Five Friends and Timmy

Bliped last Wednesday that Angie and her sister Sigi had had to cancel meeting up at the Oktoberfest. Yesterday afternoon, Sigi's son Tobias had phoned to suggest a part family meeting at our place and then an excursion somewhere in the area.

Late morning they arrived, Tobias and his wife (of just a few weeks) Ramona with their dog Timmy, Sigi and husband Gerhard. As they had decided to take a trip to the 100km distant town of Blaubeuren  near Ulm, I decided to stay at home with the dogs. Flash couldn't have managed the trip anyway and it also meant they could all fit in the one car.

Without much ado, they were off and I set about doing the odd repair job around the house. It was dry but overcast almost the entire day, the sun struggling to come out. Meanwhile in Blaubeuren best known for it's Blue Lagoon, the adventurous Five and Timmy were enjoying sunshine and undertook a long walk.

I started to try and repair an outdoor lamp controlled by a movement sensor which hadn't been working for a while. Ancient heavy wrought iron lamp with the bulb fittings not sitting correctly. Lots of messing around with things I don't understand and frankly scare the heck out of me. Only once though was their a spark and the fuse tripped - thank goodness.

With all the innards hanging out, I saw a friend of old from England had phoned and wanted a chat. We have spoken for years but have been meaning to. I keep very loose contact of what he is up to via his daughter on Facebook. Today she was visiting her father and somehow I came up. He asked her if we had talked (as opposed to just text messages on FB). No she replied and so he grabbed the phone.

It was lovely to talk to him again. We are diametrically opposed on the Brexit issue, the big difference is that while I have no vote, he has one that really counts. He is probably known to all of my generation and older as well as many younger people, a staunch supporter of Queen and country, tradition, the armed forces but also actively and over decades has worked for the benefit of disabled people. He has also been quietly in the background been steering the UK in to the EU during the 1970s entry process and even now in finding the exit door.

I admire him enormously although he has received a large share of scorn and "hate" reactions, luckily mostly pre (anti)social networking, I have been privileged to see him in action outside of the "work" environment and know his heart is in the right place and anything but the cool image often associated with him.

The mobile phone connection and time did not allow us to have a proper discussion, nor was it the right time but with a bottle or two of wine and a warm evening, I would love to continue the debate.

And at this point the intrepid Five and Timmy (really is his name but he is a Havanese) returned home. There followed a few hours of talk, coffee and cake and looking at the wedding photos - Ramona and Tobias had their official "town hall" wedding in July with just siblings, parents, grandparents and their close personal friends. Next summer is the full church wedding ceremony where they will have to endure the rest of the family. Photos were lovely, everyone dressed in Lederhosen and Dirndl.
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On the back cover of a book my daughter gave me at Christmas called " "Five on Brexit Island", there is the following quote:
Timmy was neutral, although, if he had understood the variety of sausages available on the European mainland, that would have been a factor.

Appropriately perhaps, Enid Blyton's works, described by Wiki as: having been criticised as being elitist, sexist, racist, xenophobic and at odds with the more liberal environment emerging in post-war Britain, they have continued to be best-sellers since her death in 1968.