blondefish.blogspot.com: June 2010

Hungriddy

10 days; a diet of 2 barbecued steaks a day; constant bread, beer/wine and ice-cream, and I've put on 3 kgs.

So it's on to the new diet: work, fruit and water.

It's a bittersweet symphony this life

As I reached for my cardigan for the first time in about a week as we bumped our way back down to earth yesterday, I mused on what a few degrees of latitude and a short flight can change. I left a continent simmering in 34 degrees of heat and returned to the Scottish daily bread of low-slung cloud, mists and that infernal drizzle.

But what had annoyed me most about the whole flight was the security check. I go to a lot of effort to make sure that the awful security check is as fast and painless as possible. And while I can't avoid standing in the horrible queue, I can hopefully actually get through the beepy machine with little fuss. No heels, no belts, no lotions, no potions. Just 1 bag and my laptop. And every*single*time I still get stopped. They told me in Bristol that the machine randomly beeps for spot checks every nth person so it clearly wasn't my fault. But in Frankfurt, despite no beep they took me off anyway into a little side room for a 'computer check'. And I still felt that cold sweat of fear creeping up my spine. There was no need - I KNEW I wasn't carrying drugs or explosives but I still racked my brain to think whether someone might have accidentally given me something to hold at some point that I never gave back or that my sister throwing a pack of Haribos into my case counts as 'someone else packing it'. It's totally irrational but the whole process of sequestering you in a bright white razzle-dazzle room with one table and two security men who refuse to open your laptop case just screams Bourne Identity or the No. 2 Bridget Jones film, or in my case, 'you get one call to your embassy but it's shut' (that's another story). They said it was another random check but it kinda makes me wonder if they don't have a 'doesn't look like a stereotypical terrorist so probably is one' hit list.

But you know, that's all been balanced with the rather extraordinary glimpses of selfless human kindness I see every so often. Like the guy who offered and carried my suitcase up and down the stairs in Paris. Yes, PARIS. Yes, he was French. Yes, he volunteered. I'm not even pregnant (and even if I had been his actions would have surprised me). I didn't have too many bags. I was managing about as OK as the next person. I mean I was wearing a nice dress but still, I've NEVER had someone offer to carry my case. But he took it anyway, rolled it along the bridge at the top and carried it down the other side. I was actually so shocked that I almost expected him to run off with it at one point shouting ha ha sucker (or should that be haa haa sooker in the French accent) but no, he kindly gave it back to me at the other side and wished me a nice day.

And just today I cancelled my mobile phone contract ahead of my departure for foreign lands and got an extremely heartfelt reply back (possibly via Bangalore as it was a little too heartfelt for an Englishman...and his name was Jeet) about how sad they were to lose me, how happy they were I was going on to cool new things, and how they've unblocked my phone unasked as a gesture of goodwill in order to allow me to change SIM cards whenever I want and just to double check when I have a minute by plugging in to itunes who will confirm the changes made.

AND, the fishvan man gave me my fresh haddock anyway even though I didn't have enough cash, so it's clearly international kindness week or something.

Then again, there's the fact that my eye mask that keeps me asleep until 8am rather than waking at 4am has dried and cracked the skin around my eyes so that I look like I have a hayfever-bad eczema combo, and my mosquito bites have gone all funny...And so it goes on...

Well, it's a bittersweet symphony this life.

Ingrid's Coming Home*

* sung to that 'England's coming home' football anthem

[Bit close non? I could even see it was another Lufthansa place. I first saw it level with us and to the right. I then fiddled about in my bag and when I looked again it was VERY close and getting closer. But then it dropped and we banked to the left before I took the photo, but I was still quite surprised. I thought there were rules about these sorts of things...]

Germany V England

Seems like we chose the right country to watch it in...

Generations

One of the highlights was definitely reliving our childhood experiences with the new kids on the block a.k.a. Toots and Tiger. The schwimmbad in my mum's hometown has provided us with years of memories including The Diving Board, The Slide, Martin's Sunburn, Papa's Underwater Non-Waterproof Camera Experience, Chips!, Icecream!, and many, many hot summer afternoons of fun.

This time it provided us mostly with cold water.

Through different eyes

The amazing thing about going to your mother's village of birth is that you not only get to relive your childhood experiences, but hers as well - learning about your heritage and a little bit about yourself as well.

We also visited my Oma's grave in a wonderfully peaceful and local cemetery.

And life goes on...

Doing Old Things in New Ways

Kids can make even the most boring of things *a lot* more fun. Not that shopping in Globus isn't fun. It's an age-old Kelling Summer Holiday Ritual. Every trip to Germany we'd all pile into the old Mitsubishi L300, drive what felt like an hour from the village (turns out that it's around 10km but amazing how everything is bigger, better, longer, more exciting as a child) and spend half a day shopping in Globus. It was one of the first department stores I can remember - a bit like today's Tescos Extra but 20 years ago (argh! I'm ooold!). You could get lost in it, but the only reason we didn't is because until recently they had a soft ball play room to entertain the kiddies while the parents went shopping. For years we stocked up on cheap but sturdy German goods and all the German food we could possibly need for the coming months. We pretty much did the same thing again this time, except that we all now had to pay for our own purchases and they consisted mostly of Haribo sweeties (60 cents a bag!!!!), milka chocolate, hanuta bars, cream kisses, ritter sport chocolate, birkenstocks and the odd knodel or spetzle or two. And this time we got to teach the new generation how it's done (and quite how greedy us old wizened ones can be).

Alternatives to World Cup Football

Wild Mountain Thyme

The 21st of June is Fete de la Musique, or World Music Day. It originated in France in 1976 when the American musician Joel Cohen, then employed by the national French radio station France Musique, proposed an all-night music festival at the summer solstice. The first one took place in 1982 and its purpose remains to promote music - free concerts are organised and amateur and professional musicians of all genres are encouraged to perform on the streets.

Performances range from DJing...

To the OECD's very own 'Rockback', headed by lead singer Paul and featuring a couple of others I know, an electric geetar and a Scottish song dedication...