October 2024 年10月
It's disgraceful. Nigel hasn't posted a picture of me for at least 3 or four posts. I am important. For I am a cat, and everybody must admire me. I will a tolerate a quick stroke, yes, but then I shall move away and keep my distance. Distain is one of my strong points.
私は大切な存在です。なぜなら私は猫だから、誰もが私を尊敬するはずだからです。
Trains and bikes
Excitement mounts as the construction of the Darmstadt to Frankfurt bike expressway gradually progresses forward. The latest section has reached Langen........
ダルムシュタットからフランクフルトまでの自転車高速道路
....where there is, however, still a construction site at the station. I think they have ordered some traffic lights from Amazon but they haven't arrived yet.....
アマゾンで信号機を注文したようですが、まだ届いていません.....😂
However, it means I can get out and be in the fields much quicker.....The little train heading for the Odenwald is just a flash of colour in the landscape....
オーデンヴァルト行きの小さな列車
I see a magical view from my bike.....
Anorak, Sangfroid, Zeitgeist, Bungalow......The English language is continuously absorbing foreign words. Why? because they encapsulate a feeling or a thing into one word. Sunlight filtering through trees - komorebi. Add tree 木 to leak 漏れ and add sun 日 and you've got this wonderful Japanese word. "The beauty and wonder of light dappling through overhead leaves, casting dancing shadows on the forest floor "
There is so much else to appreciate aswell......
自転車に乗ると見るものがたくさんあります
All this in my neigbourhood. I am lucky to live here.
There is something about German Schrebergarten (allotments). They all seem to have these DIY gates of all different shapes and sizes.
ドイツのシュレーバーガルテン...小さな門
some are grander than others....
壮大な
Some are pretty basic.....
単純
some are picturesque....
絵のように美しい
Many exude an aura of wabi-sabi, that "sense of beauty from impermanence
and imperfection".....侘 寂 (another one of those aesthetic Japanese words!)
Pushing the bike into a field I found a tasty snack.....
おやつ
mmmmmmmm! 😋 An abandoned apple tree....they leave supermarket apples
tasting like bathroom sponges.....
Meanwhile in the town holes get dug......
これは私のインターネットでしょうか?
And then filled in again....maybe my internet is running through here on fibre optic cables?
...and new houses spring up on the former factory site.....
新しい家
Vans whizz past at extraordinary speeds......
ランゲンでは運転がとても速いです🫣
On Saturday I thought I would take a little trip into Frankfurt. Whilst waiting at Langen station for the S-bahn, a Regional Express pulled in on the platform behind me, heading for Heidelberg. I didn't want to go to Heidelberg, but I jumped in nonetheless. The railway system is being overhauled, so if you see a train, you just get on it (even if it going the opposite direction😂). Be thankful there is a train. 3/4 of an hour later I got off at the little town of Weinheim.......
ヴァインハイムへのちょっとしたお出かけ
On hikes in the area I have hardy given this place a glance. But today was sight-seeing. No hiking boots.
Walking up from the station to the centre of town you pass this......
It is of course a war memorial. The information panel beside it describes it as "an uncomfortable monument....a piece of Nazi propaganda " . Heroic, impersonal soldiers marching to glory.....
「不快な記念碑...ナチスのプロパガンダの一部」
Further up the road nicer things catch the eye.....
しかし、もっと素敵なものもある
Although Kaiser Wilhelm I still insists in dominating the scene.....
Those Prussions, honestly...they keep on popping up. Or at least making sure they haven't been forgotten. A mausoleum in the park.....
公園内の霊廟……
No expense was spared by the local gentry.....
The park itself is beautiful. I sat on a bench, let a headache subside, and just engaged in "forest bathing"........森林浴, 森林 (look at all the trees in those Chinese (Kanji) characters!
There is even an aviary.....
鳥小屋もある
...and some rather more artistic stonework.....
彫刻
Well now. Back in the workshop....
I eventually finished restoring an old violin. A violin which has been sending forth sweet music for the last 300 years. It originally came from a small town which is now near the Czech border. Markneukirchen. It's owner wants to bring it back there soon to pay respects to the man who made it. A member of that illustrious family, the Voigts.
私はついに古いバイオリンの修復を終えた
It had an some awful accident in the 1930s, but a skilful violinmaker in Amsterdam put it back together again. Then, I think about 50 years ago, some idiot messed around with it. "......But now Herr Ruddock has given me a new life. And you should hear me. I sound good..."🎵.
「……でも今、ラドックさんは私に新しい命を与えてくれました。私の声を聞いてください。いい声を出しています…」🎵。
See you.....
またね
best wishes,
Nigel 🙋♂️
THE END Owari 終わり
How lucky to have a cycling road from your town. No such things over here except the river dike roads.