Spend all morning struggling to complete the collection of pictures that the artists want. It is not entirely easy, there are difficulties with the computers online connection. Finally, in the early afternoon, finish.
Spend the rest of the afternoon in the icy cold taking pictures of statues.
And it is important to be out early tomorrow.
So good night for now
A day of strangeness, a hard time getting out of bed because of the cold, a nasty feeling in the throat. Get up, go downstairs, make breakfast. Go upstairs again, with the breakfast. Eat and read the news, there is an email from the artists, a writer has written a piece for their catalogue.
That is all fine.
What is not fine is that the clothes smell of restaurant and food and smoke. Put all of yesterday's clothing and any other black things into the washing machine, that will do. Thirty degrees, water, washing powder and movement. That will have to do. Go upstairs and put on fresh clothing.
And then settle down to sort out last nights work. This was to take pictures of an actor reading short stories from a book accompanied by a musician playing short pieces on a saxophone. The author was present, and there was a large crowd there too.
Today the work has to be done to bring the pictures into some form of order and throw out the ones that are no good.
Also, telephone with the repair place about the car. They promise it for the afternoon.
In the afternoon take a train to the repairs place, the car is ready.
Telephone with the artists, and make an appointment for the evening to bring up the new pictures and to discuss the further moves on their new catalogue.
That evening, the roads are covered in snow, drive home carefully in the snowstorm.
Get up, never mind the cold, turn on the silly small wildly expensive heater and then go downstairs to see about m making the ritual breakfast. The cat looks on, wide eyed and hopeful. She buts her head against all available legs, furniture and human.
Make the breakfast, it is simple enough. Work a way around all of the items left lying about since last night. The son has been making food again, it is good that he can cook and rather sad that he does not think much of cleaning up afterwards. Still, there is enough free space to go ahead, and afterwards take the plate with the poached eggs on toast and the large mug of coffee upstairs.
Read the news, the news of those kidnapped by the Palestinian terrorists and now released. Think of those still kidnapped. Remember that there are almost seventeen thousand dead now as a result of political ambition and hubris. There is no cause to justify this, not one at all.
Look at lenses on the second hand market.
Take the medicine, apply the cream.
And then there is tiredness and headache. Take a pill against the headache, and lie down until it works. Read the novel given to me by the young woman. It is a rather passionate description of romantic amourosities. The word does not exist, but the condition probably does. Put the book away again. It has a red cover with roses on it
The sun has come out outside. Perhaps a walk will help.
There is snow outside, and tiredness inside. The snow is a steady downpour of large flakes, the ground is too warm to accept them. The tiredness is leaden like the sky, and the cold is just a lack of comfort.
Take the medicines and apply the cream, take breakfast. Everything is fine now. And then it is not. The tiredness returns, it will not go away. There will be no walks outside today. Take a blood pressure reading, it is way too high. Therefore, just take things easy.
The day is spent doing office work.
There is a meal done by the son in the late afternoon. He is trying to pull the family together again, which is virtuous and a lovely gesture. His cooking is original, he made a large baked dish with noodles and tomato sauce and spices. It was savoury, and vegan.
But pulling the family together will not work.
In the morning call the repair shop on the phone, the car was running irregularly yesterday. In fact, it runs really roughly when it is cold. Try to explain, but the expert mechanic only hears that which would fit his knowledge easily. It is a hard thing to demonstrate, for it only happens when the car is cold. And how can a car be brought to a mechanic without warming up the engine?
He rings back and says that the parts for the car will be there early afternoon.
Do a few things around the house, and then take the car to the workshop. This repair shop is almost ten kilometres away.
The mechanic is there and he looks at the car, and looks at the delivered parts. He considers that there is a seal missing. This will make it impossible to repair the car before Monday. After thinking, and discussing, and then thinking again decide to leave the car on the premises, they can experience the cold starting difficulties themselves, and not give their customer strange looks any more.
On the way back, stop at the airport restaurant. Watch the aircraft outside, they are small private aircraft and there are a few flying school operations under way, Have a small meal.
Cevapcici are naked sausages, and they are served in the traditional way with rice.
And then walk the ten kilometres back home, through the forests and the meadows beside the river.
Arrive back at home in the dark, and be delighted that the son has returned home for the weekend. He is becoming rather elegant now, it must be the university company.
A day that was just cold and miserable, sitting around and going for walks. There was nobody to talk to all day, went to the café and had a word with the person on service, and went to the Turkish snack bar and chatted with the proprietor whilst he made up a Kebap. Enjoyed this standing on the bridge looking at the river, to the background noise of the small towns traffic.
There are calls to be made and small things that need doing. This is all no harm. Put the clothing that had been washed in the morning into the dryer. It is a black wash, all the black jeans and tee shirts and socks and things that need to be washed. Some black dye had been added to the wash, the jeans are going more and more grey with each wash.
Much later the things will be taken out of the dryer.
Realise that the depression has walked in again, the dark absence, that just leaves its owner with the feeling of empty bleak nothingness. When even the kindly emails from friends are viewed with simple suspicion.
Awake, and then go to check the time, it is too cold and it is not nice at all. Check the time and it is six forty five. Rest for a while longer, then the alarm sounds at seven. Get dressed, put on about half of yesterdays clothes and fresh underwear. Note that the time is flying by, as is the time of day.
Go downstairs and make a cup of coffee. That is a start, go to the bathroom, but that is no problem today.
Thank whoever for the small mercies in the face of bigger adversary.
Clear up the downstairs hall to make it possible to take the trailer out. Then tip the trailer onto its wheels and wheel it out through the front door. Be thankful that it is a small trailer. It will just manage four hundred kilograms when fully loaded.
Take the trailer out and leave it at the side of the alley. Then go and collect the car and hook up the trailer, checking that the lights work by using the emergency flashers.
Then drive to the facility for checking the roadworthiness of vehicles. Upon arrival there a man approaches and informs that there is a problem, when the indicators on the car signal right those on the trailer signal left. Thank the man and put the connection plug in the other way around
After a short wait a friendly man checks the trailer and finds no problems except that there is no air in the left hand tire. Promise to remedy this as soon as possible. After the papers have been signed, drive to a petrol station and pump up the tyres.
In the afternoon, visit the artists farm in the country and take pictures of their work.
The dentist's appointment is at eight thirty, that is fine, just getting up in the cold is not at all fine. The bed is comfortably warm, and is inviting a lengthy snooze. Get up and get dressed, lie down again afterwards and get a fright thinking that the appointment has been missed after all. But it was simply bad eyesight and a small watch held at an angle.
Now all is well.
The teeth were cleaned attentively, so now there is a bright clean smile in the mirror.
There is a fresh appointment for the sixth of December.
In the early afternoon take the pictures of the sculptures to the artists, The one artist has fallen ill, he has become infected with the covid virus. Many people are now infected with this virus.
The pictures are well received, and that is nice.
On returning to Landshut realise how heavy the rush hour traffic leaving town is.
Slow awakening today, everything was slow and difficult in the morning. But then, as of eight thirty things pick up again, start a small job, make breakfast. The dentist's assistance rings to give a reminder for tomorrow's appointment. Thank her, and then wonder how getting up is going to work tomorrow. It is not going to be easy, but perhaps the knowledge of the appointment will provide the necessary impetus.
The day spent doing small thingsu again, a small amount of shopping, a small walk, and printing the pictures taken yesterday of the two sculptures, the one in Kumhausen, and the other in the Lurchhof. Both are quite in order, only the light of the winter evening was very blue, and the reflections of the blue sky are a bit of a distraction.
Take the car to the repair shop, and they agree that it appears to be using too much oil. They put a litre in, and then they say they will inquire as to the costs for a new cylinder head cover. Well, that will be a thing that will be discovered inside the next few days.
Return home and spend an evening, unsatisfactory, uhappy, locked up in the small room at the top of the house which has turned into that part of the house in which all activity takes place, reading, eating and sleeping. Also, the bit of photographic work that is still done. What a leftover from a lifelong obsession!
Today started like every other day since the hospital stay-late and slow, despite all attempts to get up early.
But at eleven, leave the house with all the photographic gear packed up and ready to go. Take it to the car, and drive to the social services place near the university. It is too early yet to take pictures of the sculpture there, it is almost completely in the shade. Move on to the other one, the one in the village with the forgettable name. The parking space before it is deserted on this Sunday morning Set up the camera, and spend time waiting for the sun to occlude slightly. There is now so much free space around the wall with the four ceramic plates that it is easily possible to take several different angles. All in all, the work takes an hour.
It is then possible to return to the other piece. It is better now, but the sun will never come around far enough at this time of the year to light it nicely. Do the best that is possible for the moment.
After all of this has been done, decide that a treat is in order. Take the car to the nearby small airport, there is a restaurant there that is run by reasonably good cook, he does Italian and Croatian dishes. He provides simple food at a decent price.
Sit there and listen to a group of private pilots at the next table discussing their relevant technology.
And when the pleasant little meal is over, return home.
Check the pictures on the computer, they are all in order,
This day was not so bad
That last night was late is clear and today is wet. The alarm sounds early, than you Siri, but it is no use. The day remains damp and nasty.
Spend some time in the morning trying to solder the connection on the record player, but the connections to the two cinch plugs have been so mishandled that no correction is possible any more. Also, the soldering iron the workshop does not work any more. Go up to the sons room and notice that his fancy soldering workstation has been smashed, he must have dropped it. Spend over an hour sticking the pieces back together with a mixture of cyanoacrylate and some powder. Together this makes a very fast-drying seam between the plastic pieces. It sticks to the fingers as well, making it difficult to remove them from whatever they have got stuck to.
The result is functional, but not beautiful. There is less risk of an electrical shock from the device now, now that its housing is in one piece again.
Talk to the tenant for a while, she seems entirely happy to have sold her shop, and is perfectly happy to stop being the boss and turning into somebody else's employee, still doing the same job.
Carry on clearing things and doing bits and pieces. Try to remain restful today.
The whole business is not worth it, really. The pieces of plexiglass should be available as of next week.
The sound of the rain in the morning served as a welcome excuse not to leave the house, an excuse not to do the work out of doors that had been planned as planned. Instead, spend time adjusting the camera. Work out a simple solution to the problem that had involved the use of a wide angle lens in combination with the electronic back.
There is time for a short visit to the café, listen to a woman talk to her partner on the other side of their table in an incredibly loud voice. It has a sound a bit like a circular saw that has become blunt. Try to shut out the noise so that the coffee can be drunk with enjoyment.
Leave the place behind, and walk home in the steadily worsening rain.
In the afternoon there is a visit to be made to the tenant, she is introducing the person who has taken over her business and wishes to take over the tenancy.
Remain noncommital, and having met the two gents, there is the sensation of there being something wrong.
The tenants business is her business.
an interesting day, and now back in the german equivalent of a pub. The day started with a visit to the ebullient urologist, he rejoicing the successful enucleation of a gland that was not actually doing anybody any harm. Go home after a short visit to a bakers shop. There were two young women at another table, obne German and one a Indian, both speaking English as a sort of lingua franca. Shortly after at home,
gather the things needed for the upcoming publication and visit
the artists to talk about same.
Much later, like now, listen to a german and an english person in the pub, both speaking English.
Order another beer, this is the end of the day.9
The fourteenth of November just slipped away, and is now remembered on the morning of the fifteenth, there was no cause for it but that there was a day that went nowhere. The little jobs were done, The coffee was taken in the café, and the misery of the cold weather was endured.
And the blog was forgotten about.
Perhaps this is unimportant, who knows?
Apart from a short walk in the early afternoon the day is spent editing and feeling ill. Those pills that the doctor prescribed have all the listed side effects, including a nasty bowel disorders. These are all described and they are just not pleasant.
The woman in the cafe was unfriendly today, at first, and then she got more pleasant once the matter was dealt with and the money paid. She had not forgotten the returned croissant. Yesterday, received a croissant that was entirely flattened, it was returned with a request for more three dimensionality.
But everything is fine today.
Go home and rest until the stomach aches go away.
And then get back to editing the pictures of the band from yesterday.
It is a dead quiet Sunday today there is no urge to do anything but to lie on the bed and listen to music, or tho look at things on the computer. It is just a day to take it easy.
Remember to apply the dermatologist's cream in the morning after nearly forgetting to do so last night. They are two different types of cream against two different types of complaint which cause the same symtoms. Something is going to work. That is optimism anyway.
The small electric heater does a reasonable job of warming the small room. It is noisy and probably inefficient, but it is better than freezing and it is better than hanging around downstairs in the horrible mess that is everywhere there.
This is up to the perpetrators of same to clear away.
This person has retired from trying to organise a pleasant living environment for all.
The young woman from yesterday will not leave this ancient mind, a young woman not especially beautiful, not anything wild but with the ability to hold her opposite with her eyes and to engage him in conversation, never letting go. Not ever, not for the whole evening will she let it be. This is not flirting, it is almost a direct proposition.
Without mentioning a single word that could be alluding to anything personal or intimate at all.
Without any overt display of clothing, not batting an eye.
It was time to leave and she asked whether she could give a goodbye hug.
A strange encounter during the late evening yesterday that stays in the mind.
Attend the opening of the ceramic photo exhibition by Peter Litvai. Interesting, but a completely different angle to that which was seen personally at said school last year.
Leave after the speeches.
Collect the pills and creams predcribed by the doctor yesterday from the apothecary. There is a different person on service today, and it becomes necessary to forcibly explain that there should be three packages and not just one. A confusion in communication betweeen the staff of the shop is the cause of this.
And then return home, and ask the son out for an afternoon meal. He goes for pizza.
On the way to the kitchen, notice the cat lying curled up cat-like on the top of a sideboard on a jacket that the wife has left there. The cat is quiet and lethargic, this is unusual. Go over to her and stroke her head, and she moves and purrs quietly. The cat is not her usual self, she may actually be unwell. Hope that this is nothing serious.
Make breakfast, and upon leaving the kitchen pass by the sidebourd again, and stroke the cats head in an attempt to cheer the animal up a bit.
Upstairs again, drink the coffee and see to the morning things that need doing, such as making the bed and reading the news. There is a telephone call from the glasier, the woman tells me that the ordered sheets of glass are ready for collection. Mosey around the place a while longer, have a shower, and then go to find the car. It is in an awkward spot, there is a car parked diagonally in front of it, and reversing is difficult because of a lack of vision to the rear. The vehicle is an awkward construction, with a very high rear window which makes reversing awkward. It will probably get better with practice.
Collect the glass at the glacier, see that all of the edges have been ground and pay. Then go shopping, it is handy to be able to park the car in the basement of the mall. The first two hours are free, that is handy too.
Go upstairs in the mall, all the way through utilitarian concrete-walled passageways. There is no need to take the lift. Upstairs, visit the public lavatory and then go and have a snack at the butchers. Then go downstairs and buy the few groceries and things needed later during the day. Drive home, unload the stuff, and then go to a free parking spot opposite to the police station. There are always free spaces during the day, just in the evening all the neighbours return and it always becomes necessary to drive further afield.
And at home again, see that the cat has perked up, she is now sitting in front of the wife's computer next to the heater. She purrs readily now, and she seems better than this morning. A little later, encounter the cat again, she is checking on her food bowl. Feed her, and think of the character in Star Trek called Seven of Nine. A cat is supposed to have nine lives, maybe that is what the screen writer or author was thinking of.
The rest of the day is spent printing the pictures taken yesterday, and practicing the use of the camera.
Busily check the equipment after breakfast and then carry it down to the hall. That is the name given to the passage between the street and the back yard. Then get the car and load the equipment. Drive off to visit the ceramicists, as planned.
Stop at the petrol station in Geisenhausen and fill the tank. Then clean the windshield using the bucket and wiper made available by the fling station.
The ceramicists are welcoming, as always. spend time chatting, they have prepared a nice breakfast. The rest of the day is spent taking pictures of the many sculptures in the garden. It is great, they prepare an evening meal too.
Chat, return home, Check the pictures.
The purchase of the small view camera was definitely worth while.
The seventh today, the seventh of November and things just do not work well. In the morning everything is all right, but then in the early afternoon the mail arrives. the tripod is a very good buy. it works well. It is the same model as the one that had to be left in work.
But somehow the day drags and seems almost to smear away. There is much work trying to sort out the gear for tomorrow, there is work sorting the washing, there is work doing all of these things.
Take the empty bottles out to the bottle bank. Tidy the room upstairs.
The crashing noise as the bottles land in the container is satisfying enough.
There is a sad feeling of depression, and the feeling that nothing worthwhile is being done, and that all the silly things that are being done are just a waste of time
Empty the last of the coffee into the grinder and press the button. There is the unbearably loud sound of grinding beans, but only for a few seconds. That is enough for this mornings dose . Dismantle the small expresso boiler and fill it with the grounds from the machine. Put the whole lot onto the cooker. Feed the cat.from a tin on the counter, the overfed animal takes one loo at the food and backs off. The animal is probably spoil, not the food. After putting on a pan full of water to heat go upstairs to get the coffee glass.
Carry on making breakfast.
Outside is a clear and cold day, indoors is simply cold.
Later, leave the house and go shopping for more coffee and a few other food items. It is still early on this saturday, there are not many people about.
A strange awakening this morning after a night of interrupted sleep. There was the natural urge to go downstairs to visit the bathroom, which was duly followed.
Once downstairs it was established that it was a quarter to six, this would be a time for breakfast. Go to the silver coffee maker on the stove and feel that it is hot, as if there had been coffee made insde the last half an hour. That would explain the smell of coffee in the corridor, of course. The house is empty, but for this one person and the cat.
Make breakfast and then, when done, check the computer for any further news. The part for the camera has been updated, it will arrive today. This is good news.
Go downstairs again and scrub the bathroom floor. it is one of those things that just needs to be done noe and again. The detergent has a nasty sort of clean smell.
Then fill the washing machine with all the dirty towels and a sheet and the white hoodies that never seem to go clean anyway. Run the the machine at sixty degrees, perhaps the stains will come out with the higher temperature.
Then go upstairs, and put the camera on the tripod in anticipation of the arrival of the mounting plate for the digital back. Then start to sort things out with the lenses, and arrange a small picture for later. The computer informs that the package is under way, and is not far off.
The cat wants attention too, and insists upon jumping up on those warm human legs and she also allows her back to be stroked.
When the washing is done, put the whole lot into the dryer, but for one shirt which goes onto a hanger wet so that some of the creases may fall out of it.
The piece of equipment arrives, just a very small casual package. Bring it upstairs, one can tell that iit is an origingal part by the way it fits and the snappers close with no bother. Attach the back, and turn it on.
The picture appears on the screen after the correct buttons have been pressed. So far so good, and then the exposure is measured and an exposure is made. A second picture with a different exposure, and then the card is removed from the camera and put into the computer.
The result is most pleasant, it is far better than expected.
The white hoodies are clean now too.
The morning is so quiet, and it is cold and the bed is warm. There was some disturbance at four in the morning, and ths led to stumbling in the dark, downstairs, past the lights that do not work. The cat is awake, but that is all.
Upstairs again, tuck into the bed.
The next thing is , it is quiet and warm, and there is light outside It is eight in the morning, all is well. But there is this lazy impulse just to stay in bed. Ignore the impulse, and get up and make coffee and breakfast, this is something to get on with. Answer the email letter to a friend, have a shower, check certain items with the photographic equipment. There is considerable excitement now at the prospect of being able to take this work up to a new level.
Walk and work for the rest of the day, feed the cat, prepare the post.
The day is doleful, the weather is damp. It is the edge of the storm over France, it has died down by the time it is here to a sad drizzle.
And now it is a quarter past six in the evening, and the day was spent quietly studying the instructions for the new device bought so recently. The day was also spent feeling ill, last night was too late and just it is all too cold now. The air temperature has fallen quite considerably,
The son has spent time at home, and it has been decided to send him an amount to cover his rent in the place in which he is doing his studies. He seems happy enough with the way things are going for him.
It is the evening of All saints day, and next week is full of appointments and meetings and tests of equipment.
Will all of this ever be profitable?
yesterday was a day that started silently and ended in a tremendous noise, a start as boring as you can imagine, learning to deal with new tools, learning all the time, Later thinking of things that would solve problems that had not yet occurred but were bound to occur in the near future.
And then in the early evening the discovery that the son had arrived in the house. The discovery was just by chance, there was no attempt to inform the father of filius ante portas.
Sad.
Glad to have met him anyway and to have had a humorous conversation with him anyway, finally turning to the nitty gritty of the daily finances, the argument being that there could not be enough money available and please may there be a certain amount of, albeit immoral, paternal support. After ten minutes of not convincing argument the case was won.
ok
The evening in the pup, thinking. Suddenly, the face of a young beauty, tongue tied, looking into these ancient eyes. It is unbelievable, try not to be rude. This younTg woman is now studying in Vienna, and her sudden appearance and her sudden careful touching of the hand is
a shock: A shock that does not accept what cannot be true.
So spend the rest of the night wandering about what could have happened had she not left in confusion, what else should have been done.
That was yesterday and last night.
There will be another entry later today
