The Rest of That Week

The day after my return from Berlin was Wednesday, the 1st of June. I only had a few hours working from home in the morning before I set off to Marbach around lunch time for a meeting with my client there. The German Literature Archive is my favourite work place - I love the location, the buildings, and everybody there is exceptionally nice and cooperative.

Usually, I take advantage of my Marbach visits to walk there for a while, but not today. I took the next possible train back to Ludwigsburg, left my heavy bag with the laptop at home and walked right back to the train station where a Covid testing centre is nearby.

Unlike at the beginning of the pandemic, we are now allowed to visit our loved ones in hospital, but everyone (regardless of how many times we've been vaccined and boostered) needs to produce an official negative test - even though I must say I am a lot more thorough when self-testing than the rather sloppy way the staff at those "official" test places go about it. But it is mandatory, and so we comply.

Test done and negative result obtained, I walked to the hospital and spent the rest of the afternoon there with my Mum (who was of course also visiting) and Dad.

With everything that had been going on, my Mum had not yet been to the palace grounds this year, and so we decided to have a little walk there after saying good-bye to Dad. His room at the hospital was on the 8th floor, overlooking the palace grounds, and the view was about the only thing he liked about his stay in hospital. He frequently saw the family of three storks nesting in the grounds fly past his window, and when we were there, he always pointed something or other out to us.

Thursday, the 2nd of June, no hospital visit was possible (long story and a case of organisational hiccup). After work, my Mum and I took a taxi to the small palace by the lake (often seen on my blog). There, an open evening at the winery was being held, called "Wine after Work", open meaning no registration or tickets were needed; one could just walk up, get whatever wine one fancied to try, find a seat and enjoy the relaxed atmosphere in beautiful evening light. We did exactly that, and for the first time in a long time Mum had the chance to be at this particularly beautiful spot, so close to home.

Friday, June 3, was the usual mix of work and household things. At about 4:00 pm, I was on my way to the test centre and then to hospital again. This time, all three of us met at my Dad's bed. My Mum went home on her own, while my sister and I took advantage of the beautiful evening and walked back through town. We decided to stop at the recently opened industrial area at the train station for a quick shandy, a bag of freshly made chips (very nice!) and a good chat.

It was also the day I picked my first handful of cherries from the tree at the side of my house, directly through my kitchen window.

I looked up older posts of mine to find out whether they were ever ripe so early in June; it looks like I always had my first batch of cherries some time in June, but never at the start of the month.

I started my weekend at O.K.'s only on Saturday, but it was still a long weekend with the Monday off (Pentecost). But that will be one of my next posts.