Flight

 There are people waiting at the bus stop in Landshut, the electronic noticeboard there says that the bus is due in three minutes. Settle down to wait, imagine that this was a bit of a lucky break. Then there are sounds of complaint from the others waiting, a mother starts to discuss walking to the next bus stop with her children. Look at the sign again, there are now two busses in front of the one that had been due next. There is a nearly palpable sensation of disapproval among those waiting at the stop. It is too late now to start walking, and also the bags are too heavy to even contemplate that. Bus No. 4 arrives, and lets out it's passengers. That bus is no good, the route that it takes will take a vicious circuit all around Landshut West before it gets to the railway station.

Wait for the next bus, a bus number two. And eventually, it does arrive. The driver is unpleasant, fidgety slow and stupid. It is not surprising that the bus was late. He drives badly, anybody with the misfortune to be standing is thrown all over the place. People try to be polite, but the man hits the brakes and heaves the bus around the corners like a kid in the fairground driving the bumper cars.

At the station, a bunch of children block the exit. Tell them to please step aside. They look, and stay were they are. Push them aside and get out. 

After all of that the train is five minutes late. It all fits together.

Leaving the train at Munich Airport, scratch the back of the hand upon a post. Go upstairs, and there is a Christmas market set up in the way, stalls of people selling wooden toys and sugary nonsense. Find a way through all of this and end up in a large hallway. Speed bag drop on the left for business class only bored looking information desk on the righ and ahead the security check in: But not for bags, go back and eventually find the check in for bags economy class. There is a man there first question is "how are you" answer is miserable, he looks down and there is trail of bloody spots on the ground showing the path. The spot on the back of the hand has started to bleed in a serious fashion. The man waves on quickly. The man at the counter nearly faints at the sight of all the blood, breathing fast he does the check in routine and then he leads his customer to the first aid section.

A woman attaches a plaster and then another plaster.

The bleeding stops.

Later on, an endless search for the departure area after a search of the bags by an efficient young woman looking for explosives search the place for the departure gate.

The gate is to be found under H, and further information is not available. There are over forty gates spread out on an endless corridor and no information board saying which one is for flight 2518 to Dublin.

In the end, a woman at an information desk has the information, which she shares in a broken and impatient German.

How can people be so stupid and get lost in airports. It is too bad really. These thoughts are almost visible in her demeanour.

Beaten

 Staring at people's inability to use the mail services, the idiots will suggest driving over one hundred kilometres in an evening to collect a data stick that could simply be popped into an envelope and sent overhonight. It is silly.

There are now three hundred pictures of the old mans dreams, and there is no concept as to what is to be done with it all. They have inherited it all, it is now up to them. It was an interesting days work and an acceptable schnitzel in a nice place as a reward afterwards. Let us hope it is all over now, do not look for further involvement.

A quick drive to a village near Landshut, and the whole thing placed into a letterbox. 

Delivered.

Today is the last day in Landshut for the next two weeks, and that is a good thing.

In the back of the bakery there was a man who used to work in a slaughterhouse. He is an old man, over seventy, maybe even more than eighty. He has a black eye and a mark on his forehead. He has been beaten. His account was that he left a pub late at night and woke up in the gutter, it was entirely unclear as to what happened. The surroundings of his right eye are blackened. Talk to him for a while, his name is Walter. He still cannot understand how that all happened.

That night he had to be accompanied home.

And today at midday he is drinking coffee in a bakery shop.

He looks as if he has been beaten.

goodnight good morning

it too late now to even pretent that this is monday night,  why !  it is tuesday now and time has elapsed sitting in the pub and watching the people, the groups that meet and discuss the world's fe uture.

It is the evening of the day and it is the night after the day, the time has fled, just run away.

There were three hundred pictures the day before yesterday all cleaned up yesterday and there was no time to write about today that day. Sorry for the incoherence, it is your job to read continuity into this writing, a writhing between the different realities cultivated by different people. There is a definite influence of alcohol here.

four beer

forbear

This post is past midnight and is for yesterday.

And if you are dissapointed, say so

if you are not, say so also,

good night

Wouldn't one?

 Waiting to be collected now that all the morning things have been done. Today a man wants pictures of a ruinous house that he has inherited, the job should be curious anyway, even if it is not worthwhile financially.

The head is buzzing and there was no need to shave. Heavy working boots and the old working jacket, this will not be a clean environment.

The pills are remembered, and taken and good morning was wished to the son who was up already. All these small things that are important in their way. It is cold in the flat, according to the thermometer it is only five degrees above freezing. Perhaps it will be below freezing as the winter progresses.

There is no news today, it is Sunday, and nothing happens on a Sunday one would think.

Wouldn't one?

unexpected

 Up early, about early and then nowt nothing nichts nada as the people say. The enterprise to start the day with faded into nothing and dissolved.

Breakfast was in order, that strange hurried meal that is the base for the rest of the day. The pills were forgotten, just the package made up containing the old heater and leave the house with barely a shower.

The package turned in and the receipt made up and that all went quickly enough, the friendly man in the packet shop a sparkling example of efficiency.

And then off to the small bakery with the café where they leave you alone after you have ordered and it is possible to enjoy the cup of coffee in peace..

And walk back home through the rain, and up to the rooms and start to sort the old pictures, a job that will take years.

A man rings up and says his father has died. Offer condolences, as is done in such cases. The reply is a comment that the father had not been a nice man. Unclarity as to what the one has to do with the other. Anyway, he left a chaotic estate, and the man wants pictures of this chaos.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Sunday, and this sudden unexpected influx of work comes unexpected.

great

 Yesterday's tomorrow is now, and it is not better yet. A long sleep has sent the headaches away, that is a good thing. The son is awake early this morning, there is hot coffee in the pot. Knock on his door and ask whether or not it can be taken. He says  "ok".  This is one early half cup of coffee, this goes down well.

Breakfast in the bedroom, the only room heatable in the top flat. Things are still not better in Ukraine, there are so many dead now because of the dispute, both soldiers and civilians. 

Things are strange in the United States with all their "traditional values" being turned into law. What civilised country allows its citizens to possess and carry weapons designed for mass murder without let or hindrance? The search is not easy.

The news, as always, is not satisfactory.

The eggs on toast are.

Next week there will be a flight to Dublin, an opportunity to enjoy the warm Irish winter.

Great.

tomorrow will be better

 Such a slack day, like yesterday, just worse. The top central tooth has been repaired and probably needs a root canal job done. But that was yesterday, the serious work on the tooth is in the future- Today, just a slack day, and a lazy one too.

There we are, it was nothing much more today than wandering about town, and not feeling well, and thy have started their Christmas celebrations with stupid amplified sentimental music and people getting drunk on cheap wine spiced sugared and heated. Too much ot that and you will be sick and many are.

The day started watching a man stagger up the street with his mouth wide open stariing straight ahead. He would have been worth a photo, but he would have sued had it been published.

The weeks of the exhibition have passed now, and all the strain is now gone, all the strain that was worht so little.

Perhaps tomorrow will be better.

open-mouthed and unspeaking

 The phone plays the seaside melody and simultaneously vibrates. Reach over through the cold air in the room and silence the machine. Then get up and go downstairs, go to the bathroom, shave and shower. Return, and cover up again for a few minutes. The feeling of chilliness will not go away, and it is actually rather cold in the room. Five degrees above freezing, thirteen degrees more would be comfortable. It is winter, and it will be colder before it gets warmer.

Get up a short while later, and brush the teeth with great care. There is a dentist's appointment later. Hear that the son is up and know that he will be off to work shortly. Leave the house and see him cycling towards the church, his long red hair spreading in the wind along with his moss green parka style jacket.

Walk past the church, and the accountants assistant says hello. She is on her way to work in the office, she is a cheerful middle-aged person all wrapped up in her winter clothing.

There is a new dentist in the practice, she seems young nervous and frighteningly efficient. She takes note of all the teeth and previous repairs to them and notes that there is a filling that needs to be replaced. An appointment at half past four is available. 

Then the other young woman proceeds to clean the teeth, descaling them. She explains that she is left handed, that the dentist's equipment is for right handed people.

Think about this, open-mouthed and unspeaking whilst she works

nuclear research?

 The car repair place rings up at nine, and explains that a bearing on the tensioner of a fan belt is broken. There not much to say about that, it will need to be fixed. The car will be ready this afternoon. The question is really whether or not it is a necessary luxury.

Which luxury is ever necessary?

Awake early, take a shower, make breakfast. The son comes out of his bedroom, he has a cold and a headache. Say that in that case he is going to have to telephone his place of work and tell them that he is sick. Finish up making the eggs on toast and the coffee and take the whole lot upstairs.

The news today is as bad as every day. The war in the Ukraine continues and there is a serious earthquake in Indonesia. An American shot five people to death in a bar. And a German car maker is afraid of losing his market in China.

At ten today it will be time to take down the exhibition and to take the prints home. They will reside in the bottom shelf of the storage box for ever probably. Who would want to see those pictures of people working  in an institute doing nuclear research?

Things can only get worse today.

To bed early and therefore awaken early: this worked this morning, up and breakfast was made before the time that the son was up and on his way to work. The son has taken to wearing dresses, this is most peculiar in the eyes of his old father, but the young man is of age and it is very much his decision. The dresses are quite pretty, but perhaps he should not wear them whilst he is repairing his scooter. There are more suitable clothes for oily dirty work in winter than summer dresses, like overalls and boiler suits.

It is quiet and utterly peaceful now, and there seems to be no tiredness to deal with now either. This is so pleasant. The kitchen was in a mess as usual, but there is nothing to be done about it, it is probably to late to teach anyone new tricks in this area.

This is the first day in a long time that it was possible to take breakfast fully dressed, there was even time to get the day clothes on, there was no rush. The bed is made properly too. Things can only get worse today.

dreams of the coming year

 Late luxurious lie in on a Sunday, think of Faith no More's rendering of easy and listen to the church bells. Today is a day to allow the body to catch up and the mind to wander.

The first person singular personal pronoun is avoided here ,it is all about one person any how and there is no need for him to boast. That is all. There are people who will use this short word of one letter many times in every sentence. These people are hard to deal with in normal conversation, all intercourse is strained. Not here!

The mind has focussed better now, it is time to take the pills and have another cup of coffee.

There are pictures of France on the old wooden desk. 

Maybe a journey there will be possible in the coming year.

the rest of the day

 The news is speculating that the USA is tiring of the gold leaf man's rants and has settled for things of more substance than a just that gilded surface. Is this sense or has the common man just realised that he is no richer? Awake early today, with dreams of a young woman and the whirr of the heater that was started automatically by its built-in thermostat. It will be necessary to save on heating because of the embargo on Russian oil and gas, that stuff of sweet addictions and power.

Breakfast, and all was well. The journey to the art suppliers yesterday was a success, and today is the day that the exhibition will come down. The cat is downstairs complaining of the lack of food. Feed the cat, she is the only one of the family up and about at this hour.

After dressing, go to the car. It still starts, perhaps the battery is not in such bad condition after all. It has held for one night now. Take the heavy catalogue from the boot of the car, this is the catalogue of the products of the art suppliers. It is thicker than those city telephone books ever were. 

The news is read, the first chores are done, and now it is time to get on with rest of the day.

listening damp

 Ine the distance the trees on the side of the Isar's valley's slope the trees are in Autumn colours and still today is Friday the 18th of November. Years ago there would have been snow about bare trees and not the steady fall of rain that is now being experienced. 

There is the whirr of a small electrical heater in the background, a small white device with a thermostat which makes a clicking noise to turn the device on and off. Now during the energy shortages of these times of war this may appear wasteful behaviour, but the alternative is simply to be unbearably cold. A room temperature of sixteen degrees on the celsius scale is bearable and comfortable.

There are things to be done today, consider these whilst sitting at the glazed verandah door looking out at the nearby roofs and the distant trees in the glistening damp of the continuous rain.

There is no knowing if any reverberations of this life's efforts are being heard.

off the main street.

Everything hurts today, and it is a day to rest alone. There is fog in front of the window and condensation on its inner panes. And it is good to just rest in the warm bed, all alone and perfectly happy.

Just ill this morning, and happy to stay in bed. The car needs collecting later, that is something to look forward too, that mechanic moaning about the lack of time and the extra fault that he has found, a defective pump for the coolant supply. That is his story on the telephone. it will be worse when he is face to face. He is a nice man, he does not realise that all he has to do is get organised and fix the cars he has to deal with.

And at midday, the exhaustion from Tuesdays walk appears to have let up again, the weather has brightened and it is not so cold

There is momentarily nothing of interest happening, there are no details to describe, but for the short sojourn in town with a cup of coffee and roll in the quiet bakery off the main street.

homeward

 Woke-

awaken early, it was just past six, the brother apologising for having made noise, but it was not that.

He asked how the sleep was, and said the breathing in the night was heavy. What does that mean? The sleep was fine.

There is the sound of children getting ready to go to school downstairs, start to pack up the things ready to go. Nothing is left, hopefully .

The journey is slow and in the weather is rainy, quite unlike yesterday which had not a cloud in the sky. The big car groans and heaves around the corners, it is a huge machine. 

And in three hours, home. There is no welcome there, but it is home. The wife is drinking her morning cup of coffee, the son has a cold, and the cat is happy to be petted.

Yesterdays exertions were more telling on the old body than had been imagined.

leaf blower

It is light and there is an Alpine vista outside, awaken in the Alps today. A place called Ramsau near Berchtesgaden, stuck on the side of a mountain. An invitation to join him by the brother, to go for a walk in the mountains.

Now that the walk is done it is evening and the mountains are invisible. The walk up the hill along the valley past Hintersee to the Austrian border and back took all day under a clear blue sky, there were  buildings at the top of the hill and the old border post with pictures of historic value.

Half way up the mountain a man with a motorised scythe was cutting away the growths at the edge of the path. Another man was using a blower to clear the leaves from the path. This is Germany.

no time right now

 Oh!!! it is half past seven, that is what the watch shows, it is light already. The last three hours sleep since the interruption at four in the morning have been both deep and sound. There is a short dazed period trying to couple the feelings and thoughts to the apparent reality, and then get up and go downstairs. The son is up already, using the dryer to dry his few clothes, they are almost worn out through all that washing and drying

Breakfast, make the usual, ignore the chaos in the kitchen, and feed the cat who is making a fuss and doing her best to communicate that she wants her food as soon as possible.

Upstairs, throw on the dressing gown and eat the breakfast, considering the things that should be done today. The car has to be brought to the repair shop, and then the train has to be taken to Berchtesgaden to meet the brother and to look at a mountain called Watzmann.

And there is no time to go on with this right now.....

early Sunday

 Up early and the brother in the next room is up early too, he was up earlier, he had to go to the loo. Silence the alarm and put on the clothes ready to go, the brother returns and hear him dressing in the next room also.

And there the two brothers wander through the foggy town to the car park where the younger brothers big car is parked. On the way there is a bakery, open on a Sunday. There is a baker working in a glass enclosure, actively making bread, which is sold at the counter. Get two cups of coffee and two croissants and it is now half past six this Sunday morning. Watch the baker work, steadily and unhurriedly making all the different types of bread by the tray-load, early for breakfast on a Sunday morning. He is an older man, and has a steady routine that could lead to a trance in the spectators.

But when the coffee is done the brother has to leave and drive to Salzburg. 

He has an appointment at half past nine.

Return home, return to the cold rooms in the corner of the house.

Itsy easy

 Going to bed early  and reading in bed yesterday evening paid off this morning with a happy early rising and no problems with a stomach pains and the like. These are all things to be considered when the age of the body is more than sixty seven years and most of life has been spent.
Not that this matters in any larger context, it just enhances the wishful thinking that there will be a second life for this awareness somewhere. And this is just wishful thinking. The machine says the time is now six fifty eight in the morning, the watch agrees. The feet are turning colder now, the temperature is only eight degrees beyond freezing at the window.

Get up and put on two pairs of socks. A simple solution, insulate the body's own heat.
That is the way to succeed.

A view in the mirror shows a week's stubble has formed, there was never any great growth there, but now this has crept up and spread itself all over the facial skin with the exception of the cheeks, the nose and the  forehead. Of course there is no hair on the lips. Imagine that! Hairy lips! Not nice at all!

The brother is due to arrive in Landshut today with his family. It will be good to see him and it will be necessary to prepare the mind for the unqualified comments of his wife, a keen amateur photographer herself. Yes, it is perfectly true that the trade practised for thirty years is just a matter of pushing a button and mucking about with a computer afterwards. Sure, all true.

Why disagree?

Itsy easy

The show will confirm her abilities and make her happy.

bone cold

 It is cold outside the bed, really uncomfortably cold. Maybe it is just a feeling, but there is no wish to leave this warm comfort. The lack of heating in the small flat is making itself felt now that winter is almost here. It will be really cold at the beginning of next year.

Get up, get dressed and do not bother with making breakfast.

Ring up the tax office  to ask what is to be done about the missing papers. A friendly official tells me what needs to be done, and as it is Friday she seems in a good humour. Take note of the procedure and then decide to search the other jackets and lo and behold there is the missing paper. That is a big relief and a small saving.

Take the papers out to the car and put them into the glove compartment. Because of all the repairs that are necessary this is turning into a most expensive car.. All cars are expensive, and at least this one does not look new and expensive. And that is good.

The cold is frightening now, it is working its way into the bones.

Post for the tenth, today!

 Today! eggs on toast  and bad humour because of yesterdays forgotten post.

Sorry for those who would have read it, there is a replacement there now. Too late, really quite a bit too late and this is the second time that this has happened in the last fortnight.

An egg fell this morning and smashed on the floor. Clean the slimy mass up, that is the waste of a breakfast egg. For something that cannot be crushed the surface breaks easily enough. There is the sound of the son's alarm in the background, he ignores it as is usual with his difficulties in the morning. Because of having awoken early a shower can be taken in the early morning, a warm shower which is a delight and a comfort after all the small mishaps of the past few days. It is just the joy of an early morning wash.

Now is the time to wait for the mechanic to finish, and then to collect the car in the hope that it will hold for some years and not cause too much trouble.

The people in the United States have apparently realised that they were being made fools of during the last few years, and are coming to more sensible decisions now.

post for the ninth

 The post for the ninth is missing because it did not get written, not with all the back and forth yesterday, the day that was the ninth,

The car repair specialist rang in the morning to say that he had repaired the car, price undisclosed. At this stage there is nothing to care about any more, it is just a matter of restricting the damage done by a wrong decision. 

When in doubt, do not sign contracts. That would have been a good rule to adhere to.

And in the evening and in the afternoon distribute the pictures selected during the afternoon. The people on the pictures seem happy enough, and that is good enough. But then, why should they not  be happy? The pictures are quite in order.

prepare

 in fifteen minutes there is to be a telephone interview with the lawyer, the morning is cold. 

Sunlight catches the smoke and vapour climbing into the atmosphere from the neighbours's chimneys, rising and then falling as the heat is taken from them.

The rooms are cold, but there is a strange luxury in being able to open the balcony doors and the windows and experience the relatively warmer air from outside. At least this air is not significantly colder. 

The clock is ticking, that blue-cased clock with its electrical winder. It just works and works and ticks and tocks.

Now with only eight minutes to go, prepare for that telephone call.

tomorrow

Today a running list of small mishaps, and it is getting colder, as the time of year leads a normal person to expect. The doctor was jovial and friendly and said that only deaf patients get a hearing aid paid for by the insurance companies, the rest do not, and come back in two years when you cannot hear yourself think anymore. But the young woman at the hearing aid place was pleasant, even though it is partly her job to be so.

Spend time sorting shirts, there are just too many of them. Emptying the wardrobe downstairs chased them all out of their corners where they had been hiding. There is going to be a shirt cull, there are so many more than necessary.

Make an appointment to have the car repaired, only to have this turned down by return of the mail, there is a detail that had been overlooked. Now it is just a matter of waiting for the lawyer to speak.

And that will be tomorrow.

Set the alarm for tomorrow 

set the alarm for tomorrow

 Long and lazy Sunday morning comes to an end, and little of any value has been done. But that is no problem, it was good to wake up so painlessly in the silence of the morning, and the ordering of the small things for the rest of the day was well worth while.

Used socks into the dirty washing, the sleeping clothes too.

Tomorrow is the doctors appointment to check up on the hearing, there will be no cure for the tinnitus, there never is or will be, no past present of future tense will describe the fear of eternal nuisance. There are many small things of importance to be done, and they are satisfying too.

The bells for midday have just rung, it would be a good day to set the alarm for tomorrow.

Egg yolk on buttered toast

 Egg yolk on buttered toast, let us just hope that this is not an unhealthy combination. And if it is, then this is too bad, the body has had worse things to deal with. The day starts late now, as every day does. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage of retirement, the morning atmosphere is missing from the rest of the day and everything seems to be running late.

But now that is tomorrows worry, there are things that have to be done today to try and keep the rest of the day flowing as wished. There is to be a visit to the supermarket, a visit to the café, and then the rest of the day. There is a dirty old vacuum cleaner to fix and a wall to scrape. There are so many things to do. And nothing gets done at all.

A picture was done yesterday, a wished for photo has been realised. It did not turn out as planned, but not so many things in life do.

lawyer

 sleep tight sleep well it is so bloody delicious to be able to turn off in the morning and rest in the warmth of the white bed

the telephone, it is the telephone and it is eight thirty in the morning 

let it go let it go.

Later pick up the thread in the email, it was the lawyer, most of the money is in and he has demanded the remainder - they need a bank account.

Telephone, an old cure for common problems, the woman on the line is pleasant and takes the details easily and calls them back flawlessly. Mention the problem with the used car, and there we are! the lawyer has an appointment Tuesday, that is fine and quite in order. The matter will be of little worth, so a telephone appointment will have do just fine.

Spend the whole day getting small things into order, and going to the gallery to see what is happening there. Not much is happening, and the matter will be over in ten days anyhow.

And in the evening

remember that for the second time in as many weeks this blog was nearly forgotten.

(pfad, fad)

 Late awakening today one day runs into the next day now and it is Thursday again. This breathless concatenation of days is leading to a the end of life as known and it is a solitary exercise. The son had left this morning before the rising of his father and long before the rising of the mother. The mess in the kitchen has been cleaned perfunctorily, but it is proof that there is an upper limit to acceptable sordid mess.

The eggs on toast are particularly good today, the small things count. There were three eggs today.

The cat is confused by the separation in the house, it is good that the house is big enough to allow such separation. There is no future visible now in living close, living alone seems the only way.

It is important to be open for change, but there is only one path (pfad, fad) in view

The second is only seen on the third

 November the second was a day with forgetfullness and a lack of time

November the third is today 

This is about yesterday

Written today

Cold and miserable yesterday, all day spent in the gallery watching nobody come in

That was yesterday

And the blog was forgotten then

only noticed today

It is sunny on this all hallows day.

 coughs and snivels, and remain in bed until ten, take a shower and get dressed. Staying in bed all day is boring, it is not a thing to do if you have any choice.

The choice is there, make breakfast and update the credit card details for Apple. They are complaining again that they cannot withdraw their monthly Euro.

Not so sorry for them, but fix the problem anyway. 

How are things to go on? Days are being spent without talking to people, yesterdays visit to the old Institutes showed what a pleasure it is to have people to talk to, even people that you do not particularly like.

The long journey home with the new car which is delivering its expected problems, there is a rumble from the wheel and in the morning the battery was flat. Disconnect the non standard anti pest device and turn off the interior light. Those two things were probably the cause of the problem. Hopefully their are fewer plastic biting martens in town than where the car was originally from. A check on the car will be due later on.

It is sunny on this all hallows day.