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 I'll be in Berlin for the conference with the above title tomorrow and the day after. Ecology is long term economics. A sustainable economy skims profits through avoided costs and strategic competitive advantages in the future instead of depriving future generations of resources and hand down additional encumbrances. To invest in sustainability is to open up new markets, and to anticipate ecological structural transformation. "Going green" has become a mega-trend in Europe and the US. What has to be done now in order to safeguard a real ecological transformation of the economy? What can we learn from each other, what opportunities for transatlantic cooperation exist? The Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung and the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW) bring together protagonists from both sides of the Atlantic to present role models and discuss chances for sustainable developments and strategic alliances. With i.a.: Fritz Kuhn MdB, Fraktionsvorsitzender Bündnis 90/ Die Grünen Matthias Machnig, Staatssekretär BMU State Senator James Marzilli, Massachusetts State Senate Michael Geißler, Geschäftsführer Berliner Energieagentur GmbH Bryan Martel, Managing Director ECG und Special Advisor CalPERS Thorsten Herdan, Geschäftsführer Fachverband Power Systems des Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau (VDMA) Ulrich Schmack, Sprecher des Vorstands Schmack Biogas AG If you are not content to wait for Obama to take office, which seems rather likely today, do something to green your economy: Take action for wind energy! This post in German - Dieser Beitrag auf DeutschTags: economy, politics, travels
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 I am on my way again, in Brussels on Thursday for a meeting of the Brussels section of Europa-Union, the German branch of the Union of European Federalists, who met in the Brussels representative office of my old home state of Lower Saxony (notice the white horse on the red flag).  Here I am in Brussels still, together with the women of the law. To my left a lawyer working for the European Comission, of the Association of Female Lawyers of Germany, to my right a representative of the Association of female lawyers in Latvia. (Like always: larger pics when you click the thumbnails) 
Tags: brussels, eu, pics, politics, travels
Current Location: Frankfurt an der Oder, Germany
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 In 24 hours from now I will be heading out of Brussels again, where I'll attend an event at the permanent representation of my old German home state of Lower Saxony tomorrow night, before heading to the Green Summer University in Frankfurt/Oder at the border to Poland - geographically bridging a triangle of considerable proportions in a short time, as Sunday in the fifth birthday of my younger daughter ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) eileenw, and like Commander Sam Vimes, "without fail, without excuses", I must go home - if not to read "Where's my cow" (I currently read "The Magicians Nephew" by C.S. Lewis to them instead), at least to give a hug and some present I'll magic out of somewhere. So what are the MEPs doing in Brussels these days? Sweating over questions of Global Warming (see image): The EU wants a new package of concrete and binding legislation to reduce EU greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% by 2020 in place by the end of the year. The parliamentary committees looking at the different proposals will finalise their positions over the next couple of months. (...) Catch up on the whole climate change package here. (...) Finally, since the European Parliament has an equal say with EU ministers over this package and EP elections are looming in June 2009, all parties are eager to get the new laws approved before then. The French Presidency of the Council would liketo broker an agreement on the legislation by the end of its term in December 2008.
These are the main elements of the package:
- Renewable energy production
- Capture and geological storage of carbon dioxide
- CO2 and cars
- Revision of the European emissions trading scheme
- Reduction of greenhouse gases
#1 and #5 have reports done by Greens/EFA members, Claude Turmes of Luxembourg and Satu Hassi of Finland respectively. My current hometown of Tuebingen, Germany, has started a big campaign "Tübingen macht blau" (Tuebingen gets blue) and is doing lots, starting with EMAS certification of large parts of the town, businesses, church communities and civis buildings... How positive is your outlook, for climate change policies in your country, region or town? Tags: europe, european parliament, greens, travels
Current Location: Tübingen, Germany
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This weekend, while I was on the way to and from Berlin, to discuss problems of the EU-Constitution Lisbon Treaty and the strategies of Privatisation, Flexicurity and the new ' Global Europe', with people from attac groups from different parts of Germany and Europe, I was tempted to try this new ice creation from the ' Magnum' brand, dubbed 'Magnum Temptation'. Following the classical quote "I can resist anything but temptation" I gave in and tried. I have been food testing before, like when 'Mars Delight' came as a new wafer-based product and they sent me a well-sized box for free to try and spread the word. In this case, however, the box was small and I had to pay for it. So what's the result? Is it good? Definitely. Well worth a try with very good vanilla and delicious caramel areas. Is it worth more than a try? There I have my doubts, as the offer is economically not competitive. You get perfectly fine Magnum icecream in different flavours - and more of that for less. With the way 'Temptation' is priced, other Magnum icecreams are 50% more for 50 cents less. Which means 'Temptation' is nearly twice as expensive per gram as other 'Magnum' products - but not twice as good. Do you have a favourite icecream flavour? ( German/Deutsch )Tags: food, travels
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Darjeeling TGFOP Puttabong Autumnal Gschwendnerbari is the sort of the nice cup of tea I'm drinking at the moment, while thinking back at the great 4th International BookCrossing-MeetUp, Frankfurt 2007, where I danced with lizmopuddy and inkognitoh, where we, ellifaey (MueckeGuen) and I, did the scavenger hunt with these two, and allbookedup and verenka, where books were exchanged and hugs, when Yaltana (the artist formerly known as Shinigami) came to the farewell brunch at the "Pulse". It was much too short, of course - but I'm looking foreward to the UnConvention (and the International BC-MeetUp at an as yet unknown place) 2008 and to the 6th International BC-MeetUp, for which we will apply to have it at ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) tuebingen 2009. For now I'm also looking back to the kowedding and forward to this next weekend, when we ( ellifaey, eileenw, gwenw and I) will go to visit poliitikiwa in my old hometown, where she lives right next to my old school... In the short term I'm looking forward to a parent-teacher talk tomorrow ( ... ), in the medium term I'm looking forward to the Tuebingen Tolkien days in September, when we'll be celebrating 25 years of myraworld. And, of course, I'm looking forward to friday when the graduation scores of erdbeerfrosch (not quite as old as Myra) are released, and to the next time I meet someone at Munich. And... So there's always lots to look forward to, with a smile in expectation. For now it's time for a nice cup of tea (see above) and some short nap (see timestamp). Tags: bookcrossing, friends, travels
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 Yesterday I was in Karlsruhe, first for a lunch in Hotel Albhof, where I had Pizza Albhof with salmon and onions (the food was worth standing the smoke in the entrance area, and it was inexpensive), in the evening I was at Sokrates, a greek restaurant where I had Dolmadakia (home made, stuffed with minced meat - as a vegetarian I had to pass that back to the kitchden) and Saganaki (feta cheese in puff pastry, a bit of red wine, but just 1/4 L shared among two people - as I was there to visit my uncle after my aunt had passed away on wednesday evening. It was a sentimental journey in some ways, I visited the house of both pairs of grandparents respectively, both sold in the '90s. I was on the road on the bike of ellifaey, I talked about the couple separated by death and once led together at Aschenhütte and with another uncle talked about the future of at least that house, the nicest of Hostels in all of the Black Forest. On the way back through the cold night I stopped at several gas stations along the motorway - first Pforzheim, where I once spent half a day with M, and the next stop at the Gas Station of Sindelfingen where once I was with another M. I passed an advertisment for the Etap hotel in Karlsruhe, and I guess I remember being there too. Or was it Leipzig? Ah, nostalgia... what's on in TV? Alice, with the restaurant Melanie was singing of. ( That's ) That's the straw that broke the camel's back and brings me back to when I was ...even younger and still in school. Strange not going to school anymore, not even to teach - so my final greetings for tonight go out to the girl with the counter on some of her LJ entries, the one I kind of went to school with ;-) Good night. Tags: nostalgia, travels
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 (My last tune listend to is "Hellsinki is Hell") Apart from that I have thought a lot, felt the wind on my skin and called it, not necessarily in that order, got the affection I needed and some drink I didn't want poured into my mouth by a strange devil or witch, as I was watching the carneval parade (or rather Fasnet Umzug, the swabian-allemanic tradition where everyone wears large wooden face masks and a costume called "Häs" made of many small pieces of cloth and often large bells) in Dettenhausen, with over 4000 people parading in over 100 groups from about the same number of chartered carnival societies. The music played ranked from Abba's ("Super Trooper") via Die Toten Hosen (punk rock, "Alles aus Liebe") to old political tunes like "Gimme Hope, Joanna" (about the time of Apartheid in Johannesburg). Needless to say I liked it and the kids loved it, pity you weren't there to see it. But I'll post a few pics from my mobile later. Edit: You'll see a few pics (not for the faint at heart) if you click on the frog and bear above. (They happen to be LJers and in bookcrossing too, this frog -unlike another dendrobate I'd like to have there- even is in the wonderful and very recommendable community myraworld and a lazy postcrosser). To see all public Flickr! pics tagged "fasnet" in a slideshow, instead of clicking on the pic above, click here. Tags: pics, travels
Aktuelle Musik: R.I.P. Uli - Helsinki is Hell
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...from a "SingStar"(tm) weekend for maerfee's birthday, after we had gwenw's birthday on friday here in an indoor amusement park called "Kinderland", where I jumped and climbed quite as much as any of the guests... From Maerfee's birthday, celebrated in Rotenburg (of canibal fame, near Kassel), we ( ellifaey and I, that is) brought anysidora and maerfee with us, who'll go with us to the SPIEL'06, the annual games fair in Essen, NRW, to power the booth where we'll show what myraworld does or can do. Tags: tired, travels
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 Î am on Rügen, the largest and -as many of the romantics from (Ernst Moritz) Arndt [read his fairy tales, not the nationalist writings of this Sweden-born Rügen scholar] via Brahms [I've mentioned both his Cello Sonatas in Guy Gavriel Kay and his piano pieces in „Aimez-vouz Brahms“] to [Caspar David] Friedrich would have it- the most beautiful of Germany's islands. It might be nice, maybe it's me who isn't. I shouldn't be here. Not here in the library of Hapimag, which stocks an unusual array of literature from the everpresent Readers Digest shortened novels(Man, Woman and Child, 1980 by Erich Segal, is on my reading table) via Grass and Kleist to Wole Soyinka or Ulrich Plenzdorf (re-read „Die neuen Leiden des jungen W.“ last night). Maybe I should be down there, at the show of „Cats“ (not the musical, as far as I can tell, but a show of dancing furry fans which dances to excerpts) which seems to be the highlight of the big barbeque festival (which I skipped for reasons that should be obvious for readers of my journal). I can see the show down there, outside, but I should not be here – if life was as fair as the hair of Annika Krüger the WAK student and tourguide yesterday of the trawler-tour to the white cliffs of chalk is fair, I'd be with the pirates now. Mind you, I'm not talking Jack Sparrow, even though I brought a MM comic with pirates special and telescope for my nephew who's here with me. I'm not thinking of the Caribean, but regional, Rügen breed. Störtebeker, now that's a pirate for me! And the live action performance of the Störtebeker adventures, outdoors with live canons and big fireworks at the end, is what I wanted to see tonight, and I had my brother and his wife (who are here with a car) coming with me, my wife agreeing to take all the kids to that barbeque festival and to bed... my parents agreeing to keep her company so she's not alone for the night... perfect. Until... Well, until the two designated companions of the evening heard of a fire at the Störtebeker show yesterday night – a tavern and a truck full of costumes went up (or down?) in flames, so they would have to play in last year's costumes... and who, exactly, cares? On top of that however they heard of a posibility of rain... which meant they wouldn't want to go. So they now took a walk to town together (as they, other than we, are a couple), my wife will bring the kids to bed anyway... and I retreated to the library with my laptop and some books. I've read „My Hero“ by Tom Holt today (mind you, I spent a lot of time with all the kids on the playground in the morning, starting at 8:30, and before they went to the bbq I went to the sea with my kids, pulling Gwen over the waves on the surfboard we got as a present this morning, so I'm not all books. But Tom Holt's 1996 idea is the same that Jasper Fforde has around Thursday Next in that characters from fiction mess up in mixing with the real world and other novels... only not half as funny. ( Read more... ) I can completely relate to Professor Robert Beckwith in the case of Jean-Claude. Call me weird if you want to, but that's neither a novel idea nor an idea for a novel, just old news.  (...) Now, lots of songs later (...) It was the two girls you might or might not see on this video (if not today, look again: same place next week), who got me out of the library. Like me they were watching the dancing which ensued after the show, with a live-band called ZigZag (which I had seen somehwere else last night) – but they were outside, on the grass above the dancers, and they danced, full of joy, forgetting everything around themselves, just having a good time. I went out, with the book in hand, to have a closer look, a better view... and once the music got better I couldn't just hold on to the book, I put it inside and went down and out to dance. And sing. And shout. Lots of all that – to Stones, Deep Purple, Beastie Boys! 'cause you gotta fight, for your right, to paaaaaarty! Not exactly Brahms or Clara Schumann, but exactly what I needed. Last night I was sweating a lot because I went to the hot steam bath they had heated up for me alone – tonight it was party, dancing, singing, shouting, smiling, laughing with the faces young and old around me. Most of those guys who knew and shouted the lyrics with me were about as many years older than me, as the girl I smiled down to dance with all of us was old, but hey – who cares? I don't. My parents were still sitting in the audience when I went down to dance, but it took them ages until they noticed it was their younger son dancing there – when they realized, they left. Who cares? I don't. Their move was saving me from the embarassement of talking to them. I'm back in the library where Gavin Wilson admitted that a new edition of his book for Harvard University Press about Germany's post-war role in the world might need some edits – as it ended before Willy Brandt's new politics toward the east, sitting here with my laptop and a tea – Long Island Ice Tea, to be exact, enjoying the evening. I'll try to post this in the internet cafe of the IFA Vitarium once I finished the book (Beckwirth is about to visit Sète, where my dear Paul Valéry was born) and the tea. About the author: did you know that Erich Segal not only wrote this book (and „Love Story“ or „Oliver's Story“) but also a well-respected book about Plautus (who's comedies I've studied) as he was professor of comparative literature in Harvard? Or that, a runner himself (not in the sense of the runner in SG:Atlantis, rather in the sense of a Marathon Man like our former foreign secretary Joschka Fischer who could, perhaps, help between Gaza and Tel Aviv today), he was commentator of running for ABC at the Munich Olympics in '72? More than one side to the man – and to his books. Especially for me, as I. implicitly mentioned Anna these days in presence of the girls, but got uncomfortable when I tried to answer Gwens question which followed, what she meant by „perhaps“ I have only two kids with Gwen being the first one. We left it at „as far as I know“, because as far as I know my first child is not named Anna, but Anna Gwenevere, has my last name and was born and conceived in marriage. Well, that's all folks, at least for the night. Current music: Basis: Ich will Euer Leben nicht / JBO: Ich liebe dir / Joan Baez&Donovan: Colours / Subway to Sally: Kleid aus Rosen Tags: 2yrnuff, books, travels
Current Location: IFA Vitarium, Binz auf Rügen, Germany
Aktuelle Stimmung:  amused
Aktuelle Musik: Basis: Ich will Euer Leben nicht
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Last week on wednesday the car broke down. Not at home in front of the house, but a hundred miles away from here on the motorway, on the way to Munich. ( Details )and the garage/wrecking service offered to buy the car (VW Golf III, TDI, but 12 years with over 300.000 km and quite some rust) in its disfunctional state for 200,-€. Another breakdown service told us this week we had been robbed and tricked, those other guys using our situation to get the car cheap. (buying a comparable car with no rust and in working condition from a car dealer would be about 2000,-, so selling it in that condition should at least have brought us 500,-) ( Another breakdown service this week? )So I was here for the holiday - which was good in another way, as in the morning an old friend, one of the former moderators at myraworld, called, something which he hadn't done in the last six years, and offerend to come over to bring the archive of the continent he had moderated (two big boxes of ring binders full with... paper... how quaint) . He came over and brought his wife ( ... ) and his 9mo baby son, to the delight of my little ones, who instantly organised a baby shower, so they took something home as well. And they will come back, to my delight, as I like my guests to come and return. ( Less delightfull ) Whatever. I'll catch my 3h of sleep and read you later (as I'm actually reading my cut-to-size "must-read" friends list, and sometimes catch up with the rest of you, even though I do not comment much). Tags: travels
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We're back from the annual "International BC-MeetUp", which after Tübingen-DE 2004 and Basel-CH 2005 was in Dresden 2006, timed with their 800years celebration and the big International Music Festival, which made it a town full of music on Friday (after a town full of alcohol on Thursday, which was not only Towel-Day for Adams-fans but also German Father's Day - usually an event of lots of beer for lots of males. A beautiful town, large parts completely restored now after the complete destruction by allied bombers (qv Coventry). The meeting was fabulous, the people were awfully nice, not only the BCers but also all people from town which we met. Lots of alternative people, freaks and punks in the quarters wghere our hostels were, in a way and concentration I haven't even seen in Berlin for the last 10 or 20 years. I liked that, as they were just as friendly as the suits. Summing it up: Definitely worth a visit, not only but also for the nice BCers there (Dresden has 350 BCers, Tübingen just about 300). ( Long account in German language )Tags: bookcrossing, travels
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ellifaey and I were, after a friday evening with some geekdom (D&D campaign on myraworld) visiting a good friend for the rest of the weekend, poliitikiwa, who was celebrating her 18th borthday this saturday (belatedly, but I'm late too, so that's fine). We went with the car on that 4h drive, and spent 3 1/2 h to get from tuebingen to behind Stuttgart, 10km in 3h of traffic jam equals a speed slower than we'd have had if we walked... The party was fine, more geekdom, where I was together with maerfee in that we both didn't get 80% of what the others were talking about in details from a MUD (text-based virtual roleplaying) in which we both also are, but rarely. Besides that we talked politics with the upcoming election, as many were undecided as to what to vote. I'll vote green party and red candidate, as the social democratic candidate here is Herta Daeubler-Gmelin, former federal minister of justice, ousted from her job because she said the truth about Dubya Bush. She deserves my vote for that alone. The way back was done with the train, as the car wouldn't start. Not even try to, no ignitition at all (battery was fine). The car now stays with our friends there until it is done in one of the two possible senses of done, either driveable again or history. *sigh* Tomorrow and tuesday I'll have the kids again, have to hand in my papers to get enrolled in university again and finally get my bad tooth plucked out, the one that was broken lately and now hurts enough to keep my from sleeping long. Thanks to aspirin I can sleep at all. But these are some good reasons why I couldn't and wouldn't stay with the car until it is ready. I've had luckier weekends before, but then again in England when we were going to the kowedding of margeryk it wasn't much better... Tags: travels
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Like german President Köhler, french minister of state Sarkozy or former hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban I attended the funeral of Frère Roger ( video-feed here, multilingual service, some commentary in french), who was killed last week during prayers. Like many of the dozens of bishops and archbishops of many christian churches worldwide and the over 20.000 friends of Taizé I'm home again. And while possibly no cardinal has, I've caught up with reading your LJs, even though I didn't comment a lot. If anyone is interested, you'll read more later here, about how I felt, whom I met and how I got into the church itself as a member of the press corps. Behind this ( LJ-Cut )Tags: religion, travels
Aktuelle Musik: Taize - Nada te turbe
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Wednesday, May 18, 2005 (will be backdated after you had a chance to read it, like the other days in France)  Here I am, in St. Martin au Buneaux, in Normandy, France, without access to the internet and therefore missing out on the life of my friends while living my own. No update on kitsunecharmed via yokospungeon, no update of what I'm missing at GM via AIM, no update on the frog via ICQ, no updates on all the cutting or cutting remarks. But tea I have; there's a culture of drinking tea here, and they don't spoil it by adding milk without asking like some english folks might do. And what more do I need, as I repeat to myself and others time and again, than tea and a smile? Hugs, perhaps, tender caress, but usually I get that by giving to those eager to receive. If not, there's always my memory, or that of others, written down in books. Today I finished the Murakami I started on yesterday, „After the Quake“, written after the Kobe tragedy and the Tokyo subway attacks we in the west might both have forgotten. Like in all the texts of him I've had before (and I still need to lay my hands on „Naoko's Smile“, which I started reading at thierchen but couldn't take with me as it had to be returned by her to the town library) he gets right to the point, and that point has its echo somewhere inside me. While the people he writes about live different lifes from mine, they more or less still seem to think like I do and he writes about it in a way that touches me. Cake with honey, what an idea for two bears to have, especially after the salmon are all gone... I wonder if Sara will like it – and if Ken Akamatsu knew that story before he wrote his stories of Seta, Sara, Keitaro Urashima and the others.  Now I've started on Juan Carlos Onetti, the Urugayan who lived in Argentina for a long time and when back in Montevideo was imprisoned for some time for no other reason than publishing a short story by Nelson Mandela that was supposedly pornographic.For his main character, Juan Maria Brausen, Onetti did, like Brausen would for his writing, draw heavily on all experiences of his own life. And like Murakami's 'Jun', his 'Juan' has a buddy who is more involved in life, a stronger character as a friend (and inner antagonist) of the hero. (written down Wednesday)  Weird dreams, weird experiences with the car (again). In the morning we had been to the seaside, at Les Petites Dalles, about 1 ½ km from here, a stony beach with lots of great rocks around and wonderfully clean water. Two hours later, when I tried to start the car to go back uphill, it wouldn't start at all. The battery, obviously, was empty, drained by nothing more than some CD player activity (which is an external MP3 discman powered via the lighter jack). My brother gave me a start, or rather his car's battery mine, while I provided the necessary cables for that. In the afternoon, it was decided, I'd go for Cany-Barville, where many mechanics worked in a lot of garages. One of them, we hoped, would be able to help out. I got another start with the other car's battery and drove there alone, while gwenw and eileenw stayed with the others to play in the large garden (4000 sq meters all in all) and Eileen decided to get a cold. Well, the mechanic from the first garage, Peugeot again, agreed after some diagnostics, that at least now the battery wasn't charging – and charging nothing himself h directed me to a VW/Audi dealer in Cany we had all missed in the yellow pages. They were perfectly friendly, one female clerk there had a very good command of English language and translated for me. After some waiting (and hammering, at first I thought they'd go for the same tactics the London roadside mechanic had and just hammer on the alterator) they showed me the alterator and the problem inside – I'd need a new one, to be ordered overnight and available in my car by thursday afternoon, in less than 24 hours for less than 400€, including taxes and the mechanics. I agreed, my brother picked me up and drove me home. Tags: books, eileenw, gwenw, travels
Aktuelle Stimmung:  accomplished
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Tuesday, May 17, 2005 On Tuesday it proved to be more difficult to find a VW garage that would not only exist but also take us, the largest in the area, in the nearby Fecamp, told us right upfront they'd be fully occupied for the next two weeks, so no chance at all. In those Yellow Pages I finally discoved a „Garage du Golf“, and fondly remembering the „Golf doctors“ in Hampstead, London, I thought I'd give those people at Lillebonne a try. They were nice, friendly and willing to take my car, so we drove there (the car still started fine, but still didn't show the rotations per minute, so I figured the battery still wasn't charged). We had to wait until Siesta was over, which hereabouts usually means waiting till after 14:30 (or 2:30 pm), so we took a stroll around town, saw the great roman theatre and some of the beautiful town before returning for the garage. The „Garage du Golf“ was located at a Peugeot only car dealer, but taking in all brands for „Depannage“ as they call it. While the kids were chasing a ball around between the new cars for sale with some plastic bowling pins, the mechanics checked car and battery with some instruments and electricity meters and decided that the car was doing fine and it would just be some 'relais' giving defective data, so I shouldn't worry. I decided not to, they charged nothing for the service and I drove away happily. Visited Honfleur on that day, in perfect weather – thinking of Henry V and Brannagh quoting those shakespearean lines. (written down Saturday)  Tags: travels
Aktuelle Stimmung: busy
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A late start on a long way, until everything and everyone is ready for departure to the french vacation week (the french say „in 8 days“ if they mean „in a week“ and „in 15 days“ if they mean to say „two weeks from now“). My brother, older, wiser and much more of an adult than me, rented a holiday house for two weeks, Saturday to Saturday, for his wife and two kids, and invited me to join, with my wife and kids. With her new job just started in May, some days of holiday leave were out of the question for lenew, but one week would work, with her taking her „free day per week“ on Friday in the first and Monday in the second week, so she could join the rest of us later and I wouldn't have to spend a whole day with both kids and without either of the two women. When we finally took off, gwenw, eileenw and me, it was about 12 am, far from early morning (Morgen) but at least in my perception slightly pre-noontime (Vormittag), and as I would have to drive alone I had opted for a later but fresh, rather than an earlier start.  The car was full with fresh gazole, enough water in the cooler, enough air in the tires and, not inspected but remembered, more than the minimum of oil for the motor. The drive was smooth, and soon the kids were asleep, giving me free choice of what to hear – I opted for „Liebesfluchten“(roughly 'Fugitive Love') by Bernhard Schlink, who's „Vorleser“ seems to have become classroom literature even in american classes of German. We made some breaks for the consumption of water or sweets and then the car demanded a break for the intake of oil. A rapid stop, pouring oil I was carrying with me, testing to have filled just under max, getting back into the car, wondering why the oil lamp wouldn't go out... and noticing the rpm-meter had gone to zero again, like in the bad days of my trip to Britain. Yuk. I calculated the distance to Rouen, the closest point, I gathered, where my brother could pick us up while we leave our car at a garage. I used my Motorola mobile and got my s.o. to check for VW dealers and garages in the area on the web, who found one in Rouen, while my brother used the yellow pages on paper from the landlord to find some more, closer to his place. I decided to give it a try and see if I'd get through all the way to the Fecamp coast, to Cany-Barvilles and our holiday home – which I did, using the lights only on the last 6 minutes. With the forced stops to take care of the car, we finally arrived at 10 rather than 8 pm. (written down Saturday) Tags: books, travels
Aktuelle Stimmung:  tired
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We started on wednesday evening, my 5yo daughter (BookCrosser und LJ user) gwenw (the only 5yo I know who keeps her own handwritten diary too) and I. We took for Bonn, the former capitol village (can't call that a city) of western Germany, for the first leg of the tour and with a late start and some broken trucks on the motorway made it when it was still Wednesday. Some nice Bordeaux wine awaited me and I had expected no less from a father who boasts of over 400 bottles in his cellar at any given time (and rightfully boasts of a "farest" in his golfing tournament yesterday, even though it wasn't used to become a "birdie"). Off for an early start on thursday. Now I don't know if you can imagine what the simple words "an early start" mean for me, not only to get up at 6:30 (a time I've been spotted going to bed if working /or procrastinating- late) but also to get into the driver's seat not much later and pretend to be fit. All went quite well until after leaving Germany, where not only the Dutch do not seem to care in which direction the main EU city, Brussels, is to be found, but Belgium, whose capitol it is, doesn't seem to care much if you find it either. At any given crossing or split of the motoway, you had to choose first - if chosen right, they'd tell you sometimes later that indeed Brussels can be found on this road... Whatever. Then troubles started. The oil lamp went havoc and my rpm meter (u/min for Germans) went to zero, while the car was still driving nicely. I went to a stop at the side of the motorway to search for motor oil in the back... only to see that my s.o., who uses that car most of the time, had packed two bottles of defroster for the windshield water, snow chains for the tires and even a bottle of vinegar/based toilet cleaner, whatever that is supposed to be for, as our GolfIII is not that kind of limo that sports a separate toilet on board. No oil. So I decided to leave the motorway to buy some oil, did that, filled some in, listned to the Diesel service guy who said everything should be fine after that oil is in took to the road again. Toruble was, oil light was still flashing, rpm meter was still at zero, so I decided that for safety measures, having my kid on board and all, I'd leave the motorway again and ask at another gas station - they listened and directed me to a garage along the road where I had to wait until that 24/7 service guy finished his two hour noontime break. Luckily I had to wait onlz one hour, and used that time to call my travel insurance company who covers costs arising from a broken car abroad. They said it's fine that I didn't need a tow-away because I could drive to the garage with my working car, and we dropped it there. The garage men opened the hood, looked at the car, only to tell me that it would be some problem with the electricity which I should mend when I'm in Germany again, the car would be fit to go to England and back. So I took to the road again... with a flashing oil lamp, enough oil in the car, and just educated guesses as to what that could mean for us. Everything was fine, we came out of Belgium, to France, to Calais and the Eurotunnel and while I was quite sure I hadn't asked to sponsor a whole compartment the price sure felt that way. Well, we didn't care, at last Britain was within reach... and then for the first time ever in driving to Britain, we were asked to pull over, answer hundreds of questions, open the trunk... no corpses, no firearms, no pets even... what did he expect? Do we look that suspicous? Well, the man from customs assured us he had never ever caught a drug dealer with long hairs, and I assured him I wouldn't be his first... Ah whatever, even those moments passed and he didn't quite keep us long enough to miss the train we were scheduled for. Then at Folkstone, finally we were there. Only we couldn't get the car started for the world in order to get off the train... Battery empty, it seemed. Well, the car behind us had an orthodox jew (and his s.o. with a strange blue turban I couldn't quite recognize as either jewish or Sikh) and he proved strong enough to push us off the train while I was steering. After all other cars were gone an emergency car repair wagon appeared, gave us a jump start (we had the cables for that in the trunk, but he had them too) and all seemed fine, except for the rpm meter and the oil lamp (the radio was off by then and the clock back at 12:00). We went for a long while to the outskirts of London, Lewisham. Next thing that seemed to be empty was gas. I pulled over at a gas station, tried to keep the motor going while refilling diesel (gazole) and the car went out before leaving the gas station. The men at the gas station were convinced that a jump start wouldn't work on my car as it was a Diesel and tried it with pushing it back and forth... until they gave it a jump start from the car battery of one of their cars there. This time the speedometer had gone too, so I just kept speed with the others, kept lanes with the others (yeah, forget about the winkers for directions) and tried to go on the route around to the north and Croyden, where St. Pancras (and our YHA room) is. Worked fine until Vauxhall, only this time it went down in the middle of a road. Everyone was cool about that, a nice couple pushed me over and up the boardwalk besides the Cobalt Square and there I was, grounded, with my 5y old daughter who luckily had adopted my interpretation of all this as "a funny adventure" much like the idea of a country with snow in a wardrobe, which we had heard on the way. Well, I called my german insurance and the friendly female operator in Frankfurt got some London garage that still was working at that time and even, more or less 1 1/2 hours later, had someone come over to us with a service car. She made sure that we'd have the choice, in case the car wouldn't be working again till sunday, that we'd either get a return flight to Germany (as I'm supposed to take care of EileenW again on monday and MueckeGuen can only skip so many classes at the university for a child that's not hers) *or* a rental car to go to the wedding - but in the case of the latter option we would have to stay until the car is working again. Well, we had some sunlight through the clouds (no lights in the car) and the time, so besides reading some more Harry Potter (the first Quidditch match against Slytherin, Gwen's a Gryff and I'm a Sly, if anyone cares to know) with a real book on paper (from BookCrosser Leukonoe) we also discussed how to convice Muecke that she'd have to take Eileen as we took all that effort to come to England for the wedding and wouldn't just now go back in vain with empty arms (i.e. arms that didn't even once hug the bride, BCer MargeryK). Gwen was adamant in that she wouldn't go without the wedding, and if we'd be late for that (because of car repair time) at least we'd come for the celebrations afterwards. Well, the mechanic was quite clever, had some meters and instruments, clear diagnostics and ideas where the problems I mentioned and he saw would come from. The dynamo got a hearty thud from him, the battery some real charge from a portable one he had with him and when he was done the battery was charging again, rmp meter and speedometer were working again and it wasn't even much after 10pm. Oh, 9pm, one hour earlier over here. We drove away happily only to find that 10mins later (or was it three?) the oil lamp was showing havoc again and a loud beepbeepbeep was to be heard nonstop through the car. The AA called us to ask if everzthing worked out well and so did my german operator at the insurance. I told both of them well they could hear I'm driving again, but that sound doesn't sound quite perfect. Right. Both of them said maybe its gone in the morning - if not, call again, please. *sigh* We're in for another surprise tomorrow morning, I guess. But like the brothers bear we can say and I do this way: "Tell everybody I'm on my way..." This is still fun and while I might not be enjoying every minute of it, it's a worthwile experience. Live and learn, right? Iras, off to fall into his bed (can it be 2am local time already? *giggles* Old habits are hard to drop, much easier to drop another pound into the machine / but nightynight for now. Greetings and well-wishes for the way to the wedding can be SMSed to my vodaphone mobile for those that already have the number.)Tags: gwenw, travels
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Yesterday was a day off the regular schedule, as the whole corefamily went off to Legoland, Germany, which is located at Günzburg, not far from Ingolstadt (AUDI-carfactory and where most of Mary W Shelley's Frankenstein is set) and not to far from here on the way to Munich. The whole place was full with Americans, as the US barracks had spring break. Nice for Gwen and me, as we could speak english with basically everyone we met (except service personell of Legoland, they mostly spoke only German, partly and for no obvious reason with a heavy swiss accent. There are xenophobes in Germany, self-proclaimed conservatives, who regularly and angryly shout that 'those foreigners' should integrate if they want to live here, and at least learn the language. They should get out of their own circles, not form any ghettos and socialize. Usually that is aimed at turkish or kurdish people and those from the former Yugoslavia. But yesterday I've met several US citicens who live ion Germany only among themselves, never meet any Germans and even though they live in our country for four years or more still do not speak a single word of Germans. But then, I guess many of those US-people living on cuban soil do not speak a word of cuban spanish language either - let alone socialize with them. Well, whatever. I don't blame those nice people I met, I'd just love to hear our right-wing xenophobes explain why *they* don't condemn the american foreigners here. ( Meeting americans on screaming rides )There's a great choice of rides and even more activities at LEGOland. We were first timers (well, my s.o. and I had been to the original LEGOland in Billund, Denmark, before the kids were born). I. was very nice (and quite tired), so she stayed back with eileenw most of the time while gwenw and I had fun like in climbing the gigantic climbing towers with tubes and slides, which we did for the first two hours after arriving. Rides were shared equally, one with mum, once again with dad (or the other way around) and the third time alone if allowed. Eileen had her share of fun too, especially on the outdoor LEGO playground, which was great in both meanings of the word. Pictures from LEGOland are spread over the LJs of gwenw and eileenw (or will be in some minutes). At the end of the day, after all the screams of joy and terror on the rides (the dragon rollercoasters were mild enough that even I survived them) we all had icecreams and the variety of choice was as wide as the choice of rides had been. I picked well, and for the fun you can test what your flavour of icecream would be (hint: I picked wine as a drink, Little Ole Wine Drinker, Me). Your Icecream Flavour is...
Cookies 'n Cream! |
 Smooth and creamy with a few rough bits mixed in, you are a real treat! You are probably very popular amongst your friends. Remember too much of a good thing is not always good! Don't lay it on too thick! |
What is your Icecream Flavour?Find out at Go QuizPS: My s.o. got her job at the University hospital, so I won't be seeing much of her in the time coming. We had some champagne for the occasion. PPS: In Legoland I had ink done :-) (pic on request) PPPS: The icecream result is not bad; cookies and cream from Haagen Dasz is one of my all time favourites and from what I've heard lately the rest is true also *sigh&nod* Tags: eileenw, funstuff, gwenw, memes, travels
Aktuelle Stimmung: amused
Aktuelle Musik: Dean Martin - Little Ole Wine Drinker, Me
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After a "long and winding road" to Honnister Pass on friday, and a blast of a day together with 
