metube

I just spotted myself on youtube. You may remember I mentioned Findlay Brown got off the stage and played right in front of me. Someone filmed it. If you know what to look for, you can see me sitting in the audience and later standing. And if you listen closely, you may even hear me singing along at the end. My 15 minutes of fame, at last!

Stats of the week - week 34

Total running time: 4 h 16 min
Total distance run: 40.33 k
Total weight loss: 1.5 kg

I have lost some weight. Finally. I am not highly motivated to run at the moment. It's summer. I feel lazy. Still I managed to do what Jens had asked me to do, apart from yesterday when I did not feel well after 5k and stopped after 8k.

After strumming my little ukulele for a couple of days now without really knowing what I am doing (and producing nothing that could be called "a tune"), I have booked a place in a beginners workshop organised by the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britian. Me and precious little will take part in September in London. One of the benefits of being a frequent flyer is that you can use up airmails for indulgences like this.

Precious little

My precious little has arrived: a gorgeous soprano ukulele.



I think, I will call him "little Nick", because it is more or less Nick Duffy's fault, that I am now the proud owner of this instrument. I was surfing the internet for information to put on duffypedia, when I found a comment from Nick in the guestbook of The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. I checked the rest of their website and fell in love with their sound. I own a couple of CDs now and their latest one - "Precious Little" - is playing while I type this. You just have to listen to their versions of "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "Theme from Shaft" and especially "Psycho Killer"!

London Marathon 2008

I have booked a trip to the Flora London Marathon 2008 with Interair. At least I think I have. The only annoying thing about Interair is that you do not get email confirmation if you have booked the trip online. But it worked last time, so I am hoping it worked again this time.

The marathon takes places on 13h April 2008, so I have roughly 7 months and 20 days to get into shape. Jens already has ambitions to see me run it "speedily and beaming". I can see some tough training coming my way over the next months.

I am still on holiday this week, so I can get started immediately. If I am not entirely mistaken, I have enrolled for two more runs this year: the DKV Brückenlauf and the half-marathon that is part of the Köln Marathon.

Green Man Festival

Hello everyone, I am back from a short trip to Wales where I visited the The Green Man festival. Yes, Ms "if it does not have at least 4 stars I am not staying in it" has been roughing it. In a tent. No bathroom, no shower. Just portaloos, shared with thousands of other music enthusiasts. Why? The Lilac Time were playing their first gig since 2003 there and had organised a small warm up gig the night before in Hereford.

So I flew to Birminigham


where I only spent one hour before I boarded the train to Hereford. It was like a school reunion: C., M. & M., G., D., N. and many more were there too. A couple of us met before the gig for a drink in a pub and a curry. It must have been at the restaurant were I lost my ticket to the concert. Can you imagine that? I come all the way from Germany, just to lose my ticket hours before the gig. I am sure I still had it when I met M. & M. earlier, because it came with a map and we checked the location of the venue. But when we were at the door, it was nowhere to be found. Luckily, L. was at the door and she recognised me and put me on her guest list. Phew!

My camera did not cope well with the light and the indoor setting, so the picture I post was actually taken by M. His camera was far bigger than mine, with an impressive zoom.


The whole event had a very relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Lyrics were forgotten, instruments had to be retuned, children (and grown ups) were dancing, dogs behaving well. A really wonderful evening and well worth coming all the way for.

The next day I took a train to Abergavenny in Wales and from there the bus shuttle to the festival site at Glanusk Estate in the Brecon Beacons.

I had booked a tent with Tangerine Fields. Luxury camping. When you arrive, the tent is hitched and the airbed inflated. All you have to do is move in. I did and my tent looked like a bomb exploded inside of it only minutes later. Somebody should have told me tents do not have wardrobes.

The festival had several stages and all had performances from 12pm until 12:30am. Lots of music and most of it was very good. Findlay Brown unplugged his guitar and stepped off the stage for his final song:


And then of course there was The Lilac Time on the main stage Friday night:





They were much more focused than the night before, less lyrics were forgotten and instuments only had to be retuned once. An excellent performance, but way too short. Nobody was allowed to do encores, so they had to get off the stage after 45 minutes. I had met up with D. to see them play and afterwards we agreed that we probably stood too close to the stage. We would have had a better view from further away.

The next day it started to rain. And it didn't stop. So the Green Man turned into a mini-Glastonbury. Mud developed everywhere. Wellingtons were the thing to wear.



The Folkey Dokey tent...


The main stage (not the enormous soap bubble on the left side)...

My muddy feet...

When it turned dark, you could no longer see the mud and the scenery was beautifully illuminated...



Fire lanterns flew into the sky. Quite romantic.



Sunday morning all portaloos were overflowing and toilet paper had become a rare as a dodo. My airbed had gone flat... again (I had already pumped it up once before). I took a look at the programme and decided to evacuate the site and find myself a nice little guest house in Abergavenny. With my own shower and a soft bed. Wimp? Sissy? Champagne Socialist? Yes, maybe. But Abergavenny is actually worth a visit, if only for a day. They have a castle...

... and you can go for some really nice walks...

Monday morning I was back on my way to Birmingham. This time I had some more time to spend in the city and my main impression is that it is one large shopping mall. You leave one just to enter the next. And there were so many people around, it was unbelievable. I know, I am probably doing the city injustice and there is much more to it, but all I saw in a couple of hours was shops.

Stats of the week - week 32... and "Das Wunder im Wald"

Total running time: 4 h 54 min
Total distance run: 45.12 k
Total weight loss: 0

Still no weight lost. On Wednesday morning I had 0.5 kg less, but Thursday I went to the pub with A. & S., who felt they needed a drink after some not so good news, and the next day I was back to the old weight. Still, I don't understand why nothing much happens. I eat ever so sensibly (with the exception of that one night out) and I run a lot. Ideas anyone?

This morning I decided to run in Cologne again. I hadn't been for a long time and my scheduled said 18-20k (I did 19.32k, just for the record), which is a bit too long to do it without lots of repetition here at home. It was a beautiful morning and I thought that at 7:30 am I would be alone, but I wasn't. Many people had got up early, maybe like me afraid that it would get too warm for excersise during the day.

So, there I was running... ok jogging along (but still fast enough so that none of those terrorists with sticks, als known as the Nordic Walker, could overtake me). And then a miracle happened, "das Wunder im Wald". In front of me I spied one of the dreaded stick swingers of the very senior class (you know the type: closing in on 80, small, lean, brawny). His weapons moved vigorously from back to front and back. While I was still contemplating how to best beam him out of my track, he did the most amazing thing. He picked up his sticks and... began to run! Yes, he RAN! I think what I felt that moment can only be compared to the feeling of young parents watching their first child take its first steps. Or maybe God felt this way, when he saw the human amphibian leave the ocean to develop legs and feet. Of course, this moment of joy did not last very long. After about 100m he stopped and walked again. But hey! There is hope. He did it once, he may do it again.

Sadly, they paved paradise and put up a parking lot. Was that really necessary?

World cat day

Today is "world cat day". Three cheers for all moggies great and small!

I allowed Mr Cat to move in with me (in his point of view: he has bestowed the honour of his permanent presence upon me) and have not regretted it ever. And I would love to have more of them around, but Mr Cat is not very sociable. So all I could do was to adopted Tom & Jerry, who live in an animal shelter. I hope, they will find someone to take them home eventually.

Stats of the week - week 31

Total running time: 5 h 7 min
Total distance run: 45.16 k
Total weight loss: 0

It's not going well this weight loss thing. I have stuck to the plan, but I am still carrying excess baggage. I watch what I eat and the two cocktails at the concert Friday evening (went to see Seeed with A. in B., really good concert, groovey baby) cannot have made the difference, can they? Do I need more patience? Maybe. I will give it another week.

The weather has been great this weekend and I went to the local outdoor swimming pool, stayed in the shade covered in sun protection creme factor 50 (yes, 50) and got sunburned nevertheless. The sun is quite aggressive. I cannot understand the people who have the colour of lime and nevertheless plant themselves directly in the sun for hours. How must they be feeling today?