Sprechen-ing Deutsch and ski-jumps.........

Hello, and a special welcome to the lovely ladies who comment here - it is such a delight to read your thoughts, and to think of you reading mine too. I wonder, sometimes, about the hundred or so who come and visit most days but leave without chatting. Who, where, why??? Well, I know the where, but not the who. But you are all very welcome, of course!

Today has been a white day. No, not snow, but that is coming tomorrow, I gather from Those Who Know These Things. No. Fog. Pea soup kind of fog. So thick you cannot see anything a few feet ahead of you. (It is still out there.) And I drove my brother-in-law down the mountain for an appointment through this fog. As we set off, I told him that if we went at 2 miles an hour, that would be JUST FINE. However, there was a sensible, well lit landrover ahead, so that made things slightly easier. Hah. We got there and back without mishap, and I even managed to find my way to the shopping centre in search of a replacement for a thing from the innards of the steam cleaner, which gave up the ghost earlier today. (Past children in white cloaks ringing cowbells. I assume in preparation for Sammi Klaus next week.) 

My stick and I marched up to the man at enquiries and asked, in German, if he spoke English. Nein. Ok, Ich sprechen Deutsch, I announced, and then - THEN, I proceeded to tell him the problem, find out that a replacement would take 10 days, discuss guarantees and check out the price of a new one all in German, if you please. I was on a roll. We had a real conversation, and he understood me. I understood him, and I left clutching the name of an emergency repairman if I needed it sooner.

Go, me!

Such an accomplishment, I tell you. AND to top it all, I found my way back to pick up brother-in-law, and we toddled back up the mountain into the white world. Hairpin bends and all.

So I am feeling rather pleased with myself.

AND - there is more - my sister arrived back from her seminar where she had to do a presentation and she hates public speaking with a passion, and she absolutely aced it. The management expert who was training the staff, said that she had set the bar really high. She went first. Well, that was an even greater relief, because I have been her trainer in the evenings, and her presentation was interspersed with the word "BREATHE" in red now and then. I know how hard it was for her, and I am SO proud of her!

She remembered to breathe.

See? More pink poles along the river. The river looks so calm and innocent, doesn't it - it is winter, so up the mountain, it is all snow and not rain. But I remember the devastating floods a few years ago which tore through my sister's house. So I keep an eagle eye on it. On the left is the fence around the Sportshalle, just over the road from my sister's place. And just on the right, is the ski jump.

It doesn't look like much right now, but in just 2 weeks, on the 16th I think, the World Cup Ski  Jumping Championships come to town, and the world will be watching those crazy tiny men whizz down that massive hill, and launch themselves into the air once again. They come every year. Check your TV stations and see if you can watch a little while, imagining my sister's house at the bottom of it all!

The mud, we will ignore. The snow is coming tomorrow, remember. The construction of the stands and tents and all the rest has begun. I have never paid to watch this, understand, I have stood on Marge's balcony and watched for free!

Now, tell me, is this not totally SWISS? Just wait until the snow falls, hopefully before I fly away, because I will show you some more. Let me know if you have had enough!

And the inventories go on. We have 2 more days to finish it all, and then I can breathe. BREATHE. 

I will be back.