Cool (?)

Yesterday after work I ran some errands like at dm, ALDI (Nord) (yes, divided in north and south), then to my doc to get a prescription... inbetween that.. it was quite hot, sticky.
The sky grey and hence some peeps really wore jackets!
But it was really warm and when I saw: Homemade icecream, I had a look.
"Coffee" for €1.

Coffee isn´t really sweet, right?
And homemade! And the price!

My cam knows me!
I´m not into sweets, so why put a focus on it!

I had to hurry cause it was melting so fast - and it was huge! I´d walked already some 200m when taking the pic.

It´s crazy! In the heart of the city you get half of that for €1,20!!!
I was interrupting the girl even, repeating, just one when I looked up from my purse and saw what she got me, LOL!

It was very good quality, too - sadly no licorice like at Hillarys...

Anyhows. After the doc I thought, hm, cloudy, good for a walk, I´m "nearly" at BraWo-Park anyways, go have a look at the last missing Lechners figurines.

There weren´t any outside, but I found some cool murals I´ll show you soon.
I "found" them inside:

Now that´s not "cool", they´re always there, always have been since the opening, kinda cheating, no?
But I found the murals, that was good.

Cool, btw... (not)...

Look at that. Finally, finally, finally free WIFI has arrived here, too.

Not so cool, either... only 14km of walking all in all.
Thought it would be more!
Aw, well, as said, nice murals found, soon to show you :-)

Oh, side-note: I loved BMW (see first pic, BMW-bike), it was a cool family car, my Dad taught me driving this manual at age 14 (and I did drive by myself, what to expect of a teenager!). These days... not cool anymore. A very different clientele with rather negative association :-(
Don´t end on a bad note... kinda cool bike anyhows :-)

Summer?

The big bang didn´t happen yesterday (certainly - we took all electricity off before leaving! Murphy must be back), just heavy rain again.

But, eek. More rain and colder weather ahead.

Male colleagues ate as if it was deepest winter, it was plain crazy.
Could you gobble down two Big Macs and still consider cake?
OK, those go down faster than the body can say: Done.

But two huge ciabatta (takes time to get down, I managed not even one) plus a dessert?! (No one is overweight, though.)

And then actually work aka think?
OK, the latter didn't really happen. Mad Max for a long while was the subject and believe me I had a "hard" time not saying, ha, been there, seen the real thing.
Australia btw. Colleague A read Volvo´s system cannot stop for kangaroos automatically.
Don´t buy a Volvo if living there! ;-)

Let´s hope summer only takes a break... a short one, too!

Housekeeping Day

Off-topic - we love to read the paper-ads on the weekends and when I saw Penny has... ummm.. Unicorn Water I just had to get some, right?
They open 07:00 am, to not be too weird I waited and quickly went over from work so I was there 07:35.
Only 12 bottles left! Can you believe this?!

Well, yesterday I had a day off. I just fail atm with discipline after work with cleaning up.

Ex-teamleader T said in former GDR they had a payed day off each month for this - not everything was bad there...

I got up as usual, admittedly surfed the net a bit and then made brekkie.
I had a piece of mozzarella that needed to go, so Monday I´d bought 4-minute-noodles.
When I studied back then I once had anything in the house but those noodles, olives and mozzarella.
One half for brekkie, the other for lunch, yum!

And I got so much done! Recycling, errands, a load of laundry, doing the dishes, vacuuming, steam and clean, even the darn shower is shiny again. And it doesn´t look like kids had been playing here anymore, either.
Still a lot to do, but now that the floors are clean again I feel so much better and more motivated, too.

We should get such a day once a month, no?

Murphy Got Sick!

Yesterday morning it was drizzling very, very little, just a fine film so I decided a Baseball cap will do - no brolly.
Actually a very dumb idea, no?
I mean, Murphy just paid a visit after all.

I went to work ok, unlocked the door and made my way up.
On the first floor there are service rooms hence though called third I actually work in fourth floor.
Two storys below that, even before, I thought, now what is this noise?!.
I´m still "new" there.

What can I say, Murphy must be either sick or on holiday - and quite frankly I don´t know what I wish him to be!!!



That is not just a lille bit of rain, that is rather heavy rain.
Murphy overslept the chance of drowning me for good!

Besides... I should not use zoom when filming, sorry about the rocky ride, but you get the picture, huh?
Under the glass roof our secretary works. Aw, bliss, it must be wonderful!

And without smartphone and cam and kindle on board I wouldn´t have minded to have an early summer-shower.
I guess.

At work I found and could reproduce a bigger bug in the software and the team said, yes, we need someone for testing!
Apart from wondering why the bug wasn´t reported by the customer in six months... was a good feeling.

Murphy´s Law

There you go.
Sitting inside I went through the pics of this months and "found" these pics from the long weekend where bad weather was predicted.
We hadn´t much to put on the bbq and certainly the weather was just great!

So we had a "bbq" every night.
On Monday really with literally nothing to put on, but Ingo sure is creative enough.
We didn´t do it the Simpsons-way, though... we opened the can and put the food in another container to avoid this ;-)

This weekend we had plenty and certainly the weather was... more like April!
Murphy truly hit us...
Let´s hope summer comes back!

Lightshow

The other night... (Ingo wants me to use a tripod - certainly you never know where that thing is and if I waited for that to be found, the show might´ve been over).

Oh, the rain... I sure love a summer-rain:



Kinda sad there was so little thunder!

Gut Feeling And The Simpsons

(Pic: trust/gut feeling no one steals the shoes...)
My female colleague and team-teamleader S is on holiday since Tuesday, we all used to go to lunch together the past time, I felt "safe", I know her since 16 years, too.
Wednesday I went with "the boys" and my again-teamleader (16 years together, as well) and another female colleague to have a (really yummy!) pizza.

Thursday... I didn´t know what to do, I knew it was just "the boys" and me (those who know me in person may think, oh, yips, shy introvert).
But I braved up and said yes.

Gut feeling was good!

S is nice but very strict, no one speaks, just works, she said I should sum up my questions and not ask inbetween.

S is not there and the first question made me have to stop, so I dared to ask and they all said, ask when you have a problem, don´t sum up, don´t gather!

At one point I said, I have the feeling I don´t get it! and A said it took him quite a while to get it, too, it´s a very complicated, complex software.
How nice is that.

All four took turns help and assure me.
My teamleader wanted to get me into his team but saw here is enough to do and let go.

And guess what really made me "cool" at lunch later (outside in the shade), ha-ha.
S, aged 38, said his kids now go on holiday and he´s kinda relieved to be rid of them.

I said, like in the Simpsons-episode where Bart and Lisa leave for holidays, Homer even grew some hair back! and A2 exclaimed, Camp Krusty!!! and we all added to the episode.

:-) The Simpsons, they just safed my coolness.

I so wish I could stay in that project (despite the developers themselves call it a Moloch)!

Just imagine... 16 years ago I was told 6 months Wolfsburg and then you work here in Braunschweig. 16 years Wolfsburg and only now I "work" here, I want it to last so badly.
The "nerds" turned out to be nice guys, what else can you wish for??? (Apart from the project being a Moloch).
Wish me luck...

Moments

At Schnittchen yesterday they offered cucumber-wasabi-sesame on a breadroll, hence after work I went there to get my dinner.
Sadly that stuff was empty before lunch!
But, good thing I took another route home and found sign above.

OPTOMETRIST
LAST NAME
SURNAME
TITLE (PROFESSIONAL/BACHELOR)

How cool is that?
After I took the pic I looked to the shop and saw the female pro smiling bright at me.
I smiled back and went on.

Later I thought, seesh! Why didn´t I walk in, tell her I like the sign (which was obvious), tell her Bro is also a pro in that and if I may borrow "her"(?) idea.

Do you have those moments, too?
Those Later, why didn´t I?-ones?

Maybe I could´ve made a friend even, she was my age, I guess...

Eyes... ears... just been to the otologist. I have "acute hearing loss" on my left ear. We call it Hörsturz. I got some herbal stuff for some whopping €30!!!
And if that won´t work I have to get the heavy stuff. Let´s see in 10 days, when I have to have another audiometry.

It´s (Too) Easy

I admit.
I fell for that cheapy of €10. The "U"... oh, maybe just mixed up, huh?
I´m too lazy to check it out now anyways. Same the "A" and I could´ve added another S at the end of that word, too!!! DayS! Plural!

Does it happen to you, too, that you see something more clearly through a pic???

There were scratches in the letters from the very beginning, but what do you expect for ten bucks, plus actually I only needed two pots to give my wood-strawberries another home (yes, they´re kinda "mine", not "ours", though I share the lot with Ingo always! But it was Mum and me "stealing" them away from the woods in 1974 (not that I remember)..)!

Well, here and there you can go for a cheapy too easily, no?
I don´t do that all the time, right!
I was playing with the thought of having a light-box for months, too!
And even then I thought, "do I really need this?! Yes? No?... Gah!".

But, hey, weee... SUMMER, YAY!

No idea if I will do a "FREEZE YOUR BUTT OFF" with it in the future. Maybe I will...

Working with men (female-colleague is on holiday now) means: Aircon, some "freezing" 24C.
Open the door to get outside... BAHM - feels like leaving Kingsway SC, so actually kinda good? Just that I didn´t spend 8 hours freezing in there!
Wee. There you have it. I´m "homesick" aleady!!

Plus... I could simply go to our lille fruits-/veggie-store and buy a mango. Or an avo. And five minutes on foot later, in the cabin, eat it right away!!

Haha, try that here. ... :-(

2019... I hate time running, but I look forward to Perth again!
And in that winter before leaving I will set this light-box again to where it is now (with an added "S" for sure)! :-)

It Kinda Hurts

Sunday we visited the Spielemeile 2017 - everything is for free, I love that the city is so kids-friendly!

I bet Niece would´ve loved this!

This probably not so much but WeeOne in a couple of years sure would, she is brave enough!

The firefighters were there, too (actually... why again?):

Another highlight (you had to queue up for, though):

Here is Ingo taking a portrait of Henry (with a cam built in 1953 "taking a pic" sounds wrong, no?) - the results will be ready when the film is full and developed, that latter alone will take two weeks!

What hurt here was the same as on Saturday.
LOUD music!
Why, why do they do that?!

Well, that and the fact that my family could not make an afternoon, I bet Niece would´ve loved also this:

Bro never even cared to answer on my e-mail-invitation.
I understand that life with two kids is stressful, having to take care of a bought house with renovations on top.
But, really. Not one arvo in 6 months... no idea if I should tell him how much it hurts me (I offered a felt-thousand times to drive to their place one (!!!) Sunday arvo for 1-2 hours (!!!!) - they cannot make the time. It was ok, though, for me to work over-hours so I could be home to meet Bro at lunch when he finished his therapy-session and needed to talk (for a couple of months) and work even more to have every Thursday off spring till autumn to help clean out the house the year after Mum left us. You do not count eye-to-eye, but somehow... I do, too. I´m very disappointed. This isn´t even a soap-box, is it.
Yes, I´ve visited very shortly when on business there - that does not really count, does it.
Perth-souveniers still sit here by the swing.
And yes. This is very private. But it is part of my life, too.
In times where I am near to being depressed, having no project, I feel even more left alone by my family. But certainly I don´t wanna be a "burden", ruining a bit of a Sunday arvo... right, now I´m being a princess!).

To end on a light note: Isn´t Braunschweig just great?
I only showed you the best, there was sooooo much more!

It Hurts

Saturday we visited the (very little) street festival with children-flea market.
There was painting , face-painting, cake, icecream, coffee, cake...

Loads of second-hand stuff for kids... oh, and music. Life-music.
Oh, and kids, babies even.

The lady there really had a great voice, sadly we couldn´t stay.
And quite frankly, I even wonder if that was still legal.

Kids and babies and VERY, VERY LOUD MUSIC - and nowhere to retreat to as it is really a small street.

And parents didn´t care even!
Hurts me the same as seeing all those babies without a headpiece in the sun. No hair, no nothing to protect their skin. Yes, this is not Australia, but we get a UV-index of 7 these days, too!
Everybody is allowed to have children, no matter if they care properly or not.
But park your car in the wrong place and you pay. It´s a crazy world...

Or am I too sensivie having had a father who was, amongst other, an audiologist, telling me all the time to avoid loud places, otherwise I´ll end up with a hearing aid at age 30?
Either way, LOUD music is very stressful for me, any very loud environment is (haha, those who know us, yes, Ingo is stressful for me, too. "Speak softer", "not so loud" are constant words here...).

Do you prefer music very loud?

Spending My Hours

This is my new office view, I´m higher up now, on 4th floor.
Well, actually it looks like this and an hour and a half the second person, a woman (!) arrives and 2 hours later all seats are taken!

Ex-teamleader T was offered a place in an office with others, too (from my ex-ex-teamleader, also a T).
He declined. I asked him to think it over, but he´s not having it. Girlfriend is still "alive", at the summer-party I saw him loosing his face a couple of times. I´m worried but what can I do but mailing him daily and offering help...

Behind me btw:

Maybe a real oldie, but I didn´t know it and think it´s truly sad-funny!

We could step out the low window to this and enjoy if it was done more nicely...

Let´s see how long I will call this "my office".
The one I share with nice guys and one true (nice) nerd.

As said before I´m glad the (new) boss still keeps me.
Cause since we own this condo loosing my job would cause loads of trouble. When you loose your job here you´re better off not owning anything. Because otherwise you have to live on what you have first.
An unfair system. Work hard for in case.
Don´t work and get everything for free :-(

Hey!! Pessimist, go away!!!
(Oh I´m just a realist..)
For now: All good.

(Missing) Colors And Singing

Don´t you just love summertime and the beautiful, colorful flowers?
So light, so happy.
Just like back then but missing colors makes it all so dull...

Even back then there was a tram on Steinweg.

Either November or the beginning of the year, see the naked tree to the right.

The more I enjoy this:

The following must be crn Wilhelmstrasse/Ritterbrunnen, I guess:

I took these pics at Schlosscarree where ironically right opposite a photo-shop has closed down.

Well, I leave you with an invitation to our balcony, where the birds happily chirp away:

A (Nasty) Experiment?

When Ingo waited downstairs for me after work to go to the city our route back took us past New Yorker and there was an unattended bag in the middle of the way.

Hm.
I felt tense.
We hurried by and Ingo said, "if it blows up now it still gets us".
Paranoia or sadly a real fear?

We got some food and stood at the side when we saw more unattended bags.

Now I really wonder what this experiment was all about.
Try and see if people panic - or check out if they steal?

What do you think, how would you´ve felt?

We certainly do live in crazy times.

Just the other day you could read in the news that a Salafi and his family went from Wolfsburg (some 30 km from here) to Syria to join the IS and all the time got money from the German state, nearly € 20 000 in fact.

Clever guys, stupid German system.

Crazy, scary times.

Felt weird to have it presented that way with the bags.

Also crazy how close this person passes by (yes, I know, stupid, but I also make sure to have a distance to dogs, knowing they´re way faster anyways).

P.S.... I zoomed in a lot, that´s why the man is without a head...

He Is Back

Since summer 2011 our way to the city leads through this park and with the sun this guy returns.
Every warm, sunny day.
All day long.
Likely never works (who knows, maybe he won the lotto big or has heaps of money for other reasons!).

Like Ingo´s colleague´s never-working neighbour, who keeps greeting provoking him by saying, "oh, now look, here comes T. From working for me...", bottle of beer in hand, leaning in underwear over the fence.

Don´t get me wrong, I am grateful you don´t end up in the streets if you loose your job, but there are way too many not even trying to work.
Getting everything out of the system, and more.
Like the one around the corner. Window is nearly always open so the constant(!) cigarette-smoke can find a way out - summer and winter, doesn´t matter, "we" don´t only pay his rent but his heating, too. Oh, and his cigarettes.

Now this near naked guy never provokes, other than you feel provoked when he presents his open front, not giving you a chance to look away...

I so bet he does never use sun protection and I also bet he will never ever develop skin cancer.

Hm. He´s back again.
Either very late or I really managed to ignore him!

To get that pic of his front out of your head... this is my summer-choice:

I have very fond memories of three times Varadero, Cuba, and I hope they keep their beautiful cars.

Yesterday 28, today 18C.
Is it April, still?