In the meantime...

Dear all,


I hope you had a nice one, whatever you celebrated.

It has been a long time since my last post. In fact, again, I have been wondering whether I would ever return to blogging. 2010 went on just like 2009 had ended, in a whirl...
Over the last 12 months, the car was damaged in three accidents, all of which we weren't responsible for, and when it was repaired for the third time, a tiny little sensor broke (which was obviously not related to any of the accidents) and the car had to be picked up again - in fact, it had to be shoved out of the garage and howled onto the tow-car, which was astonishing enough to see. I was literally busy for weeks with phone calls to the garage and the insurance companies... Sigh.

And if this weren't enough, I got sacked from the company I had been working for for twelve years, effective end of November. Me and my colleague had been working 20 hours a week, but when the boss said that business was very slack, we agreed to work only for 13,5 hours, to keep the business running and not lose our jobs. We were working overtime, and when I had to stop, I had more than 170 hours overtime, so I was able to stay at home for three months with normal payment. Good for me, thus I could search for a new job. I'm now doing temp work and hope that this won't be on a regular basis, because it cut down on my wages compared to my former 20-hours-a-week-job.

2010 had a lot of annoying little surprises for me, and I'm not sure what the new year will bring. The uncertainty is gnawing away at me. It seems that my friends have similar experiences, and we don't have much time to share with each other, which is a pity and should be - nah, shall be changed in 2011. Often enough, when I have the time (like, now, that I have a compulsory holiday), I don't feel motivated enough to do things of which I know I liked them before “the whirl” got even... whirlier. I often end up playing mah-jongg on the PC, or (at least) knitting.

I had intended to clean up my stash yesterday, when on the day before, a shelve in our wardrobe simply dropped and everything came down in a clutter. So, rather than sorting out my own stuff, I emptied the cabinet, sorted out, and brought heaps of stuff to the used clothing collection (who collect everything from clothing and drapes to teddy bears). I didn't realize how much stuff I had... well, actually stuffed into that cabinet (which might possibly have caused the shelve to come down, come to think of it).
Anyway, that took some time, and, hey, it felt good to get rid of that old stuff, and maybe someone might be able to use it.

In contrast to many, many years before, the winter of 2009/2010 had presented temperatures of down to -17 °C. Last year's winter was already more winterly than those in the years before, so stores were running out of kitchen salt because the people didn't have any other choice...
In December 2010, we already had snow galore, so that some German communities are literally running out of winter gritting. It had been snowing a little, then thawing away again, then down came 15 cm of snow (which thawed away in two days time) and the last time it snowed, we had 20 cm in one night. Not much thawing (until yesterday), so everything is still quite white outside.
Yesterday afternoon I realized that I hadn't been for a walk outside for seemingly ages. The sun had come out and I just dropped things and went for a short stroll which was so wonderful (especially in the sunshine) that I decided I should really do that frequently.
Even the skidmarks looked nice.

The sun was ready to set, and the rays accent small blades of grass and plants.


The residental area lies peacefully beneath the light of the setting sun...


...which goes to sleep again behind the horizon.


(I took the photos above with the camera in my cell phone.)
That little walk filled me with a real positive attitude!

Take care and all the best to you in 2011!