A Very Busy Week

Those of you who read my blog more or less regularly know that I am usually relatively busy, both at work and in the hours before and after. Last week felt busier than usual; a trip to Cologne for work had something to do with that.

Monday (3 November) was a reasonably quiet start of the week that allowed me not only to work through my tasks mostly undisturbed but even gave me the chance for a walk to Benningen in the golden afternoon sun, which I appreciated very much.

I got up well before 5:00 am on Tuesday (4 November) in order to take an early train to Cologne where I was to attend a meeting of Data Protection Officers in the same industry (insurance). Scheduled to start at 10:00 am, I had planned to arrive with about an hour to spare, and wisely so; in the end, due to our notoriously unreliable railway system, I arrived in Cologne with a delay of about 35 minutes and made it to the venue ten minutes before the meeting began.

I enjoyed the train ride with beautiful views of the sunrise and morning mist on the fields.

I also enjoyed my breakfast on board!

Afterwards, "thanks" to my train back to Stuttgart being also delayed, I had time to stroll around the (not very nice) area around Cologne's main station, and for the first time ever I visited the cathedral (in spite of me having been to Cologne for work many, many times). 

Part of the floor inside the cathedral.

I was quite impressed by the beauty and calm, peaceful atmosphere; once inside, it is easy to forget how ugly the immediate surroundings are. If you want to find out more about this wonderful building, click here for the wikipedia article in English.

Deutzer Brücke ("Deutz Bridge") in Cologne, famous for the huge number of "love locks" on it.

The Rhine in Cologne.

By the way, for the first time this season it was so cold in the morning that I saw my own breath when I left the house on my way to the station.

On Wednesday (5 November) was not only the 16th anniversary of my late husband's death but also my usual day at the office. Although Tuesday had been a day of work (and a very long one at that), I had of course not done any actual "work" as usual, and so a pile of emails and many other tasks made it busier than usual. 

Sunrise on the 5th

Last but not least, my boss (who is bipolar) was on a high and kept coming to my room every five minutes (I am NOT exaggerating; when he is on a high he really is like that), and at some point I had to ask him to let me get on with things... it's not nice if you have to say that to your boss, but it's the only way to handle things during such a phase, and he is not offended or anything (he knows that he can be VERY exhausting).

I can not tell you how relieved I was when left the office that day.

This is not the sun, but the moon on the evening of the 5th - it was incredibly bright that night!

At only 4C/39F, Thursday (6 November) was cold in the morning but sunny. For the first time since the summer, my friend and I managed to meet for a pre-work walk, which was very nice. In the evening, I went to my see my Mum.

Sunrise from my kitchen window on Thursday morning

Pre-work walk

Another busy working day followed on Friday (7 November), but the weekend was already in sight. It was wet, cold and grey with a fog that didn't lift properly all day, so I didn't mind not having time for a walk. 

After work, I did my usual cleaning, packed my little red suitcase and went to the train station. Miraculously, my train to Offenburg was on time, and O.K. and I were happy to start the weekend with our customary Friday evening meal of salad, cheese, bread and wine.

I had time to rest on Saturday (8 November) but also for a walk around the village combined with one or two errands while O.K. was doing some jobs around his Mum's house. 

There is actually a rather busy road outside the village - it was hardly visible for the fog on Saturday.

Late afternoon, we had a quick snack, donned our village band t-shirts and walked up to the village hall. 

In this part of Germany, Carnival begins officially on the 11th of November, but especially in villages, many associations and bands who are active during the Carnival period organise an event to kick-off the "silly season" on the weekend before the 11th. In O.K.'s village, a big event was held in the village hall, calling for nearly everyone to lend a hand.

O.K. and I had put down our names to help in the kitchen, but not with the food; we were manning the dishwasher and dealt with an unknown number of glasses and cups from 6:00 to 10:30 pm. It wasn't stressful at all, just constant work, and while our hands were busy, we were free to chat. We were allowed to help ourselves to whatever food and drink we wanted, and being tucked away in the kitchen also meant that we were not exposed to the full noise in the hall.

After our shift, we stayed on only for a little while; after all, we had been on our feet since before 6:00. We had a drink with some of our friends from the village band and then said good-bye. It was well before midnight when we were back at the cottage.

Sunday (9 November) was a slow, quiet day with rain almost all morning. In the afternoon it stopped, allowing us to go for a leisurely walk before popping in with O.K.'s Mum. Coffee and cake was next, followed by a rest, and in the evening, our meal was basically a repeat of what we had on Friday.