coffee after the son has gone, and forget to put water into the machine. Realise that something is wrong when there is a smell of roasting coffee mingled with burning rubber. Lift the machine off the heat and put it into a handy pot full of cold water. There is a loud hissing noise as the machine cools. Open it up and remove the filter and see that the rubber seal is still intact. All is well, fill it with water and put it on the heat.

Finish drinking the coffee just in time to leave the house and to be at the doctors practice ready for the appointment. The first thing to deal with are the surcharges, and then a blood sample is taken in the laboratory. 

The doctor is quick and efficient, there are interesting things to be seen on the monitor. There is a large cyst on one of the kidneys, but the doctor says it is harmless. Considering the age of the patient, everything seems to be in order, perhaps a small operation in a few months, we shall see says he.

Order a cup of coffee in the Italian restaurant and watch the waiter, the cook and the owner struggle to install a new refrigerated display case for cakes. They are all getting in each other's way.

Go back home again to organise the further sale of the collection of photographic bits and pieces.

9

Nine in the morning,  start walking through town and down to the lesser river. It is foggy, people just appear out of the murk. Some are on bicycles and a few are running, but most are just walking.

There is a heron on the flood plain, but the stupid bird just flies away. It is probably a camera shy animal.

Try to take pictures in the fog, but it is not so easy. It is hard to tell exactly what the camera is recording, the light is so diffuse.

Smell the change in the air approaching the lake, and hear the sound of the birds. All the honking and the quacking.

The aim was to go down to Niederaichbach and cross the bridge there and return on the other side of the river

The fog clears just before the bridge, there is one of the last nuclear power plants in Germany. It has a colossal cooling tower. Circle the power plant and return to the river. Cross the bridge and walk upriver, circling the large reservoir.

The sun has set in Landshut now. 

It was a long day, a long walk.

A twenty mile walk. Or a thirty kilometre walk.

And it was tiring.

no leaving

 Why does the head spin and do the legs get cold? It is always two hours after awakening, it must make some kind of sense but what does it mean? Up early, there was no sleep to be had, and make a small breakfast.

After half an hour, the tiredness and the bleariness start, and it is as well to return to bed before the symptoms start. The son is up already, he is making a very large pot of coffee for himself. Return to the bed in the bedroom, ignore the table with all the work on it there, and just wrap up and fall into the bed.

Two hours later, wake up, take a hot shower and start to do the work as had been planned. Assess the collection of old lenses that will never be used here again, and the two old cameras which have turned out to be surprisingly valuable. Arrange all the descriptions, and put the stuff online. It is slow work, it is probably easier for people who are used to this.

Take a break and sort out the washing of the week, and some more as well. Add the used towels and two machines full are to be done. Start the first. Return to sorting the old treasures and putting them into Ebay. Maybe even some money will come out of it. There is a message from some stupid person in Italy trying to arrange special deals for himself. Turn down his offers, they are only trouble.

After an hour the machine is ready, put the clothes into the dryer and fill the second machine. The dryer is a very useful thing, it not only dries the clothes but it is a help in keeping track of where they are. There are definitely fewer unpaired socks since this machine is in use.

Finish all the work, it has taken all of the shortened day. The head is filled with hissing noise again. White noise is what this particular sound is called. Black dogs and white noise. 

Take the plastic basket with all the items upstairs, where hopefully they will be all packed and gone by next week. Dismantle the table, fold up it's legs.

And then read on the computer until supper.

Today there was no leaving the house at all.

Kitt

 A walk today, in the snow, was a getaway from this days grey beginnings.

The kitchen was tidy after yesterdays efforts, there will just have to be more of the same.

There is no being cool about this any more, it will not do. 

The escape was made before the family was awake, just the cat insisting on being fed yet another smelly spoonful from the tin on the shelf.

How can something so small eat so much?

The paths are difficult and slippery, a mixture of mud and snow. There have been people walking their dogs, but they are not there now. All that is left are the footsteps of trudging humans and scampering dogs.

And, once back at home, start to do the things that had been planned for weeks, if not months.

Start to sell the old gear, the kit, der Kitt.

kitchen

 Another day that starts of bright and then goes dismal. The weight of the head gives the feeling that it should be down at the knees, that is impossible, so lie down. It was all planned and ready, but this must be what they call a depression again. 

Lie down on the couch, and listen to the clock tick. Then there are strange dreams, a dream of being at work, even though that is six months ago now, and there is no reason ever to go back there. 

If only these miserable depressions would go and stay away. They were there before, but the rules of work kept them at bay, it was still possible to work and to feel awful at the same time. It is just not possible to be constructive and be depressed at the same time. 

Wake at ten in the morning, and consider what is to be done. Start to clean the kitchen, to tidy up the shelves, to wipe down the surfaces, to investigate all the storage pots full of things, some of them long forgotten.

It is a tiny kitchen.

But now it is evening. 

gull

 Today, another boring day, but one with a few highlights. Awoke in the morning, and just fell back to sleep again after realising that the son's preparations for school would just be disturbed by his fathers presence. Falling asleep again so deeply was strange. Until a short beep from the mobile 'phone sounds, then it is time to get up, for the bank appointment will be in one hour.

The jacket and smart shoes today, there is no point in putting on the walking clothes to go to the bank. A short breakfast, it is all that there is time for, and then a quick walk to the bank. The matter on hand is simple enough, it is just a purchase order for some shares in a stockbroking company, there is no point in leaving money as cash on a savings account. And once the decision is made, there is nothing to do but sign on the dotted line. Actually, that is just a turn of phrase, the line on the document is pale blue.

Then go to the cafe and sit in the usual corner drinking a cup of their delicious coffee and reading the news on the mobile 'phone. Think about how nice it would be to have a newspaper in the café, but those days are gone now. 

After the café go out and look over the river. There is a seagull drinking from the river whilst perched on a log that is moored there to serve as a barrier in front of the power plant. Perhaps it is there to prevent floating branches from damaging the turbines.

A gull on a log.

Go home and, once there, start to tidy up.

runaway

 The details of the day are lost, the morning did not start well. But it is possible to get things sorted, slowly. There will be no walk today, the only possible tour is around the shops.

Stay at home and take the final pictures for the ebay sale of all the gadgets. No, there are a few more left, they will have to go too. All these things are just a load, they are more to pack in the case of a move becoming necessary, they are not being used anyway. These are all good reasons.

The thoughts are increasingly depressing. It will be necessary to get the flat in order, a matter of personal pride. And Friday will be another day for walking, as far as possible.

vertical

Early eggs on toast, poached, it is before seven.The jeans and the running shirt are on. The coffee and the plate are on the table in the sitting room, and the alarm sounds in the pocket from the mobile phone that was placed there earlier. 

Turn the alarm off, it is now seven in the morning. Showering is done with, much earlier today. When the food and the cup of coffee are finished tap on the sons door and ask him if he wants a cup of coffee. The seventeen year old is self sufficient and says that everything is in order, go away. It is hard to think nothing of the second bit, it was only a few years ago that he enjoyed closeness with his father. Time will probably change all this.

Listen until he has left the house, then put on the jacket and take the camera bag. Set out to make the early walk, as had been planned. Out in the alley, check the waste bin, it is still full. The orange lights seen earlier must have been the biological waste crew collecting the rubbish from the restaurant on the other side of the alley.

After having walked around the lake, notice the woods with all their slim vertical tree trunks and in the centre two older trees which are anything but slim and vertical.

Take a picture.

Polder at Altheim

It is nice, a picture without a subject. Just vertical strokes, and a few others.

Propane

 

Light up the gas heater with a lighter, that piezoelectric button has not worked for a very long time. Keep the button pressed until the pilot flame has generated enough heat to bend the bimetallic strip to open the safety valve. Then turn the heater on full and with whoofing noise the gas ignites. There is a row of blue flames and the heater starts to make clicking noises as the metal expands. There is still gas in the cylinder, enough to heat for a good few hours anyway.

They are the kind of heater that is not meant to be used in an enclosed space, but there is nothing to be done. The room is bitterly cold and today is the day on which the things have to be photographed for Ebay. All the things gathered over the years, the lenses, cameras, all of these things have to go. There is no time to deal with them any more, it is sad to see the things go, but everything has to end sometime.

Work all day arranging things, and taking pictures, and packing them away again. It is quite a lot of work, but it would be a shame just to throw the things away or to leave it somewhere as some job lot for somebody else to sell. As the day is getting on realise that the lungs hurt and that the head is getting heavy.

It is time to open the windows and let in the fresh and cold air.

It is easy to forget warnings when you are occupied doing other things, and the small heater has started to remove the oxygen from the air in the room.

Enough to cause a headache and aching lungs.

plan

  Today is the day to be determined, and it was easy to get up, to wash under the shower, and to make breakfast for one. The family are all quite asleep, even the cat is quiet.

The kitchen is a mess, the son was operational last night, eating at strange times. There is a lid for a bottle of ketchup on the counter, look around and see the open bottle at the kitchen sink. Pair the two items the way they should be, and  put a few items away. That is better. The water for the eggs is boiled, the toaster is toasting and the coffee is burbling. This is all very efficient.

Take the things out to the sitting room and turn on the small light on the table by the couch.

Enjoy the poached eggs on toast.

And to finish off drink the remainder of the coffee.

And the next thing is to get out of the house and to do a round , the castle, the park, and over the hill to the riverside and then be back home again. That is the plan

waste

 Breakfast today, as with the last few days. The intention to get up and go for a walk early to be able to do other things afterwards is thwarted by a leaden tiredness. Despite being warmly dressed, the legs and the arms start to feel uncomfortably cold. Certainly, the breakfst was good, but the required energy to get up and to go for a walk is just missing.

Lie down on the couch in the sitting room and listen to the clock ticking. Wake up, not knowing why  or where or anything really at all. Just the strangest of thoughts and the oddest of nightmares remain after falling asleep. The details of the nightmares are gone, they are just a confused mess of being held and being unable to move. Just the sensation of unpleasantness remains.

Decide to stay at home until the heaviness in the head has gone. Take a headache pill, and make a cup of coffee to wash it down. Read about all kinds of things on the computer, and look at yesterdays pictures.

These are pretty, but no good.

A frozen bush

In the evening, things are better. Take a walk up to the castle through the park. People out walking say hello, even strangers. Look at the Rhea birds, and continue down to the river.

Attempt to take pictures there, but as it is dark now, these pictures will be even more experimental than usual. 

And after shopping for soap in the pharmacy and cosmetics shop, go home.

A wasted day, just not feeling well at all.

Exhausting

 Start the walk today as regularly as ever. Oh, take those two poached eggs for breakfast again. A simple delight, along with a cup of coffee.

The walk is normal up to the point of leaving the park. Passing the house of the camera collector go up to the small church with the round spires instead. Arrive there early for a funeral, and receive a strange look from one of the bereaved, perhaps because all the walking clothes are black. The warm jacket bought at C&A is black, they sold them in no other colour.

Leave the buildings of Landshut behind and go on down into the valley to Salzdorf, a tiny village with a restauraunt, a wine dealer, and a carpentry firm to its name. Highly industrialised, if you like to call it that. Climb up through the forest, there is another one of those metal crosses by the side of the path on the way. At the top of the hill there is a wide view over the country, it could be possible to see the Alps from here on a clear day. There is too much haze near the ground now for that. Go on through the forest, speculating as to what kind of wildlife had left the tracks in the frozen mud.

There is a building ahead, surrounded by a secure wire fence with barbed wire strands on the top. Going by the piles of manure-fouled straw and the general smell it is a farm keeping cows, maybe for dairy their dairy use. Skirt around the outside of the farm and carry on through the forest. There is a very much more impressive fence here now,  with several multi storey buildings behind a high wall. There are video cameras everywhere. This must be the prison, now the exact location is clear. Skirt around the prison walls and end up on an immaculately tarred road. It is so smooth that you could definitely roll an egg over it without breakage. This leads to a main road with heavy traffic.

Wait to cross, and on the other side, there is a small opencast mine where bentonite is being dug out of the ground. There is a notice saying that the whole area will be renatured after the mining operation has finished.

The view from up here is quite tremendous, it is considerably higher than any of the other vantage points reached on these walks to date.

After this take the usual walk on down  to the river, past the town of Schweinebach.

The walk today was fifteen kilometres, not as far as on other days, but at least as exhausting.

who cares, about 13th of January

 Yesterday was not a day for anything much, not even writing in this blog. It was a day of some pain because of the distance put away the day before, on the walk down to Ohu. That walk was well over thirty kilometres.

Yesterday was a day of cleaning clothes and sitting in a corner trying to avoid the rest of the family and their mess and their stink. Then just fall asleep during the day, get up to finish the washing from the dryer and then just to fall asleep again.

Yesterday was a cold day, the body experienced everything as more or less cold. The heating, the company of the family, the lack of an evening meal, who cares. The weather was cold too, which does not help.

Put some 'photos from the day before onto the web for people to love or to hate or to misunderstand. Who cares? All people seem to want to do is to state their position or to tell you that they understand yours. This is all rubbish, their position is their business and yours is none of theirs.

Go to bed, run to hide away from it all.

Beg forgiveness now for the post that is missing, but who cares anyway

downriver left upriver right

 Walk down the left hand side of the Isar today, the left hand side being the left when facing in the direction that the river is flowing. Start following at the junction of the flood channel and the road leading to the railway station. Follow the channel until it joins the "Kleine Isar" and just keep on following the rivers course. There are long straight stretches on the dyke, and after the big river and the lesser one have joined the first reservoir starts, The dykes get higher, and just before the power plant the way is blocked.

It is necessary to leave the river and to walk around the power plant and its associated switching station. After the power station there is another dyke. There is a footbridge with a signpost. Eight kilometres to Landshut, nine to Ohu, those are the choices.

Walk an down to Ohu, nine kilometres is not so bad. The river is wide and straight here, and has the potential of being very deep. There is not much water in it today, the weather has been quit dry.

The river widens into another lake, very large even when compared to the first one. There are many different species of bird in the air and on the water. There are scores of cormorants enjoying the open water. Watch them dissapear and then reappear again. Never really know whether it is the same bird.

The atomic reactor at Ohu is wildly spectacular, an enormous building with an even larger cooling tower. Next year it will cease production of electricity, it will be removed from the grid.

After circling the reactor walk on downriver and cross at the bridge in Niederaichbach. 

And then walk back to Landshut, it is dark long before the outskirts of town are reached.

disorder

 It is strange to be driving again, it is almost three weeks now. The car is standing there were it was left, there is ice on both sides of the windscreen. The air inside the car is slightly humid. Perhaps motorcars should not be left standing for so long. There is a canister of antifreeze in the rear of the car, in the luggage area behind the back seats. Unlatch the bonnet and fill the windscreen washer with the liquid, and pour a small amount directly over the ice. 

When all is done turn the engine on and put the car into gear. Do a U turn and drive slowly through the streets, there is no hurry. 

And after having been to the building suppliers and unloaded the full gas bottle outside the house find a much better parking spot than the one occupied before.

In the hallway, replace the lamps with the new ones. These are much brighter, it is possible to see the dirt and disorder now.

demonstation

 Listen to the son make noises in the kitchen next to the bedroom, he is up early, it is his first day of school today. In the previous months he has not reacted well to the presence of his father in the kitchen, for whatever reason. It may just be that he is now an older teenager, he will finish school later this year. What must have seemed like an age for him went quickly.

When he has finished and has left the house, get up and make two poached eggs on toast. This is turning into a habit.

But what with one thing and another, only leave the house at midday, and do the short walk via Schönbrunn. The paths are all disgustingly muddy, and the horses at Bartreiths farm all look disgruntled.

It is cold, and though it is not raining, it is wet.

Take a picture of a circular grid at the roadside.

It has been lying there for some time now, who knows where it came from. It is about sixty centimetres in diameter.I

Take the path home, past the covid vaccination centre, past the bus terminus and then along by the river.

Cross the Adenauer bridge, the gulls on the railing all remain there untill the distance is too close, then they fly away one after the other. There are very few people walking today.

lt is cold.

In the evening go over to the main street and watch the demonstration of the Fridays for Future people and the illegal demonstration of those that claim that the pandemic is non existent. There are a great many of these people. Just because the pandemic is currently not apparent, does not mean that it does not exist. But ist is a waste of time explaining this to these people.

failure

 Stand in front of the house in the Kirchgasse, having just stepped out. It is wet and cold and miserable. This was not visible from the inside, it was not to be heard. The legs covered in denim cloth and the jacket from the old work place, it is all so unsatisfactory. The wind finds every crack in the clothing, this is not going to work. There is a nauseous feeling now and dizziness too. Go back indoors.

Go back up the stairs, ignore the bicycles all standing around, people are too lazy to put them in the back.

There is nothing but a dismal feeling of failure now.

Earlier, it was different, up early turn off the alarm, poach a couple of eggs, make coffee. It was a lively scenario. Put on the boots. Ignore the mystified glances from the cat. Early breakfast, ready to go.  Check on the news and the mail, there is not much of either this Sunday. Give the cat a pat, and then go down the creaking stairs to leave the house.

The door is stiff, there is the noise of a car passing through a puddle outside.

Step outside the house.

Stand in front of the house in the Kirchgasse......

worth while

 Take those anti blood pressure pills in the early morning with a cup of coffee and two poached eggs. Poached eggs in the morning is a new delight, vinegar and salt in boiling water, and when it boils, break in an egg. Put on the toast, when finished, butter it and take the eggs out of the water with a suitable instrument.  It tastes good, and is probably just as unhealthy as any other breakfast, but not as unhealthy as no breakfast.

Decide to put on the rain pantalons, it is snowing outside and snow is wet when it melts on trouser legs. Take the walk up to the castle and through the park to the public lavatories at the car park. This is the last chance before the circuit is completed, and it is as well to  include it in the plans. It is snowing hard by the time the outskirts of the town are passed, and up on the heath the snow is blowing nearly horizontally with the wind. For a while there are no tracks to follow, but then there are more and more. There are tracks of people, dogs and bicycles.

Follow the path around the reservoir, watch all the ducks and coots and swans and cormorants. They are not really comfortable in the weather, all staying in tight groups on the water. Except for the cormorants, who perch on logs and tree trunks in the water digesting their fish. Some spread their wings in an attempt to dry their feathers.

Walk through the town, it is three in the afternoon. Because of the snow, walking was a little more difficult, and it took nearly seven hours to cover the twenty five kilometres.

The beauty of the landscape and the wildness of the weather were worth the cold.

heaters for street cafés

 There is snow on the ground today, meet the neighbour and all he can say is that it is a great day for pictures. He is an older man with a younger wife and they are both taking an evening walk in the park. Wish them well, and all the best. There are many families with children in the park, the children are trying to play with in thin covering of snow. 

Take the usual path, the rhea birds do not appear to be upset by the cold, neither do the deer in the small zoo. There are signs up saying that they are not to be fed. This may have something to do with the bird flu.

The path is icy and slippery with snow and freezing mud. There is a couple ahead who does not appear to be able to walk on this surface, they are very slow. They are both wearing simple running shoes, perhaps that is the problem. Attempt to take a picture of some trees with snow on their branches, but it is just too dark for this to work properly. Fiddle about with exposure settings, and then give up.

For all their slowness the sneaker people have caught up again. Let them go ahead, they are welcome to a walk in solitude.

It is dark in the main street but for the Christmas lights. They will be taken down sometime soon too, and the town will change back into it's cheerless grey flagstone streets, with but a few cafés offering seating on the street. These cafés have set up electrical heat radiators to warm the people sitting outside. 

snow

 Finally, leave the flat, leave the house and go out into the town. Straight into a small snow storm, small cold bits of snow falling and turning the streets pale. Try to take a few pictures but this is just not working well. Things that should look well do not. A streetscape with a castle in the background offers itself, but it is nothing great.

Perhaps it might work as a sort of chocolate box cover.

Take the long walk over the piano of the oxen up to the castle, and carry on through the park. The shower stops, but from the castle forecourt a second storm cloud is visible. Put up the hood of the jacket to prevent the hat getting soaked and follow the path through the park and then along the bluffs over the town. Climb the stairs to the Carossahöhe in the snow, the town is invisible in the snow, only the castle is still visible. It is a very dramatic sight but too distant now for a good picture.

Walk through the woods, the snow is starting to whiten the ground.

It is beautiful to be out in the weather, how was it possible to remain indoors all day?

no gain

The bells in the Christus church ring for three, first four rings for the hour, then three for the time. Walk along the streets to the parish hall of Saint Pius' church, that is where they plan to take blood. Fill out the form and join  a queue. A friendly person pricks the finge with a device and then says that everything is in order.

Join another queue, and the doctor looks at the form. There was a question on the form as to whether there had been residence in Great Britain between 1980 and 1996. There is no doubt about it.

There is a risk of the spread of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalitis, and such people may not give blood.

OK.

Go back home, there was no harm in trying, nothing to be gained either way.

Walk up and down the Altstadt looking at the advertisements in all the showcases

There is that photographer, and he is really looking for people to join his team. He does the most awful wedding and baby pictures.

Still, a job is a job.

not worth reading

 This is a cold it is just like one. A simple common cold made worse duiring that long walk some days ago. But there is no point in leaving the house to go out in the wet, the wind and the cold to make things worse and more miserable still.

Wrap up and stay at home.

This is boring, but probably the most sensible available option.

Read the meters for the gas and the electricity and the water and forward them on to the suppliers. That can all be done comfortably from home now.

try again tomorrow

Yesterday was too much and today is just a frustrating mess. There is no wish to start anything, there is no wish to stay in bed. It is not laziness, it is a strange indifference to everything.

Dress up a bit today, shirt, jacket and matching jeans. Walk to the photographic studio that is looking for a photographer, and find that they are closed on Mondays. Look at the pictures on offer, there are even a few cards to be picked up beside the door. The photographs are all tasteless nothing, unpleasant. They are all strange, the portraitees looking worried, and there is the picture of a young womans backside wrapped in a red ribbon.

This would be a strange place to work, and it is not clear weather it would be pleasant or not.

Try again tomorrow.

Then go to the bank and explain the problem with the security app not working. This is no problem, and five minutes later it is solved.

Wait for a code in the mail.

Then take a walk around town. Buy some vegetables in the supermarket.

33

 At nine on this first Sunday of the year the town is still asleep. It is a bit chilly, and there are a few elderly citizens wandering around. Cross the isar and walk upstream, towards Moosburg. 

Take pictures of spiders webs with dew on them, and a jogger with a red top

The path is known for the first eight kilometres, and then is much the same, but unknown. There is a rushing noise from the river, these are the so-called Seven Ribs. They are calcinated sediments reaching up through the surface of the river. They look just like concrete, but they are not.

The scenery is nicer here, they have made attempts to return the river to it's old nature, a meandering mountain stream with various beds depending upon which way the floods took it. They have not returned it to the old state, but still there are better chances for all the varied life forms to find habitats here now.

There is a bridge at Volksmannsdorf, and from the bridge the Munich trains are visible. Watch two trains pass and then proceed down the other side of the river.

Later on there is a large reservoir with many different water birds spending time there.

The day was fantastic, there was even a small biplane aircraft from the first world war flying overhead. It was painted red and had black crosses on white ground on the wings. Perhaps it is the same modell that the red Baron flew.

Arrive back in Landshut as the day ends. They are pointing multicoloured laser beams at the church, perhaps this makes things more festive.

After thirty-three kilometres the knees hurt.

an old trick

The son wishes a happy new year in the morning it is the first time speaking this year.

This is all not surprising. 

There had been the wish to get up and take a long walk yesterday, but the aftermath of yesterdays walk is still in the bones and in the sore feet. The walking shoes are a bit too long and too narrow for the feet, and this is a bit sore after a lengthy walk. 

In the afternoon take a short walk about town, survey the scene of yesterdays motorcycle accident. Really, there are only two possible causes, either the motorbike  or the car passed a red light. But it was on the local news this morning that the motorcyclist had survived despite being severely injured. That is a good thing.

Take a picture of a Syrian fast food shop beside the river.

The picture is nothing special.

Look into the windows of all the closed shops, and see a machine for making tea. The machine costs five hundred Euros, and it's form lets it look just like a urinal. But supposedly somebody will buy it. There is a jewellers shop with a sign advertising fifty per cent discount. The words "up to" are carefully placed inside the horizontal bar of the number five.

It is an old trick.

Go back home.