Not shining at the moment.

Football Club Bavaria (FCB) has the biggest membership of any sports club in the world. Hold on a tick I hear you Mancunians scream. Well FCB is still organised as a sporting club with paying membership. It is a club involved in many sports: chess, table tennis, bowling, gymnastics, handball, basketball as well as football. These sports are either mixed or have separate male & female sections.

The club has put it's football interests in to a public limited company of which they own 75% and three companies - Audi, Adidas and Allianz - each own 8.33%. German professional football rules prevent private investors having control of clubs. Thus while all English football clubs are companies, many Germans are still clubs.

All of this is beyond me as I am not a great football fan but do keep an eye open to watch international matches involving the UK and Germany and club matches with FCB and this only to keep Angie happy - she has been a follower of FCB most of her life. However even she isn't exactly a devotee.

At the moment FCB is in crisis. They have slipped to second place in the league - nothing less than 1st is acceptable. At the weekend the long time public "organ" of FCB, Uli Hoeness, was voted back as President of the club after he resigned three years ago when he had to sit out a term in prison for tax evasion in his personal finances. He did it with honour accepting the courts verdict without appeal. He was locked up in Landsberg prison near here - ignore the scream you can hear from Bliper Nogbad, who is saying Hitler was locked up there too in the 1930s and wrote "Mein Kampf" there.

As he was not considered dangerous he was allowed out during the day to work as assistant trainer to the clubs junior football teams. On leaving prison on parole after serving half the term, he donated his prisoners job pay to charity. He was and is a very much admired personality both for what he has done for charity, football in general but particularly for FCB, the club, players and fans. Early next year the public limited company that runs the football side has it's AGM and Uli is standing for the Chairman post. No doubt he will get it, just as he got 98% of the vote at the clubs AGM on Friday.

The fans expect him to bring back the shine. The dogs and I didn't need him today - the sun shone all day in a totally cloud free day, even if the thermometer didn't get above 0°C. Thought ghe flag made a change from cows or tractors. The flagpole stands in a garden in the village. It isn't the only one, in fact the village has a huge FCB fan-club, one of over 4200 registered fan-clubs. Sure ManUtd has more and just like FCB you either love or hate them. Nogbad is a "blue" by the way: Manchester City and TSV 1860 München.

PS the colours in the middle which are also the Bavarian State colours are "white blue" and never "blue white". Getting it the wrong way round in Bavaria will get you locked up for much longer than for a few million of tax evasion.

PPS The Alps that were "missing" yesterday were very visible on this evenings dog walk and I posted to Pep's Facebook and as an Extra Photo. She liked it. Poor girl is going through hell and still laughing about it.