A Mostly Mild Week

For the most part, last week felt more like spring than January, at least in terms of temperature. We saw the thermometer climb to 12C/53F on three days in a row, and it was probably even warmer in the direct sun and out of the wind. By Sunday, we were back to freezing.

The only thing I noted in my diary about Monday (12 January) was that it snowed. I worked from home and did not go for a walk.

View from my kitchen window at 8:00 am on Monday morning.

What little snow there had been the day before was all gone on Tuesday (13 January) when it was as mild as 10C/50F. It was sunny, then cloudy, then sunny again.

Working from home allowed me to skip out for half an hour at lunch time and get my sixth COVID jab (I'd not had one since 2023, and it is making the rounds again here). All went well, and apart from a slight discomfort in my upper left arm during the night, I felt no side effects.

At 4:30 pm, I walked for about an hour; longer would have been nicer, but I was expecting my two co-owners of the house to discuss a few things. 

Church in Pflugfelden where I walked past.

On Wednesday (14 January) I started work at the office as usual, but left after lunch to spend the afternoon at a company in Stuttgart to give the employees a basic training in matters of data protection and AI. 

Sunrise on Wednesday, as seen from my kitchen...

...and the platform in Zuffenhausen waiting for the local train taking me to the office.

This, giving trainings/talks and interacting directly with the people I work for and with, is my favourite part of the job.

We finished on time and nobody had any more questions, which enabled me to leave with almost an hour left until sunset.

I took advantage of this and walked from Stuttgart's Main Station to its North Station, a route I know very well and have done many times on my way home from the eye surgery. 

Sorry - the photos are in reverse order, starting with a sunset view before reaching North Station and ending with the row of trees near the entrance of the park.

Much of the park looks bleak this time of year, but I still enjoyed the late afternoon atmosphere and silhouettes of bare trees against the setting sun. My pictures can only show part of what it was like; imagine the continuous sound of many, many crows about, and a few other birds as well, with the constant hum of city traffic as a backdrop. As it was one of the 12C/53F days, it felt very good to be out and about.

For Thursday (15 January), I had planned to work at the office again because we were having our quarterly meeting of Compliance Officers (there are 13 or 14 of us for the entire company).

Getting there wasn't straightforward, as the local trains were rather chaotic that morning (as is so often the case). And then I finally arrived, only to find that I was unable to log on to my work computer! 

Since we do not have phones anymore, but all calls come in via our computers, I could not even contact our helpdesk without asking a colleague for help. From her computer, I called the support team and was told that they couldn't fix it quickly. They asked if I had an alternative device to work from. Yes, I did, but at home...

After I informed my boss, I took the next possible trains home, from where I had no trouble at all logging on. In the meantime, I learned that other colleagues had the same problem; apparently, it was an issue with a server, nothing we could do about individually. I missed the first two meetings of the day but was after all able to attend the Compliance Officers meeting, and work without a hitch for the rest of the day.

Late afternoon, I met a friend who lives five minutes from my house, and together we walked to the small palace by the lake which you have seen many times on my blog. The nearby winery (it belongs to the Duke of Wuerttember just like the palace, the lake and the entire estate there) were offering a "Wine After Work", all outdoors between the palace and the steps leading to the lake, and we wanted to have a look (and a drink).

It was a very nice evening, combined with 45 minutes or so of walking each way, giving us a chance to catch up; we'd not seen each other since before Christmas, and I was especially happy to give her the news of my engagement.

The day had been very mild again at 12C/50F, but although it was cooler once the sun was gone, it was warm enough to stay out for a while, especially when walking.

On Friday (16 January), it was sunny and mild all day. I worked from home, then did my usual cleaning, packed my weekend suitcase and left for the train station in the early evening.

The long distance train arrived even two minutes EARLY in Offenburg :-D

O.K. and I enjoyed our customary meal of salad, cheese, bread and wine to ring in the weekend.

Saturday (17 January) was much cooler at a high of 7C/44F, and only where and when the sun managed to pierce the fog. 

O.K. worked around his mother's house most of the day, cutting down the climber that is damaging the wall if left unchecked. For about 2 hours in the morning and another 1 1/2 hours in the afternoon, I held the high ladder to make sure he was as safe as he could be. Not moving but keeping hold of the cold aluminium ladder chilled me to the bone after a while, no matter that I was wearing two pairs of woolly socks, two pairs of gloves, a padded winter coat, scarf and woolly hat.

It took me ages to get properly warm again, but eventually, he wrapped up the work and we cooked a nice hot meal together.

Last year, we did that same job in February; I wrote about it here. I so wish O.K. would postpone it to a warmer day, but later in spring, birds breed in the climbers, and cutting the branches would not be a good idea.

It was dark by about 5:30 pm, and by 6:30 pm we left the cottage for a two-hour walk - we were on a mission to deliver three congratulatory cards to two addresses in O.K.'s village and one in the next village. The village band sends cards to those members and supporters who have a special birthday, Golden Wedding anniversary or similar events to celebrate, and it is O.K.'s job to print the cards and make sure they reach the recipients on time. When they live within walking distance, that is usually the quickest and easiest way to do that.

I enjoyed that nightly walk. Along the fields between O.K.'s and the next village there are no street lights, so we had a good view of the starry sky. Walking swiftly meant we weren't cold; only towards the end we were both glad to reach the village again, and get back to the warm, cosy cottage.

O.K.'s Mum is in a rehab clinic for various health issues right now, and we went to visit her on Sunday (18 January). The clinic is in Durbach, only a short drive away, and we know the area quite well from several walks and hikes, for instance here and here.

Durbach

Of course in January, the vineyards and woodland look different, but we still put in a walk of about 10 km before going to the clinic, where we had coffee and cake with O.K.'s Mum.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening back at the cottage, as usual getting ready for our usual 5:15 am start on Monday morning.