10th July 2026年7月10日
▷ Time for a dip before lunch. No, I am not on holiday. I hop onto the bicycle and ride through the woods for 20mins. They are just opening the gates of the Langener Waldsee. It’s just past 10am and only a few nudists are heading for their section of the beach. I am alone with some Brent geese and a huge expanse of water. It’s a good feeling ☺️
▷ Tell me. Do you actually feel like cooking during this hot European summer?
What have I in the kitchen?….well…there’s some tomatoes, some carrots, some paprika, some cranberries….
some walnuts…..
parsley, basil……
Fennel……
Sesame oil…..
…half a humble apple….
…….all are tossed into couscous. Result….
Not bad Nigel 😋
▷ At last the intense heatwave seems to be over – at least in Germany. So I was able to go on a hike last weekend. For me these hikes often start by boarding a train at Frankfurt station….resplendent in all its stodgy Prussian hubris. The forecourt of this station has always seemed a mess to me. Trams, taxis, prostitutes, drug-dealers, “normal people”, tourists and the homeless all jostle for attention. But now it seems a re-furbishment is underway….
The train is only 10 mins late in departing. Quite a feat these days. The hike is nothing very dramatic, but just right for high summer. It’s a 14km walk through the shady woods east of Darmstadt. Our guide Mehdi has planned some strategic stops along the way……..like this shady hut by a stream to have a snack…
And later, a welcome cup of coffee under a sun shade at the farm café Hofgut Oberfeld. This is just over the fields behind the Mathildenhöhe, that curious Jugendstil housing project….It merits another visit... I took these pictures in 2024…..…
私たちはダルムシュタットの有名なマティルデヘーエの近くにいました。
click or swipe…↔️
▷ I always find it interesting meeting new people on these hikes. This time I found myself in the company of an Iranian economist studying in Darmstadt. I realized just how ignorant I was about her country, so she kindly sent me this youtube link which I will share with you here….
ハイキングでは、いつも面白い人たちに出会います。先週、あるイラン人の女性が、自分の国に関するこのリンクを送ってくれました。
https://youtu.be/-ekr2gj8su8?is=0JdtYeWZvtYuH7ht
R.I.P.
9th June 1970-18th June 2026
Allison Fidler-Lehn
Our book group has been running for over 20 years. For most of this time, Allison has been a reliable, valuable member, providing interesting book suggestions, organizing us and keeping a tally of all the books which we had read. Here she is (at the front right) three years ago at a meeting we had in a café in Darmstadt. Summer 2023. She was the youngest member of our group.
She succumbed to lung cancer last month.
Most of us were able to attend her farewell at the Waldfriedhof (a beautiful natural burial ground in the woods near Traisa, Darmstadt).
It was a dignified and simple ceremony. Knowing her interest in literature, I chose the one writer whose prose I knew would rise to the occasion: William Shakespeare……
So, under the towering beech trees, Bye bye Allison. Your death is shocking. It pulls us all up short to make the most of life now.
Bis demnächst…. またね….. see you………
THE END 終わる 🙋🏼♂️
The View from the Towers 塔からの眺め 
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