Wangen an der Aare

A few days ago I did a blog about the jazz concert I attended on Sunday morning where my husband was playing. The concert took place in a small village near where I live, a few curves down our local river and about 10-15 minutes by car. Whilst the musicians were assembling their instruments and "getting in the mood" I left them too it and took a walk around the village.

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It had snowed the evening before and it was a cold frosty morning, but the landscape looked very pretty under those cold conditions. As said, Wangen lays on the River Aare. It is a small village and is in the Kanton (state/county) of Bern. The village itself has a lot of tradition which can be seen by this view of the main street.

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Most of the shops are found on the on the periphery of this center. The actual central part of the town is enclosed between two "gates" which formed part of the town defences in olden days - even the Swiss had their internal differences and fought out a few territorial arguments with each other. Here are the town "gates".

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The second photo shows the view through the arch of a bridge. This is one of the famous wooden bridges that still exist in Switzerland, the most famous being the one in Luzern which burnt down a few years ago, but was built again. This bridge is the main direct connection to the village. Although you can drive over in both directions, you can only enter the bridge when there is no approaching traffic. This needs a lot of understanding on the drivers behalf and everyone has to show their best manners. I do not like driving into this village and I avoid it when I can, or my husband is driving. There is of course a main road, but this is quite a long drive round. Here is a closer photo of the bridge.

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I walked back to the place where the band were performing (it was in an art gallery) and noticed it was situated in a very old quaint square where it seemed time had stood still. Just opposite the gallery there was an old house which was probably one of the farm houses in days gone bye.

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Even the original watering trough for the animals was still in operation in front of the house.

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The people living in the house have their wood cut and ready to burn through the Winter on their fire. Eventually it was time for the concert so I made my way back to listen to some jazz for a couple of hours. As I past by the river and few ducks came swimming along so of course I could not resist taking a photo.

MULTIPLY: Writer's Forum Find your Muse #10: Holiday Disaster

Well, it's that time of the year when family and friends gather to start celebrating the holidays.With Thanksgiving happening this week, and Christmas coming up real quick, its time to deck your muse in dressing and tinsel...Your challenge is to write a short about the worst holiday disaster you have ever had...We are taking burned turkey, raw stuffing, exploding gifts, and those wonderful family gatherings where the police are called.It can be fiction of course...some folks are just too lucky not to have anything bad happen

This is, of course, fiction, although something similar happened to someone we knew.

Hans Wurst was glad that his business trip was over. It was a week before Christmas and he wanted to be at home with his family in Zürich, Switzerland. America was interesting but after spending two weeks discussing business affairs with the American agents he was ready to go home. It had started snowing in New York and he called for a taxi to take him to Kennedy airport. He made sure he had enough time as the traffic was not moving as fast as usual.

Hans was always fascinated by the New York taxi drivers. They all had a permit fixed to the car showing a photo, with their name and number. He always found it quite amusing to see how the photos showed them dressed in their best clothes and smiling happily. When you saw the drivers behind the wheel of the car they looked nothing like the photo, and a smile was something you very rarely got from them. It seemed the driver he had was from a country in the Middle east when he saw the name. So Hans was sitting in his taxi waiting to move and they did move because the car behind them drove into them. They were just passing the Carnegie Hall when it happened and the taxi driver was not a happy man. The man in the other car was already standing on the street calling the taxi driver a few names and telling him that the accident was his fault. Hans looked at his watch hoping that he would catch the plane in time.

“You just stay here” said the taxi driver “this won’t take long to sort out.”
In the meanwhile the driver of the other car was talking into his mobile phone and told the taxi driver his lawyer would be coming along in a few minutes. The taxi driver returned to the taxi and sat in the drivers seat.
“Don’t worry” he said “you smoke, have a cigarette” and offered Hans one.
“Am I allowed to smoke in the taxi” Hans asked
“No problem” was the answer “I am smoking, you smoke too, and we just keep calm. Where you from?” asked the taxi man
“Switzerland” Hans answered “and I have to catch a plane at Kennedy as I am on my way home. If you want to sort your problem I can easily take another cab” he told the chauffeur.
“You from Switzerland, that’s interesting, I am from Iran, but have been in New York a few years. Nice country America.”
“Do you think I could take another taxi” asked Hans, looking at his watch with a worried face.
“You stay here, we will soon be going.” The driver of the other car was still standing on the street waiting for his lawyer, when the taxi chauffeur turned the car engine on and put his foot on the accelerator and drove off. Hans was a bit worried, and the other car driver was left standing shaking his fist at the taxi driver, although Hans was glad that they could go further.

He arrived at the airport with fifteen minutes time to catch his plane, so ran as quickly as possible with his luggage and arrived at the airport desk.

“Hello sir”, said the girl “you are taking the plane to Zürich leaving in 15 minutes. Just take your time sir, we have delays because of the snow and we have to clear the runways. At the moment the new departure time will be in three hours, so just take it easy.
In a way Hans was glad to have a few minutes extra, but three hours was a bit much. It was now evening and it seemed the plane would not leave until midnight. He checked the luggage in and made himself comfortable on a seat in the airport.
“Where you going” asked the man sitting next to Hans
“Zürich, but my plane is delayed” he answered.
“All planes delayed today because of the snow; seems that we will have to be patient.”
Hans was not very happy but decided to make himself comfortable on the seat and wait. He had never seen so many people in a airport lounge. Every seat was occupied and those without a seat were sitting on the floor. Time went past and he fell asleep whilst waiting. Luckily he awoke in the early morning hours to find that his plane was still not ready to depart. He was thinking how nice it would be to take a bath, wash and shave and change his clothes. The airport was hot, sticky and crowded. Then a wonder happened.
“Will all passengers for flight 1222 to Zürich, Switzerland please go to gate 32” came over the loudspeaker. Hans was so glad that some action was coming into the airport and made his way. He was soon seated in the aircraft which was completely full.

“Buenos dias senor” said his seat neighbour. You going Zürich, long flight”
“Yes” Hans replied “ I am looking forward to going home for Christmas.”
“Si, I think we all are.”
“You are also going home.”
“Si, senor, I go home too” although Hans thought that the neighbour was probably taking a connecting flight to Spain from Zürich.
The plane was in the air and they were on their way. Hans looked out of the window and saw the Atlantic ocean appearing.
“Scusa senor” said his neighbour and stood up. Hans had a funny feeling about this strange Spanish speaking person, especially as he noticed there were a couple of other Spanish people distributed on the plane. They also left their seats and Hans noticed that they were all standing together at the front of the plane.

“OK” one of them said “now you all remain nice and quiet and do nothing to disturb us. My friend has already spoken to the pilot and we have persuaded him to fly to Havana, in Cuba where our friends are waiting for us. Please do nothing stupid and you will all land safely. In other words this plane has now been hijacked. We have a few hand grenades, pistols and guns, so please no heroes and do nothing stupid. “
Hans was a little bit concerned. He was still feeling tired, unwashed and now this.

The kidnapper spoke further. “Just to make this journey worthwhile for my friends and me, we would like to make a little collection. Please all the Swiss passengers will put their watches in the bag that will be passed around. Switzerland makes such nice watches and it will soon be Christmas. Our families would also like to have nice watches.”
So what could Hans do? Like all the other passengers he put his watch in the bag. He decided not to play the hero and so he saw the Atlantic ocean disappear towards the North as the plane turned South. He saw Florida below them and they eventually landed at Havana airport.

It seems that the pirates then gave themselves up when they had landed and were escorted away by the police. Hans thought it strange that the police did not really arrest them but just let them leave the plane. He did notice from the window that the Swiss watches were being shared with some of the police officers.

“This is your pilot speaking. We must apologise for this disturbance, but the Cuban authorities have assured us that we will be allowed to leave Havana without any problems. We will return to Kennedy airport and a connecting flight to Zürich will be waiting.”

Hans thought at least he was still alive and could travel further. After the arrival at Kennedy the passengers had to wait in the lounge for a few hours and eventually they were on their plane to Zürich. Seven hours later the plane touched down at Kloten, the airport in Zürich. Hans was feeling very tired and was glad his wife was meeting him at the airport. He went to the luggage pick up and watched the cases travelling around on the conveyor belt, the problem being that his case was not on the conveyor belt. He inquired.
“I am sorry sir, but due to the hijacking of the plane, not all of the luggage could be transferred onto the substitute flight. We are doing our best to organise the return.” Was the answer he got.
He entered the hall of the airport and found there was a message on the board that Hans Wurst should report to the flight reception office.
“Mr. Wurst, you wife called and said you should call back.”

“Hello Hans, did you have a good flight. How are you.” She said. Before Hans could say anything she carried on talking “Hans I cannot pick you up at the airport – you must take the train. I had a little problem with the car yesterday. No Hans, don’t get excited, it will only be in the garage until they have replaced the bumper and the doors. Yes Hans, I am ok, but there was a patch of ice on the road and I skidded into a lamp post.”

Hans left the airport and took the train. He was worried that the train might break down in a tunnel or that he might fall asleep and miss his station, but he did not care any more. Oh, yes he did miss his station, but after all Geneva was only four hours away by train to where he actually lived, and he was travelling light. He actually did get his luggage eventually, but unfortunately it was left in a tropical storm and was quite wet when it arrived some time after Christmas.

Writer's Forum: find your Muse #10: Holiday disaster

MULTIPLY Pictures to Words: Segments Week 4: The old white house

At last Sylvia had been able to leave her old life behind her and found work in another town. She had got away from her husband Jeff. He was lazy, drank too much and now and again lost his temper with Sylvia. She was a qualified nurse and had a well paid job, but decided that enough was enough. The evenings when she came home from work to find the floor littered with empty bottles and her husband lying around in the house hardly able to see straight were enough. When she told him to pull himself together, he did, but combined it with an attack on his wife. She had tried until she had no longer patience with him. Eventually she packed her case and left. She took the train West and decided that it was time to turn her back on life as she had known it.

In a way she was sorry to leave their house. It stood on its own in a suburb of the town; a white wooden house, looking neat and tidy from the outside. Sylvia thought that in her life everything was neat and tidy on the outside; only on the inside things were not so good. In her luggage she had a photo of the house standing in its beautiful surroundings. The sky was showing itself from its best side in summer. The clouds were just wisps reflecting the sun in colours of red and gold. When she and Jeff found the house they were so happy. At least she thought Jeff was happy. They were newly weds and life was beginning for them both. The sunny side of life only existed for a few months and then Jeff started to drink heavily. That was what she thought, but she eventually realised that Jeff had been able to hide the drinking from her when they met. Living with him constantly showed his true character. He worked in an advertising company. His life seemed to be filled with lunches and evening meals with customers, that was more liquid than solid. Many were during the evening and Jeff would arrive home late. In the beginning Syvia would wait for him, but she soon realised it was not worth it. She was glad when she could work nights, when she arrived home in the morning and Jeff was sleeping out his alcoholic dreams, she did not have to be confronted with his moods.
She arrived in her new surroundings and took a hotel room to begin with. The next step was to apply at the local hospital for a job.

“Good morning” said the receptionist at the hospital “can I help you”.
“I am new in town and am a qualified nurse. I have my documents here and was wondering if you would have a job for me in the hospital.”
The receptionist took the documents and told Sylvia to wait whilst she spoke with the manager of the hospital. She came back to Sylvia accompanied by an older man who introduced himself as Dr. Smith.
“I hear you would like to have a job at our hospital. We really do need qualified personnel at the moment and with your documents there is no problem. Just take some time and fill out the application forms please.”

Sylvia was pleased. She was in a new town and had found work and was ready for a new beginning. She told the hospital she could start working straight away and the following week she was employed. She looked around in the town for somewhere to live and found a small house just ideal for her. This time it was not white but red. She had had really enough of living in a white house and had only bad memories. She had put all her furniture into storage where she lived before and called the moving people to deliver at her new address. She still owned the old white house but thought one day she would sell it. At the present she was earning enough money to be able to pay rent for her new house, so did not have to hurry.

In a way she hung onto her old house and had taken a photo with her showing it on one of its best days. It was surrounded by the most wonderful green bushes and trees and she missed the surroundings just a little bit. If only Jeff had been more caring, this would not have happened and she would have stayed. She bought a frame for the photo of the house and garden and put it on the cupboard in the living room; just a little something to remember her old life.

Her first evening in the new red house was accompanied by a storm. It rained as if the heavens had opened and there were crashes of thunder resounding through the house. One clap of thunder was so loud that she heard the window spring open downstairs in the living room. She decided that it would be sensible to close the window otherwise she envisioned everything being wet in the morning. When she entered the living room she noticed that the wind coming through the window had swept her photo to the floor. She picked it up and put it back on the cupboard and went back to bed. In the morning she had a look around to see that nothing more had happened and found the photo again on the floor. As she picked it up and looked at it, it seemed a little bit different but did not realise what was different. She went to work during the day and forgot about the photo.

Sylvia was now really satisfied. She had a new home in a new town and a new job. She had got to know a lot of new people at the hospital and decided to invite some of her colleagues home in the evening for a drink and a meal.

“You have a very nice place here” said Christine, one of her fellow nurses.
“I just love your taste in furniture” joined in Marion “and I just love that photo of that old white house.”
“That is where I used to live” answered Sylvia.
“Why on earth did you leave such a beautiful place” added Christine “It seems that you had quite an interest in gardening.”
“Why gardening?” asked Sylvia
“When I look at the garden at the side of the house it seems you were preparing to plant a tree or something. There is fresh earth showing on the photo just under the window.”
Sylvia had a closer look at the photo and there was really a patch of fresh earth to be seen.

She decided to change the subject and served the meal. It was a successful evening and they enjoyed their selves very much and left around midnight. Sylvia cleared away the dining room table and when everything was in its place she had another look at the photo.
“I don’t remember seeing that earth on the photo yesterday” she thought, but was so tired she soon went to bed and forgot about the photo.

The next day she did not have to work and decided to use it for cleaning her home. She again looked at the photo, but noticed that there was now a hole dug under the window and a pile of earth next to the hole. Sylvia was just a little bit disturbed by the photo. It really seemed it was changing all the time.

Imagine the shock she had when she looked at the photo a week later. There was no pile of earth under the window and no hole in the ground. Everything was nicely levelled and grass was growing where the earth was. There was just something a bit strange in the middle of the photo. It seemed that a single flower was growing out of the place where the pile of earth was. She looked at it closer and was a little bit worried.

Sylvia decided to take a week off work. She told the people in the hospital that she had decided to sell her house in the town where she used to live and would need some time to tie up the dealings. She needed at least two days by car, but soon arrived at her old house. A lot of bad memories came back to her as she walked round the house. She had never forgiven Jeff for the way he had treated her. The old white house looked exactly as it was on the photo and even the sky was showing itself from its best side. She arrived at the window where the photo had been playing tricks on her and had a close look at the earth below. Everything seemed normal. There was no earth disturbed, and the lawn was in one piece. There was even no strange flower growing where she had seen it on the photo.

She got down on her knees to take a closer look.

“Looking for something Miss,” said a voice behind her“ and before she could turn round to see who it was she felt steel bracelets being put on her wrists.

“By the power given to me by this State I am arresting you for the murder of your husband Jeff ……” and Sylvia found herself surrounded by police. “We found his body yesterday. One of the neighbours dogs kept sniffing around and his hand was sticking through the earth” the police said, so we decided to keep an eye on the place. It seemed he didn’t want to stay where you put him and one hand was showing through the earth.”

Pictures to Words - Segments: Week 4: The old white house

A Lively Sunday morning and all that jazz

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Although I am not really one for laying in bed on Sunday morning until lunch time, I do like to take it easy with a bit less stress. This Sunday was something a bit different. My husband had a "gig" (for those not knowing, a musical appearance) with the jazz group in the local village of Wangen an der Aare (see photo - yes we had a snow fall in the night). The place of the concert was in one of the local clubs. It was their first public appearance and they were to play from ten in the morning until half past eleven so we had to drive off around nine o'clock. My hubby plays drums so they have to be assembled when we arrive. Sometimes I think it would be a bit easier if he played a trumpet, he would then only have a small case to carry.

Anyhow our car was occupied by a drum set and me and hubby and we set off. When we arrived the other band members also arrived so we were all busy getting things ready.

As you can see assembling a drum kit is not the easiest thing in the world, but practice makes perfect and everything was ready in time. The group play "mainstream" jazz so please do not confuse it with dixieland. Here we are amongst the disciples of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Art Blakey and Benny Golson just to name a few.

The concert was open to the public and there was quite an audience. Some of our friends from our town were also there. It is a quintet with pianist, trumpet/flugelhorn, trombone, bass and of course my husband on drums. They come from various parts of Switzerland and meet once a week for a practice. They have all been playing for many years, and now have the name "Senior Jazz birds". The senior part has been added over the years.

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The photo shows them in action. The concert was well visited and something to drink and eat was also offered. It was a very enjoyable morning, something completely different. They naturally had to play something extra as they were so successful. I left my other half to pack the drum kit away and went home with some friends of ours. I was glad as I had lunch to cook and by the time he was finished he arrived home and I had everything ready.

My husband has been playing drums since he was a young man and although he can fit in in any style his favourite is mainstream which I also like very much. With the years you become an expert somehow, although his knowledge far exceeds mine. I took a couple of videos with my camera although the quality is not exactly the best, but here is a small taste of the Senior Jazz Birds.