A Week of Going Out

Last week, I was out and about four out of five nights. It was a bit much, but it was all good - and of course I could have said "no", but didn't want to. This week will be quieter - at least after work! ;-D

Monday (11 November) was grey and cold with rain in the evening. I could not have gone for a walk anyway, since I was in an online meeting all afternoon from 2:00 to 6:00 pm, and it is now pitch black dark here at that time.

I was lucky, though, to get an early appointment for a back & shoulders massage at the day spa round the corner from my house, and with my favourite therapist, too.

The round of nights out started on Tuesday (12 November) with my team and I playing our last pub quiz for this year. My town's Christmas Market starts on Nov. 26, and since the pub is tucked in one corner of the market square, it is a popular place for folks to retreat to after the market finishes at 9:00 pm each night, both stall holders and visitors alike. All through the Advent, Christmas and New Year's period, no pub quizzes are held there, but we'll definitely be back in January. 

With one of my team members currently travelling the world on a sabbatical (and he really knows a lot!), the rest of us did as best as we could. We had the third highest number of points, but because two teams had the second highest number, they had to answer a tie question for 2nd and 3rd place, and we left without a prize. No problem; we'd had a fun night with friends, which was just what the doctor had ordered after the anxious days following the US presidential election and the crashing of the German government.

The day had been off to a good start, too, when I met my friend for a morning walk before work.

Wednesday (13 November) was cold in the morning at 2C; that's just a little above freezing point. I worked at the office all day and then got off the train from Weilimdorf and walked into town centre for an event where I was meeting my Mum. 

Every year, a volunteer organisation dedicated to telling the life stories of ordinary people living in our town present four such individual stories. Usually, the people behind those stories attend the event, too, and each story is introduced with a piece of music chosen by them. The stories sometimes tell of hardships beyond my grasp; sometimes they have funny moments, but are always touching - and I believe there is no such thing as an "ordinary" life. Everyone has a story! 

This time, one lady whose story was read wasn't there. She died recently after having lived with a donated heart for 29 years after the operation, and her story dealt mostly with how she coped with the time leading up to it and the aftermath.

I was back at the office on Thursday (14 November), among other things giving a short lecture in data protection basics to a group of employees who have recently joined the company.

After work, I met my sister at the local train station half way to our destination for that evening: Wilhelma, Stuttgart's large and beautiful zoo. (I know - zoos are something most people, including me, have mixed feelings about.)

This time, we didn't come for the animals, but for the lights. For some years now, every year from mid-November onwards, the zoo's extensive parkland is turned into a "Christmas Garden". We'd never been before, but got free tickets from a friend who works there with the animals. 

It was Opening Night, access for employees and their friends and families only  making for an amazingly large number of visitors.

We followed the signposted trail in order not to miss anything. My photos can only give a superficial impression of how beautiful it really was. Clicking here will take you to the official website (in English) with more photos, including an areal view which of course I could not provide myself.

Is anyone else reminded of „Momo“?

 A life-size elephant made of lights

The enchanted forest was my favourite part.

I arrived home just as the bells of the nearby church struck 9:00 pm.

On Friday (15 November), for a change I did not board a train to Offenburg. Instead, after work (which finished unusually late for me for a Friday afternoon), I had only a bit of time that I used for a rest - the three nights in a row that I'd been out after a full day of work were catching up with me.

But I soon recovered, and took a train to Asperg, where I walked to a friend's house. She had alerted me to a dance party we'd visited together in the past (pre-pandemic years), where only music from the 1980s and 90s is played. I was a teenager in the 1980s, and so the music from that time is the soundtrack of my youth.

We had a fun evening, dancing whenever the music was to our liking (it wasn't always, of course), having a drink or three and chatting when we weren't on the dance floor. By 11:00 pm, we both had enough - something that would have been unthinkable in our teenage years, when our weekend clubbing rounds more often than not didn't start until that time and lasted well into the small hours.

Anyway, I had to decide between waiting for 20 minutes at the train station in dubious company or walk home, and you can guess what I did :-) (It's only 5 km and took me about 50 minutes to arrive home.) The full moon was beautiful, and it wasn't as cold as I had feared, and of course I was walking swiftly.

It was nice to sleep in on Saturday (16 November). My weekly cleaning and washing was next, before I finally walked to the station and started the journey to Offenburg. Believe it or not, the last of my three trains arrived two minutes early!!

O.K. met me at the station, and we decided to have a meal in town instead of heading straight home to the village. The first restaurant was packed and had no space for the two of us. The second was shut, but the third was welcoming, and so we settled for that one.

On Sunday (17 November), for the first time this year we met for breakfast in town with a group of friends we used to see more often, but we all know how these things go and before you know it, another year has gone without managing an appointment when everyone can make it.

It was really nice to see them again, and our sumptuous breakfast was good, too.

O.K. and I went for a walk afterwards and still had enough time back at the cottage for a little rest before he had to don his village band uniform. They were playing at a remembrance ceremony held every year on account of everyone who has died in the village. I opted to stay home, and once O.K. returned, we popped over to his Mum for a brief catching up. 

We had our customary evening meal of bread, cheese and salad and then concluded the evening watching a documentary about the Black Forest - a subject close to our hearts.