Otto

We and the village survived the night, a few cellars with ground water pressing through. A few miles downstream though there was some damage but nothing compared to the damage on the Danube & Elbe which continue to cause misery. Hopefully now action will be taken to get the long talked over plans, put in to action. Just a look at my recent Blip of the flooded meadows shows what could be done here. It is a natural overflow basin in the case of flooding, with no houses and capable of holding billions of liters. If done, the farmers would get compensation which they currently don't get and although our house would be right next to it, the danger would be minimal and probably a 1000 times less than the day when we have a so called "millenium flood", and it will come, just as we have had "once in a century" floods in 2002, 2005 and 2013. A whole series of these along the lower Alps could have a significant effect on the water entering the Danube.

On to more pleasurable things. Late afternoon went over to the beekeeping shop in Eglofs. It's actually a joinery in the 4th generation and due to the personal interest of the owner, much of it's production is now connected with bee hives. There is also a very small shop which sells everything a beekeeper needs from stickers for your jars to huge electric honey extractors. They are only open for a few hours on 3 days in the week. Got there to a packed carpark & 10 people queuing outside, almost disciplined, just one person managed a barge - 10% is excellent for Germany. In the queue was Otto. I asked if I could Blip him and unexpectedly came up against a grim face and "how much will you pay?" Somewhat taken aback, then heard why - some time ago he had a similar request and then ended up on advertising posters, without his consent or getting a pfenning/cent. After a bit of explanation he agreed, so I quickly took just one shot - loads of mistakes, reflections in glass etc etc. Would really have liked to do a close up of his face and hat but didn't want to overdo it.