December 12th 2025年12月12日

“….Let’s get this ceiling done today, right? Yeap, I’ll drink to that! Prost!..”

“….steady as she goes….”

👉 There’s no doubt about it. It’s hard, cold work on a building site in Germany at this time of year. Sometimes the work is heavy and rough, at other times it’s exacting – carefully measuring walls and corners with a hand-held cm guage.

This is the view from my desk, so I can hardly avoid it.

This is a view from a cable car in Kobe…on the same day….

👉 It can be odd to have these two climates, cultures and time zones impinging on my consciousness on the same day. Yes, my teacher Miki-san has just had a day out in the forest above Kobe, near Osaka. The leaves are changing colour…..

….and there is even the occasional flower!

…and it is only a little bit fresh at 13°c. It is bright and dry….

👉 Whereas here the tough little robin perches boldly in the naked branches of the Offenbacher Stadtwald…..

👉 We had started out our hike at the Goethe Turm (tower) in Frankfurt Sachsenhausen. Being the first Advent, the Weihnachtsmarkt there was just about to open. But we first covered about 12km through the forest before we paused, and then at the Oberschweinstiege….

– what a name! It is in fact a very civilized Ausflugsrestaurant (“day outing restaurant” badly translated) north of Neu Isenburg.

…my fellow hikers wanted to hear about my profession….😂

👉 So it’s not all gloom and doom in Germany’s dark December. Our book group enjoys an Indian meal in Seeheim- Jugendheim…..

…discussing the merits of “Orbital” by Samantha Harvey. I’ve already mentioned this in my October blog, and was quite enamoured by it….https://wp.me/pgFtpk-o6….. However, with at least two of our group having worked with ESOC (European Space Operations Centre) opinions were mixed……..

👉 Eat up your greens! my mother used to say. Well will this do? A nice Broccoli from Aldi to ward off the winter woes……

👉 Or maybe a Feuerzangbowle? That classic German alcoholic concoction which invoved setting a sugar loaf on fire over a glass of mulled wine. Here seen in action near Bensheim Auerbach…..

Along with Glüwein, it’s an antidote to all those forbidding castles…..

👉 But hey ho, time for a silly selfie…….😅

Apart from snuggling up on the sofa with a good book, my other antidote in these dark days is music. The BBC has however become un-cooperative for ex-pats ………

👉 So it’s up to us to make music. Here is “music minus one” Pianist Sabine agreed to be my “sparring partner” for the Andante from Mendelssohn’s Trio Nr.1…without violinist ☹️. The latter is in Tokyo waiting for a real rehearsal with piano, violin and ‘cello…….!

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 🎻

nigelwruddock@gmail.com

The End

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終わり