2023 年 4 月 21 日
Guten Morgen. Wie kann ich Ihnen helfen? Good Morning. How can I help you? This post is going to be difficult to put into Japanese. "Irasshaimase? " no, I am not a supermarket or a restaurant. It's more personal here. "Kon,nichiwa" should do...Here is what my customers see when they enter my workshop........
1. Photo of `Cello: Made this when living in Wiesbaden, 1990.
2. Telephone: Model 312L (Bakelite) Introduced by the General Post office in 1949. The silver button was a "tinkle silencer". The telephone was available in black, Chinese red, Ivory or Jade. And here's the advertizing......that hairstyle....could be my Mum!
I found the telephone in a junk shop in Burgess Hill, Sussex.
3. Business card tray: Post-war Japanese (Japanese Laquer), a New Year's gift としだま from Kanagawa. It arrived in Langen Post Office after a three week journey from Japan. Nobody told me it was there, so it got sent back to the post office in Kanagawa (another 3 weeks). In November of that NEW Year (ie 2022), I eventually picked it up at my friend's house in Japan - almost one year later. Intriguingly, it still smells of incense.
4. Quartz: A few million years old. From Idar-Oberstein, Germany.
What? You did not want the weather forecast for the Frankfurt region in Germany? Oh, sorry......I will translate it for you....ドイツの天気予報......
Ah, you see, this is what it says: The Weather in the Rhein-Main Area. 天気予報. The heavens (Himmel) above the Rhein-Main area will remain depressingly covered (bedeckt) in cloud ☁ 雲 today, and a light shower ☔ にわか雨 will now and again depress you even further. Later, a few rays of celestial sunshine (Sonnenstrahlen) ⛅ 光 will inspire you, although if you are stupid enough to go hiking on the Altkönig hill above Frankfurt the chill will freeze you to the marrow at only 6°c 🥶氷 If you are sensible you will find a café in Wiesbaden ☕ 喫茶店, where the temperature will rise to the unholy heights of 13°c. But this is nicht in Ordnung, for it is too cold (zu kühl) for this time of year. Fact. The north wind will blow, 🌬 but if you are in the right café it will only be mäßig - maybe a tender cool brush on the cheek. Don't go walking in the Taunus or Spessart hills, for there you shall be met by Frische Böen....fresh beans flying at 35 km/h. (sorry, I mean fresh gusts....)
Some celestial sunshine above Langen..........
I am told that there is a whole facebook group called "cloud appreciation", who would love this photo. No way. I am not going anywhere near facebook again. It corrupted me once, and that was enough. The trial I had to go through to de-register! Every day, whether I was brushing my teeth or hoovering, these algorithms would ping at me and taunt me...." Your friends haven't heard from you for a long while......"......."You may be missing vital news"......"you are only a click away from registering again...."...I gleefully accepted the challenge, and a month later I was finally released from the tentacles of this insidious platform. End of Rant. ✔ フェイスブック - 🙊🙉🙈
Time for the next photo. I was hoping to get into the "Langener Post" (the local newspaper 地元の新聞) with this photo, maybe with the following title : "Lone Engländer seen in Langen woods looking at the weather......".....searches on facebook end in Sackgasse (dead end)......イギリス人は天気を見ています😅.
It is also reported that the suspect showed an almost obsessional interest in fungal growths.....彼は菌に興味がある.....!
......👉🏻
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The truth is.....I got lost. 実は……道に迷った. Google maps is hopeless in the woods......It needs a McDonalds or a Kentucky fried chicken to orientate itself...
Actually I photographed some rather charming spring flowers......春の花......
and watery corners......小さな川の隅
....a hazel branch....榛
....and, after ducking under the planes at Egelsbach airport......
....I happened upon a a sort of gingerbread house, as in Hansel and Gretel.......although in this case it was the local forester's house...Das Förste Haus Koberstadt....ジンジャーブレッドハウス? 🙃.
As the sun faded, I found my way back to my bicycle and joined the cycle expressway home.....家に帰ります......
....passing over flooded meadows, whose mirror-like waters added an almost noble aspect to our power lines....
As soon as the sun set a chill set in.....日の入り
....and before reaching home the gaudy lighting of the Stadthalle urged me on my way.....
So there. Here is the suspect. Free from facebook, spotted in a remote corner of the Langen woods....森の中の見知らぬ男......😱
Would you go on a hike with him? 彼と一緒にハイキングに行きませんか 😅
Oh no! I am on my last batch of green tea. How will I survive? 私はもっとお茶を買わなければならない.....Time to go into town and re-stock. The little Japanese shop on the Wallstrasse in Sachsenhausen (Frankfurt) https://his-food-travel.com/de/ has what I need. Sencha. It's a standard export brand, but the real thing.
It's not cheap (€ 9.00/￥1,323 for 150g), but the staff offer me a free matcha, some smiles and a little bit of Japanese chat. It does you good. それは良いです. A short walk over the river from this Japanese shop is the cathedral, so I popped in and sat down underneath its high vaults. フランクフルト大聖堂 ("Dom")
The aristocracy have left their memorials here....some quite forceful.....
Some memorials are for musicians.......有名なミュージシャン
Enough of the structure survived the firebombing of 1944 to rebuild and restore....
.......it is amazing that the tower survived...1944
on a lighter note, the nearby Shirn Kunsthalle (art gallery), was showing off some funny faces.....miaawe! 🐈
Grrrrrrr! モンスター!
I have a horror of stuff, I mean things you never manage to throw out. Except that I did manage it this week. I climbed the ladder up into the attic........私は屋根裏部屋に行きます
.......and filled some boxes full of stuff, then drove to the Wertstoffhof (lit. The materials yard, ie the recycling depot) in Langen. One example : a pile of Kabelsalat (cable salad)......無駄なこと
What a wasteful world we live in.That bakelite telephone is still functioning, 74 years later.
Well thanks for reading my ramblings..この投稿を読んでいただきありがとうございます。 新しい投稿のお知らせを受け取りたい場合は、上部の購読フォームに記入してください。 ありがとう！Thank you, Nigel.😊 and do subscribe if you want new posts automatically in your inbox. But check your spam!
THE END
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終わり