You Have To

Pics from last Friday when I had to go to apply for a new ID-card.
One thing typical for Braunschweig is that often there are no street signs or not where you expect one, so... I got lost.

That´s a big surprise, no ;-)
So I approached two ladies to ask.
And one of them exclaimed...

"You have to take the bus!!!"

And she was younger than me, too!

"I said, no, thanks, I can walk :-) All in all it´s only 5km and half I did already."

The way back I took another route, through the park. I shouldn´t have listened to google and taken that route straight away!

And then...

... through the city.

The Kohlmarktbrunnen´s fountains are up and there are fun windows, too.

In the end it was only 10:00 am and I had already 12km on my POLAR.

Lion of the day:

The only art in Welfenhof, but there is an installation I´ll show you soon.

On the thankful side again for a change: Ingo is OK, healthwise. Insurance is covered for me, say 90% on the safe side. I met nice people on his and my insurance´s side.
It restores my faith into everyday working life...

Not into spring, though. 3C. Brrrr.

On a sidenote. (Financial) refugees often manage to misuse the system and obtain benefits in different cities using different IDs.
I had to give my fingerprints left and right index-finger (also last time, reckon that was 10 years ago).
How come the refugees don´t have to?

Do you have to give fingerprints for your ID/Passport, too?

(Not Only) For Grey Days

As over here it´s a rather grey day I need some bright colors!
Sadly I couldn´t find the artist´s name but this happy mural I found again in Leederville.

No matter if your place is sunny or grey, doesn´t this mural bring a smile to your face?

Taking part again in Sami´s COLOURFULWORLD Monday Murals.

Ridiculous (And Yummy)

When there is "one of Australia's Top 100 Gourmet Experiences" right there I have to have some, right?

Our neighbour took care of our mail and Ingo´s car and instead of cheapy-stuff for the kids I got some yummy marmelade from Providore for them (and us).
Funny enough cheapy toys would´ve been a better idea.

It was quite a story.
We still had room in our trolleys, but they were rather heavy, so we decided to take the three glasses of marmelade into our hand luggage.

Biiiig mistake!
This is considered a "fluid".
Luckily we were early trying to check in and the staff knew what wonderful yummy stuff this is and sent me back down to get my trolley back and put the marmelade in there...

So I ran, carefully trying not to get lost, but, alas!
My trolley was long loaded and... they said this is marmelade, not fluid. It can go with the hand-luggage!

I said, no, sorry, it can´t, it´s considered a fluid.
Nonsense, they said at Singapore Airlines.
Back and forth we went and finally they called up there.

The look was kinda priceless.
The lady again said, such nonesense, and "I´m so sorry, it is considered a fluid after all!".

She got a trainee who was sent to look for an empty parcel to put the marmelade in there and get it on the plane, the lady sure knew what yummy stuff we had there.
I said I´m sorry, she said she´s sorry, it must´ve been quite a ridiculous show!

Sami introduced me to this yum, btw..."

45 minutes later Ingo asked what took me so long, but, yipeee, the marmelade really made it home.

It is ridiculous, I find no other word.
The same as Ingo having to order a special sized hand cream. It does not matter if there is only a wee bit in a normal one, no, it has to be a small one.

Remember taking a plane 15 years ago?
Bring anything you want...

Have you had such "encounters", too?

Roll Around

This piece of work is called "Rolling the Earth" by Tae-Geun Yang from South Korea.

Shiny and beautiful as this looks it´s a sad one, though.

Too many development projects are ravaging our dear planet and hence are a threat on all living creatures.

The artist is looking for a way to create an environment in which bears can live and play in peace.

Well, guess this goes not only for bears, does it?

But they make a big statement for sure.
I do hope sculpture by the sea will remain a yearly event!

No Patronizing For Me

Ingo is a smart guy. We have a deal with our provider ages and ages old.
They don´t offer it anymore.

Oh so often we get a bill about some, say 0,35€ per month, or rather the news it´s not enough, they collect the bills :-)
Recently, though, even if WiFi is on the provider goes online and gets some updates (I never need) resulting in a monthly bill over 20,00€!

Not with me.

I payed 24,99€ and got this one - it can not go online.

Dear provider, I, just me myself want to decide when or if I go online over your service!

There is WiFi in the city now, too, so why would I pay more than needed.

Lion of the day:

I do not play theatre, I go real, but this Lion is from Staatstheater Braunschweig.

Do you think it´s OK to override a customer´s "wish" like that? Simply go online even though it´s set on WiFi?

Addendum: mobile data is turned off. The contract is very old, there was no passage that spoke of agreement for going online, hence they seem to be able to override it as I got a warning that my "free" data is used up soon...
At the store they said I can go to the provider to get internet disabled, but I might need it, so... telephone-phone it is...

Artists @ Work

As said Grace & P were so kind to take me to sculpture by the sea prior to the official opening as we had to leave on Saturday.

And hence we got to see the artists still putting up their work, I do think this is special, no?

Above is "Internment" by Hamish McMillan.
According to the leaflet there is no cage, yet in the description a cage is referred to. And to be honest I have no idea what the statement is all about!
Can you help?
"STATEMENT: The canary left long ago and despite the absence of its crisp light tone, the worker keeps their head down in the pursuit of something undefined. Even as I sit here typing, listening to the sweet laughter of my children in the kitchen, I continue."

Does he mean we´re slaves to work?

Well and if I got this right we next have "The Vague but Slightly Illuminated Eye of Perception" by Stephen Harrison:

To spare you another riddle, I make it short:

It´s for his uncle Ian :-)
Oh, I do love lighthouses!

If you head on you finally see this (amongst other, I just put up my favs, right):

This is "Entwined" by Ben Fasham and it´s all about family with the outer elements nurturing the central ball, the child. A family entwined together.

Now I wonder why one man is wearing orange, the other yellow?

Either way, "men @ work" here :-)

Not My World

I threw out this frog last Autumn and he´s still there!
Cutie pie, no. Soon flowers´ll join him, too!

So far I enjoyed the sun and this book I bought for Ingo:

Aye, not my world!
I really, really do prefer true stories and such!

What is your read?
My "real" current one is "When Fraser Met Billy", an autobio about a boy with autism whose life gets much better thanks to... a cat :-)

Lion of the day on a bike :-)

Nothing Is Forever

I´m not done with sculpture by the sea yet, this is "Draw Houses Make Houses" by Hu Quanchun from China.
It reminds me of the Happy Rizzi House here in Braunschweig but really this is about a shanty town in China that was about to get demolished.

To preserve the memory primary school students drew the houses and college students helped to produce this work, what a wonderful idea!

Speaking of decay....

This piece is called "Vintage | Bush Truck" by Janine Mcaullay Bott from WA.
An old truck that was left in the bush still kept its vintage style character, speaks of early bush tracks, lonely roads, "a ghost of itself". "A fond memory...." - oh, yes, I have those memories, too and I miss the Outback a lot.

I wonder if our Nissan Patrol LWB is left somewhere in the bush, too?

Some things are just left to themselves, like this stresses:

"Seachange" by Elin&Keino (astonishingly) from Finland uses the typical design of the Aussie rooftops to show us how vulnerable our world is, how nature takes over.

But I don´t wanna leave you in dark thoughts!

Pere Moles from Andorra created this to reflect on the difficulties of life, yes.

But: Old houses of Andorra were protected by these sticks placed on the windows.
It symbolises people´s struggle to achive their goals and I do think "Hope, Love, Freedom, Peace and Tolerance" is very positive, don´t you think so, too?

Nothing is forever, so let us live in the moment - and plan for the future, too.

.

The Show Must Go On

Oh, how beautiful is this!!!

Easter

Funny how times are a changing, no?
This was Easter, say... 1979? We had massive snow and built an Easter Bunny (without ears).

This was a tad earlier, Bro was in the making, so to say ;-)

My parents again won a journey to Japan, thanks to selling Citizen-watches.

And here we are again...

Bro all chubby and Dad has hair!

This is what is the last one together, happy Easter to you!

Not long afterwards I left, hence no lion, this is Seesen...