War & Peace

Been preoccupied with the theme today. Firstly was annoyed at an e-mail from the internet shop company from whom I bought spare parts for the garden tractor which very clearly didn't fit. I had sent them a very friendly e-mail on Monday as I wanted them to see the photographic evidence. The reply seemed cold, unconcerned and a bit arrogant. So today I was going to show the north German Prussians that they didn't mess about with "us" Bavarian Super Folk. Out with the video to let them have the moving proof of their idiocy. Dismounted wheels etc to get the full HD Super Evidence sequence and while placing their so obviously incompatible spare part in the approximate working position, discovered it was a perfect fit .... AARRGGHH. Very sheepishly I sent an e-mail apology!

Luckily we just avoided restarting the Austro Prussian War which ended in 1866 and resulted a few years later in a unified Germany. Austria and Southern Germany plus Hannover fought the war against Prussia (the north of Germany) and their Italian Allies! The idea of unification had been around for a while but the two fractions, the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire, could not agree who took control. Germany is in fact only 142 years old and only 43 when WWI started.

Well the last few days just got a small sense of "we" the good ones and "them" the bad ones. There isn't a country that can claim a clean sheet, not even in the time since the WWII surrender in 1945. In 1947 the British (helped by the US) condemned some 2 million ex Russians & Cossacks to almost certain death or at best the gulags, through forcibly repatrification in Operation Keelhaul & linked events. While conflicts still rage around the world today and there have been the Ireland, Hungary, Balkans, Basque, Berlin Wall etc conflicts, we in Europe now have a fairly stable environment and we owe it to the many who sacrificed their lives for us. We living must "jaw, jaw" as Churchill said, work to make things better and not let nationalism ever take the upper hand. We must respect and maintain our various traditions and traits and revel in being able to freely and without fear, experience these other cultures. For this we need an "umbrella" and while the EU is nowhere near perfect, we must work from within to make it better. Opting out is a dangerous path to nationalsim=fear=greed=war. Finally: we have around 4 generations who were born since WWII and the days are surely long gone when the great great grandchilden are still being held responsible for the deeds of their forefathers. Or should newly born (Prince) George be burdened for the Famine of Bengal in 1770, costing 10 million Indian lives?

Oh that was a bit heavy but had to let it out!

In other news: went out late afternoon for a quick walk with the dogs and as usual had Luna on the lead to cross the main road as rush hour traffic can make it tricky. Look left, look right - wow nothing coming, so dash the 10 meters along & then across the road. Then noticed there was no traffic whatsoever & blue flashing lights 700m away in the village. Walked that way to see the fire brigade had closed the road to Ottobeuren and asked why. Apparently a car accident at the next junction after our house, about 1 km up the road but no detail. Road stayed closed for several hours and have now learnt two elderly people killed and two others seriously injured. Here a Google translated Link which might not be good English but should with the pictures give an idea of what happened.

Think thats enough of war, death & suffering for one day. This evening even Luna & Flash were united. This was not a set up and they have never done it before, but after dinner, Flash jumped on the sofa to put his head on Angie's lap and then Luna followed suite and was asleep when I took this.

Over the crest and now it's all downhill to the weekend. Take care on the roads.
Just quickly on a lighter note although also a vehicle accident. The major autobahn between Passau & Regensburg was closed for some time today when a truck came off the road, the driver having fallen asleep at the wheel. His load - 18 tons of mattresses!