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Happy Valentine's Day - Here's to Love, Not War

  This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA (Thanks to Joe Haupt) It’s Valentine’s Day today, so here’s wishing all you lovers out there a wonderful day, even if you haven’t yet found the love of your life. The world needs all the loving people it can get. I just read a bit about how during the C19th when Germany wanted to encourage orcharding, it decreed that all newlyweds must plant a fruit tree. I think that’s a lovely idea which wouldn't go amiss today.  I have just planted a lemon tree. A lemon might not sound all that romantic but it does symbolise cleanliness, purity and even fertility. Just think of it as aspirational. In the meantime, it has a lovely scent and if it produces any lemons, that will be a bonus as they are extremely expensive here at the moment. There is a lovely song about Love and Lemon Trees , though it isn't all that happy. I have been looking at the Language of Flowers to see what it had to say about how to express one’s lov...

That Other Germany 3 - Back to the Black Forest again

Michelbach - one of many charming villages tucked away in the folds and foothills of the Black Forest. It boasts two fine churches, a goodly number of well maintained half -timbered houses and two hotels, but not much else I knew I was getting better when I started to feel restless. I was also still feeling a bit put out by the fact that I’d had to give up on the car hire. I badly wanted to drive the B 500, the scenic route that goes right over the top of the Black Forest and passes a few small waterfalls. I had hoped my cousin would join me so I could treat her to a spa in Baden – Baden for looking after me, but she really needed to get on with her usual activities and also had a funeral to attend so she declined my invitation. No stranger to solo travel, I booked into what appeared to be one of the cheapest places to stay -The Vesperstueble in Michelbach, and then took a train to Baden – Baden which looked like the nearest access point. It didn’t seem far away – only an hour and a...

Lamingtons and Billy Tea - Some Australia Day Thoughts and other bits

Cheat's Billy Tea - I am using teabags today I must say I am shocked, shocked I tell you! Less than two weeks after Christmas, the Easter bunnies were already in the shops. Today they were joined by Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns. I am also very surprised – pleasantly, by how many of you are reading this blog – 43.5 K this month. Would have thought reading other people’s travel adventures would be rather like watching other people’s holiday slides in those pre –selfie days. I usually don’t like other people’s traveller’s tales, either because they make me jealous or make me feel bad because they’ve done a much better job – better photos and so on, or because they are just pleasant and pretty, like tourist brochures, with no mention of the hazards and ugliness you might encounter. I do like them when they are exceptionally funny like “Molvania– A Land Untouched by Modern Dentistry” [with apologies to any country which might see itself in the fictitious land described in thi...