FFO - And Smiley High Five

With this clowny-like lady I join Nicole´s FFO and Gillena´s Lunch Break.

 

For Annie´s Smiles FB again helped me out. 

Here and likely everywhere many get aggressive against police or ambulance, we need people like this girl.

FIL was police officer, Ingo was a firefighter, I´d join high-fiving with that cute girl...

"Damn, That's Interesting

So I’m walking into Starbucks for the 2 o’clock caffeine craving and I’m greeted in the lobby with this girl holding her hand up, clearly for a high 5.
It caught me off guard because I walk through that door all of the time. I give her my best athletic high 5 and she belts out, “Thanks for saving our lives.”
The lobby patrons burst into laughter, recognizing the overflowing cuteness and full smile. To say she made my year is an understatement.
I asked her name and she said, Jasmine. She said, “Can I get a selfie with you”? Soooooo cute.—  feeling happy.
I had to take a selfie with my phone too. What a sweetie.
Credit: Brian Prehoda ( Respect 🫡)"

 Now some funnies, if you like:

 

 

 Note happy Homer jumping for joy!

Btw...

And of course...

 

...very yummy (our kitchen is small, so this pan found it´s place under the bed. For Ingo to remember easily I named it "bed-pan"...

 

 This is Djuvec-Rice made from scratch.

 

 

Maybe I´m having fun right now - how about you?

Btw:

 

The series: 

 

"Not just cars: these things were invented in Germany

Coffee filter

 

One day, Melitta Bentz took the blotters from her son's notebooks and placed them in a tin can pierced with nails, creating the prototype for the coffee filter. When this simple technique found widespread enthusiasm among her friends, she decided to commercialize her idea. In 1908 she patented her filter paper and the famous “Melitta” brand was born."

Cheers to all you coffee-drinkers!

Henry 🦁

 

 Enjoy!

 

 

That Was Close!

 

 

I´m joining Rain´s Thursday Art and Dinner Date with "Clay".

Clay  makes me think of the "sport" shooting clay pigeons. 

It´s even done at The Simpsons. The real pigeon in sketch above was lucky 😉 But...

Back in the day in GDR/East Germany real pigeons were shot. As proof you (sensitive people skip this, please) ... you brought the cut off head to a station and you got munition for free.

East-German cities were pigeon-free.

Here and now they look for other solutions to get rid of the masses. Their poo destroys the facades of houses. Also they are very aggressive.

 

Same problem in your place?

Dinner... Ingo pimped an ordinary instant soup with a mix of real mushrooms of different sorts - very yummy and perfect on a cold night!

Quickly done and warms you through!

The series:

 

"Not just cars: these things were invented in Germany

 

 LIDL

 

 Another German discount supermarket chain is the leader in terms of the number of branches worldwide. Lidl was founded in 1930 and operates around 11,550 stores in 31 countries."

 

Still strange to see this outside of Germany.

 Henry 🦁

 

 You don´t know what you are missing, Baby Henry!

 

 

 

Too Cold For Culture?

 On my way home I spotted this cool sign.

Turned around...

 

 

Too cold to pay a visit. At least I can go to a more or less warm home. Think of all those who cannot because they "started a war against Russia"... One does not dare to check the news these days...

I hope truth wins and peace, freedom and justice will be restored soon.

And then... oh, how to re-build it all... and from what? 

Hope Macron gets more support...

This for Tom´s signs2.

The new series:

 

"Not just cars: these things were invented in Germany

 

 ALDI

 

ALDI, founded in 1913, is the most successful discount supermarket chain in terms of  sales (111 billion in 2020). The name is an acronym and stands for Albrecht Discount. Karl and Theo Albrecht, the sons of ALDIfounder Karl Albrecht Senior, were the richest people in Germany until their death."

 

We are ALDI NORTH, though.

Here and in Perth we go to north.

I remember an e-mail from a former Perth-blogger. She went to ALDI for the first time and my, she was pis#ed!

 

You walk in there THE WRONG WAY!!! (ALDI kept it German).

You have to pack your grocery YOURSELF!!!!

You need to BUY or BRING bags!!!

 

Next mail, seconds later:

The trolley is $1!!!!! And you have to bring them back YOURSELF!!!

 

Hilarious! I couldn´t stop giggling! ALDI is still there, same concept. And they have self raising flour, which I took home - here you cannot buy this. Yes, you read that correct, you need to make it yourself or import...

 

Henry 🦁

 

 

T STands For Huge Shock

 

With this healthy drink I join Elizabeth´s T.

 

The journal: 

 

Monday: Up at 05, laundry, paper-mail... the day starts, it´s getting light! -7C / 19F, brr, off to REWE.

Dude at the cash-out  tries to pay via cell. Takes forever. Then card, takes forever, unpacks and leaves. After rolling my eyes I think, poor dude, shitty start to the day. No one moaned loudly.

Cash-out #2 opens, I jump after the others. Yelling at me: 

 "hey!!!!... You look like a ladybug! 🥰"

 

Do I love my Gurri (winter-coat).

The guy, maybe in his mid-20s, follows me. Amongst other the tiniest, saddest bunch of Gerbera in his bag.

Tells  me, changing between causal "du" and official "Sie" that he has a female colleague who is always in a bad mood in the mornings, so he wants to cheer her up with the flowers. Cause actually she is really nice. He kept repeating this, because he was very proud of himself, I encouraged him, of course.

Not the brightest, but such a sweet guy, wishing me a good night.... um morning!!! 

And at Tom´s I learn: "TODAY IS NATIONAL RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS DAY." Jupp!

 

Passed test #3. This pressure makes me sick. Sooooooo tired.

 

 

 

Tuesday: -9C/15F, but sunny. Time runs and I fight. WhatsApp: fK: wanna phone?

An hour, but it was good! To hear another voice, to chat and forget about the problems for a sec. And get advice.

Horror-studying again. 5 pages for the last question are lurking.

Evening (07 pm+ done studying) Lucy - a time warp: Romeo et Julietta!!! Ingo smoked those in Varadero/Cuba ages ago!

 

Everything is cold. Mouse, doorknob... earrings... nose.. 🥶

Wednesday: The most shocking news, brought to me by fK.

mM, who is a great guy, fun, full of enthusiasm, who brought 60 people into the company, who organizes and pays for the yearly cinema-Christmas-event from his private money for our whole team - and beyond, who emphasized it´s the railway-team with the spirit, who gave me the guarantee (written as authorized representative) that I get my  job back if I have the certificate (and hence the job center pays for my training)... he lost his position and stubborn as he is... he might leave the company.

How can that be. I am shocked and so sorry.

mK took over, not really happy. He´d told fK once he wants me back (I´d worked for him, too), so not all seems lost but... mM was the heart and soul of our team. I, WE are shocked.

 

 

Won´t happen 😢 

Why he lost his position if he is such a great guy? He tells you the truth.

You did something wrong? He names it, not really always friendly - but! He delivers  a solution with it. The new lady from DB ECO group became the new CEO and obviously cannot take criticism... 

Thursday: -5C/23F. And I have an app, means I have to leave the (cold) house.

Took off my mittens - hands deep red. Doc told me to keep Gurri & Co on!

He´s Greek, he understands what being cold is!!! 

Before I went to REWE.

I got this with a happy smile and a "Happy afternoon!".. It was 07:09 a.m. or such!

 

I was still working on questionnaire #6. Turned out the last ones were optional!!!! For when you want to do teamlead - which I  sure as hell do not want! So: ready, waiting for editorial stuff.

The BIG 2 was on HTML/CSS and done in no time.

Started the BIG 4 as 3 is again with "teacher" and starts Tuesday. Oh, my. German language at it´s finest... 65+ pages, too!

mM had to leave for good. No one knows details.

 

Friday: I had had enough. Studying 11 days in a row, often 9+ hours was enough. Even my doc on Thursday - he is a couple of years younger than me - said, 30 minutes learning and he needs a break!

Cleaned the living room, Ingo came home early, sat all arvo at the new PC, installing Linux and Windows 10 parallel for me, took care of the walking pad, helped me with studying in the sense he HAS such an old jigsaw which solved the "riddle" even the "teacher" could not solve... fK tried to build me up, too. That "teacher" wants me to be good... Hm.  "Wanting" things not declared in the prompt...? I dunno. 12C / 53F - WHAT?

 

Weekend: Saturday: Tired, relaxing. Ingo made horse sausages again, YUM!

Ingo cooked - I sadly was too tired to take pics of all the fine ingredients, but next time I´ll do better and show you! The end result does not give it credit!

News. A 19-year old Syrian refugee stabbed down a tourist from Spain at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. An anti-Semitic assault is "assumed"..

These "refugees" need our "protection", you get that, huh?

Sunday: We went voting. Of course. Whilst Ingo is still interested in politics I kinda resigned. I voted, but I have low hopes for a change... We have no democracy. Lazy day.

I played the hairy one again:

(Thank you, Tom for the poster!)

Despite a new week starts I am supposed to cuddle up, yippeeee....

The new series:

"Not just cars: these things were invented in Germany

 

 

The name of the drink comes from the German word 'fantastisch'. The soft drink was invented out of necessity. Since the German population had to cope with Coca-Cola's lack of raw materials due to the war, a new drink was invented in 1940. Now Fanta is refreshing people all over the world."

 

Not a fan... you?

Henry 🦁 & weekday-munchy:

 

Have a happy T-Day!

 

Listen To The Monkey!

 

 

An order that ironically comes from Hanover!!!

The artist is Zike Monkey Squad. 

The motto is  "I love colors" (who does not?).

 

This is at the entrance to the former market-hall again, where there is mostly graffiti but this is a real artist and why is it I put up three exclamation marks?

 

In soccer Braunschweig and Hanover are "enemies" - see why I don´t like soccer?

In American Football it´s the team they play with (or did, when Hanover was first league).

 

But, I repeat myself: "BE HAPPY 😊" - that´s an order!!!

 

This is for Sami´s COLOURFULWORLD Monday Murals. 

We ALL should allowed to be happy - found this at Tom´s and want to spread, too:

1997 fellow flatmate mJ and I tried to learn the guitar and did so with the original song. 

Never ever would I have thought... never.

An ALSTOM-customer, Ukrainian-born, came to Braunschweig at age 6 packed up warm clothes, meds, food, drinking water, supplements for women, kids´-toys, rented a van and drove to Kyjiw again and again, we all gave money to support him. 

That was when "the attack" started.

We thought it was but that, an attack. In 2022.

That was years ago. He sent me pics and videos (of destroyed buildings, no people, of course) - I had to ask him to stop, it was horrible. Then... nothing no more.

Last thing I heard he has quit his job at ALSTOM.

And Ukraine? Still up and fighting.

For their land, for their freedom, for peace.

For OUR freedom. Our values.

There were Ukrainian cars here, quite big cars, mostly. All gone. Reckon it does not mean the people returned "home". Reckon it means they had to sell.

And now? Russia and USA talk about "the future". Without Ukraine. Without Europe.

How the heck can that be.

Are we on the way "Back to the USSR"?

I was 17 years old when in Jolly Joker, Braunschweig, a band played this song, life. I remember the funny shoes they wore.

By now I live in this city, the Jolly Joker is gone, but the fear is back.

 

The new series:

"Not just cars: these things were invented in Germany

 

Haribo

 

Haribo stands for Harald Riegel (founder) and Bonn (foundation location). The company was best known for the “Gold Bears,” which made it famous in 1922."

 

I hope you do not have the same stupid, annoying  TV-ads we have. 

Adults in dumb situations, discussing the newest edition of Haribo, speaking with exaggerated kid´s voices.

I always have to turn off the sound.

Someone had Haribo at ESE - I mentioned the ads. A young colleague moaned, "just shut up!!!"

 

Henry 🦁

 

 To a new week! To a solution. Peace.Freedom and re-building (ha, to think of that!).
 

Dating Apps

Call me old (-fashioned).

Saw a docu on how people date these days.

Especially men pay professional coaches and photographers, many don´t even do the chats themselves.

Sorry, in my eyes a big, fat lie right from the beginning.

What would I do?

I am a shy introvert. I´d loose out.

My T found his girlfriend through such an app, they live happily together since years.

But he is an honest, "simple" man and this was years ago.

My faith in these "services" nowadays is down the drain for good.

I cannot dance, I don´t enjoy places with many people. I hate loud places. I don´t have  nor do I plan to get a pet. An animal is no cheap (....) substitute.

I prepare for being by myself.

Still better than checking out fake people.

I will not fake to please anybody.

I give my best...

So reckon. Just me, someday. Glad I don´t know what´ll be up. What does it mean to have a partner nearly 8 years older and chronically sick - I could drop dead of heart attack any minute.

Life has no guarantees.

Ingo has to grow like REALLY old! There is no other option! ;-)

Really, this docu did shock me.

The new series (a boring, typical one today):

 

"Not just cars: these things were invented in Germany

 

 Germany is not called 'car country' for nothing. The first modern car was built by Carl Benz in 1886. German car manufacturers such as Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche are among the best car brands in the world."

 Henry 🦁

 

 

"Life is like a box of chocolate - you never know what you´re gonna get..." (or similar, by Forrest Gump´s Mama)

 

Wendy #3 - Fridge-Door

Follow me into the kitchen, would you? There we have more of Wendy´s art. 

 

This time I visited her stand at the Freo Markets. All by myself so I had the time of the world to wander around at my pace, talk to the vendors, it was fun!  

 

Frementle/Freo is located South of Perth.

It´s port is that huge, in 1999 the USS Constellation stopped on her last journey and had an open day - we sure payed a visit! 

Yes, pre 9/11 you could visit an aircraft carrier that was still in use.

Man, those American marines really did try to be patient! Aussies run left, not right and after 6+ months we easily mingled in.

We were there to sell our wonderful car...

 

... and hence I didn´t have my camera with me 😭 - Luckily Ingo had his VCR!

Wiki says about the markets: "Built in 1897, it houses over 150 shops for craftspeople, fashion designers, and merchants in the historic Hall, and fresh food producers, vegetable growers and food retailers in The Yard. It is open on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, as well as most public holidays and is a popular Fremantle tourist destination considered 'a Fremantle institution'".

 

Now for some beautiful details:

 

 

The Peso Convertibles is a tipp we gave in Varadero/Cuba (not).

 

Earlier US-Dollars were allowed:

 

To really value Wendy´s art I´ll continue next Saturday to join...

 

 Eileen.

 

The new series: 

 

"Not just cars: these things were invented in Germany

Electric tram

 

The world's first commercially successful electric tram was built in Lichterfelde, a suburb of Berlin, and went into operation in 1881. It is still a very environmentally friendly means of transport."

 

Henry 🦁

 

  

Have a crittery Saturday!