1 August -
With Jon and Sarah (photos, left) to the lovely palace of the young Frederick-the-going-to-be-Great-when-I've-grown-up at Rheinsberg.
3 August - Day on the water, exploring narrow channels and hidden lakes (photos, right)
4 August - After an energetic day, we opted for a lazy exploration by car of a local road that we've not followed before: in the closest bit of the National Park around the lake at Kratzeburg (only 5 miles from the flat) which incidentally is also the source of the River Havel. The scenery, villages and wildlife were all delightful and there are several places we're intending to go back to. The road was not exactly Autobahn standard (see photos), but that's all to the good.
8 August - "I've never seen anything like it", says the Mayor of Neustrelitz in today's local paper. Someone has apparently put up a tent by the swimming beach on Lake Dabelowsee. Technically that's not allowed — you can camp almost wherever you want, but there are "no camping" signs at some places in the National Park, including that beach. But the real problem was, that the campers were a couple, with their daughter. And a dog. And a horse. And ten sheep. They put up an electric fence to keep their extended family within the camp (it's a good way of controlling daughters). Photo here. As the Mayor points out, "what are you supposed to do with all the sheep poo?". When asked for an explanation, the couple said "we wanted to try taking the animals camping".
15 August - Speaking of camping, for several years now we've kept our kayaks stored at a camp site on the shores of lake Rätzsee. It's handy because they're on a stand by the water's edge and we can always get at them (by agreement with the campsite, to which we pay a small annual rent). But it does mean that they are outdoors all year round, which isn't really a good idea, even though there's no security risk around here. What we've really been eying up, is the wooden boatsheds that you find here and there at the water's edge. The puzzling thing is, that although there are a couple of websites devoted to buying and renting riverside and lakeside boatsheds in Germany, none are ever available in our district. I've noticed once or twice adverts in the local paper that specify "local family seek boatshed ..." and wondered whether there is a tendency to keep the boatsheds in local hands. Yesterday I was in the kayak, passing a little group of boatsheds that we've much admired. They are on the the beautiful and peaceful little river that leads from Lake Rätzsee into the next lake - just here, in fact, or at 5.05 on this film. And there was a man cutting the grass around them. So I got out and went over to him to ask whether any might be available. He was a bit reserved until I mentioned our little home in Neustrelitz, after which he was all smiles. "We get people from Berlin, Leipzig, Hamburg, Halle — rich people from the cities — all wanting boatsheds. They can't have them. But there is one available for rent. If we put it on the internet there'd be a queue of cars here tomorrow morning. I'll check with the owner, but I'm sure you can have it". And sure enough, we're now just waiting for a contract to rent our own little riverside boatshed, for not much more than we were paying the campsite. So next summer will (hopefully) bring yet more new experiences.
Back in Ørsdalen -
Another summer is over and we're back at home. Sunshine or mist, we still get to enjoy our peaceful valley (click picture, left, for view from kitchen window on two different days).
Although it's still warm (have swum a couple of times in the lake), autumnal berries are out and hints of autumn are lurking (couple of photos here).
And we wake up to find a unicorn family breakfasting in the orchard (click unicorn picture, right, for breakfast snaps).
Bill on the phone - Tracy is often rung up by her good friend Bill Gates, who rings from his office in Microsoft to tell her that he can see that she's got a security problem with her computer, which he can fix straight away if she'll just ... When he rang today he had quite a strong Indian accent. As it happens we were both at home and together in Tim's office, so Tracy decided to let him stay on the phone for a while. "Oh dear", she said to Mr Microsoft, "I do hope you can help me to sort it out". And he said he would. So Tracy put him on speakerphone and we did whatever he told us to. Tim's computer runs on Linux (not Windows), so it's perfectly safe. "So now you just press ctrl+n" (or whatever it was) "and what did it do now?". Tracy told him. "That's not possible", he said. "You must be doing it wrong." He'd been on the phone for nearly half an hour, repeatedly reining in his frustration and temptation to say something cross, before we finally tired of the game. "Does it make any difference," Tracy asked innocently, "that this is a high-security Linux system?" "A what?", asked Mr Microsoft. Slight hesitation. "Is it your own computer?" "No", replied Tracy honestly, before slightly mischievously adding: "it's a police computer". (This was only slightly misleading; it is of course a polite computer, and anyone can get one letter wrong). There was a longer pause. "Oh aren't I ... lucky?" said the voice, now an octave higher and with sing-song jollity, "talking to the ... police?" Another couple of seconds of silence before the voice went up yet another octave for a final, faint "aah" and a thud as the phone was dropped. So then we put the kettle on for a cup of tea.
Dinner guest - Unicorns for breakfast, but something quite different basking in the late-afternoon sun. We had many such visitors the first year we were here, but carrying each one carefully in a net over to the other side of the river seems to have kept them away for a decade. But this evening, the little black eyes were peering up at us as we looked down from the balcony.
2 September - T&T took a day trip to Molde today to visit Sofie (that's pronounced Sophia — remember?) and Beth, of course (Gjermund was away at work). She's very cheerful, standing up and considering walking — really lovely! (Sofie, I mean, not Beth, who has been walking for a while). A long day trip, though (four flights in one day, changing in Oslo to fly up to the familiar old Molde airport so we left at 4 in the morning and were back late at night), but worth it!
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5 September - All the talk in the UK seems to be about crashing out over a cliff-edge Brexit and about political avalanches and collapsing majorities. Over here it’s quite different. We’ve all been anxiously watching that mountainside just outside Åndaslnes — the one that for several years now has been threatening imminent collapse. Apparently the unstable mountainside is currently moving more quickly than ever — a yard a day, if you can believe it — and with rain falling steadily (which lubricates the process) they're expecting a big crash any time. Actually not so very different from UK politics, after all.
6 September - ... and sure enough, large amounts of mountainside (a volume of rock equating to more than half of the Albert Hall) came down during the night, cascading down thousands of feet. Even this, of course, is only the "little" avalanche: the really "big" one — hundreds of times bigger — will come eventually, but that's decades away. Probably. Typical that it happened while it was dark; even though the major news agencies have had day-and-night cameras trained on the spot for years, you don't really see a lot on the film. But it's a great relief to the people who live in the valley below and who have been evacuated 16 times during the last few years due to the threat of avalanche. They're dancing with joy and saying that now they can get on with their lives.
Visitors -
A couple of Tracy's colleagues who had not visited Ørsdalen before came over for a visit.
People always find it exciting and a little exotic to discover the world of our secluded valley, which as you've gathered over the past 10 years and more is quite different from the world outside.
Tim (who had never met them) had to go out, but saw their car coming just before the end of the tunnel.
So he stopped and got out with a reflective jacket and flagged them down.
"Could I see your passports, please".
"Yes, of course ... eeh, passport?"
"Yes, Ørsdalen isn't in Schengen, so you need a passport"
"Will a driving licence do?"
They were eventually allowed through — and didn't even get charged a customs clearance fee, though it was tempting — and had a good laugh about it.
They filmed the incident (I'll try to put the film up here later) so other people in the city have been hearing about the amazing world beyond the mountains.
8 September - the other visitors - No customs checks for these regular visitors who seem to turn up in the garden almost every day.
28 September -
Time has been running away with us again.
Seems to happen in the autumn.
Tracy spent two weeks in Bangladesh (with a quick trip to India on the side), but on her return home turned virtually in the doorway (especially as her return flight had been delayed by 24 hours on the way) and left for a week in Turkey.
Tim was holding various forts.
(Small "f", not Joanna).
So for the past week, Tracy has been on a works outing to Turkey with her clergy colleagues. A real slog, involving staying in 5-star hotels (at employer's cost) and visiting places mentioned in the bible.
As well as sitting through an assortment of lectures.
She's taken lots of photos, which we'll add here when she gets back.
Not to be left out, Tim has taken a few days at the flat in Germany.
Won't bore you with a full travellogue, but today's activities, for instance, included an excursion to the village of Drosedow (where we now keep the kayaks) and Mirow (where I dropped in at the house that 275 years ago this year was the birthplace of Queen Charlotte). She wasn't in, of course, having moved to London to marry George III. The church next door is a church "of the Order of St John" because the Knights of the same used to have a base there in the distant past. I've never visited the house before, partly because H M Doughty's book, Our Wherry in Wendish Lands (1891) describes it as:
"a big white mouldy house ... ill-furnished, sad, neglected inside as well as out".
Mind you, he didn't think much of the town of Mirow either: "a very obscure village-town unknown, by name even, to Baedeker ... A town less attractive to the living ... I never chanced to see".
Today, though, house and town were anything but. Photo series from Drosedow, left, and Mirow, right.
30 September - Reunited for the end of the month -
Tracy is under way from Turkey (from where she set off at 2am Norwegian time and should be home for tea).
Tim had an easier journey back yesterday.
One great thing about Schönefeld airport is that there's a therme (waterworld/swimming pool) close by, so if you leave a couple of hours spare (always handy in case of traffic disruption) you can wait in comfort in a sauna, a 35° pool, jacuzzi or whatnot. Better than airport chaos (and as they lend out towels you don't even need to transport damp stuff on the flight).
So a pleasant and relaxing journey — and Ivesdal church waiting in the early twilight to welcome wanders home.
A little PS: as I'm sitting typing this, something else has appeared outside the window to welcome Tracy home — the tiniest flurry of snow.
Don't tell her or she'll turn round at the airport and head back to Turkey.
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