Meeting one of my “walking around taking photographs bubbles” at Märchenbrunnen early in order to beat the crowds. Finally sunshine – albeit cold – but at least not snowing ….
The route on Komoot: https://www.komoot.com/tour/362686318.
Did I ever mention that I love trees?
(Previous posts on the subject can be found here).
Two cigarette stubs miraculously disappeared, and then two new ones appeared.
As a complete coincidence, I saw one of them – still lit. It is raining today, so the fire hazard is minimal, but the material you placed there about a week ago, apparently for no other reason than to make my balcony look even uglier and restrict my use of it even further, to me looks highly flammable when it is dry.
You obviously consider my balcony nothing more than an ashtray for your workers, (and thanks to you, my flat is worth nothing these years), but it is my home, and believe it or not, despite everything, I love it. So please try not to burn down the house.
Schön & Sever, Cresco Capital Group, Victoriahöfe, GBP Architekten
You would think that the least they could do was refrain from throwing cigarette stubs on my balcony as an added insult. I thought that had stopped after I complained about it some months ago, when I also found burn holes in one of the chair on the balcony. But no. Of course not.
Schön & Sever, Cresco Capital Group, Victoriahöfe, GBP Architekten
Previous posts on this subject are here: https://www.hellemoller.eu/category/neighbours-from-hell/.
The promise that my balcony would not be affected was made in a meeting between administrator and owners about two years ago, and is to this day the biggest lie anyone has ever told me. I think it was in the same meeting that we were promised some kind of compensation. I did not pay much attention since the amount was negligible – actually on hindsight completely pitiful – and I just thought yeah yeah whatever since my balcony “would not be affected”. In any case, there has been no mention of that compensation since then, so that was probably just another lie.
The other day, I had just cleaned the balcony floor and shelves for I don’t know which time, and suddenly it looked like this again:
So I cleaned up again, just in time for them to turn up and place some covering there, so now it looks like this:
I guess this qualifies as progress, unless they leave it like that for another couple of years.
But for now, I am keeping up hope. Having the full use of my balcony back would be far more important to me than receiving the COVID19 vaccine. The vaccine would not make a big change to my current lifestyle anyway. I would still have to adhere to most restrictions, including my own, and masks will be required for many months to come, and besides, with the new mutations spreading from banana republics such as Brazil and India, the current vaccines are not going to be much good for anybody in the longer term.
Being able to use my balcony, not to mention the fact that if they finally finish work on that wall, that part of the scaffolding can be removed, and I will get the daylight back which it is currently stealing and has been for almost two years now. All that would hugely enhance my quality of life.
And by the way, the size of the balcony and the light were among the main reasons I bought this flat.
Schön & Sever, Cresco Capital Group, Victoriahöfe, GBP Architekten
Grateful to Maxie, one of my “walking bubbles”, for agreeing to start our Sunday walk at the ungodly hour of 8.00 in order to avoid the crowds. Unfortunately, it meant that we did not see the sun till we were nearly finished with the walk. However, Maxie showed me a couple of features along the way which I had not noticed until today.
Here is the route on Komoot: https://www.komoot.com/tour/354516915.
I have posted several links with more information about Tempelhofer Feld in previous posts, but here is one I don’t think I have posted yet: https://www.slowtravelberlin.com/a-brief-history-of-tempelhofer-feld/.
Determined to get a better photo of the famous, but sometimes elusive, Tempelhofer Skylark, I went back and climbed one of the “viewing platforms” next to one of the large areas cordoned off to protect its breeding places.
Normally staying at home most weekends, I left home at about 07.00 in order to avoid the weekend hordes of retards who still do not know what 1,5 m looks like.
I always forget how strong, and cold, the wind gets there even if it did not feel particularly windy or cold on the way there. I nearly froze my t..s off and only saw a bunch of starlings and crows. I also took some photos of familiar buildings which I have never really noticed could be seen from the airfield.
Back down, teeth clattering, I started to walk towards the mosque exit and was lucky enough to spot a couple of skylarks, one of them doing what I interpreted as a “come-hither-I-love-you-and-I-want-to-have-your-baby” dance.
Other impressions from the former airfield now playground for young and old:
Made a detour into the adjacent cemetery: (more photos to come)
It was a great day for walking and pretending to be a tourist in my adopted city, and an OK day for nature and street photography. Only regret: That I wore shoes and not sandals.
The route on Komoot: https://www.komoot.com/tour/351138781.
I tweaked this recipe from Olive Magazine.
I used gram (chickpea) flour instead of wheat flour, oatmilk instead of whole milk, thyme instead of nutmeg, and chili instead of Dijon mustard (this last part more because I had some fresh chili that needed to be used than in order to make this recipe completely gluten free – that is just an added bonus for those who are severely gluten intolerant).
Different combinations of vegetables can of course be used, in which case you might want to use other herbs or spices instead of nutmeg or thyme.
A 22 cm springform cake tin, bottom lined with baking paper and sides brushed with oil.
Boil the asparagus (without the heads) in a large pan of lightly salted boiling water for a couple of minutes, scoop out with a slotted spoon and drain, then add the potatoes and boil for eight to ten minutes till tender to the point of a knife. Cut into 1 cm slices.
Cook the flour in the oil and ghee, stirring, for two to three minutes until smelling toasty. Add the milk, a little at a time, while whisking, adding more once fully incorporated. Simmer for five minutes until thickened, then stir in all the other ingredients except the eggs, and combine well. Season with a little bit of salt (if needed: the parmesan is also salty), and lots of freshly ground black pepper.
Let cool while you whisk the eggs together lightly.
Stir in the slightly cooled mixture, combining thoroughly.
Bake at 180 C fan for 45-50 minutes.
Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold as leftovers.
This is great on its own or with a salad, and is also a good accompaniment to fish, especially smoked or “gravad” and even to a roast leg of lamb.
