Interlocking

When I got out of the hospital last Wednesday I had to contact my specialist in Memmingen as the hospital was anxious he pulled out the stitches in 10 days. The practice was closed for the week, so I simply emailed the hospital letter to the practice so that they knew what it was all about and said I would phone today when they were back at work.

In fact, I immediately got a response from his wife saying I should simply drop by on Monday morning as her husband would like to check it out and ensure progress with healing.

So took the drive to Memmingen and duly had the wound prodded and pinched and given an approving nod. Appointment for Friday when he will see if all or some of the stitches can be removed. A few years ago, my then GP when treating a very similar wound took out all the stitches at once and I ended up in A&E that night having the innards being pushed back in and restitched.

Just a quick cup of coffee back home and had to be in Ottobeuren for a Physiotherapy appointment. Some may remember I had a very painful stiff neck in November and had got some painkillers from my GP who also said I should have some massage and gave me a prescription for 6 sessions. One of the failings in the health system in Germany is the time it takes to get specialists appointments for non-acute aches and pains. The first appointment free was today, long after the acute pain had gone.

First time I had been there but Angie has used it several times and she made the appointments for me, specifically with the therapist who she found to be the best. And he was great. Turned out in our chat during the half hour that both of us have very similar backgrounds. He was born in Indonesia of a Dutch exPat and I suspect local partner. At some point came back to Holland and one day found himself working in Bavaria. Was quite amusing and he was also able to clear up a question I had in my head since yesterday concerning a place in Holland.

So not only did I come out feeling like a million bucks but also having learnt something new.

Talking of which, ex-Boss and friend Tino’s Christmas card and annual family “Gazette” arrived today having been posted on 14th December from their hometown of Jacksonville, Florida. Tino had asked me before Christmas if it had arrived and when I said not yet, I detected a little disbelief or at least he reckoned I was spending too much time Bliping and not checking the post box.

Tino is another child of a scrambled egg relationship and worse he has repeated it himself. His US father was working in Germany and married a Bavarian girl and he was born in Munich before they headed off to Tokyo and various other “foreign” places. As an adult, Tino was sent to Munich by his US company, met and married a German girl and their first child was born in Munich before they moved to the USA.

All this intertwining interlocking is most confusing.

The Blip – A scene of some interlocked buildings right next to my specialist’s practice which is out of shot on the very left, in a modern building. On the left is the modern structure with offices and which serves as the cover for the underground car park entrance. In the middle a building which I can’t find any information on. Not listed as being of particular historic value, it seems from the wall painting and the pulley contraption at the top to have once been a leather tanners premises. Perhaps the original was largely destroyed and this is a newer rebuild. I think the sign showing “Münchner Kindl” is simply a marketing ploy by a brewery whose pub is located on the ground floor. The words are the basis of Munich’s city symbol & brand "Munich Child". Name München probably came from the abbey there in early times with its Mönche – monks. The Mönche over time got to become the Bavarian word Mädl for a girl (Mädchen) and the monk was transformed into a young female figure. And is why you will see a young girl dressed as a monk riding a horse at the head of the procession opening the annual Oktoberfest.

And finally on the right, the Seven Roofs house, originally built in 1601 by the city fathers as a cooperative run building for the tanners to hang out their cured leathers to dry. Most of the windows one sees today were originally simple beams to hang out the leather.

On 20th April 1945, an American bomb fell on the square directly in front of the building and all the plasterwork between the wood frames was blown away. The strength of the interlocking wood frame survived though, leaning somewhat and wobbly, but largely intact. The civilian population managed with a complicated rope system to get it temporarily shored up before it underwent a complete renovation in 1946/7 using the original parts.

As I stood there, I wondered what my then 17-year-old mother was doing on that day in another location in Germany, the Russians advancing from the east, the Americans from the west. I am currently working on something connected with this time.

So the wood frame construction is yet another advantage of a bit of interlocking. Allows some movement but isn’t so rigid that it breaks under stress. I wonder if there is a tale to be learnt? My son knows the advantage but that is connected to his work reconstructing old buildings in the UK.