a startling new kind of excitement

die familie

Great, great, grandparents...

Opa Friedel, Tante Adele and baby Helmut (who died of meningitus) Tante Adele, baby Helmut, Oma-Stina (great grandmother) and Opa Friedel.

Oma Erna and siblings Gerhard, Maliese, Erika and Margit

The great-grandparents; Oma Ellie, Opa Otto, Oma Stina and Opa Peter

Young grandparents; Oma Erna, Opa Friedel

Opa's first day at school, 1939

Opa Peter (front) who worked with horses

Working on the vinyards

During the war Opa Peter and Oma Stina, after the war - in the half finished house.
Opa Friedel
Opa and Oma

Helm!

Me and Oma collecting milk

Happy Birthday Anna!

xxx

knowing how way leads on to way

I was dancing away on friday night and someone came over and said they read my blog and liked it, which was a bit odd. But I sort of liked it once too. So in an attempt then to push the boring stuff down the page and perhaps release my brain occasionally from the throws of revision and facebook, I will put some good stuff on here.

This is a trip which is now more than a year old. Feels strange but correct, I suppose -

The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

occupation

see www.newcastleoccupation.blogspot.com

folkwaves

Fidola played live last night on Folkwaves, for BBC in the east-midlands.
You can hear us again here, we play 3 tracks and chat a bit just after half way through the programme.

Happy Christmas

At this special time of the year, I think it is important that we do not forget the true message of Christmas. Two banjos are better than one.

yeah

House to myself, clean and candley, a packet of crumpets and cheese, mulled wine, ring helm to check on the spices, lots of people arrive singing carols, glögg, gluhwein, mince pies, jungle speed, ukuleles, sleep, massive cooked breakfast, coffee, dinner, rapper crawl, ceilidh, home made gin debut, a helpful collage. A restful Sunday.

procrastination: 201

Well, the bear changed my life. It walked and growled and smiled and moved all furry under my fingers, just like it's real-life brothers and sisters. It was 5, remote controlled mother had been killed by poachers, which is what brought it to the Sage Gateshead to teach us all about the species...Incredible. We played nice and Otis took some great photos -here they are as yet unedited. I hope he won't mind...ach nobody reads this anyway!




There are hundreds more lovely photos here.

I got my first first the other day for my essay on education. Now I have one more finished, two more to write before the end of next week. It's nice. Books are nice. Looking forward to Christmas time - no exams in January, and so effectively 2 weeks off... maybe I should go somewhere exciting and take novels while I have the chance...

On the news this morning were two stories which made me laugh: BBC Breakfast first had a man in from a magazine which helps ex patriots settle in in Australia etc, telling us all about the huge rise in 'flight rage' i.e. drunken people being rude to flight attendants on both short and long haul flights. Apparently the rise is something we should be thoroughly concerned about - enough to warrant a 5 minute report anyway - although I think, surely, if alcohol was banned on flights less people would want to fly (most usage is because of nervousness you see) and that is: a good thing. Anyway, I was amused again when next up in the show was a 'G.P' (wow) who had been brought on to talk about the common cold which is, once again, sweeping Britain on a scale only seen once a year before. She said if you are sat on a bus and someone sneezes, the cold virus can infect up to 150 people in the vicinity in 5 minutes. So, I am staying in until April.