MULTIPLY Creative Challenge #17: Embraced by the night

The dark brings the mouse
The whiff of hunt in the nose
Is time for the kill

„Ready“ Tabby.
„Of course, it’s getting slowly darker and the earth is starting to move“
This was the signal for them to be on their way, evening for evening the same ceremony. Fluffy was blind caused by an unfortunate meeting with a car so he decided to curl up in a quiet corner and dream of the life that Tabby and Nera would meet on their way on their evening excursion. First of all she had a look through the window and saw the two cats stealthily making the way over the grass and through the bushes remembering how it used to be when she went with them, although they never really stayed together.

Meanwhile Tabby decided to go her own way.
“See you back at our house in a couple of hours Nera. If there is no game on its way I will have to fill up my stomach with those chicken flavoured pellets that our humans put out for us. We should both return before the moon is at its highest peak because afterwards Mr. Human goes to bed and when we are inside he closes everything so that Fluffy cannot get out.”
“In that case I am off to see what can be found before.”

So the two cats parted company: Tabby to her hunting grounds and Nera to hers.

Nera was swaying along, being rather overweight, when she met up with Mr. Grey, the cat living opposite.
“Found anything worth making a meal of Mr. Grey” She asked.
“There is plenty of livestock around this evening Nera. Take the field to the left at the bottom of the garden. The farmer harvested the grass this morning and left it to dry during the day. That disturbed our mouse food luckily. Just put your paw down a moushole and feel around. I’m sure you will find a few. “
“Thanks for the tip” said Nera and made her way to the field with the mice. She sniffed her way along and caught the aroma of moving mice and felt satisfied. You can just embrace the Summer evenings with everything they have to offer.
“You have to be careful.” she thought. “ If the old owl is up in the tree he might pounce down to take a mice or two himself, so must make sure I don’t get in his way. I don’t want to feel his claws on my back. So here is the field and it is just teeming with life. A couple of beetles roaming around, but who eats beetles. They stink and taste horrible. I will leave them for the birds during the day. Shame that the birds sleep at night, now that would be a feast. Mouse for the main meal and as a desert a nice little bird. You can’t have everything. When I think of poor old Fluffy sitting at home and having to do his hunting during the day. All he gets is a butterfly or perhaps a housefly, although now and again Tabby drags a mouse home to show our humans and leaves it in front of the door. If Fluffy finds it first than he has a little present from us for breakfast.”

In the meanwhile Tabby was on her way. “Nearly there” went through her feline brain “just over the road. First of all must pick up my ears and turn in all directions, you never know if one of those cars is on its way. They don’t bite or fight like a normal living thing, they just push you out of the way, or in the worst case you get squashed flat on the ground. Terrible things cars, should be banned from cat paths. Well the road looks safe enough so let’s do a quick sprint and get to the other side. Made it, and now to my favourite hunting grounds, the villa. A big old house where no-one really lives any more except for a couple of servants, but the grounds surrounding it are a paradise for us cats. Teeming with wild life. Not only mice, but moles and even rabbits. The trouble with the rabbits is that they a just a little bit too big to drag home. I usually eat what I can, but have to leave at least half of it, although sometimes I meet the red cat who lives near, the one they call Roshti and he helps me to finish the rabbit. Now he’s a cat that one is. I had to show him how to behave when he arrived in our territory. Wanted to fight with every other cat that moved, but with a little help from Nera we showed him the way to go. He even managed to chase me and Nera through the cat door one evening and slept on our play centre all night. Mrs. Human was very annoyed and soon got rid of him, but it was then when we cats decided to show him who the paw boss was. After a couple of hisses and scratching in Roshti’s direction he soon got the message and since then he is very polite and would not dare to impede on our hunting grounds without asking permission. Talk of the devil and there he is.

Evening Roshti, had a good hunt up to now.
“Evening Tabby. It’s a nice moonlit night, although who needs a moon, I can see just as well without.”
“That’s true Roschti, although there is a bit of an advantage as you can see the shadows much better; things that move in the night
“Look Tabby, there goes a mole, let’s grab it.“ The two cats made of but Tabby was there first and pounced on the mole. Two minutes later and there was nothing left of Mr. Mole.
“Well done Tabby” said Roshti, “my turn now I feel movement beneath my feet.” He put his paw into the next gap in the earth and pulled out a mouse.
“Looks a bit tough to me” said Tabby “I think you have got one of those mice from last year, and smells a bit funny.”
“You are right there” said Roschti “lets play with him a bit” but as the two cats wanted to push the mouse around he made off as fast as he could.
“That one was no good Roshti, too fast for us and clever. You do your thing and I will do mine, I think two cats scare the mice off” and with that last remark Tabby skipped down the path to the garden of the villa. Tabby had her secret places and did not want Roshti to accompany her. Suddenly after spending an house tracking mice and their like, Tabby saw the moon was almost at its highest point in the sky and chased off home, where she met Nera on the way.

“How did it go Nera” she asked
“Same as usual, a little bit of field mouse, some mole and one of those big mice, but I left it alone as it looked more like a rat to me and they are not so good to eat. Need a bit of chewing and smell a bit as well. How did it go with you Tabby?”

“Caught a few mice actually, but decided that some nice chicken pellets would be welcome and a dish of water. Let’s go home before the humans disappear for the night, otherwise we won’t be able to go out once they are in bed. Funny animals humans, they sleep at the best moments.”
“I know Tabby” answered Nera “they just enjoy the day and its bright lights and noise and we cats are satisfied with embracing the night.”

Creative Challenge

I went for a Walk

Sometimes life can be a bit boring. Working fifty percent means I am at work in the morning, on my way home from work do some shopping and when I get home cook lunch for me and Mr. Swiss. My son has now departed and returned to Brussels where he returns to work next Monday, so we are alone again. Mr. Swiss was busy this afternoon so I decided to take a walk with my camera, naturally.

Mr. Swiss made the suggestion to walk along the river, but basically I wanted to visit the cemetery. He said turn right along the river, go up the path to the catholic priests teaching college (we have one here) and then walk on to the cemetery. Although that seemed to me to be a bit of a distance, I decided to take the chance. Just me and my camera acting on doctor's orders about getting more exercise.

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It was beautiful weather, sunny and hot, but enough shade to walk along. The River Aare showed itself from its best side. The river starts somewhere in the Bernese Overland and meanders into the Lake of Biel/Neuchâtel eventually. It is quite wide in Solothurn.

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Eventually I left the river to go on a long path in the direction of the cemetery. I noticed that the corn was quite high and would soon be ready for cutting. This is not the sweet corn meant for human consumption, but the larger raw variety for feeding to cattle and other animals.

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I then arrived at the cemetery. A quiet place although there were some workmen around preparing a field for some more residents. In Switzerland you can buy your ground for a family grave which is very expensive and something that usually only the wealthy can afford. Otherwise you may stay for forty years and afterwards the families are informed that the ground will be made free again. The relations can then decide if they want to keep the grave stone or not. In the olden days there were so-called "bone houses" in Switzerland where the bones were kept, but that is no longer the practice.

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This photo shows one of the older parts of the cemetery where the family graves are from the old families of Solothurn.

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And this is the communal grave where people with no family or money are cremated and buried. I find it very well kept and it is the grave where there are always fresh flowers.

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I always know when I am nearly home as I pass the stables and riding school near bye. This grey horse invited me to take his photo. I eventually arrived home tired and more or less happy. Mr. Swiss greet me with "where is your camera" and then invited me into the garden where a strange insect was smiling and waiting for me to take his photo sitting on the outside table. I just could not resist, so this is the last photo for today. Unknown insect on table.

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MULTIPLY Pictures to Words: Movement: Week 4: Easter in Venice

Seeing the photo of the Gondola brought it all back to me. This is a true story: it all happened about forty years ago so here we go.

I was living and working in Zürich and had been there for approximately fifteen months. My boss had a small office in an apartment house that belonged to him and his wife and I was living on the same floor as the office. It was most useful to get up in the morning and just walk across the corridor and be in the office. My predecessor in the office was also an English girl, about two to three years older than me, I was then twenty years old: at the age where you did all sorts of mad things without bothering about the consequences. I had contact to the girl working before me in the office, let us call her Jill. Jill had left, gone back to England, but decided to return to Switzerland again. She had many contacts, and was working in the town of Basel as a waitress in a restaurant. I remember one of her ex boyfriends was a Hungarian, a most dodgy type, with some sort of illegal connections to the Hungarian mafia, but Jill reassured me he was just misunderstood.

The Easter holidays were approaching and it was the Thursday before Good Friday. As I did not really know many people at the time I thought my Easter would probably be in Zürich. I had good contact with my boss’s family and I also had my meals with the family. On this memorable Thursday afternoon Jill phoned me from her working place in Basel.

“Doing anything for Easter” she asked me.
“Not really” was my answer.
“How about a week-end in Venice.”

I thought why not so was all ears listening to see what would come next. Jill was a very impulsive person and you never knew what would come into her head next. She had left a trail of disappointed men behind her in Zürich. She was quite pretty and had a sort of air of being naïve. A very caring person and she would be the first person to help if an animal or person was suffering in any way. So to get back to the story of Venice, she explained further.
“I have the week-end off at the restaurant and so does my best friend, as well as another English girl both of them being au pairs in Basel. We thought we would take the train to Venice this evening and spend the Easter holiday there. I have been a few times in Venice and we have some friends there so we could visit them. Why don’t you come along as well.”

I thought “why not” so asked where we would be staying.
“We will find something when we arrive” was the answer. The train leaves Basel this evening at around ten and we have to change trains in Milan at five in the morning. We pick up the train to Venice from Milan and arrive around ten o’clock.

I decided to go, so after work packed a few bits and pieces in a case and made my way to Zürich main station to catch the train to Basel, which takes around an hour. We had arranged to meet at Basel main station at the ticket office. I cannot remember where exactly, but Basel station is big. It is in what they call the three country corner of Switzerland, together with France and Germany. I arrived and found Jill quite easily with the two other girls. I was introduced and we arranged that we would take two double rooms in a reasonable pension in Venice, me sharing with one of the au pair girls. The four of us were aged from 20 up to about 23 years old, so we had one thought in our undeveloped brains and that was fun in Venice. Perhaps a little bit of culture, but not necessarily. We decided to take a normal train without a sleeping compartment. We could somehow curl up on the seats and if we were lucky we could take over a compartment to ourselves until the train arrived at Milan main station at five in the morning.

The train was quite empty, and the seats we had could be pulled out to the seat opposite making a comfortable sleeping arrangement. One man decided to enter our carriage and then the fun started. He was not just drunk, I think the phrase is paralytic. He slumped into the last remaining seat in the corner and started snoring. We were all smokers at that time, but decided to avoid lighting a cigarette in case the alcohol fumes ignited. At that age we really just saw the funny side of the situation. The ticket inspector came and examined our tickets. He then shook our alcoholic corpse in the corner and asked to see his ticket. The corpse awoke and showed the ticket, the inspector said to him in a loud voice “You will leave in the train in Bellinzona”.

We picked up our ears realising this unwanted guest will no longer be accompanying us after the three and half hours the train needed to reach Bellinzona. Just to mention, and in this case quite important, Bellinzona is still in Switzerland and is the main city in our Kanton/State/County of Tessin which is the Italian speaking part of Switzerland bordering on Italy. From Bellinzona the next stop is Chiasso a Swiss-Italian border station travelling another hour from Bellinzona.

So the train pulled out of Basel and started on its journey to Italy. We sort of slept, although had a lot to discuss about what to do in Venice and organising our holidays. The train pulled into Bellinzona and our alcoholic corpse slept on. My friend Jill, having a sympathetic character said we should wake up our neighbour in the corner as his ticket is only up to Bellinzona. There were four English girls shouting Bellinzona at the top of their voices and even shaking our neighbour, but to no avail. He slept on. I am sure if his family were waiting for him they would be very disappointed. Some thirty minutes later the train stopped in Lugano. Again no chance, our corpse was not to be awakened. On the way to Chiasso the ticket inspector arrived once again and we explained that the heap of flesh and clothes in the corner should have left the train in Bellinzona. The ticket inspector went to work and managed to wake our extra passenger. He was still not exactly in this world and could only talk about Bellinzona. The inspector told him we would shortly be pulling into Chiasso and he would have to take the next train direction Bellinzona from Chiasso. Not only that but the poor man had to pay the extra fare on his ticket to Chiasso from Bellinzona and naturally back to Bellinzona. So our extra passenger eventually left our apartment and we could smoke and sleep in peace until the train pulled into Milan.

Has anyone ever been to Milan station at five in the morning? Well if you have you know what is coming and if not, do not ever go to Milan station at this time in the morning. It is teaming with people: naturally mostly Italians. Now Italians are such friendly wonderful people, helpful and they love to have a conversation with you, but don’t expect things to happen on time. We were four English girls longing for a nice comfortable toilet where we could freshen up a bit and naturally do our business in peace. This was forty years ago. It might be different today, I don’t know, but at that time it was another experience more. The toilet on Milan main station has just one door to enter. When you are in it the ladies go to the right and the men to the left. It was teeming with people and for every toilet there was a queue. It was also one of those toilets without a seat: sort of standing only. Somehow we braved the situation and decided a nice cup of coffee in the restaurant and something to eat would be a good idea. It was not a good idea. We were not used to the Italian way of dealing with things. Do not go to the counter and order what you want. Go to the cash desk and pay for what you want and then walk over to the counter and show the receipt and then you get your food and drink. Needless to say until we understood this method of communication another thirty minutes passed.

Luckily we had a good hours wait for our connection to Venice and eventually we found our train. Another civilisation shock: not only did we four English girls board the train but a few thousand Italians, at least it seemed this way. There were enough compartments, but in Italy if the compartment is made for eight people, four on each side, it is usual that ten people accommodated themselves in the seats. We had to fight for a place and if I remember rightly two of us found a seat and the other two were standing outside in the corridor. As said, Italians are very friendly people and they were talking all the time, although we did not understand very much. Then their food parcels were opened for something to eat and we were offered everything from salami, hard boiled eggs to apples and oranges. Two of us decided ten minutes after the train pulled out that they again wanted to visit the toilet. Now the train was packed full, not only the seats were taken but every standing room was occupied by an Italian and his family and their luggage. Our two brave colleagues left us on their way to the toilet and we only saw them again when the train pulled into Venice four hours later around ten o’clock in the morning. We were glad to see each other again.

I will never forget our arrival in Venice main station. As you all know Venice is more or less a town on water, composed of many islands. To reach the main station from the Italian mainland a bridge across the water had been built. The train travels along this bridge and there is water on each side. It is absolutely fascinating and that is one of the few memories of the Venetian landscape that remained.

So what to do next: Jill and her best friend had a certain amount of experience and said we should take the water bus (there are no roads in Venice) to the Piazza San Marco which is the sort of main place in Venice. We would probably find something tourist-like there to enable us to find a hotel. However, this was also not to be. On the water bus a young Italian started to “chat us up”, but his interest was not in taking us out, no, he wanted to know if we had a hotel. Honestly speaking I am suspicious of such individuals, but Jill believing anything and anyone, told him we did not have a hotel and if he could be of help.
“Of course” was his answer and then he proceeded to tell us in his school English that he knew the best and most price worthy pension in Venice and we should stay with him and he would take us there. I was still a bit doubtful, but I was proved to be wrong. He took us to a pension, spoke with the reception in Venetian dialect which only the Venetians understand, and I saw Lira exchanging hands which he put in his pocket. Afterwards we were told that they had two rooms free and I must say the price was really reasonable. We were shown to our rooms which were very clean somewhere on the second floor, with a view not exactly of a canal but the house opposite. Even this was impressive for us English girls that were the first time in Venice. Venetian streets have an atmosphere of their own. The passages between are very narrow and Venice being built upwards, everything you said in the streets echoed. We also learnt when we started exploring the canals, streets and bridges, that this echo accompanied you everywhere. Only the Piazza San Marco was large enough to be without this echo.

Gondola: yes, there were many, but mostly not being used. With the money we had at our disposal, we decided to avoid the use of a gondola. They were for tourists and their prices were calculated accordingly. They were pretty to look at, but we mainly used the so-called water bus. After our arrival I think we must have eaten something somewhere for lunch, but to be quite honest I cannot remember. I only know in the afternoon we parted company. Jill and her friend decided to go looking for their friends that they knew over the years. There is something complicated about trying to find someone in Venice, even if you have their address. There seems to be only one street called Saint Marks and the house numbers go up to around five thousand and they are not numerically ordered. I think Jill was looking for something like house number three thousand and two Saint Marks, but found this to be almost impossible task. So in the meanwhile while she and her friend were searching, my roommate and I (I cannot even remember her name) decided to see what Venice had to offer.

If I remember rightly we did not have to loose much time. At one point or another we met two Italian young men who were sailors, all dressed up in the uniform. Venice being on water, there was a naval base near bye and in Italy conscription still exists and these two young men were doing their national service. All I can remember is that we spent the afternoon with them and they invited us to an evening meal. I would mention that at this time my knowledge of the Italian language, although not fluent, was quite good as I had learnt the language for two years. I was doing most of the talking (as I usually do) and they took us to a genuine small Venetian restaurant just near the market. Yes Venice has a daily market which is very interesting. On each side of the street there are goods to buy, mostly fish. It smelt as such, but as this was Spring, the weather was pleasant and the canals were not yet smelling as their reputation says. So we went to a small restaurant which I believe was a family business. Their kitchen was open and it reminded me a little of the fish and chip places we used to have in London. You could see how they were cooking the fish and it was served with potato and tasted excellent. Our Italian sailors wanted to accompany us back to the hotel, but we said the near bye water bus station would be ok, we could find the way back ourselves. I mean a certain amount of care had to be applied. However, we arranged to meet them again at six in the evening at the water bus station on the next day.

The next day we saw Jill and her friend and they said they had not been successful in meeting their friends up to then. We now had a morning to dispose of and Jill said that we should go to the Lido by water bus, this being the beach for the Venetians as it was situated on the open sea. We took the water bus once again to the Lido and met four young men, all Austrians. We spent the morning with them at the Lido and they asked what we were doing in the afternoon. Before we had a chance to say anything Jill’s friend organised to meet them at the water bus station at six in the evening. Are you with me? We had a double date and I was beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable. We had a couple of hours to kill around lunch time and Jill decided to go looking for her friends again and took me and my new friend with them. We were still looking for St. Marks number three thousand and two or something like that. Suddenly we turned a corner and there was a bar on the corner which Jill recognised. She only seemed to recognise bars and men. We entered and we were at the right place. Yes the man behind the bar knew Giovanni, or what he was called and we only had to go round two corners and were there. As we left the bar Giovanni came round the corner with his friends. It was one big happy reunion for Jill and her companion and I must say they were very nice people. Giovanni said we must all meet mama and papa and so we did.

He led us to an apartment house somewhere near a Venetian canal (everything in Venice is near a canal), the entrance looking somewhat old and dirty. There was a fountain carved in stone with a figure which had seen better days and newspapers and other refuse lying around. However we climbed the stairs and entered mama and papa’s home. I was really impressed. I will never forget the floors. No carpets, but a dark wood which was so well polished you could see your reflection in it. Everything was spotlessly clean and it was a wonderful apartment. It showed us what lies behind the facades of Venice. The Venetians seem to go for good taste in furniture and drapes. We spent an hour or so there, and Jill said we will all go out together in the evening, arranging to meet at six – and guess where, at the water bus station.

So if four English girls go on a holiday for a few days, they tend to get things mixed up. We now had a triple date at the water bus station. I tried to explain, but Jill was so full of meeting her old friends that she didn't’t bother to listen. I would not mind, but I was playing the interpreter all the time as Jill had a little bit of basic Italian and the other two did not have a clue. It was a bit embarrassing going out with the sailors as the girl I was with thought they understood no English and was saying things she should not. One of the sailors understood a bit so I had to translate things a bit diplomatically so that they didn't’t think we were talking about them. I took this girl on one side and said she should be careful what she was saying as they did understand a bit of English.

Ok, so it was six in the evening at the water bus station. When we arrived Jill’s friends, Giovanni and company, saw us and it was all buona sera and kisses and handshakes. The Austrians were there looking a bit annoyed to say the least and the two Italian sailors, well to be quite honest I felt sorry for them. I think I even mumbled an explanation that the plans had been altered as we had met old friends, but they didn't’t look too happy. We spent a very nice evening with Jill and her friends and returned to the hotel sometime in the early morning after spending the evening in one of those nice Italian bars where the vino flows like water.

The next day was Sunday and we decided to have a day looking at the sites. I had only seen Saint Marco from the water bus up to then. At least I wanted to see a little bit of Venice. I even found the Rialto bridge, the bridge with the shops on it.

Some time in the late afternoon we again boarded the train to bring us back to Switzerland, but this time less eventful and I think we slept through most of the journey. We changed trains again in Milano but I don’t really remember very much. I remember arriving in Basel at about eleven in the evening and getting the train on my own back to Zürich. I think I spent most of Easter Monday in bed recovering from it all. Two days later I received a postcard from Venice from my Italian sailor hoping I arrived home safely and if I remember rightly I even wrote back explaining what had happened at the water bus station. I don’t know whether he ever forgave me, but at least we exchanged postcards afterwards.

Pictures to Words: Movement: Week 4

Monday, Monday

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I always go to the same supermarket every day to do my shopping. It is on my way home from work and they have everything, even a restaurant where I usually eat when I work full time. At the moment I am on half time so go home to Mr. Swiss, cook something and eat at home. Anyhow, this supermarket exists now for about thirty years. It is called Migros and they are in almost every town and sometimes village in Switzerland, something like the Swiss version of Walmart or Sainsburys. This particular supermarket used to be a factory for making watch making machinery, but it closed down and the Migros took it over and remodelled it. Like all models they start to go out of fashion and have to be renovated. I just thought I had to take a photo of this crane today as it quite impressed me. I don't know what it will be used for, but come time I will find out.

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The building at the back is the original Migros supermarket and on the right you can see part of the enormous provisional market that is being put up whilst the rebuilding is being done. It will be at least two years until the new Migros is complete. In the meanwhile we will be doing our shopping in the provisional building. Amazing what can be done today.

At the moment we are eating vegetarian at lunch time. We can both do with losing a bit of weight and in Summer we don't eat so much. Today I sliced some mushrooms and fried them with herbs from the garden. I served it with rice and a green salad. In the evening I usually serve some cold meat and a side salard.

At the moment son No. 2 is staying with us until Wednesday. He works in Brussels and is spending a few days with us while he is on holiday, although I havn't seen very much of him today. He was invited to lunch and this evening is having a get together with some of his old friends.

"Yes, Mrs. Human, and I will be glad when your oversized kitten goes again" said Nera my cat.
"Nera he is only here for 10 days and I am sure he is not in your way."
"It's the principle that counts" said Nera "this place belongs to me and my sister Tabby and Fluffy. We just happen to allow you and Mr. Human to live here as we can't go shopping and fetch the tuna fish and other food. When your overgrown kitten called son is here, he is just in the way."
"Yes Mrs. Human" Tabby joins in, "it is an interruption to our daily programme."

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My cats are not so happy at the moment as No. 2 son is sleeping in their room.

"I would just like to remind you two cats that during the night you are not inside during the Summer, so I really don't see how he can disturb your routine. During the day he is not here."
"Mrs. Human, that may be, but it is just one person too much." answered Nera.
"Nera is right, it disturbs our contemplative thoughts when overgrown kitten is here."
"Tabby it seems to me that overgrown kitten just takes over when he is here, so we just have to avoid him. I am going out for a lay down in the garden. It has cooled down and it is pleasant to lay on the ground. Are you coming as well?" said Nera
"Ok Nera, I am with you, let's go outside. We can have some peace and quiet and avoid overgrown kitten. I heard he is leaving in two days, and then we can take over completely again."

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And the cats are having a relaxing hour in the garden to contemplate. I had to buy them their dry food today at the pet shop. If they knew that it cost me one hundred Swiss Francs for a ten kilo bag they could be a bit more thankful, but I suppose that is too much to expect. I would mention the food does last six weeks, but the lady at the shop said it had increased in price by four francs.

So that was today in a nutshell. I did go to work this morning but try to forget about that during the day. This getting up early in the morning is not such a good thing, although I usually compensate with an hour after dinner.

I might become famous

I was quite surprised last week. I returned to work half days last week after two and a half months rest. I am only working in the morning and that is enough. I have to be careful that I don't get "worked up" and stay cool most of the time. I had one of those days on Wednesday where I rushed off in the morning to work and forgot to take a tablet which does help to keep calm. On top of it there was a filming session in our company. for some strange reason they have decided to make a sort of advertisement for our company on film. I thought ok but the film person decided to have me and a colleague in the film. It just goes to show how unrealistic the films are. Actually it did nerve me a bit as he started his film game at 11.00 in the morning and I am only working until 11.30. So I put on a brave face and he decided my collegue and I were to discuss some documents in the middle of the department at a desk and then I was to walk off with the documents in my hand and go back to my desk.

No. 1 take was no good because I moved my hand in the air. No. 2 take was no good because two other colleagues decided to walk in front of the camera, but eventually No. 3 take was in the can. I was not happy and I don't think my future life will be in film. Afterwards the young man started arranging for the next part of the film and the searchlight was needed. I decided to exercise revenge and took a photo of him whilst he was doing it. It was a shame I had to go home, perhaps the next part was where someone kills someone in the office and it develops into a thriller. One day the film will probably be put on our web site and then I will be able to link it in to one of my famous blogs.

It was a very wet weekend and I was not very happy on Saturday morning. If possible, I do try to wind myself out of the shopping trip on some Saturday mornings and this week-end I had definitely not planned to go shopping. Unfortunately it was the Saturday morning where the television man decided to come to convert our television into proper HD. We already did have it but the module was missing (I don't understand anything about this). Anyhow this meant that one of us had to go shopping and the other had to look after the television man. As I don't even know how to switch our super modern HD television on any more (I have a simpler version in another room) it was me that had to go shopping on my own. The television man needed two hours to get the work done.

I can tell you it was not just raining but pi....ing down and I got soaked. Apart from that I didn't really know what to buy as I had most of the stuff. I switched my mobile on and called Mr. Swiss from the shop and he guided me around long distance. When I arrived home the tv man was still there. I thought the tv man could have come during the week when I was at work, but no, I was told we can be grateful that he actually came at all etc. etc. You cannot win can you.

I then had another one of my funny ideas. Being half a photographer and taken photos everywhere that does sometimes tend to get on someone's nerves, especially when we go shopping, I noticed something interesting this week. It was nine in the evening when it starts getting dark and when it signalises that our electricity is then half price until seven in the morning. One of the reasons to let the various washing machines and washing up machines to run on half price electricity. I was going down to the cellar where my washing room is to start the washing and noticed an interesting light play on our stairs before I switched the light on. I decided to try my camera out with night portrait and fetched it photograph the spectacle. It was all very technical and for such a photo the time is longer. Perhaps it was just as well that none of my neighbours were around when I was taken the photo or they might have thought that I was really ready to be taken away. Anyhow with pride here is my first night portrait taken on the stairs of our appartment house before I switched the light on and went down to the washing room.

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