A different education

Over the last week I have been a visitor at the Freie Waldorf Schule in Hildesheim where Klaus and Renate work. In fact they, along with a handful of others, were the founder members of the school, which is a great testament to their commitment to the Waldorf education system. This commitment is ongoing, and a lot of time and energy is needed in order to provide the best education for the pupils. We have seen the dedication that Klaus and Renate have to their work and it is admirable.

At present I don't have my Waldorf Education or Rudolph Steiner books with me so that I can quote directly, but I know the approach to education is vastly different to that that my children have experienced in the mainstream state English education system. Not only are the philosophies of Steiner different, the principles behind learning, the styles of teaching, and so on, but the "look and feel" of the school is different due to the emphasis on natural forms being used where possible. The building has a creative buzz which is evident from the outside.

Inside, pastel shades of paint are mottled on the walls, and large bright garish displays don't exist in corridors: wooden framed cabinets containing examples of handicraft work are on display as an affirmation of common aims achieved. The wooden doors and ceilings make the school feel "homely" and welcoming. Classrooms have a simple wipe clean floor and in the lower classes of the school, beautiful wooden benches replace chairs and tables. Children change footwear in the classroom and wear soft comfortable slip on white shoes (similar to ballet shoes). Chalk boards are used sparingly, and the children have a supply of wax crayons and plain paper exercise books in their bags. This is the basic toolkit in the classroom. 

I visited the school every morning and on every occasion was welcomed and greeted like an old friend. The class teachers of Classes 1-4 were more than expert at their job and for me, it was a pleasure to be back in a classroom, and also observe another teacher. What I was most interested in was the way in which the children learnt, and for me, it was a revalation to see children actively involved in their learning where the only stimulus was the teacher retelling a story. No Big Book, no posters, no interactive whiteboard, no alphabet, no number line. Just a warm, friendly room, like a extension of the home, where the teacher facilitates the learning for the pupils, the pupils care for her/him and each other and everyone is safe and secure.

As the approach is so very different from how I am used to working and from what I am used to observing in English schools, what have I learnt from my visits? I know that I want to teach (still!) even after some time out of teaching. I have seen first hand how children of all ages can acquire skills over a period of time due to a repetitive nature of work. I have witnessed the delight on a child's face when they have made a sound for the first time on a musical instrument. I have been in awe at the amount of English a 7 year old German child knows...it's far more than my English children know of French! And I have seen children respond to a calm relaxed ethos as opposed to the humdrum of English school life which is run with a timetable and an expectation that lessons must have outcomes, and levels MUST be achieved at every step of the way and not when a child is emotionally and developmentally ready. I've questioned WHY we do this to our children in England. We are no better in the education stakes than Germany. 

What can I do with my new found knowledge? Well, I know how I would like to organise a classroom, what style of chairs and tables would help the posture of the children, what I would and would not display on the walls, what lessons would be important and what I would let slip by the wayside so to speak, and even how I expect the children to sit and take note. Plain books allow more creativity, the use of the primary colours means the children are able to mix and match colours with accuracy. Paints too are light and watery and not ready mixed, and handiwork focuses on traditional crafts such as making wool, knitting, sewing, woodwork. 

And the main thing that I would happily live without...the interactive whiteboard!

(With most grateful thanks to Klaus and Renate Föppl and the teachers at the Freie Waldorf Schule, Hildesheim)

Enjoying stereotypes - Part 2

Britain 

Wet

Grey

Traffic jams

Parking ticket - thanks for the welcome back Britain! Grrrrr

That's what has welcomed us back, an archetypal day in Britain! At least we can laugh and enjoy our own stereotypes. Well done Britain, we haven't seen rain for 46 days, and we emerge from the tunnel and slowly the rain closed its net. Good to be back.

The €3.75 post

The wallet has been cleared out now as we sit here in Radnage England. The result is pleasing as we don't have much spare cash floating about, just the €3.75. But sitting here now, I have just completed today's diary entry and just pondered 'Did it all happen?'

I'm not sure how the Beale family felt upon their return after a prolonged absence from the country with their children, but there is a real feeling of 'Did it all happen?' It feels now like it has never happened, a curious blend of dream and reality. I suppose if you have a go at living 'the dream', at some point you wake up and remember only bits of it. That's what it feels like now. Eurotunnel acted like a switch, and I'm guessing the British idiosyncrasies we have already come across also do their part. 

So this €3.75 has a poignancy for us for this moment. It's a reminder that we have done this, as well as a reminder of the fact that we don't have much money left. We shall have the opportunity to relive this a few times with anyone who cares to listen. In the meantime, bring on the next adventure?

Happy days!

I sit here in a pile of 3D Bugles, my favourite french crips, some cheap Lidl wine and a sprawled deck of playing cards. Having had the luxury of time to think what I would write, a thought entered my mind, that time does not always yield results. My musings therefore are a mixed bag of a man who has had a dangerous amount of time to think. 

 My starting point, well this is going to be Clare's thinking that I am determined. I'm not sure I have ever been that determined, I'm more of a stumble upon type of guy, and there seemed to be a perfect storm of situations that guided us into this venture.

Anyway, if you have made it this far with us then congratulations. It feels very odd to be at the end to be honest. 7 months of a life (there or thereabouts) is a long time when you are not in your home. The reality is though that 7 months is nothing. No more than a whim of time, a splutter within the context of a life. However, whatever the results of this whole thing, we can be proud that we have given it a go and crammed as much as possible into it, be it life experiences, places visited or people met.

There are great thanks to be given. Firstly a reciprocal cuddle, handshake, backslap, to be given within the four of us. WE have made it possible to have survived this far. I guess we all brought something to the party. Maya brought a cheery outlook at all times and the power to sing and dance about any theme that we happened to be indulging in, Jasper brought observational skills and a quiet digestation of everything he saw, Clare brought huge bucket loads of organisation and order, direction, and cleanliness, and my job, well, in essence my job was to drive and to try and bring disorder to our life. And so it was, I was reasonably accomplished at both, and as my brother just texted "Mission accomplished".

A huge huge thank you to our families. Support has come in various ways but the family contact through emails, face time texts and phone calls has made it all easier. The thanks continue and extend to friends of ours, some quite "old" friends and some quite "new". Thanks to all our friends and families at the school where we worked the school that the children attended who gave us such a good send off too!

My conclusions then, a line I have written many a time on the blog. Well, I guess the first thing to say is that we are so glad we have done this. We were very naive travellers, and now are a little less naive. There has been a real quality enrichment to life through the people we have met and the things we have done. Would we do it again? Actually, probably yes. We'd do something different, but the format is good. Would we recommend doing this? Absolutely, I hope that Jasper and Maya realise that normal life is good and fine, but that also taking a risk is good and fine. Let it be said, I have never been a risk taker.

So, as the wine glass empties, the crisps surrender, and the cards just cause me problems, we look forward to enjoying the wind down period as we tour families and close friends in Britain, before we arrive back at home.

Thank you to everyone who has texted, messaged, emailed, facebooked, phoned, read the blog, everyone we have met, and all the people who have extended their generosity in various ways, etc.

It has been a pleasure to have shared our adventure with whomever has decided to listen and read.

Happy days!

Best bits

Maya: Paris, because it was big and we went to it in summer.

Jasper: Krk Island because the sea was lovely and it looked good for sailing your boat. The views were lovely and the weather was good too. The roads were really smooth too.

Ed: free camping in the south of Portugal on the coast, where we had our own private beach and watched the most amazing sun sets. A memory really worth treasuring.

Clare: Difficult to chose as so many places have special memories for me. It's been a pleasure watching the children as they have grown and developed in size AND confidence, and I have loved having quality time with my husband. 

The Last Supper!

A year ago I never thought that I'd be sitting in a Motorhome writing a blog post about our time away in Europe and what an amazing time we have all had. I'm not intending for this to come across as me writing this in a gloaty way at all, but we really have had an amazing time. It's thanks to my wonderful husband Ed for his crazy idea in the first place, and also his sheer determination to make it all happen. Oh, and rather a lot of money too! But it hasn't been money wasted, far from it, it has all been money well spent. You can not put a price on the experiences that we have had, and shared together. We have had many happy moments and discovered many lovely places together as a family. 

So now, our last night in Europe is here. We've had the last supper, a Thai Green Curry using a sauce that we picked up in France months ago!!! We are sitting in the aforementioned motorhome, named by Jasper and Maya as "Hugo", and we are enjoying a bottle of red wine to celebrate our successful road trip. Whilst the wine is from France, it's a recent purchase as no liquid refreshment we have bought along the way has lasted very long!!! Some of the vineyards and subsequent wines that we have discovered have been real highlights for us, none more than in St Emilion where our host was a font of all knowledge on wine. Wild, vast, sandy beaches have been discovered and claimed as "ours" in the South of Portugal, and in Italy we loved the small rural villages and towns such as Alberobello. In Munich, we feel we have a second home thanks to our new friend Christian Föppl. We have a favourite coffee shop in Hildesheim, Germany, where on our second and third visits we were shown to our table and asked if we wanted the usual, and we've also eaten some delicious foods, notably the fish and chips in La Cotiniere and the pizzas in Napoli, although Ed's usual Friday night specials are a close second (sorry Ed!). A major highlight for me was the holy grail of Carcassonne; it's a long story as to why that's a special place, but thanks to our good friends the Family Colling for introducing the place to our minds.

So with fond memories, (no doubt helped by the wine!), we now find ourselves having an early night as we need to set an alarm clock for tomorrow. Our Eurotunnel slot was booked rather hastily last week, and we have a few miles to cover before we hit Calais in the morning. We have covered just over 9,000 miles in the last 7 months, seen 15 countries, visited 10 capital cities, and enjoyed almost every moment! If you have been part of our journey, however great or small, THANKYOU too for your friendship and support. 

If you ever get the chance to do what we have done, go ahead and do it. Don't think about the "what ifs" think about the "what will", and take the chance. I'd do it again, glady! Best get saving now again!

Clare 

X

German, Dutch and Belgian roads...a short report

You may be past caring what I think of the road networks wherever we have been, but one day you might just need such information. So here you go in a relatively concise update.

German roads:

1. Fast autobahns.....if you have the right tool.

2. Smooth roads, although not quite French smooth.

3. Signage was not quite the top level of signage, I still believe Britain to hold that honor, but I can report fresh facedly on that when we return.

4. Polite drivers.

Dutch roads:

1. Manic drivers on the big roads cutting across and being a bit leery.

2. A chaotic tangle of motorways. I think the highways planning agency were eating spaghetti and found their inspiration from the plate.

3. Moving from one piece of spaghetti to another is easy as long as you know which piece of parallel spaghetti you want!

4. Roads as smooth as a clog! How's that for a simile?

5. Flat, more flat, a gentle rise, then flat, a gentle dip, then flat.....and repeat.

6. Wide open spaces on roads away from the towns and cities.

Belgian roads:

Please note, limited experience.

1. Rough!

2. Aaaaarrrrrgghhhhhh traffic lights, what do you mean?

3. Stop start stop start, who puts traffic lights on a speedy dual carriageway?

Of course, I could be wrong, and driving Hugo on these roads is never going to bring the best out of a road. It's not exactly a cosseted smooth and silent experience in here, but Belgium, come on! It could all be a preemptive ploy to ween you off the lovely European roads and get you ready for the M2 nightmare. 

Britains roads next. On the left I believe and anti-clockwise on roundabouts?

Getting crossed up!

Our maps are wonderfully decorated and sort of tell the story thus far. However, as the momentum ebbs from our travels, a significant moment is due to happen. By the time most of you have read this, this will be history, but in the here and now, but there is quite a significance for us as for the first time in nearly 7 months, our route will cross over itself. 

We have just chalked up 9,000 miles as we entered into Ostend too. Our total journey will fall short of 10,000 miles though. 

And so to our last night on foreign shores. In fact, I can't call them foreign shores because they have been part of our 'home' landscape. This map highlights some of the places and adventures we have had, it is also a valuable personal possession now as we will inevitably relive some of the moments at a later time. A good map, that we must thank Deborah Long for. I guess next time we do this, we can just swirl about in the middle of Europe as there seems to be a big gap there. Or, of the few pages that aren't drawn on, then maybe Scandanavia? Whatever, we can't CTRL+ALT+DEL anything we have done and start again. Just time now to enjoy the last 800 miles or so now and finish drawing the route all the way back to Ilminster on the 2nd of March.

The dangers of the ploddy peloton around Amsterdam

Further to the post about stereotypes, the Netherlands is all about clogs, cheese, cycling and 'other' activities. Amsterdam fulfilled all the preconceptions and stereotypes that we were expecting, but as far as capital cities go, it's a beautiful place with a fantastic appeal about it. The architecture was quite interesting to observe as buildings seemed to lean on each other. Window apertures were generally quadrilateral in their behaviour, but not really observing an accurate and standard rectangle, generally going for a more subtley irregular feel. It's like looking at a shelf of books where there is a little space for each book to breath and have a gentle lean.

The overwhelming feature of our time in Amsterdam today has been quite unanimously agreed. They have got the green aspect of city living absolutely perfectly right you could argue. The inherent belief that the bike is the perfect mode of transport is instilled in everyone. The sheer glut of cycles is testament to the town planning, which in essence gives the cyclists ultimate power. The high geared bikes are all of a type. Baskets everywhere, 3 gears, no brakes on the handlebars (pedalling backwards to slow), more baskets, mudguards that have unique rattles and squeaks. In fact this took me back to my time on the farm, where mother ewes could identify their lambs bleat in a field of hundreds of bleats. And so I guess that the Dutch could identify their own bikes from the squeaks, rattles, clunks etc. The major problem though was the success of velo-based travel means that the pedestrian has slunk below the car, the tram, the moped, and also the bike. Crossing a road turns into a problem of watching all directions and then hoping that if a bike comes, it may stop. Invariably you can be crossing a road with a green man flashing, but cyclists continue to bisect the zebra crossing without a shade of worry. In fact this circular peloton seems to go round and round. It's like a poor man's Red Arrows, where they cross cross......fearless indeed. It's worth a mention too, that the Dutch can really get going on these things and slip effortlessly between cycle lanes with barely a look. Which leads me to my final point. I wonder if they don't flinch, because they can't? I cycled yesterday to the shop for some essentials, and my face froze. I wonder if the Dutch have a cold weather hardened cycling face?

As I mentioned, clogs are everywhere....except on people's feet. We saw nobody wearing them for real apart from these two ...

It's worth a a mention too of our afternoon snack where we had tea, hot chocolate and schlupwaffles with caramel in. Lovely, unhealthy but warm and warming!

That all said, Amsterdam is a place full of life and vitality, we managed to take in most of the main bits, but even trying to prebook at the Van Gogh museum and the Anne Frank Huis was impossible so a quick external look was had. Our final capital city has been done. As and when we leave in the coming days though, we aim to take in Haarlem for the tulips beginning to bloom along the polders, possibly Zandvoort for another historical race circuit, and Delft for the pottery as we move to our final night on this side of the channel. 

My Maths this week

I'm learning about Symmetry in my maths work. It means if you fold it together, in half, each side gets the same colour or pattern or shape.

I have made a jigsaw of a butterfly which is symmetrical.

Maya

Welkom in Nederland

A beautifuul joourney tooday haas now landeed uus in the Netherlaands. Quite aan amaazing landscaape wheere signpoosts haave an wealth of voowels doobled uup. We know no Duutch so it couuld get interesting. Haaving fun thoough with the coninuued explooration of neew laanguages!

A hat trick of Föppl hospitality

Our time in Germany has been highly influenced by Family Föppl. If I could, I would recommend their accommodation, but I think that would mean for them extending the hand of friendship a little too far. They have been fantastic, and have welcomed all four of us superbly in Salzburg, Munich and Hildesheim. I think I have mentioned it before, but the people we have met along the way have been superb, and if Jasper and Maya learn only one thing from this adventure, I hope that they understand how we have been welcomed into other people's lives and that doing so to other people is a good thing. After saying our goodbyes we turned the van around and were pleasantly surprised to see a cohort of Föppls hanging out of the window waving a cheery goodbye. A great send off as we begin to work our way west on the final stages of our journey.

In addition to our leeching into other people's lives, there has been a knock on effect. This morning, just as we were about to leave the postman delivered the mail. 

It's the first time we have had mail delivered since July (the exception being Father Christmas!!!!). Addressed to Clements Föppl, we were rather tickled to receive this envelope. And the contents? Lego that was left in Munich, and a German article from a kids newspaper on the fall and rise of the red squirrel in Germany. Many thanks Christian! It's just my homework to try and read the article with the aid of a translating tool for some of those tricky words!

Anyway, we all had a fantastic stay with Klaus, Renate, Laurens, Dankward and Wolfram in Hildesheim. A fantastic group of kind people whom it has been a pleasure to stay with. 

Dankeschön from Clements Föppl!

The bulging van that is also suffering from biffage

The process of loading up the van again this morning took some time. Whilst doing this I managed to lose my wallet in the process and much time was spent looking for it. After the tide of rising panic ensued, I was finally calmed by Clare finding my wallet. Not a usual place for a wallet, nor have I done this before, but for some reason I had placed it in the freezer compartment of the fridge in the van. Aside from this, we did well. I did however have a chance to reflect on the bulging sides of the van. On every shelf, behind every cupboard, in the secret compartments, in pockets here and there, there seems to be a huge amount of the collected stuff. Up until now, we have managed to hide most of it, but like the jeans that get too tight, the button is about to pop off! As I sit here in the rear of the van in Osnabruck at 6pm, an outside temperature of 6.5 degrees (warm!), I can see the results of this blobbing out of stuff around us. Firstly, Lego is everywhere, we can't contain its expansion around the van. There is Jasper's Colosseum model he built in Italy above me one shelf, baskets from Bangladesh (don't ask) on the shelf opposite, prints and paintings stuffed behind the Colosseum, a collection of sticks from who knows where but they are 'important' ones for some reason, a Venetian Gondoliers hat, origami paper, leaflets of every kind from everywhere, more flipping Lego, a Ferrari, a rat made of bread, books, more books, a key on a fob that was washed up on the shore at Manfredonia with rusty keys, a flat football and the list goes on in a 'Generation Game' type of style. These are some of the things we can see, although it's the things that we can't see that we have forgotten about that worries me. 'Unwrapping' Hugo will be fun, but could take some time!

Biffage

Noun

Definition: to be full of food

Origin - unknown, but linked to the imagination of Ed Clements

Examples: My stomach was so full I was suffering from biffage. There was a certain amount of biffage around the table.

Today we suffered from serious 'biffage'. It was never part of the plan, not that we have ever really had plans for 7 months or so, but after a pleasant morning watching 10 classes perform on stage at the Hildesheim Waldorf School, we followed Renate's advice and found the Pfannkuchenhaus in Hildesheim. The 'pancake' house was brilliant in its quirkiness. It was more like having your lunch in a part of the Beamish village museum. So we sat down, digested the menu and did some good guessing of the options (we are moderately accomplished at guessing menus now) and placed our orders. Rapidly, our pancakes arrived within 10 mins or so, allowing us only a short time to deliberate over the heaving walls of paintings and artefacts. The disappointing plate arrived though. It wasn't massive. I somehow think if you pay for food, it should be returned to you in volume. I will never make Masterchef I feel, I am quite an uncouth diner. So, onwards we began with knife and fork in hand. My choice of a pancake 'mit speck und Camembert' had a lovely light feel about it. However, the more I ate, the more I realised that the food was lieing. An overwhelming dense feeling began in my belly. The food was lovely, but the increasing intensity of 'biffage' started to slow down my whole eating procedure. I looked around the table to find the same faces. The clatter of knives and forks was slowing down. The food was lovely, but Clare had to work hard to finish her pesto and mozzarella one, equally Jasper and Maya with honey and Nutella (separately that is!). 

Not satisfied with a bellyful, we then went to our favourite Hildesheim tea shop where Darjeeling leaf tea and cake was consumed. And then tonight, we managed to feed 10 with a copious amount of the regulation homemade Friday Night pizzas, served with piles of homemade coleslaw, potato salad and other trimmings. A bit of an overdose today then on food. We are back on the road though tomorrow, so I think a normal reduced service will resume, which is good as I can't eat this much daily!

Yours overbiffedly

Ed

A few weeks from the end

Thoughts of home are increasing in frequency now as we begin to nudge northwards through Germany. Maybe it's just me, but this whole adventure has, and is still superbly exciting, but there is a slight bit of reflection going on here. 

It led us to investigate some travel quotes. Some are twee in their thinking, some are thought provoking and some are just blatantly honest. 

"Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world." - Gustav Flaubert

The whole distance thing, especially when driving around Europe has made this quote especially significant. Of course, even as untravelled novices, we were completely aware of the scale of aspects of our lives, in a more global and astronomical sense, but the distances we have covered and the feeling a long way from normal life, part of it really does hammer home that we are quite insignificant blobs on this earth. 

'See you all soon' - Ed Clements 2015 

Put that in your travel quotes list now, as every departure leads to 'Hello' again at some point.

Getting crafty .......again!

Clare is absolutely in her element at the moment. Learning some origami was the flavour of last night, and she spent a good deal of time being taught by Renate how to make a delicate and decorative star for the window. Once taught the basics, she was well away with trying new versions, different ideas. Just to prove that we all continue to learn new things, try new things and enjoy new things.

Good for the sole

I'm not sure if Hildesheim is shoe central in Germany or not, but for Jasper and Maya, who were in desperate need of new shoes, it became so. 

Freie Waldorfschule

We have both had a sensible amount of time teaching in British mainstream primary education and hopefully have done a good enough job to allow the pupils we have encountered a chance to grow up well and go into the world with some sensible input.

As a result of our time in schools, we have witnessed many an Ofsted regime come and go and place wildly different expectations each time they have visited. The powers that be obviously research things very well and a lot of effort goes into knowing what makes a good education. Well, this week is about to blow all of that out of the water a little. We have both been given the chance to be involved in Klaus and Renate's (our very kind hosts) Waldorf school here in Hildesheim. On Monday, I was with class four, children aged 10-11, so my main teaching age, whilst Clare was with the 6-7 year olds in class one. 

Clare has continued more throughout the week, and I went with Renate to watch some English lessons. A lot of good has come from it for us, so we are very grateful to Renate and Klaus for giving us the opportunity to come and see their school in action.

11:14am 19/02/2015

A little over a week left now!

A warm welcome in cold Hildesheim

Having actually been in Germany for 11 days, we actually did our first bit of camping last night. We left the comfort of Christian's house and made our way up to a camping place some 261 miles north. Christian questioned our decision to stop on the way and was trying to encourage us to travel to his brother Klaus in one fell swoop. However, we thought another 170 miles in the van was not the best way to spend the time, and not the most comfortable too. So, we found a site in the hills around Schlüchtern (time to get the maps out). We were a little worried about the snow covered hills and the ice covered roads, but we are a little more confident with 'our Hugo' and decided to take the plunge. Typically, we were the only ones on the campsite.

Heated bathrooms treated us once again. We ensured our heating chuntered gently through the night and the results was a toasty warm van. Minus 6 was conquered with plenty of comfort and we slip-slided our way off the site and over the further frozen roads

down to the Autobahn to continue our journey northward. Sadly, Hugo has not been the best Autobahn vehicle, we have not made the most of the 'no speedlimits' although we did nearly break over 72 mph I think. A speed limit perhaps best viewed in the positive light and more favourable numbers of a kilometre per hour conversion to give a dizzy speed of 115kph! We are some way short of going 'Back to the Future' (sorry, a favourite film reference, where the magic 88mph takes you into time travel speed!)

So, we are now in Hildesheim, a town 30km south of Hanover. Klaus and Renate are very kindly opening their lives to us and letting us live more comfortably in their home. We once again, are touched  by the kindness of people who have helped us engage our travels and their country with greater ease. Both Klaus and Renate work in a Waldorf Steiner School, something which is vastly different to a standard  school with different principles of child development etc. I don't wish to bore everyone with the details, but as part of our time here, we have kindly been let into the the school to be a part of it for a few days. Who knows what will happen, but it is just another thing that will add to the colour and life of our journeys and adventures thus far. A report will surely follow. In the meantime, Hugo shivers alone sadly on the roadside, and we are snug and warm in a welcoming household. 

I can do better than that....

A visit one afternoon to the Pinakothek Modern art museum in Munich literally had us standing on our heads with wonder. I was left to wonder about that 'what ifs,' had I actually just continued to paint and try to sell art. There were some genuinely good historical pieces of art by Dali, Klee, Kandinsky etc but there were also some.......duffers shall we say. 

Yep, we all found out that the curators had mysteriously hung all the pictures upside down, therefore a certain adaptation to a regular stance was needed. Jasper was quite innovative with his and adopted a four limbed 'through the legs' approach. 

It does work. Turn this one around and you should see a little white dog on a red chair. For those with iPads, beware the automatic rotation and lock the screen by the aid of the little switch on the side. Informative and helpful!

I aim to start painting again at some point, without the aid of Lidl paints, but hopefully some proper thick and juicy oil paints. Suggestions welcome of what to paint. And if you are wondering what style this format might take, I'm guessing there will be a certain Frank Auerbach influence as I spent most of my time at University studying this thick, oozy, blobby representations. Time to get googling again. Get your orders in too, commissions welcome, results not promised!

Day 200

As day 200 approaches, and if calculations serve me right, Saturday the 7th of February will be the day. It is interesting to note (for us) the other milestones that we passed and felt proud about. As I have said many a time, we really had no idea how we as people would adapt to the 'world' we had thrust ourselves into, and as we reach day 200, once again we have a certain pride. This of course is only our personal pride and we don't expect anyone else to share this, but being away from home for a such a long time (although Hugo is most definitely our home too), as well as counting the days that have passed, the days left to pass are also the ones being counted. We are nearly in the throws of booking a return passage now, having originally only booked our one way ticket on the Eurotunnel. Anyway, a few milestones to remember now, and it seems to put a context into how far we have come/gone!

1 week - we were lazing in Paris having conquered it the previous day.

1 month - a gorgeous visit to St Emilion, stunning lunch and rather nice wines too.

50 days - we arrived in Portugal, slightly nervous, but mightily impressed and quickly worries eased as the country surrounding our village (Meda) was utterly beautiful.

100 days - we celebrated day 100 by cycling to Cannes. Glorious sunshine on the 1st of November and an ice cream too!

150 days - not quite the anticipated start to day 150 when our Trullo house ran out of water. However, it was Southern Italy, and despite the worry, our life at that point was being spent in a rather unspoilt part of Italy.

6 months - started with a Bavarian breakfast in Munich and ended with lots of snow play in the garden.

200 days - well we have not quite got there yet, but we shall be in Hildesheim just south of Hannover. 

As for the rest, well like I said, the days to pass are getting much fewer. Our return to 'Blighty' should be middle to late February. Let it be said, day 250 will not happen. It's getting time to come home now! 

Bibliothek Unterföhring

Here we are, sitting in the local library using the place for it's warmth and free WiFi! However, this is a library like no other that I have seen or visited. The main body of the building is called the Buergerhaus and is essentially a sort of arts centre, a meeting place, a conference centre, a cafe, and a library. All these zones are housed together under one roof with the added bonus of free underground parking.

Sonja has kindly lent us her library card, so we have already borrowed and returned some English books and a DVD. The library part of the Buergerhaus is ultra modern and the decor inviting and calm. Downstairs there are sections of adult fiction, romance, fantasy, Sci Fi, plus DVDs, CDs, and magazines. 

Borrowing the items was very easy! Sonja showed us how to check things out; items are placed on a sort of weighing scale and scanner or sensor, then the library card is swiped, a display lists what you want to borrow, and if you agree, you press 'Ja'. At this point a receipt prints out for you a list of your borrowed items and includes the dates of when they are to be returned. And all of this was done in a self service style!!! 

Upstairs, where we are now, is the children's section, a whole floor devoted to reading for pleasure. There are chairs, sofas, tables, and Jasper and Maya's favourite thing to sit on (so far) is the large Loch Ness monster/snake! 

You can even borrow games! 

Whilst it may seem slightly odd to spend an afternoon in the library whilst on holiday, we have to remember that in our normal life, it's not that odd to do such a thing! So I think Jasper and Maya just needed some quiet down time to themselves to look at other books and to spend time relaxing. With the added bonus of a coffee machine on the third floor, I'm inclined to feel rather relaxed too, especially with a new book in hand!

Clare 

Can a leopard change it's spots?

I have a character flaw. This could be disputed by many as I suspect I have more, but this is about only one particular aspect that has surfaced again recently. In fact this flaw is flawed, I can't even gets flaws right!

 I have this soft spot for cars. It is well known about my enjoyment of motorsports, but I just like cars in general. I am relatively clueless about the mechanical aspects of cars, but have historically rebuilt my Type 2 bay window camper van twice with the aid of the trusty Haynes manual. I do get enjoyment though from buying and driving different cars, which is a not a great way to get enjoyment as it can be costly. The flaw in my flaw is that it's not like I always go for amazing cars, I just enjoy driving different vehicles. The reason for writing though, is that I was hoping that driving Hugo (motorhome) would relieve my personality of this trait and I would be happy with a run around type of car. I love the idea of running a car into the ground, I just somehow get a little bored and want something different. Well the Hugo therapy was working well, until I was given the chance once again to drive a nice car. This week I have been mainly driving and Audi A6 Quattro Allroad. A 2.5 litre belter of a car. It's all Christians fault. So our daily walk to the library to enjoy the wifi, was wasted by me looking at cars on Autotrader on the iPad and dreaming. Damn, damn, damn. A German car in Germany is fabulous, and what's more, being in Munich, the sheer number of BMWs rumbling around with a thunderous burbling of an engine somehow lights my fire. Germany at the moment is like one massive car showroom to me. Not good. And somehow the Audi A6 brochure of 2006 has ended up on the iPad. 

An ordinary day...at last!

This morning we woke at a more leisurely pace than yesterday when Jasper had woken with a nosebleed. Today, all was calm, all was quiet. I wondered if they'd actually gone out to play in the fresh snow that had arrived again during the night. But no, Jasper had his head in his new book, 'The Great Glass Elavator', the sequel to 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' as chosen in the Oxford bookshop in Ljubljana. Maya was also reading her new book, also from the bookshop in Ljubljana which is 'Pippi Longstocking', a book I've longed to re-read for some time!!! So I'm looking forward to the time when she finishes that and I can have a look at it. I've enjoyed 'The Famous Five' so far!!!

Today we are having one of those ordinary days that don't seem to happen very frequently any more! On a campsite, catching up with washing means finding a machine, getting the right money or buying a token, checking if it's a nice day, checking if the machine is free, and even checking if it's a decent machine! Living in a house means that a normal life is more possible, washing can be done whenever, and pegged on the line indoors in the basement if the weather is bad. Food shopping was a planned "5 day menu" affair, so we knew what we could keep fresh, and what we could squeeze in our little fridge. Now food shopping can be done daily if necessary as we can walk an easy mile or even drive Christian's car up to the town. And even baking can happen as well as the daily cooking of a meal or two! Today we have already done the washing, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher, and now Maya and I are about to bake some cheese scones ready for lunch. 

An ordinary day, in a lovely warm house, which has proved to be a lovely bit of respite from the out of season partially closed campsites and snowy cold weather of late. 

Clare 

Getting crafty

On a rather dull note, school work continues for Jasper and Maya at regular intervals, even on Saturdays or Sundays or whenever it fits. In addition, they have written a diary for every day since September the 8th, and have had a book which to their joy, will be full on February the 16th or so. Asides from all the continued school work and exploration of places, being in a house has allowed an extra space for 'extra curricular' activities. These educational 'bolt-ons' have been much enjoyed. 

Clare and Maya set to work on some cookery, something which can be appreciated by all thankfully. 

And so fruit scones were enjoyed by all thoroughly, all with a local damson jam.

Meanwhile, Jasper and I set to work on a Christmas present from Grandma and Grandad. 

Much concentration has been needed, but much success has been had, along with much enjoyment. So, the appreciation of regular things in life that are not necessarily easy in the motorhome is something that we are ever so grateful for for having a roof over our head. 

Fun with 'Mad' Ludwig II

I didn't think we'd get there, and didn't think we would manage it due to the weather conditions, but circumstances have conspired today to give us a helping hand. A long long time back, I told a friend at school that we'd like to go to Neuschwanstein castle in Bavaria. The major problem for us was timing, arriving in Germany in January in a mobile home is not the ideal way to get to see such places. The constraints of keeping warm and safe led us to not take on the snow south west of Munich to where we wanted to be. 

Today however, we have been blessed with a clear day, and again the kindness of Christian, who lent us his car. This allowed us an easy passage to get to Neuschwanstein (and despite snow falling,return too!). And was it worth it? Was it worth 'bigging' it up for the children? In short, yes it was. Again, a slightly out of season thing to do, but what a fantastic place. It is completely the archetypal fairy tale castle created by King Ludwig II. There was sadness in this slightly bonkers creativity though, he only lived for 172 days in the place after it was made habitable (not finished), and during this period was certified mentally ill, and was therefore dethroned. It was all of course only a ploy by the government to get rid of him as his gloriously fantastic buildings had quite an enormous cost implication for the country. As a result he died 2 weeks later in mysterious circumstances, along with the doctor who had him certified. Rather oddly, 6 weeks later, the castle opened as a museum after he died and therefore no other people had ever lived there. So quite an odd story, but the resultant building is quite amazing, with the most amazing Alpine backdrop. We got some sensible photos that give an idea of it. If in doubt, again a quick google search will reveal a million and one 'iconic' pictures. Here are some of ours!

A good day, with many thanks to Christian and his lovely Audi A6...... Damn these nice cars!

Getting to know people

Today we met a professional cyclist who is the champion of the Trans Alp Challenge, earlier in the week we met the founding member of the Cambridge Waldorf Steiner school who is now a sculptor, and also an astrophysicist who is friends with Steven Hawkins. It all sounds quite far fetched, and to be honest, had you told me this is the way this whole thing would pan out in Germany I would've laughed at the far fetched ideas. But this is all true, and it seems at every turn and corner at the moment, there are more fascinating people with fascinating stories. Another fine example is our neighbour here in Munich, who told us a brilliant story of him having a Smart car. He used it to travel to his house in Spain, and to help, he removed the passenger seat in order to allow him to have a bed for a quick sleep. Through much mirth and joking, he continued to tell us that his girlfriend needed picking up from the airport. Needing a second seat for her, he took a normal wooden dining room chair and bolted it to the seat fixing and covered it in a blanket to hide the fact is was not a proper car seat. 

It prompts me to speculate who we may meet tomorrow. Could it be one of the Apollo 16 astronauts who now runs a coffee shop, a Red Arrows pilot who now runs a charitable cause to save pandas, or whomever we could conjur up....although the reality seems to be far more interesting than the things we can dream up. This has added to enrich our discussions and meeting with these people who have gone out and grabbed life by the throat and gone for it. I'm not sure if I can also do that, I can only speculate how life will 'land' for us when we arrive back in Ilminster. But if I can take only a smidgen of the 'getting hold of life' like the people we have met, then I would be happy. But who knows?