Wine, Athletes and Hair Cuts

Wine in Wiesbaden

Church and Wine Festival Wiesbaden

Last weekend the 38^th Wiesbaden Wine Festival started. It is all ather civilised and offers the visitor the opportunity to sample local wines and sparkling wines from the region. Mostly white wines, so the red wine drinkers might feel left out. All at very reasonable prices too, between 2.50 to 3.50 € a glass. We went down on Saturday and Sunday.

On Sunday we got speaking to this really interesting German couple. Perhaps, I found them interesting because they found me interesting. No, that cannot be the reason could it? They had both visited South Africa on a number of occasions, so we were able to exchange views and ideas. It was nice to actually talk to people for a change rather than be ignored or invisible, as I often feel I am. People say you need to talk to people in German to improve your language skills; but in order to do that you need to get the opportunity to talk to people; and not only the people pushing in at the check-out. [And they might not even be German these pusher-inners]. So it is possible to meet interesting people when you go out and I look forward to meeting more like the couple I met on Sunday afternoon.

Sunday also saw a Triathlon [swimming, cycling, and running] take place in Wiesbaden. When we walked down to the Wine Festival on Sunday we noticed that there was hardly anyone around, after it had been very well attended on Saturday. We were wondering where everyone was, thinking that perhaps they had tasted too many glasses of wine the previous night. There was some evidence to this effect on the pavements. We followed the signs of life and discovered where the rest of the town, and all those under the age of 60 were hiding. They were watching the final stages of the Ironman/woman competition. It is very motivating watching tri-athletes complete, although I often wonder if they are remotely human or perhaps some sort of alien breed of A-personality over-achievers.

Two observations: Firstly the Master of Ceremonies was an extremely irritating man. His accent soon revealed he was South African. Not only did he have a ghastly accent when he spoke German, but he went on about Cape Town being the most beautiful city in the world bla bla. Cape Town is nice enough, but it really is not the centre of the universe, contrary to what the people who live there think. In fact he never stopped talking the whole time, and made all sorts of comments about the competitors’ smiles and goodness knows what else. He kept addressing the competitors by their first name. Makes me wonder how the German competitors felt about this. The usually prefer to be addressed as Herr oder Frau, rather than Jurgen or Anna.

The other thing that made me smile was seeing an old lady chain smoking while all the hyper- fit, athletes ran past. Watching can be very exhausting and she had no doubt earned her cigarette.

After watching the running for a while we went back to the Wine Festival. I think the festival ends this coming weekend. I imagine I might find myself there at least once more at the weekend. Before then I need to have my haircut. This is always a bit of a challenge for me. So far I have been to two hairdressers in Wiesbaden and on both occasions I decided not to return. The last decent haircut I had was in England in April. London is a bit too far to go for a haircut. It seems to be very difficult to explain to the people here what I want. I even show them the photographs of my hairstyle from the UK, but they are still not able to manage it.

So I imagine I will be wondering around aimlessly over the next few days hoping to find someone that can do a decent job, at a decent price. I am all for the fact that hairdressers in Germany now earn a minimum wage, prior to this some people were paid 3.60 € an hour. A few years back I could and did get my hair cut in Berlin for 5.00 €. On the two most recent occasions here in Wiesbaden, I have paid multiples of 5.00 € for worse haircuts. Even the offer of a free 10^th haircut at either of these places; has not been sufficient reason to return! Wish me luck as I look for a hairdresser, here in Wiesbaden. If I am really lucky I might find one that I can go back to for a second visit in a few week's time, but I no longer believe in miracles and wonders.

Back In Wiesbaden

No matter the joy of a holiday, you always get back to two things. 1. A huge pile of Washing and 2. A huge pile of payment receipts - assuming that you have bothered to keep them - the evidence of money you have changed into experiences. Often the bits of paper are the only memory of the experiences at all.

In my case, it has been four, 7kg loads of washing that have taken two days to get through. I even used the drier as I did not have the hanging space, in the apartment, to get everything dry. Never fear, once the washing is dry I have the ironing to look forward to. The same ironing that I had to do before I went on holiday. At least I have plenty of recorded TV programmes to watch while I iron. This is now that the cable TV receiver has been replaced. The current incumbent seems to be working a bit better than the previous one, although it did only start recording 30 minutes into two of the programmes.

As to the money spent. I always try and keep all the receipts for my spending and then capture them into an Excel spreadsheet. I know most people do not bother to keep detailed records of their spending. It is usually those with lots of disposal income and those with none that seem to be least concerned about how much they spend. I know that it takes a while to capture all the expenses, but at the end, I know exactly how much I have spend and more importantly on what. Yes, I do have a Budget and Expense Codes. Not because I am the best accountant, but rather an Excellent Administrator. Often in the past, I have got the two confused, which has caused me untold misery. Well, the holiday spending has been captured and I know how much I spent on Belgium Beer and Parking.

As part of most holiday rituals people buy postcards that they never seem to send. This is often because they do not know where the nearest post office is, or they are too busy while on holilday. Or the postage is more than than the cost of the postcard. Well, I do try and send the postcards that I buy. Yes, in the age of social media, Facebook and WhatsAP people send instant photos. I tend to be a bit of a traditionalist and still send Christmas cards and postcards and even birthday cards. As I see it, an email is not the same as a birthday card, it never will be. The point is, it needs to be a bit of an effort to remember friends and family. So I had to dash off to the post-office here in Wiesbaden this morning to get the postcards out before it becomes too late. So now my postcards from Brussels been posted with German stamps. The true meaning of the European Union, or European Integration at least. I would of course never dream of sending a British postcard with German stamp or a German postcard with a British stamp. That is totally unthinkable. Just like the UK joining the Euro Zone. The world will literally END, or for the City of London at least, which is THE WORLD.

I treated myself, to what I consider the best sandwhich in Wiesbaden earlier today. Just to remind me that I am no longer in Brussels and to celebrate getting through my four loads of washing.

View from my Sandwich 1 - Not in Brussels anymore

View from my Sandwich 2

Best Little Sandwich in Wiesbaden.