We Are Royals, Too

Or: The Emperor Marries

Some funnies from this week/life.

Storm Christian hit Germany bad this Monday, our region not too bad, though, luckily! At the coast the wind went up to some unbelievable 190 km/h, over here “just” 120.
Trees knocked over, roofs were blown away, in the radio-news this took a while.
After the news we always get traffic news.
The radio-guy said, “ok and now on to the traffic…” – someone in the background moaned like really big, “oahhhhhh…!” :-)))
And yes, the traffic-news took a long while, too.

Oahhhhhh… :-) I really had to laugh!

We are royal? Yes - funny today: Being born with a name like that, translated “Emperor”, it´s funny to answer someone named Knecht, which is "Servant" I tell ya!

Best funny was years ago, someone called me at the office from his car – I could barely hear him, guess it was the other way round, too.
Me: “Emperor”…. “huh?!” – “Emperor.”… “what?!”…. “Em – pe - ror!”…. “ummm… I wanted to talk to Mr. (König =) King…”
Try.Not.To.Laugh!
I did not say, I send you down, then :-)

Nice was also when my back-then VW-boss (I´m external) introduced our team, starting with said Mr. King, ending with me. It was by chance, according to the place where we stood, but it was confusing to the visiting group for sure :-)

And, yes, Mr. King had a higher position than I.

To top it, and I can proof it, at my parents` place one employee was named Pabst = Pope, and one regular customer´s name was Graf = Earl.

As said, we´re royals, too ;-)

Thanks to Rodney´s contact we made it in time and will hopefully marry November 30th or December 1st.
I have no idea of the whole thing yet, since we won´t have a car and stay at the Caravan Park, both makes a party rather difficult, plus, I´m a very shy person, I don´t like to stand in the middle of something happening… but we´ll see. A party was suggested by some already…
Woah. Can´t believe it.
My friend P admitted it took her three years to shake the feeling of losing her freedom off her shoulders.

Ingo on the other hand yesterday grabbed mine (hand) and said he´s happy we´re getting married :-)

And no, I won´t lose my name, each keeps his.

And then near these data:

We´ll get the official German document.
We´ll have two marriage-certificates with the two towns we love most :-)

Woah. This sure will be a year to remember!

I have to add, Bro helped a lot here, too, getting my birth certificate and all.
The notary and his secretary in Braunschweig were a huge and quick and friendly help as well.
As the contact, Rodney gave me, C – she even gave feedback at 00:30 her time, kinda working nightshift for us! I do not take this for granted!

I hate making trouble, this time we did and we got so much help and everybody was understanding and friendly!

I mean, really. We´re together now since 19 years and have to get this done in under a week!
Just last Thursday Ingo got the advice! And by Wednesday it was set.

Sadly the original document we have to send goes out only tomorrow and takes three days (express). I hope this doesn´t cause further problems...

This in itself was some hectic thing today!
Ingo got winter-tyres, so I went alone to our little post office by foot. Express? No, you need to go the main office for that.
Gah. Walked back, got into the basement to get the bike (pic: not mine! This belongs to a huuuuge soccer fan. This year is the first since ages that Braunschweig went into first league with soccer (in footy "we" are German Bowl Defender just yet again).
Cycled all the way to the main office just to learn express has to go out till 12:30 the latest :-(
Forgot we just switched to winter time, wore a black jacket, no lights - that´s exactly what I hate about cyclists! Ok, my helmet has a little light, but, ewwww. And all for nothing! Ingo has a day off tomorrow and repeats what I did in time. (I was advised to fill out the form at home since it´s rather complicated).

Coming next: Plans for Perth – please add poi´s! It´s seven years ago we´ve been in your place! I´m sure there are places I missed on my list!

Let´s Get Married

Well, my FB-friends know what we´re up to, just not exactly why.
And I guess this is too long for a post at FB, hence... feel free to comment there but I put the reason in here.

The pic... kinda fits, huh? Maybe it´s all but a soap bubble... Pic taken on Wednesday, not knowing what´s coming up.

Here in this beautiful city of ours:

Guess if I thought the money was worth it, or I had enough money, we´d dine out there!
Back to the subject.

Maybe even the E-Mail I wrote to the contact Rodney gave me, might explain it all (yes, I admit I´m that lazy ;-)...)

So, here goes, wish us luck, life is just trying at times, let´s say I do this for in case I die first.
Kinda typical, huh?

"Dear C, dear Rodney,

@C: our friend Rodney told me you might probably help us.

In Germany you can marry whenever you want.

We´re coming to Perth in November and wanted to marry there.
And found out you have to apply for it 1 month and 1 day in advance - it this true or is there a possibility to make it in time? We´ll be there till December 4th.

I don´t know how to put this.
My Mum threatened to leave us when I was little. I had to take care of my frightened younger brother, I was desperate myself.
Certainly I guess she would´ve left our father with us but I was too small to realize.
Our Mum stayed and told me later "if it wasn´t for being married" she´d left.

That was the moment I decided I will stay with someone not because a document says so, but by my own will.

We´re together for 19 years now, Ingo and I.

And we never married hence.
We went through very bad times (sickness) and very good times, I always stayed because I love this man.

Thursday Ingo learned that - despite we both have a proper last will documented - he´d have to give so much to the state in case I die before he does, he gets near to nothing from my belongings.
And let´s be honest, the state will not take care of us in the future.

It would be very much different if we were married. His pension´d be safe(r).

If I "have" to marry the man I love since 19 years anyway, it would be wonderful to do this in Perth, where we spent so much wonderful moments together already.
I guess there is no way, but if you would be able to find a little hole in the system, that would be great. 19 years say pretty much it´s not a quickly made decision, right? ;-)

Maybe I hear something positive from you, despite our wish not only being romantic but rather of practical reasons.

Kind regards,
Iris"

---

Our Kohlmarkt:

I don´t feel soooo bad, actually.
As Mandi said, there are many reasons to get married and as long as love is one of the ingredients it´s ok :-)

And it sure is!!

Pic: Last time we go through the park in daylight.
Today we had to switch to winter time :-(

Well. Anyway. What can I say?
I once was with a man who gave me cute names and all.
And betrayed me with other women.

My name is Iris, also for Ingo. That´s the name my parents gave me, that´s how I like to be addressed.

I am a romantic person! Just have a look here, Ingo is one as well :-)

You can call me an Empath, I feel for people, maybe too much.
Maybe that´s the reason I never married.

And that´s the reason I want to do it now.
I don´t have much.
But it´s enough I can afford coming all the way to Perth.
It´s enough Ingo can lead a safe life even if I die before he does.
Let´s not talk about happiness.
But I do see too many retirees who fight for a living, I don´t want any of us doing so!

A Red CUBIFA XI

A Red CUBIFA X
A Red CUBIFA IX
A Red CUBIFA VIII
A Red CUBIFA VII
A Red CUBIFA VI
A Red CUBIFA V
A Red CUBIFA IV
A Red CUBIFA III
A Red CUBIFA II
A Red CUBIFA I

Can "Y"ou Believe It´s Friday Again?

1999: Lazy Letter

I was ever too lazy to fill out and send this "Lazy Letter", can you believe this?!
Today I´d fill it out this way, I guess, the "to"-options have minimized somewhat, sadly:

I didn´t check "Ayers Rock" because... we didn´t go. We´ve been there in 1995.
It was beautiful and awesome to see.

1995

But it was too much a tourist attraction and many people behaved like jerks.
Like the perfectly healthy German family in a Britz-van (what else) parking on the disabled parking lot.
Sometimes you really prefer to let people not know you´re German...

We just sped through this time and there was no need to pay anything.

Instead we took this route:

It was beautiful but also an odd feeling to travel through Aboriginal Land, to have rules like those.
It felt like we did something forbitten, at least I did not feel welcomed.

It was a relief to be out, kinda.

Let me introduce you to this:

You say it´s yummy, it´s healty?
I agree - but this can can do more - it can bring you home from the middle of nowhere via Gravel Road even if your exhaust is about to leave you.
And it can introduce you to the staff of the Giles Weather Station and make you get a free tour, too!

Yep, on Giles Road our exhaust decided he´s very tired and nearly fell off.
Clever as Ingo is, he saw through the can and gave the exhausted exhaust a bed, kinda.

It worked! But we were more than loud, as you can imagine.
We stopped at the entrance of the weather station for a break - it´s a long way to their door, but in the silence of the Outback, they heard us anyway and came to see who´s there, we chatted and got a tour!

So... make sure you always have a 0.5 l can of this yummy veggie juice with you :-)

It helped us out aaaaall the way to Leonora - that´s some 900 km after all!

I really wonder, if the population of Roper Bar has risen?

I really liked the Outback where you see so many people, you greet each other ;-)

One thing in that lazy letter is definitively wrong, though - the tick on: "I´ll be coming home when" - we weren´t done, we just didn´t know.
It´s really, really sad Red´s blog wasn´t around back then!
We had all the time we wanted as long as the money wouldn´t have run out.
I´d finished studying and Ingo´d quit his job, there was no pressure whatso ever.
We lived in the car, this beautiful huge car:

We used free (usually cold) showers, mostly stayed overnight on rest areas for free. Most of the time Ingo cooked, no dining out and if so it was Pizza Hut or Chicken Treat - the money would´ve lasted for waaaay longer.
A chance of a lifetime - and we broke up way too early!

But I´m thankful we had the chance to do it at all. Twice.

"Please Follow Me"

… said the very tall Police-officer and led me through the hall, past all my colleagues and then 4 storys down today, right at lunch-time, for everyone to see.

Let me tell you, it was an odd feeling.

Outside a big VW-Police-bus was parked and a handful of people were looking on.

A guy had managed to hit my car a wee bit and was so friendly to not run away but call the police instead – I wouldn´t even have seen the damage.

My good ole car... well, I´ll have him for over two years still!

It´s a company car, hence there was no name of a person to it and the poor officer had to check every office until he found me. 12 offices per floor!
How they knew I´m in this house?

Someone had seen me going from the car inside, he said.
Now I really wonder who´d that be? I was the first at 05:45 opening the main door, as usual… Spooky, I mean, it´s pitch dark in the mornings now…

And I just wonder why they came in a bus, not in a car?
I thought they wear blue, but no, it´s black - must be a pain in summer.

Well, great.
Now they not only tease me for saying out very loud “holy sh…” to something really weird that had happened to my teamleader just the very sec our boss came in.
Now this story is added.
Sometimes it´s hard in a man´s world ;-)

But things to shake your head about seem to happen this week to me.

Yesterday at restaurant/pub Schadt´s we shared pork-neck, I didn´t know and didn´t like it and asked, what animal is this?
Ingo, his mind wandering off, obviously, "meat".
I don´t like that animal called "meat", I prefer chicken or cow (usually I like pork, just not the neck) "Meat"! :-)

Speaking of food: cold(er) times are rolling in.
Yummy "Tasty Tom"-tomatoes went up from 1,15 to 1,69 euro. And they are small(er).
(Just found the receipt cleaning out the purse).
Glad we soon will be able to buy at the Fresh Food People
Have Coon!
Ripe Avocados!
Fresh food!
And - yes - Chicken Treat, Pies and (the real) Pizza Hut
Jerky!

Pics?

Morning cigarette with my colleague (well him smoking, not me ... )
Being thankful for nice colleagues! They tease me in a friendly way, certainly :-)

Meet...

... another Henry! Guess he´s new in that place, sadly no water was running.

The weather was quite OK, so... went to the city on Saturday.
Also to get a second Akku/Battery for my new toy that has to take heaps of pics soon some 8,550 km from here.

So long we toyed around here a bit.

More of Henry at the Schlossarkaden:

Together with good ole Gauss:

It´s all about cats in this city, it seems, even this cool bike has a... well not Henry but a Hello-Kitty!

Speaking of weird...

Those Steiff-swans look very beautiful, no?

But nearly 100 €?! Each!

Weird is also this - 39c each:

Or 29c each - I wouldn´t think about which to take for long!

More weird... at our bakery. Usually Saturdays they don´t have puff pasties, but this Saturday they had!
So I was like, ohh, great, you have some!
- They´re from yesterday :-(
- I´d like one anyway!
One.... this is what I got for the price of one:

As said, this is a great city. And beautiful, too:

Never been here, Ingo doesn´t like Mexican Food - and it´s usually empty, too...

In the shop I fell for this:

They name it "Arschkalt" and I buy it!
When it´s really cold we say it´s "butt-cold" ;-)

Didn´t try it yet, it´s 13C, sunny:

Addendum: Our newest addition:

Sweet dreams ;-)

Addendum II: Advent-Calendar is ready :-)
For P. - Niece gets one next year...

Size DOES Matter

Now that I probably have your attention... I have to say: It is true!

At work we all were forced to get an update at the same time, hence the network was totally down (yeah, EHD, that sure was a clever idea!).

I needed Tasty Tom tomatoes anyway, so I said I go to ALDI, or as we call it "all.die...schönen Sachen", all the good stuff, "all die" sounds like ALDI.

Anyhows, T said, take your time!

And so I did and found this "winter underwear for girls". (Isn´t it cuuute?)
Last winter we put on pj´s under our trousers, it works, but they are wide, not comphy.
This underwear is like a second skin, way better!
(I look like little Niece, though... uhhhh)
If I know you, you can join in here, just let me know :-)

I know I can buy kid´s size 164, cause I´m 1,64 m tall (or small, you name it).
I can buy it and throw away the receipt cause I know it´ll fit.
Another plus: Kid´s clothes are usually cheaper.

"Normal" clothes are always a game.

I wore anything from XS to L!!!
Or 34 to 40.

That XS-skirt probably came from Sweden or such, where people are tall, the L might´ve been produced in Italy, where people are small.

Why don´t we go with the kid´s size? Or put both together, that´d be great!
Guess I´d have 1,64 S or M. Once found out, I could throw away the receips, no more fussing around!

Why does the industry not come up with anything so simple and easy like this???

You got problems like that, too?

Aww, well. Europe has to try and make it´s own "safe" money by itself instead of asking Australia how it´s done properly!

Enough ranting.

This cutie I got, too.
Kinda weird, it´s bad for frogs if you touch them - but, well, stomp on them, no worries ;-)

Autumn truly has arrived.
To call the day stormy is an understatement. I felt like Mary Poppins...
I work in 4th floor and it sounded like we were in a horror movie.
They advised trucks to not use bridges... but there are beautiful sides to it, too, like how our balcony looks like:

The first pic I took still had the HDR-setting.
I´m kinda fed up a bit with it, but have to admit: It´s nice, too:

I´m counterproductive this week.
Every day I was so dang tired (hello, Autumn?), I did no sport whatsoever.

To top it off:
Just ordered at Wok Man... aww, well.

And... please, tell me.
Is this for one person?

The chopsticks give a bad clue?
Here goes:

Woah, huh?! Not even half of it went down. One meal, two days.
Note Ingo´s shirt, "Löwenstadt" :-)

One funny to end with:
Teamleader came into our office today, having a question, being distracted by our magnetic-wall, saying:
"Who wrote this stupid stuff on here?!!"
Couldn´t help but say: "You. Only yesterday."

This guy cracks me up!

Happy Thurs- or Friday :-)