A Mild Week

We experienced unusually (but not unheard of) high temperatures last week, with Tuesday being the warmest day at 14C/57F, warmer than what we often get on a day in March, April or sometimes even as late as May.

It was often sunny, too, and whenever I could, I arranged my day so that I could go for a walk in the good weather. The weekend was rather eventful.

Monday (8 December) was a busy day working from home, interrupted mid-afternoon by my almost weekly back & shoulders massage.

My bedroom window on Monday morning.

In the evening, I met with my pub quiz team at the Christmas market for a good evening of catching up over our food and drink. One of them had only two days previously returned from two months away on a diving and hiking trip in Southeast Asia, and of course he had a lot to tell.

The sun shone brightly from sunrise to sunset on Tuesday (9 December), and because I started work very early (easy to do when I'm working from home), I was able to leave at 3:00 pm and walk to Benningen, where I'd not been in a while. It was very muddy in parts, and my shoes looked accordingly, but  stretching my legs, airing my head and enjoying the spring-like sunny weather was very good.

Sunrise on Tuesday, as seen from my kitchen

On the fields between Ludwigsburg and Freiberg

On the fields between Freiberg and Benningen

Sunset in Benningen

My regular day at the office followed on Wednesday (10 December). After work, I met my Mum and my sister for our first and only visit of the Christmas market together (all three of us, I mean) this year. Again, the mild temperature made for a pleasant time; cold enough to appreciate a hot drink but not so cold as wanting to go home after half an hour.

On Thursday (11 December), I worked at the office for the second time that week. It was nearly a non-stop series of meetings, but all went well; I was just glad not to have anything planned for the evening.

Friday (12 December) was the start of another weekend spent not with O.K., due to appointments and engagements that would have made visiting one another very hectic and impractical.

Finishing work around lunch time on another mild and sunny day, I decided to postpone the customary afternoon cleaning to Saturday morning and go for a good long walk instead. It wasn't difficult to choose where to: I took the train to Marbach and from there walked to Steinheim on what used to be my Mum and my favourite walk, often featured on my blog. 

Leaving Marbach at 10 past 1:00 pm

Crossing the village, I climbed the hill on the other side, walked to where my parents used to have their allotment and then on towards the woods. Unlike during my last visit on the 6th of September, I had "my" grassy path all to myself.

The village of Lehrhof

"My" grassy path

I looped back to Steinheim along the rim of the woods, where I encountered another woman walking on her own. She remarked on the muddiness of some of the paths, and we exchanged a few friendly words about the right footwear and how good it was to be out on a day like this.

Bench where I stopped for my sandwich and some water.

The same view from the beginning, almost exactly 3 hours later, arriving at the outskirts of Marbach again.

After about 17.5 km, I reached Marbach station and didn't have long to wait for a train back to Ludwigsburg. 

A young woman took the seat opposite me. We politely smiled at each other, then I looked out of the window and she pulled out her mobile phone. A while later, she took her earplugs out, leant forward and said: "Excuse me, may I say something?" When she started to speak I thought her "excuse me" was going to be followed by some question about a train connection or our next stop. Instead, she complimented me on my earrings, saying they were wonderful and looked very good on me! 

This was totally unexpected, and after I had said a surprised "thank you", we briefly talked about how I have the same ones in several different colours and like to match them with what I wear. The train stopped, and she left after we wished each other a nice evening, with me still a bit puzzled but pleased at the same time - these earrings are by no means unusual or particularly eye-catching, but obviously the young woman had liked them.

Spending another quiet evening at home alone, I developed a headache. Thinking that it was caused by me not having drunk enough water during the afternoon (I did have a sandwich and my flask filled with tap water with me, but didn't drink the whole flask), I made an effort to re-hydrate and went to bed relatively early, hoping I'd wake up the next morning feeling fine again.

However, I spent a rather uncomfortable night, and the headache was still there on Saturday (13 December) morning. I had plans for the day and although no fan of medication unless really necessary, I ended up taking a paracetamol, and over the next couple of hours did my cleaning and felt 80 % back to normal again.

At 11:00 am, my sister and I met in town and walked to the palace to visit an exhibition about Barbie, focusing on how the fashion for the doll evolved since her first appearance in 1959, and how it was all connected to fashion and image (and a mirror of society, of course) in the real world during those decades.

We really enjoyed the exhibition, last but not least because the display with Barbies from mainly the 1970s - which was when we were of Barbie-playing age - was like meeting old friends and acquaintances: So many familiar dolls and outfits were gathered there! 

Hagrid, Harry Potter, Hermione and Ron - Hagrid's size does not match the children's; he should be towering over them.

Lucille Ball and Audrey Hepburn; Marylin Monroe in a box in the background

Rhett and Scarlett :-D

Two American icons combined - Coca Cola and Barbie!

See the Hawaii Barbie wearing the lei? I had bought her partly with my own pocket money and was extremely fond of her. She came with a surfing board, an orange plastic ukulele and even a straw skirt! (None of those accessories were in the exhibition.)

Many of the 1960s dolls and dresses were still around in my childhood.

These were the 1970s dolls, furniture and outfits we knew best.

The early 80s brought some particularly flashy outfits, "Dynasty"-style.

Familiar because we or our friends had them when we were young, and we often played Barbie together. Other items we recognised from having admired them at the toy shop or come across them in the toy catalogue published every year around Christmas - we loved that catalogue and often wished for specific things (not always getting them, of course).

It was late lunch time when we left the palace and crossed the road to a nice café-bar where we had slices of quiche and cold drinks. Back home by mid-afternoon, I slept for nearly an hour - the remnants of my headache had made me really tired.

The rest of Saturday was quietly spent doing a few household things, some Christmas-related stuff and later watching TV, reading and talking to O.K. on the phone.

Unfortunately, the headache was back on Sunday (14 December) morning. It didn't go away after a mug of coffee, nor after a shower, and not after a bowl of muesli with fresh banana, either. So, once again I resorted to paracetamol, because once again I had plans.

It was still sunny, a little colder than during the previous days, but I did not feel like a walk, conserving my energy instead.

Shortly after 3:00 pm, I left the house to meet my mum at a bus stop in town. From there, we walked to the concert hall where the annual "Singalong" Advent Concert was held - a firm favourite of ours.

The curtain is still closed...

...and then reveals several different choirs, while the orchestra is ready, too.

The red and green lights looked particularly nice.

Even Santa made an appearance!

We enjoyed it greatly, even though this year there were less songs for the audience to sing along and more performed by the choirs only. 

I was going home with my Mum for a meal together, and waiting for the bus, my Mum sat on a bench. A younger woman with a little girl sat next to her. The bus came, we got on and found seats. The woman and girl remained, waiting for their bus. 

Less than a minute into our journey, my Mum realised that she had left her handbag on the bench!! Everything was in there, her wallet with ID and bank cards, her house key... only her mobile phone was with her, because her bus ticket is on it and she had shown it to the driver. We were both shocked, and at the next bus stop (still on the same main road but at its other end), I jumped off and ran back, while Mum rode home; we knew she was going to be able to get in, because her friend who lives in the same house has a key to her flat.

To my immense relief and gratitude, the woman with the little girl was still there, and while the girl was firmly holding my Mum's handbag, her mother had just been on the phone to the police, arranging to take the handbag there. She recognised me immediately, gave me the bag and said she was going to ring the police again to tell them that I had returned to claim the bag and there was no need for any further action.

I thanked both the girl and her mother for their kindness and honesty; their bus arrived, they got on, while I started on an adrenaline-fueled 20-minute walk to my Mum's.

Only later did I remember that I should have given the woman some money, but I was so overwhelmed by the entire incident that I had not thought of it at that moment.

We have since then posted the story on a local neighbourhood platform, hoping that the friendly young woman will read it, or maybe someone who knows her and whom she'd told of the incident. Also, I have emailed the local police station but have had no reply yet. (I still wonder why she called the police instead of simply looking at the contents of the bag, where she would have found my Mum's address on more than one card in her wallet.)

We still want to thank the woman for rescuing Mum's handbag and hope that, one way or another, she'll get in touch.

In any case, from now on Mum will always make sure to wear her handbag with the cross-body strap and not place it on the seat next to her when waiting for the bus!

Three candles were lit that day.