"Muck and money go together."

John Ray 1678 and later changed to "Where there's muck there's brass".

Farmer Franz called in the morning - he wanted to place a long concrete beam in the stream as a border to the slipway he made on Monday. The beam comes from the slatted floor of an old cowshed, 2m long and about 20x20cm. So most of the morning was spent placing the beam. Thanks Franz - I was unprepared for the work having misunderstood what/how he planned to do. So Franz had to go in the stream and work with spade and pickaxe will I slipped around in the mud . Hope in the next few days to start placing the stones.

So no morning walk but instead we set off in the afternoon to Ottobeuren and did the Dog Walkers walk, greeted at the start by two young girls with a dog each who earn some pocket money by walking other peoples dogs. They were very pleasant & chatty but as they were still at the same point when we returned 75 minutes later, I suspect dog walking is restricted to sitting on the bench and letting the dogs exercise themselves each time someone with a dog appears. Had another pleasant chat joined by at least another 5 dogs and owners and missed an ultralight looking craft crash land just 100m away. We didn't hear a motor which was probably the cause. We were about to set off to investigate when the pilot got up and walked about clearly none the worse. The girls went closer but it was apparent he didn't want any help.

While there the slurry spreader arrived powered by a huge & expensive Fendt. Not sure if the muck or some EU subsidies paid for the tractor. Managed to prevent Luna taking a roll and headed off to Memmingen where I needed some chlorine for the pool.

I don't buy "pool" chemicals but use those from a local company that produce cleaning chemicals for agriculture (milk parlour, tanks etc) and food and drink production facilities. One is acid (to reduce the ph value) and the other chlorine. Both products are licensed for cleaning of food making equipment which includes plastics and metals such as stainless steel and aluminium, so ideal for a pool. Have been using the stuff for the last 12 years - back in 2002, the supplier had a handful of pool people as customers, now they form a large part of his turnover. Luckily still no "Pool" labels on the canisters and thus the prices still reasonable.

By the way, I used to think that being able to smell chlorine around a pool was a "good" sign. However with two family members employed by the city of Munich and responsible for such things, I now know that it is almost certainly a "bad" sign. Good balanced pool water will not smell of chlorine.

Then off to to pet shop to see if cat food on offer - no - but two frisbee discs have changed owners. Annoyingly neither Luna or Flash were tempted by the free full feed bowl of dried dog food at the entrance - Organic Nepalese Yeti, steeped in a Himalayan salt marinade on a bed of Basmati Rice with a hint of Mimosa was clearly not that enticing.

Lidl car park full, hardly a trolley to be had and queues at the checkout heading back out the entrance - tomorrow a bank holiday and unlike a Sunday it means there is a serious danger of starvation. It was hell.

Then had to go to Aldi as Angie had wanted strawberries for a cake and Lidl didn't have any. Parked next to the car in the Blip. As I always associate Aldi with RedFlash and the car maker, with her sister Angelique, I thought the number plate might mean they were inside. Less people here but no sign of a red lock or blonde locks flashing by. I didn't have a trolley, took one look at the two remaining packs of very sad strawberries and made my way out past the checkout queues, just in time to see lots of bottles of Aldi white wine and plastic bottled Aldi beer diappear in to the Panamera's boot. Apparently Aldi has some surprisingly good wines and no doubt the beer was bought for safety reasons - tomorrow is Fathers Day known to some as Ascension Day. It is traditionally celebrated by males of all ages taking off in groups with some form of wheeled transport loaded with beer and getting very drunk. The plastic bottles will also make pulling the cart easier.

Pure chance but as I joined the motorway I was behind an identical Panamera but with Wiesbaden plates. Naturally overtook it at 180km/h but it looked as though the driver was trying to locate 2nd gear. He then followed me until I left the motorway (5 km later) showing that actually "money follows muck".

PS It is an offence in Germany to change official "documents" including number plates. The small stroke I made was artistic licence to make it fit the text. Hope the police will excuse me on this occasion especially as my two previous real offences of this nature are covered by the statute of limitation, having occured at least 10 years ago - towing trailers from UK without proper plates.