My Daily Banana

Photo of the Day:

My sisters <3

Event of the Day:

25th June 1867

Lucien B Smith of Ohio, United States patented barbed wire: a cheap alternative to wooden fences, bushes, stone walls.

After the American Civil War the plains were taken over by settlers and farmers and the cattle farmers were driven out; to keep the cattle away from the cultivated land barbed wire fences were erected. The railway lines were multiplying also and it was necessary to keep the animals from wandering on the tracks

Birthday of the Day:

25th June 1903

George Orwell

He saw into the future and wrote a very realistic novel relating to it "1984". 

Big Brother is Watching You

It has never been truer than today, thirty years later. It is impossible to do anything without someone else following, watching, copying sometimes controlling you. Walking around a town in England and you are watched step by step by cctv (close circuit television), is it any different in Germany? The cameras may not be visible but that doesn't mean we are not being watched. But who am I to complain, every day I am in the internet, I publish this blog, I go on Facebook; I could say for some/many I am an open book.

Died on this Day:

25th June 2009

Michael Jackson

The King of Pop

The poor guy was persecuted when he was alive and when he died he was praised as if he were a saint.  That's the way the cookie crumbles, it's a sorry world and the press are doing there best to earn money out of its incompatibilities.

His music will live forever, the Jackson Five era with songs such as "One, Two, Three"

or later during his solo career "Do They Really Care About Us"

Thoughts:

That was it! My first week home since 1999, it was brilliant. I haven't had such an intensive holiday in ages, when I get home I'll need a couple of days to recuperate. I didn't want to be middle point but I often had that feeling, my normal self would be to blend into the background but that was a no go amongst my family and friends, WE were together. 

The biggest event that took place was the wedding, Andrea and Matt I wish you a long life together and many, many little Davies's. Life isn't worth living when you don't have your grandchildren. You'll think it's funny to say that but when you're young and have children you don't have all that much time for them. When they grow up and have children of their own then you take time and enjoy every minute with them and when they get too much they go home to mummy and daddy.

The happy couple with their parents
I wish you a long and happy life together

Bye for now, I shall see you all tomorrow when I get home to Heike

My Daily Banana

Photo of the Day:

The swan attacked me, I got too close to its cygnets

Event of the Day:

24th June 2014

The DFDS ferry SIRENA SEAWAYS departs from Harwich at 17:45 PM with Mr Raymond J Martin onboard. Times out, it's time to go home; I have an appointment at the barber's on Thursday at four pm so it's time I left. Appointments cannot be missed.

Born on this Day:

24th June 1947

Mick Fleetwood

The namesake of the group Fleetwood Mac formed by Peter Green, whom he followed after playing together in the John Mayall group The Blues-Breakers.

Heres a bit of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers with Moick Fleetwood and Eric Clapton

Died on this Day:

24th June 1968

Tony Handcock

If your into British comedy from the sixties then watch this sketch:

The Blooddonor

I love this name Toe-Knee Hand-Cock

It's like a friend from school his name is Anthony Witherspoon (And-Toe-Knee With-A-Spoon). When I see names like that I think what a boring name I have.

Thoughts:

We had a day together in Lincoln, the Martins and their humble followers. The only ones missing were Frazer, Fraser and Karen last but for me not last Heike. I did what is natural for me I took them for a long, long walk. We parked on Sincil Bank, walked to Abbot Street and had our first seance, reminiscing the time when we all lived together as a family. That was over forty years nearly fifty ago but the memories were as if we had just moved, I bet it was a little tiring for Jim and Andrew listening to all of the tales of our past lives (this we must also keep in mind, past). It was a great day something I will think of for many a day Thank You Sylvia, Andrea, Jim and Andrew. 

While I'm at it Thank You Kerry and Lee, if I didn't have you two I would have slept under a lamp post. I hope the seed grow into plants, that was the biggest present I could think of.

Giving the busker a trinket.
The singing was superb.

This should have been a Barbie shop,
not a shop for oversized lingerie

Tomorrow, I don't know if I'll manage to post a blog. If I do you will find it under the website and not under Facebook

The website address is:

www.my-daily-banana.blogspot.de

My Daily Banana

Photo of the Day:

A bumble bee nest in a rabbit hole.
 I found it on the footpath between Ragdale and Hoby

Event of the Day:

23rd June 2014

Lorena Gallo Bobbit severed her husband's penis with a kitchen knife. 
She did it because she thought him selfish always having an orgasm and not waiting for her to come. It was sown on again in a nine and a half hour operation and she was found not guilty due to insanity.

Birthday of the Day:

23rd June 1940

Stuart Sutcliffe is on the far left above the lady with the blue hat.

Stuart Sutcliffe the fifth Beatle.

He left in 1961 and returned to Hamburg where he lived with his girlfriend the photographer Astrid Kirchheim (she's the one who was responsible for the mop-top) . Stuart enrolled into an the Hamburg College of Art where his tutor Eduardo Paolozzi noted him as being a very promising student but in 1962 he suffered a brain hemorrhage due to an aneurism.

Died on this Day:

23rd June 2011

Peter Falk

You will all know his as "I have another question, not important, it's just for the record" Lieutenant  Columbo. Always dressed to kill in his grubby mack and with a cigar stub between his lips he acted the simple minded detective from Los Angeles who always got his man.

Thoughts:

A nice quiet day doing nothing but pausing. I uploaded my blog for Saturday, wrote and uploaded my blog for Sunday and now I'm writing my Monday blog, like John Jennon said when recording the song Helter Skelter on the White album "I've got blisters on my fingers".  That's at least four hours of research and writing, I think it was worth it though: what do you think?

Monday's my last full day of fun in England, how time flies!! I'm going to visit Sylvia and go around Lincoln with her, Andrea, Jimmy and Jerry. That sounds good, another nostalgic trip, all I want to do is soak up the atmosphere, so that I can survive the next six years without seeing the town I call "Heimat". It isn't home for me anymore but a piece of my heart always pines for the town.
Do you know what I mean Fraser?
On my stroll today I took pictures of some lovely flowers and I couldn't hold myself back publishing them. If the download takes a wee bit too long: sorry, it was meant that way!

Where's Moses?
the burning bush

An English Rose

You tell me!

Bye, more tomorrow. xxx

My Daily Banana

Photo of the Day:

Kerry, Lee and the happy couple Andrea and Matt
Thank you for putting me up and putting up with me,
have a good honeymoon on Corfu

Event this Day:

22nd June 1968

The song "Here Comes Da Judge" be Buena Vistas peaks at eighty-eight in the Billboard charts

22nd June 1981

Mark David Chapman

pleads guilty of murdering John Lennon on this day and is then sentenced to life imprisonment for second degree murder (may he stay inside until he rots)

Born this Day:

22nd June 1936

Kris Kristofferson

e

He wrote Me and Bobby McGee  (here sung by Kris himself) which was magnificently performed and recorded by Janis Joplin

The acting career of Kris also needs praising, I love his strong guy scenes in Convoy back in 1978 (cool)

Died this Day:

22nd June 1969

Judy Garland

always to be remembered as Dorothy Gale in the Wizard of Oz

Thoughts:

I'm not going to get used to driving in England. It sucks. My sat nav has problems finding it's way around, if I type in that I want to travel the economically best way it sends me through roads that are just wide enough for two bicycles or on dirt tracks. The road from Ragdale to Lincoln on the A46 (a main road at least five years old, even older if you see the state of it) most of the road doesn't exist; the sat nav keeps saying "If possible do a U-turn" ever though I'm on the main highway to Lincoln. Today I drove back from Grantham, Lincolnshire to Ragdale and in the village of Eaton in Leicestershire I turned a corner and a minivan was coming from the front; I had to break hard, we were both speeding at about 20 kph and I had to back up fifty metres to let him pass it was so narrow.

As you all saw yesterday we had a small family reunion. It has been so long since I have seen my sisters; Sylvia fifteen years and Andrea twelve. Not only did I see my sisters Andrea phoned Fraser and Mama up as well so I got to talk to them also. Mama was shocked, "Who are you?" she asked until it sunk in and she realized it was me. She sounded quite fit, well in head and mind I don't know how she is otherwise. And Fraser, it was the first conversation with him that I have had since 1984 when Heike and I were on holiday in Perth, Australia. What did I have to say? After thirty years I had hardly nothing to say, I was struck dumb, all I could think of saying was reminding him to look after his health  and to go to have checkups.

I could write a book today, so much has happened the last three days. When I get home next week I'll need a holiday to wind down again. I love it!!!

We all went to the wedding of my great nephew Matthew and his lovely wife Andrea yesterday. For me and my sisters the day started off in the hotel in Grantham, "the continuous reunion" and then I went to the town centre with Andrea and Jimmy with their Ziehkind (grandson) Jerry. 

Grantham is quite an old town and sorrily it is looking its age; the town has loads of commercial property that is empty, be it industrial or retail property. It's a sad sight but when I watched the people in she main street they were the ever happy people that I remember from England. The area around the St. Wulfram Parish church seems to be the best kept in town. The church itself is more a cathedral than a church, it has a main ship that is at least twenty-five metres high and a spire that's more than forty metres high (the metres are guessed so please correct me if I've fibbed). I had a nice walk around, a cup of tea and a chat to the old ladies looking after the church. That was good, they gave me a short private tour of the church, it seems I attract old women they think I've a story to tell, they can't be interested in my body they're too old for that. Enough, enough, I'm getting silly!! 

After that we rejoined (Andrea, Jim, Jerry and I) had a pint in a pub in the market square and set off to the wedding. That was in the registry office in Grantham. Very solemn, the marriage vows are different from what I remember though. I can recall the couple to be wed saying "With this ring I thee wed" now it's not quite the same, it was nice how they pledge that they will forever love and cherish each other and it's still "till death do us part." Did I pledge that to you Heike? Unnecessary, I will do anyway. 

That'll do, I'm getting sentimental and tomorrow is another day; if I write too much today I dry up tomorrow and that's not the point of writing a blog.

My Daily Banana

Another traveling Banana

Photo of the Day:

Guess where I am?
Fraser are you jealous?

Event of the Day:

21st June 1879

The first Woolies opened

1920 the Woolworth's store opens in the Lincoln High Street

F. W. Woolworth opened his first store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States
He called his shop "The Woolworths 5cent and 10cent Store" and sold everything for this price.
Back when I was a child and in my youth Woolies was an institution, the biggest shop in town. In the 1990's the company slowly died out in the USA, in Britain and Germany they went insolvent. The German company was taken over by Tengelmann (they also own KIK and T€DI) and now have 260 stores. The last time I was in Berlin I saw one, it was quite a surprise I thought they had all been shut like in Britain. It didn't look good though, like all the Tengelmann stores it looked like jumble sale shops and they also have that flair.


Birthday of the Day:

21st June 1944

Ray Davies

one of the founders of the Kinks

Lazing on a Sunny Afternoon

I found the group quite refreshing back in the sixties, they weren't as middle of the road as many others. The songs were swingy and the lyrics said something other than the wishy washy love songs of the time.


Died on this Day:

21st June 2001

John Lee Hooker

Blues was his name and blues was his music. Hard to imagine but although he was illiterate he composed many songs in his life.
He stared with two songs in the Blues Brothers film and because he never played and sang a song twice the same way, his performance was filmed and taped live; that isn't the practice when filming, normally it would be full playback. The part of John Belushi as Jake Blues was influenced by John Lee.
(Boom, Boom, Boom and Boogie Chillun the recording of Boogie Chillun is a version from 1948, because of the German GEMA restrictions the video can't be shown on the German YouTube site)

Thoughts:

I'm here, in England and this afternoon I'm going to see my sisters. I'm looking foreword to that, I haven't seen Andrea in about twelve years and Sylvia in donkey's years, that means I can't remember. Last time I visited Lincoln was in the last century (doesn't that sound like it was in another world or time warp?). I'm staying for a couple of days in Ragdale at Kerry's and Lee's house (thank you for putting me up and putting up with me!!!xxx). 

The countryside is magnificent, I love it; in Germany where I live it's beautiful also but it's flat and here it's hilly. I should have brought my racer with me, but the time is too short, thanks Lee for offering me your bicycle but it's not just the bike, I won't ride without a helmet and I can't ride without click in shoes / pedals (you could say I'm fussy, I know, with getting older I'm stubborn and funny in my ways).

When I've finished my blog I'm going to drive to Lincoln, take in the atmosphere of my old home. You can't imagine how I'm looking foreword to that. Sorry sisters but it's more thrilling for me than seeing you two again. I want to park the car down in Abbott Street area and walk up to the tourist part of town, I bet I'l have drunk five cappuccinos before I get up the hill. I want to feel the town, hope it doesn't rain. 

I'll be taking loads of photos, but I'll have to post them later, when I get back to Germany. My iBook hasn't got a program with which I can reduce the size of the files and my camera saves the photos in 14 megapixel; which means the photos are between five and eight MB. That's too big for the blog.

My Daily Banana

Traveling banana

Photo of the Day:

Bis nächste Woche Liebling xxxxx

Event of the Day:

20th June 1837

The first British stamp was issued; 

the Penny Black

20th June 1948

The Deutsche Mark was introduced in West Germany

My last shirt
I'm never without money in my pocket

Many are still pining for the old Deutsche Mark but it's gone never to return again. Have any of you got some stashed away? I still have my last shirt in the wallet, it's a ten mark note folded up as if it were a shirt. I folded it way, way back in time when I was a cab driver on Sylt, that must have been around 1989.

Birthday of the Day:

20th June 1909

Errol Flynn

The guy who is said to have a massive p…. was born on this day in 1909 in Hobart, Tasmania (did it belong to the Australian state then? Does it now? That's on the opposite side of the world and that's politicly a white spot for me.)

20th June 1949

Lionel Richie

The soft singer. I saw him back in 1977 in Dortmund when he was a member of the Commodores. At the time I didn't appreciate their music, I was into semi hard rock, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and some softies like James Taylor, Carole King or the Eagles. The Commodores were a very good group though, you have to give them high credits for songs such as Once, Twice, Three Times a Lady or Flying High my absolute favorite. I've linked the LP recordings because of the quality, the live versions lose so much and these are songs which have a very high standard of composition that only comes out in studio recording (especially Flying High)

Died on this Day:

20th June 1947

Benjamin Siegel aka Bugsy

a nasty mobster in the USA. He was assassinated at his girlfriend's apartment in Beverly Hills California.

I noted his death because I was desperate, nobody I knew of  or of interest died on this day and Mr Nobody can't come up too ofter.

Thoughts:

Today I had the day off so I went for a long, long walk. That was expensive, every couple of kilometers I had to stop for a cup of cappuccino. It's about time I started drinking something else, I'm taking in too much sugar (the milk and the cocoa powder on the froth) as well as too much caffeine. if I carry on like this I'll have to start off a new challenge to get rid of the pounds I'm gaining. Happily tomorrow will get back to normal, just sat around all day in front of the computer but then in the evening I've been invited to join in on a meal and that means excessive calories, shit I haven't got my bike with me, I need exercise.

One of the many

Aren't they sweet

And isn't the car sweet

My Daily Banana

Thoughts to start with today:

Today I'm reducing the size of the photos, I've got a bad internet connection and now know how long it takes to load them. Why didn't anybody complain?

Please give me feedback whether I should post the extra large pictures or like today reduced.

The Giant Rhubarb (Gunnera manicata)

The giant rhubarb is growing bigger every week.

I don't think it will grow any taller, maybe it'll get bushier there are still some shoots that have just started to grow.

Event of the Day:

19th June 1829

Sir Robert Peel, the home secretary (in 1834 he became the prime minister of the United Kingdom) at the time, formed the Metropolitan Police (Bobbies in England, after Sir Robert Peels forename, In Ireland Peelers after his surname)

Birthday of the Day:

19th June 1978

Garfield the Cat

The orange and black lazy fat but cool cat had his first appearance thirty-six years ago today.

Died on this Day:

19th June 1977

Lady Olave Baden-Powell

She founded the Girl Guides in the United Kingdom with her husband Sir Robert Baden-Powell

This is the biggest hotel in Niebüll
The Niebüller Hof
It's owned by the woman I wrote about the other day who is letting the old vestry house go to ruins.
She owns another hotel in Niebüll that she bought five years ago, she's letting that fall apart also. I can't understand why she buys so much property in this town if she doesn't use it.

A common peony and a rose planted together

The allotments in Niebüll
Not many are interested in having an allotment these days,
it's too much work (I don't want one either, then I'd have to reduce my other activities)
It's a pity though, a lot of the gardens are overgrown with weeds and desolate.

A sign I saw stuck on the Lidl till. It tells the till attendant exactly how to treat the customers
We are Friendly!
Greet every customer individually.
Scan the goods at a speed that fits the customer. (Ha, ha that's a laugh)
Keep eye contact.
Say thank you and please.
When finished always end the transaction by saying "Thank you for buying hear. Till the next time"

Isn't it sad that people have to be reminded to be courteous?

Thoughts as an ending to this short blog:

I'm tired, it's been a long day and I'm on a business trip. The traveling and talking is very tiring. Am I getting too old? Yesterday I left home and travelled the first part of the journey, 600 kilometers and today the last 250. Then I had a long, long talk, that's new for me I hardly get my mouth open at home. I've got a wife to do the talking for me, in Germany they call me Mundfaul (that's directly translated mouth lazy) so next time you see me you'll know my new nickname.

Bye, see you tomorrow