Read in 2025 - 5: Bridge of Clay

Bridge of Clay

Markus Zusak

The first book I've read by this author was my 2nd read of this year, "I Am The Messenger". The post with my review is here. 

Again, this one was lent to me by a friend who I more or less regularly swap books with. And again, this one is set in Australia and has a young man at its center. But that's where the similarity ends.

In "Bridge of Clay", the reader is told the story of five brothers who are left to fend for themselves when, after their mother has died of cancer, their father one day simply leaves. The oldest is in his late teens by then and already working, the youngest still of elementary school age.

Each of the boys is unique and matters to the story, but focus is on Clay, who was closest to both their Mum and Dad. The narrator is the oldest brother, and he jumps back and forth between the past, the not-so-distant past, and the present.

In the past, we meet his parents when they were children. They both grew up with just one parent, but apart from that, their lives were very different: Michael was raised in Australia, married a local girl and seemingly had his life mapped out until she, more ambitious than her husband, left him.

Penelope grew up with her father, a serious man who taught her to play the piano at a professional level. Their homeland was in the Eastern bloc, and he wanted a better, free life for his daughter, sending her away even though it broke his heart.

The immigrant young woman and the recently divorced young man met, fell in love, married and went on to have five children - the boys who end up living on their own, sharing the house with a collection of pets with classical Greek names like Agamemnon and Telemachus.

Years after he left, one day completely out of the blue, their father returns... Why he left, why he returns and what happens next is something I won't go into here, because if you haven't read the book, you will want to find out for yourself.

The story is very touching in parts, but there were times at the start when I was close to putting it away; I didn't like some of the scenes were the boys beat each other up in spite of loving each other a lot and always sticking up for each other in the end. Apparently, it's all part of "boys being boys", but I could have done without all that.

Also, there is a lot about horse racing in this book, sometimes overly detailed, and not all of it is necessary for the story (in my opinion). The author took about 10 years to write this book, and maybe that explains some of the lengthier bits.

Still, the story is good; sad, and funny at the same time. Unusual, for sure, as is the writing style which I was by now familiar with from The Messenger.

By the way, I have found out that The Messenger was turned into an Australian TV series, with some changes made from the book, but the author apparently still being happy with it. If I find it on Netflix or Apple TV, I am certainly going to watch it.

A Sunny Week

Last week saw seven sunny days - it really was beautiful from Monday to Sunday, and after frosty nights and mornings warmed up nicely during the day. What have I been up to?

On Monday (3 March) I worked from home as usual, interrupting for a back & shoulders massage around lunch time at the Day Spa a couple of streets away from me. My sister and I met at our Mum's for an evening of good food and good company. It was close to freezing in the night and early morning, but 11C/52F mid-afternoon.

Tuesday (4 March) was even below freezing during the night and early morning, but when I went out for an after-work walk late afternoon, it was as mild as 14C/57F, and I enjoyed my couple of hours on the fields very much. Before going home, I went by the cemetery, where I had not been in a while.

Sunrise on Tuesday

One of my favourite places on the fields between Ludwigsburg and Kornwestheim.

A regular day at the office followed on Wednesday (5 March); the temperature was similar to the day before, which meant I needed my padded winter coat and a scarf for the way to work.

Afterwards, I met with two ladies I know through work at a different company. They are based in Munich and rarely visit my town, but they got in touch when they knew they were going to be here for a training, and so we spent a very nice evening together. They'd never been to the Irish Pub (which, as you know, is my local) and were pleased both with the food and the atmosphere. Both ladies are much younger than I - they could easily be my daughters. But we had plenty to talk about and got along really well, never mind that their lives are very different from mine.

Because their seminar was in a building on the border between Ludwigsburg and Kornwestheim, I got off the train in Kornwestheim and walked the roughly 25 minutes to our meeting point, which was really nice in the late afternoon sun with the birds singing and early spring flowers in people's gardens.

Thursday (6 March) was my first chance that week for a proper walk, and I was planning for my standard route to Benningen. This time, my sister joined me. 

If you have a familiar walk that you usually do by yourself, you will know that it feels different when you have company; you see the path and places with fresh eyes, because your company doesn't know it as well as you do, and they may notice other things than you, while you can point out things and give them background information they wouldn't have had otherwise.

Sunset, as seen from a path leading into Benningen

Along the way, we spotted herons and many other birds, and met a tabby cat that even came up for a little stroke.

Local trains were again unreliable, but we were lucky in that we caught a train back to Ludwigsburg that was actually a belated train we wouldn't have caught normally, which meant we were spared a half-hour wait.

It was another sunny day on Friday (7 March) with a high of 16C/61F - wonderful, but I didn't go for a walk. Work kept me busy, and then of course I did my usual cleaning, washing etc. and got things ready for the weekend, which O.K. and I were spending at my place.

On Saturday (8 March) after a leisurely breakfast, we were out walking for most of the day, first in town for a bit of a stroll (without buying anything), then on through the palace grounds which will soon open "fully" for the season, with a lot of work still to be done before that. From there, we crossed the footbridge into the deer park, leaving it by the "middle" gate and walking to the ruined castle you have seen several times already on my blog.

Ludwigsburg Palace

Schloss Favorite, "favourite palace" in the deer park across the road from the palace

castle ruins above Hoheneck

view towards Marbach and "the rocket"

Few things spell "spring" more than catkins!

Not spectacular, but I love wide open skies and far views like this one.

Vineyards sloping down towards the river Neckar

Neckar

Steep, narrow stone steps in what used to be a vineyard. Imagine having to work there.

The same steps, seen from the side.

Going down into the river valley was not what we wanted; we knew that the lane along the river was going to be full of cyclists, as it always is on a fine day like that. Instead, we stayed at the top end of the vineyards and walked about halfway to Marbach before we decided to make our way back.

At home, we had a little rest before setting off again, this time to my Mum's, who was hosting the second family meal of this week :-) Of course the food was excellent, and we were able to do something for Mum, too, by putting together a new table she had ordered for her balcony (assembling it was really easy and straight-forward, but the metal feet and mosaic-covered top were rather heavy).

Sunday (9 March) was true to its name, and after bacon and eggs on toast we left the house without heavy jackets. It still was a bit chilly when one wasn't in direct sunlight, but warm enough not to need a scarf or anything winterly. By afternoon, the temperature was close to 20C/68F when there was no wind blowing and the sun was at its best.

O.K. and I took a local train to Marbach and then set off for the walk you know as my Mum and my favourite from the time when my parents still had their allotment. We put some variations in and ended up walking 20 km that day - and although of course we were tired afterwards, it was the pleasant kind of being tired after a day out in the fresh air and sun, and I enjoyed it all very much.

Because I had been on that same walk only two Sundays ago, I only took one photo from a spot that we visited on a detour. Once, a castle stood here, overlooking the valley:

For dinner, I made a mixed fry-up of vegetables, more or less throwing in everything I had, from onions to spuds to fennel (O.K.'s contribution) to mushrooms, and added a handful of diced ham. It was a bit spicy (I can't resist ginger when I cook anything with potatoes) but not too much so.

O.K. drove home not long afterwards and, although the motorways were very busy, got home in well under 2 hours.

Public Transport Week

Back in 2023, I used the same headline for a post about a week when I used public transport every working day . If you are interested, you can (re-)read that post here.

This past week saw me on quite a few journeys, too. I also had time for some good walks, plus O.K. and I had a fun night out at the Preismaskenball (literally "prize masks ball", meaning a Carnival themed dance where attendants can enter a contest for the best costume) in the village hall. 

Another highlight for me was a trip to Ulm for a work-related course.

Monday (24 February) was off to a cold start at 3C/37F in line with the season. A mix of clouds and sun followed, with the temperature rising to a max of 11C/52F.

After an uneventful morning working from home, I was able to participate only for the first 1 1/2 hours of an online conference in the afternoon before heading to the train station - I was travelling to Ulm for a course that was to start the next morning at 9:00. If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will be familiar with the many delays and cancellations that make using trains in Germany a very unreliable business. I did not risk a late arrival on Tuesday, and rather spent the night before the course at a hotel close to the course location.

It is a place I am very familiar with, having attended the Academy for Data Protection there in 2014, and returning every other year or so for some additional training, like now. I always enjoy those trips, especially if I get the chance at a walk along the paths I discovered for myself during my time there in 2014.

With only a 10-minute delay, I arrived at the hotel long before bedtime, and went out for a quick turn in the dark; just under an hour to stretch my legs and do a bit of revisiting.

Sunrise from my kitchen on Monday morning

There were 7 minutes between the first picture and this one.

Nightly view of Ulm from the top of the hill where I was staying.

Standard hotel room, simply but clean (and very familiar by now).

The course lasted all day on Tuesday (25 February). There was no booked lunch, and so I merely grabbed a snack and then managed a 45 minute walk; luckily, the morning's rain had stopped by then.

Not far from the academy, a path leads into the woods.

It is part of El Camino, as I found out back in 2014 during my first stay here.

This is where I turned back. The "disappointing" village can be seen through the trees.

The course was really good. We had three speakers, one of which was my old professor from 2014 (he is in his early 80s now but still going strong). Another one was my favourite speaker, a lady who can convey complex legal and technical matters in a manner that is understandable (and entertaining!) even to folks like me who have not been to uni. 

Afterwards, I took my overnight bag and walked the 6 km or so down into town to the train stations. Just like last time I was here (in October 2023), a drizzle was falling, but instead of turning into proper rain, at some point maybe half way down the hill it stopped, and I was rewarded by a beautiful rainbow - much more luminous and beautiful than what my mobile phone's camera caught.

A band of golden light (much more golden than what it looks like here) underneath grey drizzling clouds kept me company for the first part of the way down into town.

Ulm Minster - the tallest church spire in the world.

View from the bridge crossing into town centre

I was home precisely as the nearby church bells announced 8:00 pm.

Wednesday (26 February) was a grey, cold day that reached hardly more than 4C/39F. Local trains were chaotic, and instead of the scheduled 17 minutes, it took me an hour to get to the office. I was cold and not in the very best of moods by then, but work itself was perfectly alright. The way home was a little smoother, but the trains were extremely packed because every other train had been cancelled.

The weather was rather April-like on Thursday (27 February), ranging from icy rain to brightest sunshine and plenty of wind.

It promised to remain dry for most of the afternoon, and so I walked to Benningen after work, enjoying the birdsong and signs of early spring I noticed along the way. Several birds of prey were seen and heard; at one point four buzzards were circling overhead, but they were interested in each other rather than in finding food.

Friday (28 February) was more or less the same in terms of weather. I took earlier trains to Offenburg than usual, because O.K. and I were going to the aforementioned dance. This year, the music was even worse than usual, but we still had enough fun to last until 3:00 am. There are always friends, neighbours, fellow musicians and other people to meet, and it is fun checking out each other's costumes. 

Wall-to-wall sunshine on Saturday (1st of March) meant I was able to go for an afternoon walk on the fields. It was rather cold and windy, and so I was out for about an hour only, but I spotted storks and a large white heron (none of which I was able to photograph). Also, there are now snowdrops, aconites and crocus in many people's gardens to look at.

View towards Offenburg...

...and looking back towards the village.

Sunday (2nd of March) was spent our traditional way for Carnival Sunday: At noon, O.K.'s Mum hosted the family lunch with her home-made goulash soup (very nice and spicy). O.K. then had to go and meet up with the village band; as usual, they were part of the carnival parade through the village. 

Of course we went out to watch, and once the various groups (all in costume, and some making music as well) were past, we leisurely walked down the village road to the square where all the groups had gathered. Some of them performed, some just showed off their costumes once more. It was rather nice and warm in the sun on the square, but eventually, we made our way back up the street.

The village band gathering; this year, they lead the parade.

Followed by witches...

...more musicians...

...and some glitzy disco balls as well as other groups in full costumes.

By then, O.K.'s Mum needed a rest, and since O.K. was to remain with the band and play music several times more and at various locations throughout the village, as every year on carnival Sunday, I got my little red suitcase, and O.K.'s sister and her husband kindly drove me to the station.

About three hours later, at 7:00 pm, I was home. Phew! The trip had been ok but the trains had been quite full, and there was a bit of confusion about the second of the three trains I had to take, but it was all solved and the delay of 10 minutes wasn't problematic this time.

Here in my area, carnival isn't a huge thing, but in O.K.'s area it is. For me, life has turned entirely back to normal after the parade on Sunday afternoon, while at the village, Rose Monday and the Tuesday are busy with carnival celebrations and traditions - for them, it's all over on Ash Wednesday.