Fitting roof bars as the snow comes down is not what I had in mind. I had to stop with only one bar done. My fingers are too numb to work, so a cup of steaming hot tea and warm up, then back to it when the sun comes out again. With mid winter conditions I have used what could be down time to organise my gear. Stuff to go on the roof rack is weighed. It is under weight which is perfect. I may have more space than I think then. The roof bars look like a good idea now, despite the wind noise which might get irritating.
The Jet Stream has set hundreds of miles south of where it should be. Has all of that polar ice dumped into the North Atlantic finally done damage? Is this Europe's version of global warming? Look at the map. The extent of the cold zone corresponds to the ice sheet of the last ice age. Pure speculation of course. This winter weather is set to continue two weeks or more, well into April. This is not normal for England. Worse still temperatures will stay stubbornly below average for some weeks apparently. Spring is cancelled! Last years floods have left the ground saturated, and now we lose the spring planting season. It is not going to be a good growing season this year either. We won't starve but prices will rise again.
Mike is due to move in now. Our house share scheme kicks off today. Two guys with lives in flux. Things will change for both of us. Things are always changing though humans look for stability and routine.
Nelson Mandela appears to be heading home. Nature, but still very sad. Mortality is a burden for a smart species.
Pre journey jitters are setting in. It manifests itself in worrying about what I might have forgotten. My first stay at my Swedish house is 5 weeks, before I fly back to England to fetch my motorbike, and attend to some important domestic jobs. There is an opportunity there to correct mistakes. Take out missing items on the motorbike. I have plenty to do. Time will Concettina now. The future rushing forward to meet me. Don't interprett this as doubt about what I am doing. I am 100% committed to my project. I still don't like the idea of a winter journey across Norther Europe though.
Friday, 29 March 2013
Monday, 25 March 2013
Blizzards. Shit Happens.
..........Prepared for it...............Not.
The initial delay at Zurich airport was in itself not too bad. 40 minutes. But with a journey likely to get you home at midnight with a fair wind, any delay is not good. Moving to a remote area for de-icing does not feel great either, and during that down time you inevitably become aware of the unique mix of your fellow passengers for the evening ahead. Also not great. It was a bad flight. The worse I've had in a while. I'll not do detail because my stress levels go up again (humans have monkey brains!). Arrival at Luton was also not great. It is late on Sunday night, and despite it not being a surprise that were still several incoming flights, the staff went home! For goodness sake manage your resources!! That was utterly miserable. Introduce the living wage and maybe the UK would have a less surly workforce. It is also the decent thing to do.
Sorry I distracted myself. The drive home on ice into a village with roads like glass was not great. So it would have to be then that my heating system locked out on low water pressure. I had organised the heating to greet me with welcome cosiness. 7C is not cosy. Shit happens!
While I am grumbling about UK winter I better remember that I have a home in another region that has REAL winters. Gulp!
Sorry to Allan and Sue for moaning over an excellent and much appreciated cup of tea.
The initial delay at Zurich airport was in itself not too bad. 40 minutes. But with a journey likely to get you home at midnight with a fair wind, any delay is not good. Moving to a remote area for de-icing does not feel great either, and during that down time you inevitably become aware of the unique mix of your fellow passengers for the evening ahead. Also not great. It was a bad flight. The worse I've had in a while. I'll not do detail because my stress levels go up again (humans have monkey brains!). Arrival at Luton was also not great. It is late on Sunday night, and despite it not being a surprise that were still several incoming flights, the staff went home! For goodness sake manage your resources!! That was utterly miserable. Introduce the living wage and maybe the UK would have a less surly workforce. It is also the decent thing to do.
Sorry I distracted myself. The drive home on ice into a village with roads like glass was not great. So it would have to be then that my heating system locked out on low water pressure. I had organised the heating to greet me with welcome cosiness. 7C is not cosy. Shit happens!
While I am grumbling about UK winter I better remember that I have a home in another region that has REAL winters. Gulp!
Sorry to Allan and Sue for moaning over an excellent and much appreciated cup of tea.
Bierkellar Wolf
Stepping off the train into spring sunshine on the platform at Dietikon. It is Switzerland. It couldn't be anywhere else. I passed through Altstetten where I shared an office with Robi. The years have passed but it still has that feeling of home. For two years it was. The big guy met me on the platform, car waiting ready to head home for aperitifs and start to catchup on how life is treating us.
The next surprise is Flo'. I first met him when he was 3 years old. A nice little boy. Now at 18 he towers above me, speaks nice English. The nice little boy turned into a really nice young man along the way. Did I miss that? I don't seem to have noticed the transition.
Friday morning hiking in the Jura and then on to an open air spa to swim and relax. I speak as much German as I can manage, and that is little, but at least I have my confidence to try. Speaking German and swimming in the March sunshine I feel along way from the Englishman I am most of the time.
Robi, Florian and catch the evening train. We have beers to share. The Wolf kellar isn't Swiss. It's a Bavarian import, but great fun. We purchase a metre of ale. 9 big ones, and get stuck in. As our beer mugs clank "Proust" I cannot help smiling at Florian. It is so good that he wants to drink beer with his dad and I. We part company easily as he heads off to get together with people his own age, leaving his father and I to misbehave and get very loud indeed. The German drinking songs I know well. Funny where the language is easily remembered isn't it.
Robi and I took our sore heads off to the Rhein falls. It's colder today, and set to get colder. A slower, calmer, more reflective day with an old friend who helps me to have ideas. Some people are like that. There is nothing new under the sun, and most fresh ideas are a synthesis built on what has gone before. Tired from playing hard I waved auf weidersehn to Robi and family and started the night journey home. News of snow in the UK is not welcome, but at least I am prepared for it...........
The next surprise is Flo'. I first met him when he was 3 years old. A nice little boy. Now at 18 he towers above me, speaks nice English. The nice little boy turned into a really nice young man along the way. Did I miss that? I don't seem to have noticed the transition.
Friday morning hiking in the Jura and then on to an open air spa to swim and relax. I speak as much German as I can manage, and that is little, but at least I have my confidence to try. Speaking German and swimming in the March sunshine I feel along way from the Englishman I am most of the time.
Robi, Florian and catch the evening train. We have beers to share. The Wolf kellar isn't Swiss. It's a Bavarian import, but great fun. We purchase a metre of ale. 9 big ones, and get stuck in. As our beer mugs clank "Proust" I cannot help smiling at Florian. It is so good that he wants to drink beer with his dad and I. We part company easily as he heads off to get together with people his own age, leaving his father and I to misbehave and get very loud indeed. The German drinking songs I know well. Funny where the language is easily remembered isn't it.
Robi and I took our sore heads off to the Rhein falls. It's colder today, and set to get colder. A slower, calmer, more reflective day with an old friend who helps me to have ideas. Some people are like that. There is nothing new under the sun, and most fresh ideas are a synthesis built on what has gone before. Tired from playing hard I waved auf weidersehn to Robi and family and started the night journey home. News of snow in the UK is not welcome, but at least I am prepared for it...........
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