Settling Back In

Last week was largely about settling back into the routine of work, walks and weekend activities. The end of the week saw the start of our current heatwave. 

The week was off to a chilly start with intermittent showers, some of them quite heavy, on Monday (18 May). I worked from home and it was a relief to find only 162 emails in all my work-related inboxes (six in total); May Day as well as Ascension Day meant that many of my colleagues and customers had been away just like me. 

After work, I went to see my neighbour; Isabel and her family are on holiday right now and I offered to look after their cat and rabbits (their house is just round the corner from mine; from my kitchen window, I can see straight into their back garden). She showed me where everything was and what to do, and later I went for a walk in a quarter of town where I had not been in a while (Hartenecker Höhe).

Tuesday (19 May) was sunny and busy with appointments, one of which was my almost-weekly back & shoulders massage. It was nice to see Tongjuan again; she had been so interested from the moment I had told her about our plans, and very sweetly gave us a present for our wedding. Part of the present was a small red envelope with golden Chinese writing on it, containing exactly 19.99 euros. She explained that 1999 is a lucky number in her culture, and when a couple receives this gift, it is supposed to mean that the love between them never ends.

I went for another walk in the evening, my usual Asperg-Eglosheim round.

Work at the office on Wednesday (20 May) was good; it was nice to see my colleagues again and thank them personally for their generous wedding gift. Some other colleagues I have befriended over the years but who do not work in my department came to wish me well and left individual gifts. I must say it was lovely and quite a bit emotional.

This is how I found my desk that morning!

I had invited my department to a round of after-work drinks at the Holiday Inn's bar next door, and the ten of us enjoyed a couple of hours of chatting, laughing and clinking glasses.

On Thursday (21 May) I was working from home, meeting my Mum and my sister at the open-air bar on the disused industrial estate next to the train station. I showed you this area a few times on my blog, for instance here and here. It was the first time since the wedding that I saw my sister - first I had been away, and then she. It was nice to catch up and relax in the late afternoon sun.

Friday (22 May) was the first really warm day of the week, reaching a max of 26C/79F. I was at a work-related meeting in Stuttgart-Vaihingen all day, and once again it was very nice to receive congratulations from everybody - and a beautiful bouquet of flowers!

Back home, I made sure to get my cleaning done and usual preparations for when O.K. is staying at my place.

It was close to 30C/86F by mid-afternoon on Saturday (23 May), but in the morning it was not too hot yet to go into town for breakfast at one of our favourite cafés. A spot of shopping at the Farmer's Market followed and back home a little rest. We later went to join my sister at her allotment, where it was pleasant to sit in the shade of the big old trees and have coffee and rhubarb pie, baked by my mother-in-law with her home-grown rhubarb - delicious!

When it wasn't quite so hot anymore in the evening, O.K. and I walked to Asperg to have a shandy at a beer garden. It has changed hands this season, and we - along with many others - weren't overly happy; everything took very long, and although we weren't eating this time, we checked the menue and found it much less attractive than before. Maybe we'll go once more to see whether it was just a question of them still finding their feet, so to speak, but it's not as high-ranking on our list of places to go as it used to be.

A nice thing happened while I was queuing for our drinks: A woman maybe in her mid-40s paid me a compliment, saying that I was wearing a wonderful ("wunderschönes") dress and that she'd noticed it the moment I came through the gate, and that it suited me very well. There was nothing untoward or flirty about it, just a genuine and very nice compliment.

Sunday (24 May) was even a little hotter than the day before; I believe we had a high of 32C/90F. It was also the day my neighbours went on holiday, so I knew that my job to look after them for the next two weeks had begun.

Sunday breakfast

The rabbits were ravenous and had no water left; my guess is that the three boys had been told to replenish their food and water before getting into the car but had forgotten. The cat (Neo - I have shown you a picture of him in February) wanted attention more than anything; he is not yet a year old, playful and obviously misses his people. I gave him a good cuddle and refilled his water bowl; he'd been fed in the morning before the family's departure and had not yet touched his food.

In the afternoon, O.K. and I went for a walk in the deer park, where the shade under the big old trees was very welcome. Later, the two of us and my sister were at my Mum's for a very delicious meal of green and white asparagus, boiled potatoes, savoury pancakes and herb butter, a typical combination here this time of year. It was truly lovely and a veritable Sunday feast.