Birthday Week

Last week was busy (surprise, surprise!) and culminated in me celebrating my 57th birthday. The day certainly deserves its own post; therefore, this weekly report ends on the Friday.

Monday (17 March) was sunny, but cold and windy. My trains back from Offenburg in the morning were on time, and working from home was unremarkable (which is how I prefer it mostly). After my lunch break, I was again on a train, this time to go into Stuttgart for my regular eye examination. All went well there, too.

The first two birthday cards arrived that day! You can tell the senders know me well - yellow colours, birds and a fox :-)

After work, I walked for about 2 hours. The first part of my walk was the same as when I go to Benningen, but this time I did not intend to use public transport for the fourth time that day, which I would have done for the way back home. Instead, I walked in the quiet outskirts of Freiberg, the small town half way to Benningen, and then returned to Ludwigsburg in a wide loop across the fields, the evening light and birdsong making it very enjoyable.

I was working at the office in Weilimdorf on Tuesday (18 March) because I was to attend a meeting with the top management. AI is the current "Big Thing" almost no matter what industry you work in, and it certainly is for my employer, an insurance company. On both EU and national level, new regulations regarding the use of AI have been introduced last year, and to make them manageable for us in our day to day work, I wrote AI guidelines for the company. At this meeting, our big bosses wanted me to present those guidelines, and all four of them gave their OK. Another check on a long list of tasks I have been working on recently.

Straight from work I went to "my" Irish Pub where my team was playing the quiz that evening. There were six of us at the table, including my sister who has become firmly established as part of the team. And guess what - we won :-) First prize was a bottle of whiskey, and after we'd all had a shot, the bottle went to a young lady who was a guest player with us for the first time and got several points for us.

A long day, leaving the house before 8:00 in the morning and returning well after 11:00 pm, but it had been worth it!

Wednesday (19 March) was sunny, but the frosty morning (just below freezing) meant I needed my padded coat, scarf and gloves for the way to the office. It was milder by the time I left work, and I made use of the spring sun by getting off the train in Kornwestheim and walk the rest.

It warmed up even more on Thursday (20 March): The official beginning of spring was a picturebook perfect spring day here, sunny and with a high of 19C/66F. 

I was working from home, spent my lunch break getting a back & shoulders massage at the nearby day spa and after work met up with my sister. She helped me with the drinks shopping for my birthday party. I do my regular shopping on foot, but when you want to buy drinks for a party, a car comes in very useful.

Shopping done, we went for a walk together. It was getting close to sunset, so instead of the fields we chose to stroll along the familiar streets where we grew up and went to school. I walk there quite often, but my sister less so, and we talked of the people who used to live in those houses when we were kids, and what memories we have of them.

Friday (21 March) was the best day of the week, weatherwise: wall to wall sunshine and around 20C/68F during the afternoon, warm enough for me to be out and about without a coat.

At the end of my lunch break, I met with the lady who gave me the keys for my birthday party venue, the same one where my sister celebrated hers back in January.

When Ludwigsburg was growing into a garrison back in the 1700s, it was deemed necessary to enclose it in a wall - not to stop unwanted elements entering, but to keep the military recruits in. Often, recruiting methods were questionable, and not all the young men drawn into military service were happy about their lot. Therefore, the wall was built, and each gate had a gatehouse were guards were posted and had modest living quarters as well.

Six of these buildings are still standing, and one of them is ten minutes on foot from where I live. It is a listed building and not generally open to the public, but the small museum on the upper floor can be visited once a month. On those days, the ground floor serves as a café. Both the museum and the café are run by a group of volunteers. We know some of them and were invited to a birthday party there last autumn, which gave my sister the idea to celebrate her birthday there, which in turn gave me the idea to have my party there as well.

After having received the keys and a few instructions (no candles!!!), I went home and did my own cleaning and washing etc. before returning to the gatehouse. My sister joined me for the cleaning and setting up tables and chairs the way I wanted them. We really like that building and enjoy being there, even if it's just to clean :-)

After a couple of hours we were satisfied with our preparations and went home.

O.K. arrived at my place at around 9:00 pm, by which time I was really ready for a meal, and very much looking forward to tomorrow.