On Friends and Social Networks

Amadeus Hoffmann I have so manny friends on facebook that I need another word for the real ones. - Any Idea?

27 November 2009

Claudia Mächtle

Herzensfreunde

Yesterday at 23:42

Amadeus Hoffmann

:D

11 hours ago

Paul Heffer

auf Englisch du bedeute 'Acquaintance', which is kinda like demoting 'friends' to 'people you know'.. I like Claudia's idea.. promoting Friends to true friends.

The rapid growth and widespread acceptance of Social Networks available on the internet raises many issues: technical and interpersonnel.

Social sites like MySpace and Facebook currently Add people, any contact, as Friends.

In the real world we all know people with varying degrees of intimacy.

Shouldn't our Social Network system reflect this?

Perhaps a descriptive scale would work? Stranger .. Acquaintance .. Colleague .. Personal Referee .. Work Referee .. Workmate .. Girlfriends .. Mate .. Boyfriends .. and any number of further distinctions.

I find it a fascinating distinction that simply because all my Friends on Facebook are called Friends I feel a certain obligation towards them. Isn't that true for you, too? If those connections on Facebook were labeled "People I know" that would evoke an entirely different feeling. Don't you agree?

On the other hand, there are a bunch of contacts I have that I'm happy to call Friend but when I see their face I have the thought, "Good business contact" or "Great Studio Musician" or "Talented Freelance Graphic Designer".

Currently we can use Lists - labels we can create for containers we can put 'Friends' into!

Lists. Are they satisfactory?

One useful list I did think to create was for the highly addictive and incredulously popular online game FarmVille. A key feature of the game is a network of Friends playing the game. The game depends so much on input from other users - that must be in your list of Friends - that it drives many players to add 'Friends' on the sole basis they play the same game.

Now this is quite okay and probably not a problem, however.. Every person you add, unless you specifically and laboriously tweak your information has access to your live feeds, photos and personal information. Perhaps you don't want that?

So I created a list called "FV Freaks". Now the referal to Freaks has nothing to do with these people being strange and unusual but rather an old reference to phreaking - a technique used to make free phone calls from a telephones by freaking the line.

My FV Freaks 'LIST' is not quite perfect but it does work. I'd perhaps rather call those people FV Friends. If and when I get to know them better, with a better gradient scale of relatedness, promote them to another level of personal connection - New Friends, for example.

This would add flexibility to our profile and make sharing more or less personal information easier. The founding premise here is that our online profiles are becoming more extensive. The opportunity to exploit personal information recorded online has never been greater.

For the linguistically minded the objective here is to avoid debasing the word Friend. Like my friend Amadeus said, "I have so many friends I need a new word for the real ones".

Allowing users of social networks a greater degree of control of this information not only serves to protect our private information - photos, birth date, address and phone numbers - but also enhance the depth of connection we achieve with those we consider close friends.

A world full of acquaintances will never replace a handful of close friends. In the immediate future our social networks must move to accommodate this growing need.

Do you have hundreds of friends, of which 4 are immediate family, 30 are relatives, 5 are good mates, and 200 other people you've crossed paths with, spoken to once, belonged to a mutual interest group or some other tentative connection? Dare I suggest to the person who says they have 200 close friends on Facebook is superficial? I am not making that assertion, however, a finer distinction than Friend may be required.

Thanks for taking the time.

Questions:

• Do you think online networks bolster real face-to-face communication.
• How many Social Network 'Friends' do you have?
• How many Friends in your Social Network are real, good, face-to-face friends?
• Share your thoughts here:

Living In Kiel

Well it's been a bit of a drawn out process but we finally are living in our apartment in Kiel. It's a three bedroom apartment on the 3rd floor and we share it with another German guy named Jonas.

Finished full time work for the boat builder at Rader Insel. Bit of a pity cause it was quite enjoyable but I expect to find work here in Kiel. Besides, my full time german language course starts on the 26th this month. Thats 5days a week, 4 hours a day. Intensive stuff. On the upside I did quite well on the entrance exam and can skip the first 3 courses. That means I have only level 4, 5 and 6 to get my certificate. That's a two fold ticket..basic competency for living and working in Deutschland and it extends my visa while I do it. Then I just have to find full time work.

I will eventually make it back to Australia. The course probably finishes in Feb 2010 so I may make the trip then. No concrete plans beyond that so far.

Sarah is doing her orientation week at uni this week and starts lectures next week I think. :) Of course I've been paying close attention to what she's says... :) and I have a new adventure to discover this city. I just got comfortable finding my way around Rendsburg and now it's a new city!

Well, in anticipation of having to get about .. I decided not to buy a car just yet .. I bought a bike. We found a second hand bike shop (gebraucht farader - ein farad is a bike, gebraucht means used) and despite my limited german skills managed to buy the bike for 20 euro and they let me use their workshop for around 4 hours while I got it working! Replaced the crank bearings, addd some new rear brakes, lubricated and serviced the front gear guide, fitted a bell - pedestrians are so pesky .. and bike traffic is such a big deal that through most of the city there are tracks beside the road for bike users - the lights work and the front wheel has the dynamo in the centre hub. Pretty cool actually.. just like the weather.

Two nights ago there were reports of snow around 200k's from here and the overnight temperature is getting down to 1 degree. during the day it's a balmy 13-15 degrees so warm clothing is essential.

In the flat (really 2 bedrooms plus a study) we painted a feature wall a rather bold burgundy / purple colour. Looks great and the indoor plants really soften things nicely. I'm about to head out in search of a blank canvas. Think i'll try my hand at painting a suitable picture for the wall.. a stylised picture of flowers or something. If it turns out I'll post a picture!

Well, all's well and I have loads to do. Upload photos, write more in the blog, write more for my books - I have three writing projects on the go at the moment; a creative novel, an instructional application of photoreading and my ecoliving website which is currently offline... must attend to that. Anyway, gotta dash.. sarah's just come back.

Hi to all and remember to post your comments.

I'm A Tischler

In Australia what I'd been doing is called being a handwerker. A Hand Worker, roughly translated. A carpenter, woodworker, joiner, etc is a Tischler. That's what I'm doing.

Rebuilding an 11 metre yacht. Nice work. Have a bunch of photos yet to organise.

Yesterday I planed three sticks of mahogany, 50mm wide with 45 degree edges both sides.. a parallelogram. This morning I sanded the face of each smooth! I also routed two manhole/skylights in the yacht and made some coloured epoxy to fill holes and join some timber.

Nice job today, run a 32mm by 450mm by about 1.2m long mahogany through the thickness planer, cut a couple of strips to get the grain running in the right direction (cross-ways) and then bookmatch a join and stick it with the coloured epoxy. Tomorrow I have to shape it to match an old worn piece of timber on the boat. Imagine an old chopping board, with a scalloped section in the middle the roughly rakes from front to back getting deeper as it does.. then imagine the fun i'm going to have making a piece to perfectly match the scalloped section so we can put a nice flat grain piece of timber over it like a veneer!!

Challenging though fun. I come home dusty most days and relish a good hot shower.

Well, tomorrow is Saturday and I'm going to work simply because Sarah is working and I have the option. Nice workshop.. see the pics.. on facebook.. will post a link here soon for the album.

Suggestions welcome for what I might make in my spare time.. a nice desk, coffee table and a candle holder - 8 glass sides, nice wood top edge plus wooden base.. any other ideas??

Oh, and you have to learn fast here.. boat people generally don't like joiner's - they tend to make square things and boat are anything but square! Interestingly enough a handwerker is more valued than a joiner here.. an eye for detailing car panels comes in handy and pays better than the qualified joiner in this business...Mad Ridiculous but that's how it is! Thanks for the tips, Gus! Someday I may get around to restoring an XB panel van!! :)

Kochen, Deutschsprachlich und ein Rezept oder zwei

Cooking, German and a Recipe or Two

Food is a wonderful part of life and features strongly in German culture. From North to South is a great variety in what is considered traditional fare however the flavours tend to be rich and creamy. Fresh salads and vegies are common as are many processed meats; wursts, salamis, sliced meats, smoked meats, etc. Due to the population size and lack of grazing land beef is expensive, pork is most common and das Hänchen - chicken and der Puter - Turkey are readily available.

Interstingly names for things change quite a bit from North to South. For example a butcher is known as der Fleischer (North: the 'meat'-er, fleisch is meat), der Metzger (South) and der Schlächter (the slaughterer). The butcher shop is called die Fleischerei oder der Fleischerladen, die Metzgerei oder die Schläcterei. A master butcher: der Fleischermeister.

Note, nouns are always capitalised in German, even in the middle of a sentence, however the pronoun, der, die or das ("a") is not. The forms are male, female and neuter. The equivalent definite article is ein, einer, and ein. Just for fun these articles are all declined for the cases nominative and dative (sometimes genitive as well!). Unlike the romantic languages (e.g. Italian and French) there are no hard and fast rules to determine the gender of a noun.. so they are all rote learnt, with a few guiding rules that help occasionally.

Anyway, back to the food.. dinner last night was supposed to be a vegetarian lasagne but at the last minute turned into something of a new recipe. Two versions, the first I actually cooked and the second the recipe the way I'd do it next time. Here 'tis, enjoy!

Paul's Leek and Lentil Pasta

Method and the Mix! Serves 3

• Put on a pot of water to cook the pasta
• Fine chop onion and saute in good splash of olive oil
• Chop leek in quarters lengthwise and then oblique slice
• Add about half a cup of hot water to hot pan and steam leek | 1min
• Add 2 tbsp of tomaten mark (tomato paste - and i mean a shovel of a tablespoon)
• Add abt 125ml of cream, more (not less)
• Thin with half a cup of milk
• Add 2 tbsp shovels of canned brown lentils (y'know, 1/2 a cup give or take)
• Keep adding (boiling) water to maintain a nice runny tho' viscose sauce
• Add a shake of chilli powder, more cumin and a boat load of salt
• Turn the heat on the sauce down
• Cook pasta in boiling water as per packet directions
• Serve

Notes:

• Fresh corriander goes well with lentils
>> add half a cup of chopped corriander
>> garnish with a sprig or three of corriander

• Pumpkin (Kürbis) would go well in this dish.

• Wholemeal pasta is better for this recipe

• We didn't have Parmesan because for a people that love cheese it just isn't very popular here (Deutschland). Other stinky cheeses are but hey, I reckon that grated pecorino or parma cheese would be good on top too. Serve with your choice of red or white wine. I'd go the halb trocken rot (half dry red).

Paul's Wholemeal Pasta with Leek and Lentils

Recipe Serves 4+ Hungry Hippos

Prep and cook time about 22 minutes;

with all the ingredients close to hand this dish can be prepared and cooked on the fly.

• 2 cups of pumpkin cubes
• 1 Small Onion
• leek: 2 medium / 3 small / 1 ginormous
• small tin of canned lentils (between 1/2cup and 2 cups; fresh if you plan to be organised!)
• 2 rounded tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 small tub of cream
• 1 cup milk (can swap qty of cream and milk)
• 1/8 tsp chilli powder
• 1/4 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp salt (good sea salt)
• bunch of corriander rough chopped (abt the same proportions as your favourite lentil burger recipe! Don't be afraid to use a lot.. e.g. 2 cups.. I prefer about 3/4 cup)
• 500gm pkt wholemeal pasta penne

Get Cooking!

Put a pot of water on for the pasta

- Cube pumpkin

- Add to pot and aim to (very) slightly undercook pumpkin

In a non-stick frypan sautè onion in olive oil

Cut leek in quarters lengthwise then fine chop

Add leek to pan and lightly fry for a minute

Add a ladle of boiling water from the pot to steam leek

Add tomato paste and cream, stir

- add milk for initial consistency

Add lentils, herbs and spices

Stir gently - add boiling water to maintain good viscose consistency

Reduce heat to gentle simmer

Add pumpkin when ready (i.e. use a slotted spoon to keep the water boiling)

Cook pasta - serve when al dente

Garnish with a sprig or three of corriander

For the kids or the less adventurous, leave out the corriander completely.

For a cold night add more cumin. Don't rev the chilli too hard on this dish.

Comments Welcome :)

Glücksburg Castle

Went to Glücksburg Castle with Sarah. Glück means Luck and/or Happiness. Really interesting and authentic.. several photos of Princess Mary and The Prince of Denmark. Opened to the public in 1925. Currently a 5 Euro entry per person.

Spent about 2 hours meandering through the rooms, halls and surrounds.

Just before leaving we found the dungeon with genuine torture equipment. Quite frightening.
- stretching rack
- thumb and leg screws
- seat of nails

The seat of nails looked the worst.. blacksmith fashion 2inch pegs with about a 3/8" base tapering to nothing at the point! Savage stuff. (rusty too, although I wondered if it was crusty old blood stain...)

Old furniture a real treat. 'Typical' castle wardrobes (bloody huge wooden boxes with some detailed inlay the work of a true craftsman. Several settee style couches and many old silver mirrors. Some exquisite oil paintings both portraiture and landscape.

Took many photos outside of the castle and grounds but photos inside are basically forbidden. I did manage to grab a couple of sneaky pics, especially of the kirche (the church or chapel).

The kirche is in pristine condition and the handcrafted wooden pulpit is similar to others I found in Holland. A curved stairway leads to the pulpit proper and is something of a cockpit for the congregation where the priest or minister would stand aloft, fairly eight feet above the seated heads of his congregation!

The old wooden pews are pretty much the same as most cathedral pews found in a Catholic church.. not much in the way of comfort. Oh, that's the pipe organ you can see there on the right. I know it's a castle but c'mon, this place seats like less than a hundred sinners.. oh, and (faultless) royalty! ;o)

We're leaving shortly - having stopped for a coffee and cheesecake at a cafè across the road - for Holnis. Holnaes is about 5k's up the road; there's a beach there, restaurant and a few other small attractions.

Kieler Woche

The Kieler Woche is about the biggest party the North of Germany sees all year. It's fairly huge and runs from Friday to Sunday week.

We checked in yesterday, the final Sunday, to be there to catch the fireworks.

A bit of bummer on that point .. around 11pm we sat down for the fireworks with about 500 other people only to discover they were being launched from *behind* a new apartment building that wasn't there last year. A little disappointing.. so we moved.. along with the herd!

Anyway, a little earlier we wandered through the streets of Kiel checking out the sites, stalls and markets. Impressive turn out really. Loads of people although they tell me that by comparison it was hardly as packed as it really gets.

We tried the bratwürst - you know, a ten inch sausage served in a 3 inch bun! I didn't understand this until I had one.. it makes sense, really. The sausage is so good you want to fill up on that and the bread is kind of like an edible napkin.

Earlier still when we arrived in Kiel we went to visit Katrina.. we being Sarah, Elza and me! Cooked pizza and washed it down with a few choice drinks .. the choice though wasn't that good although the cheap sparkling wine, dash of orange juice and a splash of lemon vodka did taste pretty good! Even so, I decided to stick to the Becks!

Check out the photos.. I'm about to upload them now.

Oh.. it's Monday and already ten past five. Where has the day gone?

We've had breakfast.. and coffee!

Very much enjoying a well earned holiday. Sounds like I may have a job as a haüs meister - caretaker - for the local child care network ( 4 houses ) and / or a gig at a local school doing a couple hours garden care each morning. Either way, the requests are starting to line up for the home handyman to make a start .. painting doors, fixing window sills, replacing shower screens and more.. funny to be in demand.

Will c. Taking the hint though and making the most of doing the holiday thing. The plans are starting to come together for going to England and Ireland. Will visit Denmark in the next week or two and we still have a little island that sounds appealing - no cars, lovely beach, good weather and getting in before the German holidays start at the end of July.

Going well. Enjoy the photos .. haven't looked at them yet.. hopefully I snapped a few good ones. :)

We were up early this morning .. well, relatively!

It's about half twelve now and we're about to go. The weather this morning was beautiful with clear blue skies but in the last half hour it's completely clouded over. We're expecting rain storms from about 2pm this afternoon. :( We'll see.

Time seems to fly. Maybe I'm just more aware of it.

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La la

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So we went to Schleswig and saw the castle there. It was built sometime in 1702 I think although the property was formed around 1106. Quite old. They had a few exhibitions of portrait paintings, treasure chests, knights armour and more.

Interesting. I have a few photos I will upload to an album on facebook.

Anyway, it only rained a little in the afternoon - during the 10 minutes we decided to sit for coffee and cake! Worked out nicely though. Sat inside for a few minutes in the cafè and then it cleared up. :)

Well, it's Monday the 29th now so I oughta get on with writing what we did last night... Kieler Woche! Yah!!

Thursday Already!

Well it's thursday and the week has flown by...

Ooops! Now it's Wednesday of NEXT WEEK!
Much to update. I've made notes so it oughta be fairly straightforward. Finding time to write, party, travel and live and cook and learn and speak is quite a management activity.

Enjoying Muchly.

Going Home

Plan now to get from Kleve to Rendsburg.

Prob take the train although a car share is possible.

A car share might cost $30EUR, maybe $60 for that trip.
A comfy train trip, first class.. now that´s worth using the 1st class ticket for. Whip out the EURail pass and with all the bravado you can muster look the conductor in the eye as you show him your ticket. It looks genuine (it is!) and totally different from every other ticket he checks hundreds of each day. It´s not worth his while finding out what it is, so long as he believes it is legitimate and he can acknowledge it.

All things being equal he smiles and moves on.

Kinda cheeky although train travel here is so expensive that a little fudge here and there makes a '5 day travel in 2 month ticket' such good value.

Then again, realize that this one trip put me on 3 trains with 3 conductors that checked my ticket three times. I was stamped once in 6 train rides and the conductor still wasn't sure what the ticket was!

However, that meant that good ol´ DeutschBahn "Doitch A Bahn" didn´t really give away much .. with so few international travellers (compared to locals) it means that I`m either sitting in a first class carriage or crouched somewhere between the second class carriages.

It´s kinda of all or nothing.

A DB reservation can cost 5-30 euro for the first class seat - that's over and above the ticket price - which means that it does get quite expensive.

There are few discounts available for locals. City travel is much like Melbourne, Sydney, Brissy or Perth. Travelling through Berlin is quite cheep; its a big city and travel within it encompasses every living need. I get the feeling the German government doesn't really want it's residents to move about too much; perhaps a hang-over from a bygone era?

Once this ticket expires I think I´ll ask the guy at the reserviat desk for an global pass ticket. Then again, the next phase is cheep plane flights. I'm going to fly to England for about 23EUR, on to Dublin for about 5EUR and who knows wherever else!

Thinking I will stay six months at least. My original plan from a few years ago put me in Europe for 2 - 3 years on first inspection and I could easily stay that long. I suppose that means tending to the survival fund with a little extra for expense back home.. car storage, bub, fines, registrations, and whatever else.

It's good here.. I like it.

Sontag 21 Juni 2009 Kleve

We´re in Kleve right now. Came back late yesterday afternoon from the party in Rotterdam. It´s about a 2 hour drive.

Photos on facebook: street signposts and autobahn shots. Intercity express train shots.. Regional Express. Trucks. Cars. Buildings. People. Places. Rotterdam on the street. A coffee in Rotterdam. Doner Kebabs. McDonalds, KFC, Burger King, fresh herring gutted and filleted by a street vendor. Beer and lots of it. We make good pace through some interesting countryside and new language territories.

Sometimes English is simply not an option. However, when you demonstrate an attempt in German the response is reciprocated often with far better english than you could otherwise muster German expression.

Much work to do with several series photos.. The Wanderer At Large! Through my eyes and the lense of the camera the actors change though the story is the same. Wonderful time.

Complete immersion. German, Dutch, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Australian. And not much English! To live here is to learn to read the signs, which are all NOT in English, and are in German or Dutch. It´s a funny realisation to be with Germans and go to Holland where most of them have no idea what the signs mean either:

They drove half an hour. I flew 20 hours, trained for 9 hours then a further 4 hours, flew for an hour on Ryan Air in a cramped position for a 6´ boy.

A reasonable flight fare at $74EUR although the three others flew return for 22eaEUR all inclusive for booking one week earlier. Two days earlier it would have cost about 30EUR. 4 - 7 days gives the best option at the lowest cost. Jump in early. Plan a little.

EURail pass not worth using for this trip. Fly here to Düsseldorf for $74 and Maurice picked us up from Wheeze Airport. We drove to his place in Kleve. Met Caroline again. Fredrika arrived Saturday midday. Good to talk again. Pack up, drive to local supermarkt for supplies including beer and breakfast. Früstük. (breakfast) Check spelling.

Food: Exquisite
Sliced salami platters, blocks of cheese 500g for $2EUR and the good stuff for $4 to $7. So cheep! Sliced Gouda predominant. Bread, Toast, spices, Currywürtz, Mustard, Creamed balsamic vinegar, juice, sparkling water, brüten, salat.. and more! WOW!

Some audio recordings and movies taken as well. Production work involves catalog photos. Some 300 new photos since Saturday morning. Est´s nur early Sontag abend.

13:18 21 July 2009

From 4:34pm to 21:50pm 15/6/09 Party, Pizza and a Place to soak up Berlin

Well, today there is much to say.

We have just come back from the local Trattoria.. a georgeous italian resturant with wood fired pizza.

They served a bowl filled with thick sliced bread similar to cibatta. Two bottles of olive oil, a chillie oil and a bottle of quality balsamic made for the perfekt dipping sauce.

Then came the pizza.

These things are massive. We each had a pizza about the size of a family pizza at home.. served thin crust with wafer thin bacon like procciuto. A smattering of olives, cheese - käse, tomaten plus some spicy things to make it a messicano .. very yummy - zehr lecker!

I ate about 2/3rds before learning how to ask for a doggie bag. Quite funny though the maitré di - kellner - understood me immediately.

We´re back at Mo´s place now.. max, flauschie, mo and me.. having a little night cap. I think it will be an early night for me.

I have to collect my computer and bag of clothes. The nuisance of having a bag of stuff that is precious is annoying.. I now have to travel 40 minutes each way to go back to Max´s and retrive my stuff.

Taking everything with you is so much easier. If you have too much then simply pack less next time.

So I learn more with each trip. That´s why a few shorter trips are ideal preparation for a longer travelling adventure. It´s nice to have a suitcase full of bits and pieces however its better to be unencumbered while exploring a new city.

Working out the right size bag to carry just the things you need, which may be 24, 48 or 72 hours or longer is tricky. Carrying few clothes presents interesting challenges in staying fresh and clean though it can be done.

A few minutes of english tv before the program swings back to the full time german. Sometimes in the first few weeks it can become a bit intense and it's good to get a balance with a little aussie programming.

I also learnt a great streaming website that has many shows broadcast in australia.

Sarah and I've swapped a few messages. At every turn things just keep getting better. She has the hurricane festival from Thursday to Sunday. Which is why I'm staying away longer this time.

Study, travel, investment, business and more fun in the sun are definitely on the agenda. Manz options.

Well, here's hopefully for an early night. These stupid keyboards, the damn z and the y are interposed on this key layout. Slows you down considerably to swap it.

Alternativelz, I tzpe the waz that Iäm accustomed and then do a search replace later. This works far more effectivelz although it also requires that iäm consistent in mz coding. Easz enough to spot and simplz cut and filter a file like this one into the two sections that comprise the alternate forms.

Of particular note it does reduce the number of hanging characters as the z is tzped more often than the y.

good fun .. mach späs.. however itäs spelt.

Either to Dresden tomorrow morning or one more day in Berlin then time to explore a little.

Cheers!

Note on the road..

At the moment we´re here in Berlin, about 6 stops south west of the hauptbahnhof (hbf) eating gerkins with feuriger Chilli.

A slow and relaxed day it´s near to half four in the afternoon and we´ve hardly thought about doing much. A trip to the electronics store plus a vist to a photo shop and a knife gallery.. well I am in need of a decent cooks knife, especially as they often ask me to cook.

Its fabulous.

planned to go to Dresden. will be there tuesday and wednesday. late thursday i go to kleve and arrive around 8.30 in the morning. we´ll jump in the car at Dusseldorf cause a friend is picking us up. Max, Flauschie and Mo are flzing. Their tickets cost about 22 euro for there and back. Trzing to book onlz four dazs in advance the ticket price would be over 90 euro, inclusive of all charges.

so i´m taking the deutschbahn, DB. The trip costs about $31 for a one waz although the first class ticket would cost about 179. Not sure whether to use the eurail ticket.. 3 or 4 journeys left or pay and sit in 2nd class. On the overnighter that means a chair that reclines, as in an airplane. A sleeper car for 49 euro accounts for a train trip and a good night sleep in a hostel so it´s prettz good.

just about to head out from our haunt.

Its owner is home soon from work so needs his space back.

Going exploring berlin...

Getting to the Festival In Kleve

The day began as usual; shower, dress, breakfast and coffee.

Sarah starts work at eleven. Plenty of time to walk me to the station first.

I'm taking the 10.35 ICE to Kleve. The InterCityExpress will be three trains today and take aboout 7 hours to arrive at my destination.

First leg: Rendsburg to Hamburg.
Nächste stop: Dusseldorf
Final leg: Kleve.

The first leg takes a little over an hour. I have a first class ticket and the accommodations are well appointed.

The second leg isn't quite so comfortable. After joining the train at Hamburg I realise that first class is fully booked - that's the chance you take not paying a booking fee, which can be up to 30 euro!

The train is packed. An empty booth looks inviting though the reservation cards spell an ominous sign. I take a seat. Alone.

Several stations pass without incident. I feel the urge to squirm a little when strange faces stop to inspect the reservation card. Puzzled looks cross their faces and then they move on. I relax a little. Perhaps they won't make the train..

My worst fears are realised when a family boards and it becomes apparent they hold the reservation. "Don't worry" they assure me.. "we have 5 seats so maybe you will be lucky.. stay, stay.. it's okay".

An elderly couple wander past.. then return. Apparently they have a reservation. I'm looking nervous and the old geyser feigns confidence.. "Yes, I think this is my seat.. sorry son".

Not speaking the language presents some challenges. I couldn't very well demand to see his reservation ticket, if indeed he had one, but it seems at the very least the polite thing to let the old man relax in the comfy chair and find a seat myself.. er.. elsewhere.

You know, the 4.40pm express Spencer Street to South Geelong is usually packed. About the best spot is in the carriage doorway. It's not so bad; out of the way of the passing foot traffic and the inter-carriage doorway. And it's only an hour or so..

Well that's the train to South Geelong. This bloody thing goes Hamburg to Dusseldorf and that takes over four hours. Four long, restless, sleep-deprived hours. Damn! Why didn't I make a reservation?

Well, changing trains at Dusseldorf I find the right platform, not a moment too soon. Ahh.. the lap of luxury once more. Most of these ICE trains have onboard wireless internet and poweroutlets to run the laptop. Great for getting work done.. or watching a movie. :)

As the train rolls along I notice the scrolling display at the end of the carriage. After telling me die nächste Station ist blah, it informs me that we are silently flying along at 250 KMH. That's 250 Ka, Em, Ha.. 250 clicks! So smooth.

Kleve is a small station. It has a single platform. Pretty easy to find my way out.. for a change!

I call Max, my mate from Brisbane - the guy from Berlin - and he's just finishing a coffee, be there shortly.

Some 15 minutes later a little red car pulls up. Practicing his Aussie accent he manages a pretty good 'Howz it goin' mate?' He's got the aussie thing down pat. Stepping out of the car he hands me an empty beer bottle, says cheers and helps throw my stuff in the boot.

A moment or three later he realises, 'Oh, that's one's empty.. here's a freshie' and grabs another himself. 'Here's cheers! Welcome to Germany'

I kind of look around to see who's watching. It feels a little wrong to be standing on the street, swigging a genuine Becks beer and no one bats an eye. Normal. Huh.

Okay.. the trip into town gets even more peculiar. We're going into the Sparkasse (bank) with a beer in hand! Walking down the street we pass many people. No one seems to notice we're drinking in public.

Okay, so this is .. a .. little different.

Then the moment it all made sense.

Finishing our beers, we head for the petrol station. Max needs smokes, a drink and a magazine for Freeda - our driver.

When he said drink and service station I thought Coke, apple juice maybe ginger beer. But nope, there it is, right there on the shelf. Good God! It's Beer!

Grabbing a few ice cold bottles, just the local stuff mind you, we head back to the car. I kinda get the feeling i'm going to like this place.

Well,that's how I got to Kleve and about all I remember! haha.. not really.. although it'd make a good story, don't you think.

Tune in next time for more and get the low down on just what happened.. or what I *can* remember anyway. ;)

Thought for the moment: Inside is so wonderful especially when the summer outside is raining and about 14 degrees! Looking forward to Saturday and Sunday.. 25 to 30 degrees.

Check back soon and I'll post a first impression article. What I've seen of Germany so far is lovely. Absolutely lovely. I'll write about it.

Bis Bald
Tschüss
Auf Widersehen
Ciao
Cya
L8r
Bye