My Daily Banana

Sonntag, 15. Juni 2014

My Daily Banana

Photo of the Day:

A small flower usually ignored.

Event of the Day:

15th June 1965

Bob Dylan records Like a Rolling Stone

Like a Rolling Stone

The link is a medley of two Dylan songs Maggie's Farm and Like a Rolling Stone

15th June 1968

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy from the Ohio Express reaches number four in the Billboard Charts

Birthday of the Day:

15th June 1941

Harry Nilsson

An American singer/songwriter who brought out some good schmoozy songs such as Without You and the theme song from the film Midnight Cowboy with Dustin Hoffman Everybody's Talkin'. Another song that I like which he recorded is Coconut, it's nice and swingy!

Died on this Day:

15th June 1996

Ella Fitzgerald

at the age of 78.

Thank you Ella, for soft and mellow jazz music that you made.

Thoughts:

The weather is like a slice of bacon today, streaky. It's cloudy and then it's sunny, it's warm and then it's cool, the wind blasts and then it lulls, the cappuccino is too hot to drink and then it's too cold. No, no stop your being silly, it's an everyday usual day a day to put a long sleeve shirt on and sit in the shade of the wind; on the lee side (you remember physics or was it the sailing course? Luv and lee, wind side and shade side.)

Oh man, a young Russian family has just moved in next door. New people to get used to, that's one thing that isn't nice about living in a rented apartment, the moving frequency is very short. In our block there are six apartments, the pensioners below us have lived here since the house was built in 1992, we took over our pad in 2004 but the rest are young people and they've got the symbolic ants in their pants and move in and out quite often.

Funny thing happened when I went shopping today. I was at the local drugstore, a large sized chemist where they don't sell prescription pills, something like Boots without the drugs. My hand cream and a couple of other things needed buying. The queue was a mile long (figure of speech, I like to exaggerate) so they had all three counters were open and some of the customers were in tight mood, including the woman in front of me. Remember it's Saturday, Market day, time to saunter through town, relax. Well she didn't put a separator behind her purchases to indicate the end, being the nice person as I am I plonked my ware behind hers and put a separator behind it. You can imagine what happened, my stuff was scanned to her purchases and the shop assistant had to run off for the master card to cancel the mistake. What a laugh, the mardy woman grumbled because it took so long and I had a laugh watching her, I felt a wee bit sorry for the assistant what with having caused her trouble as such a stressful time. Sylvia would say "Little things please little minds", that's too true, love you sis'.

Here's another couple of Niebüll impressions. I'd like to carry on my theory about the houses and how they were spoilt in the time after the second world war when the people had money to spend.

Here's an ugly example of too much money at the wrong time in history.
To start the windows with single panes, then an extension with a flat roof, plastered and painted walls and a door that fits in a modern house but not a thatched Friesian house.

Here's a good try!
The windows should have been made narrower,
then the style would have been more authentic.

It's a darn sight better than the neighbouring house,
but here you can see my point with smaller windows.
They fit into the facade much better

Here's a good example of authenticity.
The windows are double, not double glazed but with an inside and an outside sash.
You can see how the house was used in older days by the shapes and sizes of the windows.
On the right the windows are large, that was the living area of the owners, on the left, the small arched windows, that is where the domestic animals lived (pig, cow and poultry) and the far left the large window the servants room.

The house also has an impressive double leaf door.

Across the road, also very well restored, this time with double glazing.

The door is a bit of a letdown, it's been well kept but it doesn't fit in with the Friesian style.

I like the way they have added a modern roof with dormers,
they are not typical in small, one family Friesen houses,
Dormers are usually built into big farm houses with enormous roofs.

One of the finest Friesian houses in Niebüll

Look at the detail

The side door, it's all wood

The churchyard's side entrance

Niebüll's church
The Christuskirche

The spire

And the main entrance to the church yard.
The old Friesian verger's house is rapidly falling apart.
A hotel owner from Hamburg bought it several years ago, she wanted to renovate it and let it out to rich tourists
but the house is listed and she didn't get the approval from the historic preservation office, so she just let the house go to ruin. Some day in the near future the house will be demolished and she'll be able to build without conforming to the preservation office policies.

I'll give the house another year, it hurts to look at it.

That's enough for today, a trip through building does and don'ts, hope you enjoyed it and if I fibed a bit or got my facts wrong write and tell me. I'm only human and prone to making mistakes.

Bye, see you all tomorrow.

Samstag, 14. Juni 2014

My Daily Banana

Photo of the Day:

Who lost it?

Event of the Day:

14th June 1975

Janis Ian releases "At Seventeen"

I bought this LP back in 1975,
I've still got it
but I don't know any of the songs other than At 17

A sweet little song about the problems of adolescence, trivial (the problems) but when just seventeen a spot can be a mountain.

and

14th June 1982

The Falkland War comes to an end after seventy-four days of conflict.

It took long enough, seven hundred and twelve lives were lost, 255 British and 649 Argentinian soldiers plus three civilians from the Falkland's, not to mention the many traumatized soldiers on both sides, those who didn't commit suicide are still suffering the aftereffects.

But Maggie went down in history as the Iron Lady who won a war for the British Empire.

Birthday of the Day:

14th June 1928

Ernesto "Che" Guevara

A doctor from Argentina who, together with Fidel Castro, lead the communist rebels to victory over the capitalist government of Cuba.

Died on this Day:

14th June 1995

Rory Gallagher

Played with te group Taste in the seventies, here they play Gambling Blues on the Isle of Wight in 1970.

A great guitarist. I saw him live at a one day event, in Crystal Palace, London, back in 1971.

Two other acts that I can remember playing there on that day were Yes and the still young and fresh Elton John. That was the best concert I've seen of Elton, his voice was young, he didn't need heavy electronic sounds to catch to audience, it was enough just himself on the piano and his group to back the songs up.

When Rory came on stage to do his gig a funny thing happened, the sound technician had tuned the amplifiers into the air traffic control and when Rory turned his guitar on the air control conversation came through the speakers. Isn't it funny how trivial matters stick in one's mind?

Thoughts:

I just don't feel like getting up. It's Saturday, Heike has to go to work and yesterday I told her that I would get up with her to have breakfast. Shit, why did I saw that? A cup of green tea and back to my warm beautiful eider down, that's what I did, but now I'm wide awake, no more sleeping. So why not write a couple of words in my blog, I thought and as you can read, that is what I did.

Heike's waiting for me,
like usual I'm taking photos.
That's how we stroll, twenty metres together and then I stop to take a picture,
Heike doesn't complain though. (Well trained)

Talking of eider down, yesterday while driving to work I noticed a duck family coming out of a side road, they wanted to cross the main strip that I was on. There was one grownup duck leading the troop, one guarding the rear and a whole flock, ten and fifteen, of ducklings between them. I slowed my car, ready to stop, but the courage of the grownup ducks was spent, first the rear guard abandoned her post and then the leader. That left the ducklings on their own some, poor chicks, but instinct told them to hide and they rushed into the grass verge. Thank heavens for that, the road I was on has heavy traffic at that time of the morning and not every driver brakes for wild life.

Funny thing, the rest of my travel seemed to be dominated by this event; either that or I was very sensitive about my surroundings. A few kilometres later a deer dashed across the road not fifty metres in front of me and a great big buzzard flew up next to my car. It was me who was getting nervous now, I was happy when I arrived at the office.

And now a potpourri of Niebüll and flower photos:

Well, nearly Niebüll. Here's where I stroll when I have my lunchbreak in Flensburg

Another dog rose, they flower all summer long

Don't ask me, I'm not a botanic.
I just thought I'd captured the bloom well.

Same with this plant.

Poppies, they are very robust (they can stand up to a storm) until picked then they are very fragile and wilt within a day

Redcurrant, it's about time they get covered with a net, otherwise the birds will eat them.

Typical Niebüll, quiet and green

At some time in history the owners of this house came into money and destroyed the image of this house,
just look at the windows. This is something that happen very often in the fifties and sixties. Today many of the house owners, mainly the foreigners from Berlin, Hamburg the big cities, are revamping the houses back into the traditional style with latticed windows.

Another dreamy road in Niebüll
The brown roof on the left was tiled by me in 1982. That's quality!!!

Enough for today. See you all tomorrow, give my love to all that cannot or will not read my blog.xxx

Freitag, 13. Juni 2014

My Daily Banana

This time with loads of Bananas. I found the mini or cocktail bananas in the Edeka store, I was there to buy sambal oelek which I also found but it was too expensive. The mini bananas drew me into their power and I had to buy them, aren't they sweet? Heike says they taste much sweeter than the normal every day banana, I wonder, that I'll have to test.

One moment please----------mampf-------mampf--

No, I don't agree!

They're different, they have a firmer consistence and taste a little bit intense but not sweeter.

Photo of the Day:

Tschüß Henning,
we wish you all the best in your new endeavours.

Event of the Day:

My friend and colleague Henning Thomson has his last day at work before he goes on pension. Henning was (or still is, at least until knocking-off time) our HSE-coordinator (Health-Safety-Environment), because of his age, experience and quiet style the perfect man for the job. It's nothing for a young ambitious engineer, he would always be fighting against windmills trying to get the older, and mostly experienced workers to see his new dangle ways.

Henning you will be missed when you retire, you will be leaving quite a hole that will have to be filled.

Bye mate, it was good working with you, have a good retirement and if it gets too boring come around, we will always have a coffee and time for a chat.

Henning laß dir die puste nicht ausgehen.

and thanks for the gateau
I couldn't eat as much as I wanted to.
Six is too much, even for glutten like me.

Thoughts:

Today I don't feel like looking for a birthday or a death (how morbid).

I want to write about our good health program in the firm. Not that I am employed by the firm I'm a freelance here and have almost all the privileges of a staff member. What I don't have is paid leave, be it holiday or sickness and if there's no work I'm penniless, that's where the firm profits from not owning me.

There's a couple more points but I want to write about the "Lunch Break Back Gymnastic" that we are offered every Tuesday and Thursday lunch.

It starts at 12:30 and lasts a half hour. We participate in stretching, movement, rest and a lot of gossip. Today it was mostly neck and shoulder training, other days when we can't go outside it's often floor gymnastics. Some of the exercises can be quite strenuous and at my age I have to exert myself to keep up with the younger colleagues, but when it comes to exercises where leg strength is needed I'm the king (well sometimes) it pays to keep in training on the bicycle. After twenty to twenty-five minutes of sweating we meditate for the last few minutes, that's the best part of the training. Five minutes of shut eye, breath control and with the help of our trainer Markus who reads out of a book or recites chill-out thoughts and I feel refreshed.
I would like to thank GreyLogix and Markus for offering me and my colleagues this opportunity to keep fit.

Markus, our physio trainer

Petra and Thomas

Jana and Michael

Claudia and Mandy

Silke,
I like the way the building, our offices come out in this snap shot,
it looks very impressive.

Andreas
This is one of the neck, shoulder and chest exercises
We pull the shoulders down and turn our head from left to right and up and down

It was all slow moving exercises today,
too warm for heavy exertion.

The best part of the training,
the meditation

Refreshing (I mean the meditation, or maybe?)

Eyes wide shut

and Petra's counting sheep

Bye and have fun. Be seeing you'll sometime (those who know me)

Donnerstag, 12. Juni 2014

My Daily Banana

Photo of the Day

Niebüll Main Station
Remember it Andrea?

Event of the Day:

12th June 1964

Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life imprisonment for sabotage in South Africa

Birthday of the Day:

12th June 1929

Anne Frank

The poor girl lived at the wrong time, on her thirteenth birthday she became a diary and wrote of her and her family's troubles during the Nazi occupation of Holland. She died of typhoid in the concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen at the age of fifteen.

Died on this Day:

12th June 1980

Billy Butlin

He opened the first Butlin's holiday camp in Skegness in 1936.

Thoughts:

Everyday is the same, you think, but it's always different. Yesterday I was fretting because I thought I had too much to do and too little time for it. That sorted itself out quickly this morning, after finishing my blog at nine I started the 3D drawing.

To begin with, when I opened the general site drawing I got a shock, all the reference drawings were missing (reference drawings are details or parts of the main drawing that are embedded or referred to in the main drawing without being a part of it. With this method of draft-construction the main drawing keeps a small size and changes are made in the detail drawings and not in the main one; thereafter they are reloaded.)

My first thoughts were; bah, now I have to get on the phone, send emails requesting the detail drawings and trying to explain to an engineer what I mean with reference drawings, you can't imagine what a bind that can be; the engineers have been to university, they've learned how to read a drawing (Blue-print, draft) but they have no idea how the drawings are produced; that's my part, that's what I've been doing the past thirty years.

I was lucky, the reference drawings were filed in a folder two branches up the in the project data tree. All I needed to do was reallocate and reload them.. The drawing was quite easy to understand and I got the job done in four hours, initially I thought it would take me eight to ten hours.