Christmas Aftermath

It is always wonderful and uplifting to visit Sweden, to see relatives and friends, in particular my two grandchildren. They give so much joy, but also unpleasant reminders. I seem to catch one cold or other every time I see them. They are used to, and possibly immune to, a wide range of germs, bugs and bacteria, but I am not. Their nurseries are like crucibles of everything contagious. The children act like little middle men, like bridges, like carrier pigeons of colds and other curses. It took me over two weeks to get rid of this last nasty cold. And this came at a time when I work more hours than I normally do.

Outside it does not look like Christmas anymore. The snow has gone and we had 12 degrees today. It is dark, wet and windy. The extra light reflected off the snow has been replaced by some dark matter, which does not lift your soul exactly.

On the other hand I have just received a belated birthday and Christmas present from my wife. I ordered it from Amazon in the UK, but since it has to go through the military sorting office in London, it normally takes another five days to get here. It is a third lens for my Nikon camera, a Sigma 300 mm lens, which is both heavy and looong. I will be needing my tripod for it when it is fully extended in order to get sharp images. This is particularly important since there is no built-in vibration reduction (anti-shake) mechanism.

I am hoping to be able to take better close-ups of for instance birds, and also to experiment with macro photography. It is possible to achieve pictures with great detail. So hopefully I can show  some examples of that once I have practised a little. I just need to hold my breath and steady my hands.

Signing off with two pictures of days now long gone.

 

Happy New Year Everybody!

Well, December was apparently the coldest in the UK since the Met Office started monitoring the weather a long time ago. But we went to Sweden to spend time with relatives and friends, and the coldest temperature the car thermometer registered was –22 degrees.

The whole country was covered in masses of snow. You needed your long-johns and thermals, that’s for sure, and woolly hats and gloves …. but it created some beautiful scenes for free…

…and some funny ones as well.

In Stockholm my grandchildren could not go on the swing …

… although some kids played outside in Malmö …

… my two little darlings had to play indoors most of the time…

 

While the snow caused some people problems …

 

… others took the opportunity …

 

… but most of all, it was beautiful!

 

 

 

 

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells

 

Happy Holidays, Everybody!

See you next year

Arctic Conditions All The Way

What a lovely holiday we had! But it was the wintriest journey and stay I can remember. The first, short leg to Bremen took over four hours instead of three, and Bremen to Malmö, including the ferry between Germany and Denmark, took nearly seven long hours, all due to snow and -10 degrees C. The gritters and snow ploughs ganged up on us, cars, coaches and lorries coming off the ferry, and blocked the motorway driving at 50 kph (30 mph) for about 20 kilometres. Not everybody was happy about that!

The return journey was even worse, close to disastrous, twelve hours and forty minutes! Just before the Danish ferry port the snow started to come down faster than I have ever experienced before . All motorists were very cautious, but about a kilometer from the actual ferry terminal an articulated lorry spun round, jackknifed and ended up the wrong way in the snow-covered field, luckily without personal injuries to the driver. We saw him jump out of the cab with the windscreen wipers still trying to keep off the persistent snow.

When we reached the check-in, the snow fall (some would have called it a blizzard) had intensified and you could hardly see more than thirty metres. The whole waiting area was soon covered in thick snow. Everybody stayed in their vehicles, engines and wipers running. Only some, desperate for the toilets, man and dog alike, braved the conditions and walked, ran or jumped in a rather comical fashion to relieve themselves.

After one and a half hours of waiting in the car, we finally found shelter on the ferry. Most drivers left ample space to the one in front in order to clear the snow blanket, 20 centimetres thick. The cars looked like igloos! Less than an hour later we rolled off to encounter even more winter.

The remainder of the journey was extremely slow, sometimes just crawling on the icy, snow-covered  autobahn in heavy snow fall. Other times you tried to see through the slushy spray from the car in front.

When we finally got home after midnight I found my reward in the drinks fridge!

But between these troublesome journeys we had a wonderful time in Sweden. We celebrated Christmas with family and met up with friends, some of whom I had not seen for sixteen years. Southern Sweden was wintry white, but welcoming.

I leave you for now with some pictures.

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Oh Christmas Tree ... Oh Tannenbaum ...

Spotted in a Düsseldorf shop window. I just had to get my little compact camera out. Window dressing to the letter! Mmmm, I wonder, what kind of shop might this be?

Very clever, and it brought a smile to many passers-by.

 

Return of the Blogger

So, I'm back. It always takes a bit of time to settle back in again after a holiday. We had a lovely time in Sweden where we spent Christmas itself with most of my family. Father Christmas made his usual appearance and was rewarded with a "snaps", only for strictly medicinal purposes, of course.

After Christmas we went up to Stockholm to my son's family so I could dandle my grandson.

 

He was totally fascinated however by his big sister; everything she did got his full, admiring attention.

We had a belated Christmas with lots of presents and play. The adult-to-child ratio was very high, so both children got their fair share of all four adults. We stayed over the New Year Holiday in rather cold weather, but very little snow.

When we got back home to Germany we were in for a snowy surprise, as were the birds in the garden.

And still today we had a bright, blue sky ...

... and about -10 degrees Celsius with a stunning winter landscape.

Soon I will see what all my fellow bloggers (bloglings) have been up to. I will have to skim through several hundred posts, my apologies in advance!

Way Up North

It is time to head up north to Sweden for Christmas and New Year. We hope for green driving conditions but a bit of frost for the celebrations. Stuff the car with Christmas spirit and presents to have a lovely time with family; that's what it is all about.

They don't have to be as big as this though. We will relax and enjoy until we feel like this.

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year

Everyone!

Christmas Shopping

Duckhead says: It's hard work isn't it, Christmas shopping? In and out of shops, standing waiting, looking at this and looking at that, comparing prizes, guessing sizes, 20% off, 3 for 2, no wrapping service, wondering what you bought them last year, the question of the right colour, feet starting to ache, back starting to complain, Christmas muzak everywhere, arms getting heavy, stomach beginning to rumble, crazed shoppers jumping the queue to the check-out, a freezing car waiting for you in the cheap outdoor car park, and yet we do it every year.

But that is not why I look a bit queasy today; that is the Irish pork spiked with dioxin I had last night! I wonder if a pint of Guinness would help?

Christmas Market in Cologne

We have just come back from a Mediaeval Christmas Market in Cologne. Yes, it's not even December yet, but the Germans don't care. If there's an opportunity to eat and drink something outdoors in the cold, they go for it. And why not? We went with some friends who live there.

There were various kinds of entertainment ...

... and little Noah seemed happy ...

... possibly because we all had some mead, which was served hot.

No, no, no, Noah did not have any although the picture might indicate he did! On the way back in the dark along the river we came upon this boat with an inflatable Father Christmas on the lookout for ...

... customers, since this turned out to be a well-lit, floating Christmas Market as well. There's no stopping them, is there? Mark my words; Christmas is upon us! You have been warned.

 

My Sikh Friend

An envelope turned up in the post and I immediately reacted to the ominous timing. Why do I get mail from him now? I thought. It looked like his handwriting, but could it be his widow writing? I'll explain.

Six years ago when I had to spend a month in hospital, I had a bed neighbour whom I got to know quite well. He was an elderly gentleman waiting for some procedure which would take place sooner if he stayed in hospital rather than going home to wait there. It was a bit like standing in the queue in a supermarket, then remembering an item you've forgotten to put in your trolley. Would you go and get it, risking having to start all over again? So this old chap was in the priority queue so to speak, being pretty bored just waiting.

He and his family had been chased out of Uganda by Idi Amin together with thousands of others, moved to the UK and set up a business there. His family who came to visit always had a chat with me (and Mrs S if she was there), and they often brought him home-made food which looked very appetizing. Once I had got my appetite back I found the hospital food rather uninspiring, to say the least. So guess what, I was offered some of their tasty food to compliment the hospital Halal alternative, which I found more interesting than the standard food there. So there we were, a Swedish Englishman and an African-Indian Sikh sometimes having a Muslim meal or an Indian home-cooked dish. Sadly I could not offer any Swedish meatballs in return, but Mrs S offered my friend not only Tesco's yummiest fruit yogurts sometimes, but she also regularly took care of his lottery ticket at the newsagent's.

Since that hospital friendship we have always sent each other Christmas cards, despite the fact that I am not a believer and my friend is not of the Christian faith. He will be in his eighties by now, so I feared the worst when we had this letter, which turned out to be a card, our first Christmas card this year. My old friend Devi certainly knows how to meet a deadline, early! (Sorry, no pun intended!)

Smile Box - Puts a Smile On My Face

I just thought I needed cheering up a little, so I had to try something I found on Carol's blog. It's called Smilebox, where you can have all sorts of fun with pictures and music. I just did the easy thing and used some photos from last Christmas, using the most basic of slide shows. I will have to investigate more thoroughly another time.

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

How was Christmas?

Some of my readers might remember that I had a big birthday just before Christmas, so we set off as soon as we possibly could. As so many times before we stopped over in Bremen. I had booked a table in a very nice restaurant we had visited before, or at least I thought I had. When we arrived at L’Oliva it seemed to be very full, and low and behold, there was no booking in our name. But it was my 60^th birthday! The staff were incredibly understanding and helpful, apologising many times. They asked if it would be OK to sit in the Hilton bar area, since they were joined by the hip so to speak, and they would serve us food from their kitchen. Yes, please.

We had a complimentary glass of Sekt to begin with, extremely good service and finally a complimentary, extra dessert as well, see below. So, if you are in Bremen and you fancy a high quality meal, I can strongly recommend L’Oliva in the town centre.

When we got to Sweden the following afternoon I celebrated with my family and was lucky enough to get, among other things, a Liverpool shirt with my name and two-digit birth year on the back. I don’t know when to wear it, but maybe the team will play better if I wear it while watching them play on the telly?

A superb meal was finished off with a beautiful, home-made cake. Thanks Mrs S!

Then the great anticipation set in. Little Amanda could not wait to get her Christmas hat on first thing in the morning.

As always on a Swedish Christmas table you will find not only the big ham, but also an assortment of “sill”, herring to you, in a variety of flavours. Yummy!

Then the big moment came when Father Christmas knocked on the door, asking if there were any "good" children. He did not bother with the other two or three generations, we are just expected to behave, or does he think we are all naughty?. Anyway, he was carrying his traditional sack with some of the pressies…

… but most of them were already displayed under and around the Christmas tree, making up a true mountain.

Everybody enjoyed the long day of eating, talking, watching TV and some more eating. Towards the end we all felt a bit like this floppy Santa hat.

But the following day Amanda had plenty of time to play with her new toys.

Her only problem was to fit them all in her big case on the plane back to Stockholm a couple of days later. She did manage, because here she is in her new, snuggly coat on her way to do some more shopping in the sales with mum and dad.

Now I have to cure my bad cold, which has prevented me from posting on this blog since we got back. I do not recommend meeting up with old friends for a day’s chat when one’s vocal cords are already affected. I sound like Joe Cocker!