A Musical Week

It wasn't actually a week of musicals, or a week where I went to concerts or something like that. Instead, I watched documentaries about musicians on Netflix every night - all good, all very different from each other. I will list them at the bottom of this post.

Monday (22 April) morning was just 1C/33F "warm" - and it was getting colder during the week. But the sun was out, and it warmed up a little during the day. I was working from home, and for the evening, had been invited to a meeting through my volunteer work. The meeting was held at my old school, which made it interesting for that reason alone. (The meeting itself was alright, but I can not see much happening in terms of cooperation between their volunteer group and ours.)

I worked at the office in Weilimdorf on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (23, 24 and 25 April), needing my padded winter coat each morning, as temperatures went just a little below freezing point. It remained mostly dry, and I knew  that Tuesday would be my best (and only) chance for a walk to Benningen. Therefore, on the Tuesday after work, instead of getting off the train in Ludwigsburg, I got off the next stop after that, Favoritepark. From there, the walk to Benningen was a real pleasure, and I caught a train back to Ludwigsburg with only a few minutes' wait.

On Wednesday, I went to see my Mum after work for a chat, while on Thursday, I stayed on at work for another 1 1/2 hours or so. 

Once a month, the company has an informal after work gathering in the foyer for anyone who feels like it. People can grab a bottle of coke, a shandy or just water, and on stand-up tables (no chairs) are bowls with crisps, choccies and so on. It is nice to meet colleagues outside a meeting (where of course you have a specific work-related subject to talk about) or not at the tea/coffee machine (where you never have much time because of course you have to be back at your desk or in the next meeting).

On Friday (26 April), my Mum, my sister and I met in town after work. It was finally a little warmer, a bit windy but remained dry the rest of the day after a sprinkle of rain in the morning. 

From my Third Room (which is where I work when working from home), I was watching the house next door with great interest. It was a bit like a theatre performance with the curtain going up slowly to reveal the scene:

We visited the small French Market on the square behind the town hall, like we've done in previous years. The stall holders come all the way from France for just a few days (it's not THAT far, really, but too far for an everyday thing) and offer their products. You can buy cheese, lavender products, bread, macarons, all sorts of other sweet baked goods, wine, olives, salami, honey, soap and so on. 

A row of beer tables and benches are in the middle, and one can buy drinks and food from two stalls, which is what the three of us did. It was nice after the cold week to sit out in the relative warm sun and catch up with each other.

Winter coat and scarf still on...

...and then off.

Some silliness on the way home (pictures taken by my sister).

My sister and I visited an exhibition on Saturday (27 April) morning about the history of Ludwigsburg's train station. Very interesting, and very well presented. The small museum is run by volunteers and open to the public only rarely; I sat next to the leader of that group on Monday evening at my old school, and he had kindly suggested to open the museum just for us on the Saturday to give us a chance to see the exhibition.

Afterwards, we walked into town centre for an errand, and intended to have a stroll in the palace grounds next. However...

...I went to the toilet in another museum while my sister waited for me outside in the sun. On my way out, at a very determined pace I walked full on into a sliding glass door which I took to be open - well, it wasn't. The crash or bang was heard throughout the building, and the staff came running. They gave me a cooling pack for my nose and upper lip, and I sat down for a little, with my sister (and the staff) making sure I was alright.

I was alright; no headache, my specs intact, no tooth smashed out, not feeling dizzy, no nosebleed. But I needed a little rest to get myself together, and assess the damage.

So stupid!! You had to see it to believe it - my moment of slapstick. It cut our outing short, since after only a brief stint at the palace grounds I felt I wanted to go home for some peace and quiet. I rested on my bed for about an hour with a cold cloth on my face, which was the best thing to do.

Later, I was well enough to do my usual cleaning, and well before sunset went for a walk on the fields (once again meeting up with my sister) for about two hours.

There were up to 12 or 13 hot air balloons in the sky at one time.

This mysterious UFO was among the balloons, but much larger. We couldn't figure out what it was.

Anyway, I am now going to start my May holiday with O.K. with a swollen left upper lip and a scratch just above it. It could have been so much worse, and I only have my own daftness to blame.

On Sunday (28 April) I took care of the usual things to do when you are going to be away for two weeks. Much of the day was spent quietly pottering about, a bit of blogging (preparing this very post you are reading), playing my favourite computer game, reading. Late afternoon I went for a 2-hour walk to Pattonville and back, meeting several cats along the way but taking pictures only of these two:

In about 2 1/2 hours, I'll be on my way to O.K.'s. As usual, our May holiday starts off with the May fête in the village, where we'll be helping with the setting up, manning the drinks counter, playing music (not me, of course) and dismantling on the next day. O.K.'s birthday is next, and the day after that, he'll drive us deeper and higher into the Blackforest where we'll be staying at a nice hotel for a week, looking forward to our favourite combination of walking/hiking, spa and fine dining.

Therefore, over the next two weeks, I probably won't post or comment all that much since I don't like typing without a proper keyboard and will only have my iPad with me. But I will be reading your blogs most days.

Here are the music-related documentaries I watched during the week:

• "Not Just a Girl" about Shania Twain; trailer on youtube.
• "The Greatest Night in Pop" about the making of "We Are the World"; trailer on youtube.
• "Wham!" about the eponymous 80s pop duo; trailer on youtube.
• "Quincy" about Quincy Jones; trailer on youtube.
• "Halftime" about Jennifer Lopez; trailer on youtube.

I found each one interesting and entertaining at the same time. There was a lot in there that I had not known before, and it strengthened my resolve not to (mis)judge anyone by their public image. Much was familiar, reminding me of different times in my life when a particular song played a specific role for me. I can highly recommend these and am sure you'll find them, if you want to (and not just on Netflix).