November 11th 2025年11月11日

They rumble past my house every day. But I never use them. Buses. Why? because I have a bicycle and am only 7 mins. walk from the station.

But suddenly I have to get somewhere with my ‘cello. I can’t fly…..🪽………

………and the car is in another town…….it’s too far to walk, and the bicycle is a no-go..

So a bus it is – a novelty for me. In Japan I would be filming out of the window. So why not here? ………in Langen?

….and it was only 5 mins late…..I noticed how much more sociable it is to travel by bus. It seems that if you are standing at a wind-swept bus stop then it is legit to talk to a stranger in the same predicament. The passengers are mostly young people, local workers (“we always take this bus…we work over there….”) and old age pensioners. Plus the occasional stressed mother with a pram and a bawling infant 🍼

I was smoothly delivered to my destination without fuss and bother. Well, well.

Sometimes it is the bus stop which remains unchanged when you demolish one building and put up another its place. Just down the road from me there used to be a detached house with a garden. Then came the developers…….This seems to happen a lot where I live. In the following two photos note the bus stop…before and after…..(use the slider in the middle)

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Isn’t it funny how rubber bands sort of fossilize and get hard….

…what you need is some nice strong ones…..

But there’s something fishy going on here. They are not very strong and are very salty…….hmmm…..I fear we have a case of squid here….

yes, “smoked mellow squid….great as a snack too!…” not recommended for use with stationary. haha😄.

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I thought I knew most of the palaces in my area, but obviously none of my walks have taken me north of Koblenz. Here I spent two nights for our choir rehearsal weekend,

yes, I am a bass…..🎵

……..singing Mendelssohn, Balfour-Gardiner (yes!), Rheinberger and others.

Our rehearsal room in Schloss Engers looked directly out onto the river Rhine, meaning that ships cruised into view behind the conductor’s back!…..a rehearsal break…

Grabbing a cup of coffee I was greeted by some strange little figures in the corridor…….

………sort of close-up baroque you could say……

…the terrace on the Rhein…..

….complete with a little “feature”…..

For future reference I took note of the great cycle path……

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It was my father’s birthday last week. He passed away 3 years ago and deserves a picture in this blog…..he was the best father I could ever have hoped for.

Reginald Treacy Ruddock 1923 – 2023

Thank you

Well, here I end my blog this week.

Thank you for reading, and feel free to forward on to anyone who might be interested.

読んでくれてありがとう！。ご興味がある方にはお気軽に転送してください。

See you またね 🎻

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