10th February 2026 年2月10日
🔵 Do you like Monday mornings? I found the last one difficult. Getting going was like starting a cold diesel motor on a winter`s day.
Well it is winter isn’t it.🥶
But all the positive experiences of the past week sort of carried me over the threshold of Monday morning.
🔵 For example, We actually saw some sunshine……
All rather pretty really, as long as you didn’t have to go anywhere…..
Indeed, this reminded me of the German “Baumkuchen” although I dont think the real thing has that icing on top….
🔵 And then there was this picture of my two little friends in Sagamihara…..Big sister explains to little brother ….
Nice red piano 😅
🔵 For one of those real black one’s I look forward to Liudmila’s ‘cello recital in Kassel…..
Programme looks interesting….
🔵 Also this week I had practised a duet for 2 cellos and piano, which made me feel good. Although I will feel even better when I have another ‘cellist to play with…
🔵 ………..I interspered the work with a sugar kick from the local bakery….”Guten Tag” I say,” Ich brauche etwas Süßes ” (I need something sweet)….“gerne” (gladly, with pleasure)….replies the friendly Polish lady. So I return with some Frankurter Schnitte..….whatever that is…..
🔵 Of course there were struggles in the week…like this Beethoven (Beethoven is always a struggle….he was always so stressed …😅).
See that 3rd note for the ´cello ? That’s an important F sharp, and it’s right on the G string where you will often find a “wolf” note on a ‘cello. If you’ve got a wolf note there then you can forget Beethovens’ A major sonata. Or play the note on the D string. But that’s not the same 👎
🔵 What other good things happened this week? Well, there was that challenging but hugely enjoyable evening with the “Broken Frames Syndicate”. This is an interesting group of musicians who use music and prose to focus on the climate crisis.
Electric performances of Messiaen…… improvisations…all in the slightly weird venue of a Jugendstile church in slightly run-down Offenbach……
🔵 As I am concentraiting on positive experiences I will not dwell on the fact that DB left me stranded on the rather bleak platform of Offenbach Station after this concert. But I did have a merry conversation with a Turkish taxi driver on the way home.
🔵 We all have to go shopping don’t we. I’m taking no chances here, wearing my yellow flourescent band. It really works. Cars slow down and respect you.
Nothing but the heaviest lock of course…
🔵 The supermarket offers a haven of warmth and brightly packaged food….and wine…..It says “welcome”, but hits you in the face at the same time…..for a native English speaker this is a truly dreadful logo….
Got to get the priorities right. First a bottle of Italian Primitivo, then the milk and eggs etc……
🔵 The biggest plus of the week. A day out hiking, starting at Bad Kreuznach and coming back over the red cliffs of Bad Münster.
The day starts for me at Langen station, where reminders of the original Main-Neckar Railway can be seen – freshly painted. Built in 1846, the railway operated as a joint state railway company, known as a condominium railway (Kondominalbahn), by the Free City of Frankfurt, The Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt and the Grand Duchy of Baden.
So now you know.
🔵 The Rotenfels (Red Cliffs) is great walking territory, even on a grey day….
…..and the town of Bad Münster itself is a curious old place
……. drawing patients to the salty air of the Gradierwerke, where highly charged natural mineral water if left to trickle down huge wooden constructions, evaporating and bathing the passers-by in a saline atmosphere…
🔵 People come and stay here for that most German of German institutions……the Kur…….the nearest word I know in English is “taking the waters”. This is the Kurhaus…..
🔵 Above the town it’s a stiff climb…..
…………but nobody complains, for we are a merry band of hikers…..
……. on the VITAL route…..
🔵 Like a Fata Morgana, or mirage…the image of an Italian restaurant keeps us going…….A restaurant which later provides good food and drink for all…..
Not bad eh?
🔵 Back at home…..
Violins can be pretty mischievous sometimes. I pick this one up to tune it……… But on its own accord, it seems to have landed on a chord which needs resolving……
It seems to want to shift to D major. Naughty violin….
🔵 Before I end this week’s post I must mention this:
I walk out of my house and my attention is immediately drawn skywards. Something big is happening up there. It’s the geese. They are all squawking and circling….a hundred I would say. It is an awe-inspiring sight. Every year they do it, flying thousands of miles over Europe. Always the same routes. Often the same resting posts – in this case the lakes around Langen and Darmstadt. But you never know when they will do it…..such a mystery….
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
https://www.instagram.com/nigelruddock/
The End
終わり✍️
🔵 p.s. On a friend’s recommendation I went to see a film last week. Hugely enjoyable. Funny, sad, thought – provoking. Half in English, half in Japanese.
In the huge city of Tokyo, you can rent almost anything…a man for your wedding, a father for your daughter, a journalist to interview your father….It sounds weird to us, I know. But it is not without it’s benefits..RENTAL FAMILY…..
The View from the Towers 塔からの眺め 