Night Shift

After finishing work, Dr Bulldog Jürgen had to do some work for a friend and then before it got dark, dashed over to us to fit the John Deere with a new hydraulic pipe.

Luckily it hasn't rained since the pipe burst last week, as the tractor could not be started without a further lake of hydaulic oil being produced. As always with calm and experienced hands he fitted the hose while I re-filled the system. Motor started and bingo, the front loader and rear lifter all functioned again. What else would one expect from him.

We finished the work by torch lamp and hence the quality of the photo taken with the mobile and without flash. Sorry Jürgen for the poor result but thank you for the excellent work. I would be lost without a little help from my friends.

Talking of which, this morning the dogs and I set off to Ottobeuren's Bannwald, seeking shelter in the trees from the horrible grey day, something between being in fog and very low cloud. Just 6°C and the air full of moisture and to make it really bad, a good cold easterly breeze.

It was nearly midday and in the 90 minutes we didn't see a single person. Need to find a winter version of the original "Mad Dogs & Englishmen".

Noel Coward wasn't quite right when he wrote "Englishmen detest-a siesta". I found out today that English-women don't either. After the walk dropped in to the brand new REWE supermarket which opened last weekend. For all you spoilt Brits, this is the equivalent of Harrods opening a Food Hall in Stogumber.

Strolled through the doors regretting I had not donned sunglasses and my mouth just dropped wide open. I stumbled from shelf to shelf as if in a dream, just as I did about 55 years ago on entering Hamley's for the first time.

Couldn't snap out of it and even heard English voices. As if in a trance I pointed out to the figures, stupidly in English, "There's Cheddar over there in the cool shelf". Reaction should have been a slap with a large salami on the cheek but no, two lovely very English women's tones ... "Oh really, how wonderful".

There followed a good half hour chat with Mum Maggie and daughter Bronwyn who have lived in Ottobeuren for over 10 years. Husband is a German from Hannover and another daughter has just started university in Erlangen near Nuremberg. Maggie is a Devon born gal but has lived all over the UK including, as one might deduct from daughter #2's name, Wales.

Just like me (see my about page) she dearly misses UK supermarkets as well as so many other trivial day to day things. There followed amongst others the discussion on tea bags, Maggie a "Yorkshire Tea for Hard Water" user. Maybe one day we can do a swap for one of my precious Barry's Tea Bags.

We could have gone on for another hour but I was in a hurry with the dogs couped up in the car. Perhaps we will meet up again one day. Ottobeuren is a bit bigger than Stogumber but not much. Angie later reckoned she had often heard an English woman in Ottobeuren.

Haven't heard anything on local TV or radio complaining about the influx of foreign bodies with colonial annexation plans but it probably won't be long. Maggie is now the third exPat in Ottobeuren, so including myself we could think of pooling resources for a weekly online shopping order.

You lot over the water (The European Channel that is, not the Atlantic which is "The pond") have no idea what we have to put up with over here securing your daily deliveries of Aldi and Lidl goods to the UK. Just occured to me: what on earth do the trucks bring back with them from the UK? Hot air? Oh sorry Nigel, not the Blip one who is too drunk tonight after Man City beat Bayern Munich in the Champions League match to read this.

(If you removed all the players/managers from the field who didn't possess a UK or German passport, how many would be left? Trevor, the groundsman doesn't count. I suspect the answer is fewer than there are famous Belgians.)

PPS After posting this, noticed the following on YouTube. Change the country and fast forward 45 years.......