That Was Yesterday

... rainy. Warm, but rainy.
Today...

Kohlmarkt was packed with peeps in the cafés, 23C, sunny, yay!

This:

... was the house of the mayor of the historic center in 1354 - right beside is one of the way-too-expensive-Starbucks-Coffe-Shops.
Mind you, we went in some time ago, saw the prices and went out again. Nah, really?!

Karstadt with it´s ar park - gosh, before we lived in Braunschweig we used it - I got sick every time!

... weee...

Walk to the right at Karstadt and you see - we mix old and new, too - just not as nice as Perthies do (advanced us...) - nice anyhows, huh?

Stilblüte - bloomer is the name of the shop to the right. Not my price category...

From the other side, aw, an oasis in all the hectic, locked away:

Peek & Cloppenburg, founded 1900.. not my price category, either, but the building is nice, no?:

And wow... those mini-balconies... better this than nothing, huh?
Just imagine the city-busses driving underneath all 20 minutes... well, that´s the city, too!

Yes, that´s right above Schadt´s:

Just to add... it´s a village, the peeps coming here know each other - and by now we´re just amongst the youngest.
My fav waitress had her job at the other side to do today, yet she came around to ask how we are, why we haven´t been here last week, She was worried a tad - people work like clockwork, right?

Her daughter who´d studied German philology and speaks Spanish, Polish, German, and... what was it? another language fluently finds no job since 12 months.
She even asked for a cleaning job and was told she does not qualify.
WHAT?

The politicians say we have a lack of "skilled employees".
Sure.

Ingo asked why I took I pic of this piece of junk on the street:

(Usually Braunschweig peeps pick it up and put it on a fence, but this was too icky)

Dunno. I was without a job for 12 months, too.
I learned all the stuff like Flash Action Script (yah, I´m, OLD!), the first bits of HTML (thanks to Ingo, who pushed me!!! - Thanks again!) and started at zero for no money to learn the stuff properly from scratch by myself with help from staff and ended as skilled employee who fit in another job.
Our waitress´s daughter... would I be helpful to imply anything like that?
If you think so... I can do so next week.

Gosh, my job is at stake and I feel a tad like being pushed back 14 years myself :-(

Anyhows - was a beautiful late summer´s day :-)

...this is now...

5 Seconds Of Summer - Where Is Hektor?

That grafitti brings it to the point - in the aftermath it feels like summer lasted 5 seconds - also today all rainy with some very warm 16C - I kid you not, the light drizzle somehow created warmth.

But maybe it was also due to my running - google maps says it was some 20 km! My feet do hurt!

On the way:

Beautiful, no?

But autumn sure is on the way, as you can see:

Why I say I?
I went alone.
It´s all too much.
We had a company meeting yesterday.
The day before # asked T if he can take him to Braunschweig, to which he said plain "no" - again (some never learn).
A took him, and poor O, who cannot drive anymore due to Parkinson´s desease.
Anyhows, T and I were there first and were stupid enough to take place. # took place right opposite to me :-(
When the boss revealed the program, #´s name was on the list - and many murmured, not this #?

In the break many said, after boss said it is #, oh no, it´ll take forever, he´ll play the teacher again and so on.
These people have to see him 4-6 times a year and are pissed so much by him.

And I´ll have to face him alone 6 hours every working day now (I start earlier in the morning).
I really don´t know what to do.
"Play him", like making the same noise all day? But I cannot be as arrogant. Say each time "#, please don´t do this"?
I´d have to say that all the time.

Anyhows, Ingo cannot hear it anymore, so we got into another fight.
I can understand him - but no one (except T) understands me. I guess you can only understand if you sit in the office with # for 6 weeks plus.

One good thing, though, I asked the boss (sadly as one of the last ones he´s informal with), "well, A, what did you cook for us this time?" - an old running gag - he did a great job - first time in my life I had rabbit - my, is that yummy!
When I met A at the buffet, I said, "hmmm, that rabbit, so yummy, have you tried it?" - and he went like, "eww, no...".
I somehow get the feeling he´s not doing the cooking after all? ;-)

One good thing about going alone, btw - I can go into shops Ingo hates, and I can take my time, too - cheapies, but nice ones (the barrette being for Niece):

And I found some mini-pressies for Bro, too - a chocolate-dummy in pink and a key-holder "Papa" - ideas are still welcome!

And no hectic with taking pics, either - isn´t this house and gate kinda beautiful?

On the way home on the neighbour´s fence I saw this:

Someone took enough care to sew "Hektor 03.02.2014" onto this blanket - and now it sits on the fence cause someone else very likely found it on the pavement and cared enough to put it there.
What happened to poor Hektor, you don´t just loose a blanket like that, do you?

It´s All About Helping, Is It?

People are helping each other - here´s just another proof from when I came home from work. Someone lost this leather-glovie, another picked it up and put it in a place where the person can find it, nice.

I had some problems a short while ago with the guy who rents the apartment I inherited from my Mum.
I could´ve - no, actually I should have asked the caretaker of that house.
No way - if there is another!
That guy is a half-cousin of mine, as kids we even sat in a tub together, had sleepovers and all, he´s 3 months younger than me.
He turned out to become a lazy, stupid ###.
My Mum got her apartment from an estate agent, we went there together, a nice guy - who happens to hate said half-cousin (also estate agent in the same place even).
I called him for help instead.

Long story short: He helped me heaps and solved the problem, explained lots, took a lot of time for no money or any other benefit.
So... talking about helping.. Ingo carried the package I sent on the way as a thank you.
It was a nice, short spring-stroll, too, in lovely weather, very slow though, thanks to said foot.

Because of which - the foot - a colleague had talked to his wife, who´d broken a foot twice, yesterday and gave me tipps today about what to do, what could happen and so on - my doc will call me next week for advice - she won´t charge me, she never does. People helping each other everywhere, it´s a nice world, no?

On the way back from the post office I saw this again:

It´s a campaign that takes place several times a year. A campaign I don´t understand.
"Clean your City" - Aktion Stadtputz.
You´re asked? Challenged? ... by the city to pick up rubbish others just dropped wherever they were.

They proudly announce that 18.000 kids, teens and adults participated last year and picked up 33 tons of rubbish for more quality in living in Braunschweig.

In my opinion that´s not helping, that´s nothing to be proud of - there is only a certain, known group who drops their rubbish everywhere and we´re supposed to clean up after them so they can stand by and laugh about us?

Hello?!

Either Perthies do this on an hourly level - I saw no rubbish yet again - or there is a better method: Money for security who fines people who drop rubbish!

Advanced, are we?
Never ever will I participate in this nonesense!
My two cents worth...

I prefer real help like this:

Making people smile by putting the daffodills on the window bench if you have no balcony :-)

Must be an "Easter-junkie", they aren´t only typical flowers for Easter, but.... BUNNY-alarm!

My point?
Helping isn´t always helping and as much as I love Braunschweig there are some things like this campaign, endless (time- and kilometer-wise) construction sites, traffic lights badly planned (wait forever as pedestrian and then have green lights as well as the cyclists coming from your right side or the corner where I had the accident)... some things I just don´t "get".
After all... Braunschweig is in Germany and in many ways hence... not advanced - but mostly full of really helpful people :-)

Good Morning Braunschweig

Saturday we gave it a go - literally, for the first time in six weeks I went to the city.
Just not in the morning but in the afternoon.
It took like forever and my foot sure did hurt, but it was worth it!

Our neighbour in the next street had again planted flowers, which, as Ingo thinks, is actually not allowed:

Isn´t it beautiful? Spring sure is on the way!
At Gauss-bridge we saw some new love-locks, admittedly nicer than ours:

Sadly the dark half of the year also destroys a lot, it seems...

I just wonder why the person not simply takes the lock off - lost the key?

This hat must´ve gotton lost at the carnival...

Love how this guy streches out on this bench reading a book in Löbbeckes Insel.

Students discussing...

And I smelled a BBQ, too.

Yes, spring clearly is on the way!

Ingo was happy I could join in again :-)

Guess he had a hard time walking so slow, though...
So I asked to buy something we forgot for dinner alone. And took this odd pic, waiting for him:

Here you see St Andreas in the background:

Oh, how I missed it all!

On they way I was able to take this pic of two "sad" people from Frankfurt who failed to attract attention with their car - certainly this Rolls Royce was the "cooler" one!

No, really, huh?

Another admirer:

Certainly we had to visit Henry - Ingo took this shot of our shadows:

But I prefered what was happening in the background: People posing with Henry :-)

From there we went to Schadt´s...

One of the waitresses even hugged me - Braunschweig is a village after all :-)

Amongst other I bought these muffin-forms, so cooking will start soon with "cooked with love"!

Hehe, Australians don´t say cheese, they say:

Ok, I know, it´s written Coon, but it´s pronounced the same.
Hm. Miss that, too. (Their story here.)

Well, guess if I can work the clutch - will try when Ingo is back from work with my car - I´ll start working tomorrow.
Sad thing is... I´m absolutely demotivated, for the first time.
If I´d played and win the lotto big... guess I´d only work three days a week. One could really get used to staying home...

You Want A...

Yah, this pic has nothing to do with the title... just shows a happy (and sick of motion) me :-)

This (for "real ;-)"..):

is Ingo after been asked at the cash-out if he has a payback-card - NO! - if he wants "Treuepunkte" (points you get and then can pick some stupid stuff) - NO! - or... if he wants a lolli/lolly? .. ummmm. yes :-)

The bbq in the trolley?
I come to that later! :-)

After grocery-shopping we went on a little walk - hey, it´s warm, yay!!!!

Some kid lost its bonnet and, well... here it is! My town...

One step further... awww... those colors! I just love spring (and Ingo does so, too):

This house just looks great, huh?

Ingo is standing there like Forrest Gump, hehe :-)
(didn´t like that movie until I saw it in Sun Pictures in Broome, where the movie-sky really melts into the WA-night-sky!)

Another house, so beautiful, huh?

The woman probably has a reason to cover her breast... who knows who lives behind that window, right? ;-)

Beneath:

Oh, and this is why Tuesday is a day off:

People party, dance into May or haunt witches (just a German link and no, I won´t translate since I never joined).

Here:

Ingo exclaimed: "Suuure... a designer. From Hannover!!!"
Yeah! Who would put dogs here in the city of Henry The Lion, huh???! Just some stupid guy from Hannover!

Here?

I just don´t wanna know what happened (still I took a pic...) Now... don´t get me wrong... it´s warming up here, I´m wearing a T-Shirt, finally! Still...

Rudolph will be in my friend´s Advent-Calendar on December 6th.
Yes, I think of this all year round :-)

This?

Braunschweig is just a cool town, huh?

And some... oh, well...

a warning for coming beavers?

The BBQ I was referring to?
I called Bro and asked if they have a BBQ sometime soon.

Yes - today!
I asked him to instruct little Niece about everything very clearly.

Because... "Uncle" Ingo bought her something:

Isn´t this the coolest bbq ever???

She loves eating, so...

I don´t remember being about two... (she´ll turn two in August) - will she try to eat that stuff? Will she copy her Daddy doing a bbq and ask for real food?
Anyone?

Since we unpacked the stuff, I´ll bring it over like that, just we made it a bit more "real":

like...

she can keep that lunchbox that is from the city of Henry The Lion to Mia, a little Lion-girl (as said, born in August). It says "feeding of the carnivore" - and if there is anything little Niece likes... it´s food!

Ingo´s idea, btw, he is the one who is creative.

What did I do?
All the windows and with that we finally got the flower on the wall:

With warmth coming over finally, Ingo took away the styrofoam of our green-chamber´s window:

Nature is free to paint shadow-pics again :-)

"Zunge" found a new place to live with us:

And to add a bit of holiday-feeling, Ingo bought a Ukulele that says "Hawaii" (and my friend P always laughs her head off when I say Hawaii as it´s supposed to be pronounced, as in "we´re having Toast Hawaii" (I also watch Magnum atm when running, sooo cute)):

We also bought some rhubarb-stuff:

Goes just cool with the shirt Ingo bought me, huh? I ate it, too:

And my... it is yummy!

Lucky me, huh?

Yes.
It´s a pig. He´s a prince!

Happy, lucky (long?) weekend everybody!
(Ingo goes to get some coal for a real bbq - I tell ya, people, it´s getting warm overe here, YAY!!!)