Saturday, January 30, 2010

Using Public Transport

If you are used to run all your errants and make all your visits and things by car, suddenly being forced to use public transport can be a complete new experience. And not really a bad one as I happened to find out.  

On Wednesday I had to see my dentist for my regular yearly exam which you need to have been to the last couple of years to get the maximal allowance for artificial dentition from the  compulsory health insurance fund. I still go to see my old dentist in my birthplace and former residence Heidenheim although I have been living in Aalen for over 15 years now. Its only 15 miles, half an hour by car and why should I change my dentist al long as I am content with him? I´m originally an engineer and follow the old trusted rule: Never change a running system...

This time something was wrong with my good old Isuzu Trooper and she broke down at Itzelberg, a small village still about five miles from Heidenheim. Fortunately this nice little place has not only a beautiful little lake but still a little railroad station too. And even more fortunately the next train to Heidenheim came soon and did stop at this station. So I reached my dentist about three quarters of an hour late but I reached him and didt not have to wait long anyway. Forty minutes or so after I left my dentist's there was a train back to Aalen, so that I had an occassion to have a little stroll around downtown Heidenheim to see what all has changed again since my last visit.    

The most interesting in this little occurence were the things I experineced on the trains and strolling around town. Not only seeing all the changes there from nearby and out of a pedestrians view but especially how easy it is to get into nice conversations. It started with a young girl I met when I was waiting for the train at Itzelberg and once on the train a woman in maybe her fourties joined our conversation.  In an electronic mart in Heidenheim where I had a look at the TV-sets I met a woman my age or a bit older whith whom I had another nice conversation.

After having some words with one more woman at the ticket machine in the station I got to talk to one in the smoking area on the plattform where I waited for my train back. She was on her way to Aalen too and we chatted until we parted outside the station there. At least this one, I guess, would not have refused if I would have tryed to invite her on a cup of coffee to deepen acquaintance, even in the way I used to do in my younger days hehehehe... :-D

All in all I lost about two hours due to the breakdown of my good old Trooper but this was more than compensated by the nice things I experienced. I do know by now not only how the sophisticated ticket machines of our railroad company Deutsche Bahn AG work but also that it is still quite easy to get into conversations with women... 

 

         

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Winterly Impressions from East Wuerttemberg

Actually it is a bit warmer and it has been raining this morning. But last week we had what you can call winter. Here are some impressions how my place looks like in winter. When I was walking my dog Alfons a couple of days ago I took my little camera with me...

A view out my office window into the gardens between the houses of my housing area

Hofherrnweiler a former village and now suburb of Aalen/Wuertt

The edge of the Swabian Alb south of Aalen

The housing area Heimatwinkel which belongs to Hofherrnweiler  

My old friend Alfons still likes the snow 

A back road in the housing area I live in

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Christmas is over and winter is coming

Christmas holydays are over now, on monday kids will be back at school. And now it has been snowing and probably will do taht again and it will be cold for a while. That`s typically here: No white Christmas but at the beginning of january winter will come. 


Thursday, January 7, 2010

Did you already know?

Stewed rhubarb tastes even much better, if you use strawberries instead of the rhubarb!

Sorry, just remembered this age-old flat German joke and couldn't resist at all to post it here... ;-) 

Friday, January 1, 2010

A Happy new Year!

I wish You all a really happy and successful New Year 2010!

New Year's eve was like it always is at our house. We were celebrating at home drinking a wine cooter and playing a parlor game. This year it was "Carcassone". Granny and Grandpa came upstairs to celebrate a bit with us. The only new was, that my daughter was out for the first time on New Years Eve partying with some other girls.

At midnight we clinked glasses and my son and I launched our rockets, crackers and things. My wife soon went to bed after my daughter was home but I had a wonderful talk with my kids almost all the rest of the night. For me, this was the best part of the whole night of New Year's Eve, because I think it's a quite fine thing if an old dog still has a basis for conversation with his kids.