Come and tell me your dull and unexciting news 18: Calmly through the day

[MissConductUS]

I've started a new one. Please join us and share the boring and mundane things happening in your world. It will be calming for all.

Here is the link to the prior thread:

Come and tell me your dull and unexciting news 17: Calmly through the day

My apologies for letting the prior thread fill up before opening this one.

Alex - that is a Christmas market + 'Rummel', we went there when the kids were younger. Those rides do not agree with me. I used to love smaller ones with genuine craft stalls - I am waiting for post-plague times.

@mathanxiety - do be careful - nearly 60 years ago when she was pregnant with me , my mother got a hernia trying to kick a carpet out of the garage to be picked up to be taken away. Never tried it again.

My dad loves a market (not a farmers market, a market market). Not a holiday went by when I was growing up where he did not spend an afternoon poking through packets of batteries and socks in a random UK market town. (He would consider a farmers market a massive pretentious waste of money…)

Squirrel My dad's interest were public transport time tables, whichever small town we'd spent our holiday in - long walks and time tables

Today I found a apartment for someone else. I also fitted in a nice relaxing walk into town to pick up a few items I needed etc.

Nigel Slaters Christmas Chronicles has him visiting German Christmas markets.

squirrel, we live just outside the county town which has a similar market. On a Wednesday in the summer there are hordes of coaches parked up where the (mostly older) holidaymakers are shipped in to also poke around amongst batteries and socks.

Every market I've ever been to (and DM was like your DDad when we were growing up so I've been to many) has had identical wares, so it's not even like they're there to buy anything outlandishly different or exotic.

I haven't visited Berlin since before the Wall came down - I think I'm long overdue. I'd love to see the Brandenburg Gate now. I can't imagine what it's like to just drive or walk from West to East.

I have many happy memories of Christmas in Berlin - very cold, lots of gluhwein and currywurst. I was planning on taking my family on a trip round Germany summer 2020. I think I'll just have to do it with DH sometime.

@mathanxiety - is the Van Gogh exhibition still showing, and if so is it worth a visit. I am in Chicago this weekend and have some free time Sunday.

Welcome, @Keladrythesaviour, and thanks for sharing your robot vacuum and gardening news. DH will probably have to mow the lawn once or twice more, and I still have potted plants on the deck that should be fine for another few weeks. My apologies for the tardy welcome.

The farmers market near me is pretty posh, but it's all food. Mostly locally grown produce, but also fancy baked goods, local honey, etc. It will eventually shut down for the winter. It sounds just like yours, champagne.

ZZ, has your daughter gone back to uni? I'm a bit jealous that ours couldn't make it home for the long weekend. DS departed for Boston about 20 minutes ago. DH went to the warehouse club and came back with $40 worth of salty snacks in single-serve packets for him to take back. It was assorted crisps, goldfish crackers, and pretzels. DH also filled up his car early this morning so that he wouldn't have to stop for fuel. I also made chocolate chip cookies last night for him to take with him.

Google maps shows good travel time for his trip, but that can change in an instant. Now it's the nerve-wracking wait for him to text that he's arrived safely.

ZZTop I was in Berlin when the wall came down.

DD will be back in f2f education starting on the 18th (her first session) they need to get the 'Ersties' sorted first . To get student finance approved for the 5th semester she has to submit proof that she passed everything she had to and managed to get the signatures just in time.

DS texted that he had stopped for lunch and that the drive was going well. He should be there in another hour or two.

@MissConductUS - I hope DS here soon and safe and well & you have a lovely time with him

MissC DD is still here today and I've taken a day off work to spend with her. The roads south through Maine seem to be a disaster today so I'm glad she's not going till tomorrow. She's driving two other students back with her for the first time.

Hope your son is safely home soon!

We have had a call from our plumber, he is starting on Wednesday, electrician on Thursday and he has a carpenter who can come to take fit integrated dishwasher and fridge next Thursday.

@Silkieschickens what an eventful week!

I’ve got a beetroot, chickpea and coconut curry in the oven. DH is out walking the dog (and waiting for 2DC to finish scouts). I’ve been for a run and am hungry.

DH is obviously bored on said walk, we are texting each other like teenagers!

silkie What a week!!

DS has announced his intention of starting tomorrow on his 5PK ...

@Prokupatuscrakedatus

ZZTop I was in Berlin when the wall came down.

DD will be back in f2f education starting on the 18th (her first session) they need to get the 'Ersties' sorted first . To get student finance approved for the 5th semester she has to submit proof that she passed everything she had to and managed to get the signatures just in time.

I watched it on TV in rural Scotland. I was just eighteen and it seemed like the world was opening up. It must have been astonishing to have actually been there.

Ginger It was crowded, drunk and chaotic and I still have the tiny bit of wall I chipped out. My Dsis had a penpal who came via the CSSR embassy.

Silkie, well done getting all of that scheduled.

ZZ, I think your daughter was wise to wait until tomorrow. DS has just texted that he's back at uni safe and sound. I think he hit a lot of traffic around Boston because of the holiday and the marathon.

Basil, thank you, we had a lovely visit with him. I feel a bit silly having worried so much about him making the drive by himself.

Prok, does your daughter get a grant from the government to help pay her university costs?

I'm making Halloween decorations and DH is clearing out old files. He's making pizza for dinner.

Miss Every student can apply - it is means tested (hers, parents, takes living circumstances into account i. e. we still have another child at school) and currently half is a grant and the other half she has to pay back when she earns above a certain threshold. Semesterfees are currently around 350 € and is the same if you study sth cheap like philosophy or expensive like medicine (so the arts subsidise the cost intensive fields)

Yes it will be busy here over next 2 weeks, we have to clean and tidy every room before workmen, dh has tomorrow off to help with this, collect fridge, then 1 sixth form open event, one system boiler including hot water tank taken out, new combi boiler fitted, electrician fitting spur to boiler and hopefully kitchen sockets, then carpenter next Thursday changing kitchen so can integrate fridge and dishwasher and plumbing and electrics for those plus DD turns 16. DH appears to love the robot hoover, he has never been near a hoover before, but keeps talking to this one though has told it, it is not more useful than him. Rabbit still not keen but living room floor is now much better, they dont hold much though but picks up pet hair well. I paid first half of plumber, so expensive atm for everything but best to get it done.

Do the animals approve of all the commotion and workmen-ery in your hosehold?
(You could fit them with little hi-viz wests and let them supervise.)

Rabbit is only 2 so during his lifetime we just had work done outside a new thatched roof and chimney and work at old house after we moved out so he has only been here when workmen quote. He initially hides for 5 mins then gets excited deciding this could be a new playmate or feeder of rabbits and then he gets very bouncy. He is normally chilled with noise as long as its not next to him but its only radiators to be bled in his room so he should be fine.

Silkiecat normally hides from workmen but comes out at night to inspect everything and blinks like she approves of men working. She can get panicked by noise and cant move far now but we will be here so she should be ok with extra food and cuddles.