If you found this matchbox, clearly labelled, what would you think?
What it says on the box! Obviously.
What would you do?
OK, a bit more information: this matchbox belongs to my Mum.
My Mum is a very talented artist; she's won medals, including gold, at the Royal Horticultural Society art shows in the past. She specialises in botanical art and produces gorgeous watercolours such as this one:
Arisaema propinquum by Jill Hallett
She also paints other things. She can't paint from photographs, only from live (or dead...) specimens. In fact, whilst in Tokyo I kept a dead cicada in a tub for her to paint on her next visit. A couple of years ago she had a collection of deceased dragonflies too. They were pretty.
Cicada. Dead!
To me, this is completely normal and not at all strange.
Admittedly I did have an unusual upbringing what with Dad's constantly changing, and often escaping, menagerie. Giant millipedes marched out of cupboards on occassion, the piranha that fascinated my school mates, endless escaped lizard hunts, and countless other creatures sharing our home. Not to mention the menagerie's food... we had crickets chirping night and day in the house, and many more frozen creatures to surprise the uniniated visitors who wanted something from the freezer. So, normailty for me is not the same for everyone.
I also knew that random matchboxes may not contain matches, even though they weren't labelled as clearly as this one. They may contain an interesting beetle or similar insect that dad was keeping in order to identify.
Back to this matchbox...
Rhiannon found it when we stayed at Mum's last year.
She read the label.
She opened the box.
She screamed and threw the box across the room.
Oh, how I laughed!
"But you read the label. Why did it make you jump and scream?"
"I didn't expect it to actually have a bee in there."
Huh???
She has much to learn about the Hallett family.
The bees were a little bit broken.
"Bumble Bees, Dead!" has become a family joke now.
There are rumours that there is a Waschbär in the area.
A bear that washes?
Oh yes, a raccoon!
"Oh, Hai!"
Their scientific name is Procyon lotor- lotor is Latin for 'washer'. And yes, there are raccoons in Berlin. I love raccoons, but perhaps not in or around the house as they are incredibly destructive. [Warning, strong language... understandably so, but consider yourselves warned!]
Apparently one set of neighbours had some unusual droppings on their patio and their cleaner confidently declared them to be not from a fox, but from a Waschbär.
Therefore, it must be true.
Kita has a toy raccoon. She loves it very much indeed and alternates between trying to 'kill' it, biting it to make it squeak... a lot, and gently carrying it around and snuggling it like a puppy. As I say, she adores it and it's rarely far from her.
Kita's toy raccoon
Last week it was inadvertently left out in the garden overnight and it went missing! She was upset and kept wandering around aimlessly looking for it.
Rather puzzled, I looked for it too and soon spotted another toy and one of Rhiannon's old shoes down the side of the house where Kita can't go.
Something had taken them out through a small hole in the fence. It must be the foxes! And as we haven't seen a Waschbär we can't count that as a culprit. Foxes had been seen playing with other items in the garden so it's likely they took it.
At the weekend I brought Kita a new raccoon.
It's a bit bigger but it 'will do' according to the dog; it's not her 'baby' but an acceptable substitute.
Life went on. And I made sure to bring all the dog's toys inside at night.
Yesterday, Kita was in the garden as usual. I glanced out of the window and noticed her fussing over something under the trampoline at the end of the garden.
From this distance I couldn't see what she had, and worried that she'd caught something I went outside and looked harder. It wasn't any of her toys as I could see them near the house. It wasn't mouse-small and for a heart-stopping moment I wondered if she'd caught Edgar Allen Crow.
For once she came when called and carried the thing in her mouth. Anxiously I peered hard, looking for signs of life but no, its four stumpy legs were still.
Huh? Four fat legs? What on earth had she got?
She triumphantly trotted towards me and depostited it a few feet away before grabbing it instantly and running off again. From the very brief glance I thought it looked like a toy warthog!
When she'd stopped her game playing I was able to look properly and sure enough, it was indeed a toy warthog! Where on earth had that come from?
It's not a new toy as one of its tusks is missing and the squeaker doesn't work, thank goodness.
A friend suggested the foxes are doing some kind of toy-swap and had left it in return for the raccoon.
In the absence of any other explanation I think this may well be true!
It is all very puzzling and I felt like an extra in a new Alice in Wonderland story.
Wait! There's more...
After our walk yesterday evening, Kita insisted on going down to the cul de sac behind our house. And when Kita insists, it's in the interest of the dog walker's arm to take her route. So we went down there.
Perhaps she wanted to thank the foxes who live there for her warthog?
She rolled in fox poo (or perhaps it was Waschbär poo?!) and then made a bee-line for a patch of land that leads to the lake. The path takes us beside the house where the Waschbär poo had been found.
I glanced over their fence to their newly built patio. And there, standing smack bang in the middle of it, was Kita's original raccoon toy!
Curiouser and curiouser.
Knowing the owners are lovely people (and out at work at that point) I had no compunction at popping over their fence and rescuing the raccoon.
Kita was overjoyed! It was so cute, she made lots of funny noises and happily wagged her tail at getting her 'baby' back.
Reunited
I returned home to ponder. Had we been part of an elaborate practical joke? Should I replace the raccoon with a warthog? Or had the foxes dropped the toy on the patio? But it was carefully placed so there had to be some human intervention somewhere.
Coincidentally, that evening I went to dinner with one of the occupants and got a little closer to working out what had happened.
The patio-builders had sent him a photo of our raccoon on the patio. We think the foxes dropped the toy somewhere. The the builders had found it and, mindful of the cleaner's pronounciation regarding the poo, had decided to have a little fun so posed it on the patio for a photo.
We're all glad this mini-mystery has been fairly logically cleared up.
But I'm still none the wiser to how we got a warthog in our garden.
Concentrating on the wildlife for now: I'll fill you in on other stuff when I get a moment. Life's a bit hectic right now - in a good way, at last!
Edgar Allen Crow is doing well and has stuck around. The day after his life-threateneing meeting with Kita he reappeared in my garden. I was thrilled he'd managed to survive the night. He'd obviously found somewhere safe to stay away from the many foxes in the area, not to mention hunter-cat extraordinaire, Raymi.
I put some food out for him and watched him eat through my window. My desk - where I spend 90% of my time - overlooks the garden and I've made a little Japanese area. As this Japanese garden isn't yet finished (we can't afford the gravel) I've taken to using it as a bird-feeding area. Watching the birds is a perfect antidote to my online life.
Since then, Edgar returns every day. He can now fly, so I feel he's safe from most predators. He comes for breakfast, stays for as long as Kita allows him and bounces around the garden on his long legs investigating everything. Sometimes he gets onto the trampoline and creeps through the net to have a lie down. Oddly, whenever he hears other crows calling he immediately stops what he's doing and crouches low on the ground before finding somewhere to quietly hide.
Thankfully he's still wary of me but a couple of days ago he'd run out of food and started to call me! When I went out I got within touching distance to him. Again, I resisted and encouraged him to move further away.
Edgar Allen Crow
As well as Edgar's very entertaining antics, we've had green woodpeckers, greater spotted woodpeckers and all the 'standard' garden birds visiting regularly. Flocks of baby sparrows congregate on a specific paving stone, flicking their tiny wings and cheaping for food. They look like a feathery puddle and have introduced a new collective noun to my vocabularly - a puddle of sparrows.
A baby redstart is another regular visitor and caused me some anxiety when it decided to take a swim in my Japanese granite water bowl. It was a bit deep! Silly bird ignored a custom-placed shallow dish and went straight in the deep-end. I was on guard in case it couldn't get out, but all was well., Surprisingly tough, these little fledglings.
Due to my upbringing with a semi-twitcher Dad, I can identify most European birds with no trouble. But earlier this week one visitor had me totally stumped. It appeared on a pole near the house and I nearly knocked Rhiannon over in my rush to get my binoculars and camera. I failed on all counts. I only got a very brief look.
The bird was smallish - about warbler size, was an incredible sunshine yellow/orange with a black head. The yellow was the same colour as a Sun Conure. (And no, it wasn't a parrot!) I had an impression of 'bunting or warbler'. Nothing I've researched ties up at all. The nearest I can find is a Baltimore Oriole which it is highly unlikely to be considering our distance from the States. I conclude it was either an escapee or an incidental of some description. Very frustrating.
It can't have been this bird!
But the highlight of the week was the appearence of three fox cubs in our garden! We've always had foxes around - adults have been seen at all hours of the day and night. Our friends and neighbours had a den in their garden and these three had been seen there a lot. Now the cubs are older and on the move. I have no idea how they get in and out of our (hopefully) dog-proof garden, but they do.
Tim woke up very early the other morning and watched the three playing with Kita's toy sausages, eating an apple I'd put out for the birds and generally treating our garden as their own. They pulled a long lead across the lawn and dragged one of Tim's trainers up there too. I'm almost tempted to get up at dawn to watch them myself. Almost.
At dusk we were all treated to the sight of one young visitor. Rhiannon was entranced. Again, I was too slow to find my camera and only managed this blurry shot after it left our garden and went next door to watch us watching him.
Fox cub
Do we qualify for a visit from Springwatch now? Send Chris Packham please!
Kita and I returned from our walk this morning. As is usual, I went straight through the house and let Kita out into the garden.
Almost immediately she headed over to a bank of shrubs and a loud, flappy commotion ensued.
Out from behind the vegetation popped a Hooded crow. A youngster. It didn't seem injured but it was clear that it couldn't fly. Kita attacked it again; well, bounced it really, no teeth.
Everything happened so quickly. Kita went for it yet again but I headed her off. I don't know if she was going for the kill or her clumsy way of making friends. I wasn't prepared to take the risk to find out. And I wasn't sure if the cat had already had a go at it.
Crows are clever. So clever, in fact, that this one hopped straight through the patio doors and into the living room. Thinking quickly, I shut Kita out in the garden, much to her vocal disgust, and tried to see how the bird was.
It seemed unhurt. Shocked and scared, of course, but no injuries were obvious. I think it was newly fledged, hence the inability to fly.
Now what? I had my dog in the garden, the cat was goodness knows where and probably waiting to pounce, and a there was a Corvid hopping around my house. And it wasn't even 9am! No way could I send it back outside as it would definitely be killed.
A box. I needed a box, so I shot downstairs and spied the cat carrier. Perfect!
In it I put a small bowl of water and a dish of cat food and attempted to gently persuade the bird in. At first he wasn't having any of it but before long he went into a corner and froze, beak open and panting. I managed a closer look and confirmed he had no injuries at all so covered him with a small blanket to pick him up and put him in the carrier. I covered the carrier with the blanket so he had some peace.
Then I made a much needed cup of tea and pondered what on earth to do now. Although I've always wanted a pet Corvid, this is certainly not possible right now. It couldn't possibly live here with the dog and cat, crows live for a very long time, quickly imprint on humans and we're off to the UK in the summer. No, I can't keep it. Hopefully all he needs is a rest.
He settled very quickly in the box. After about half an hour I peeped in and he'd fallen asleep with his head under his wing. Sitting in the food. Hmm.
After a while he woke up and I heard some noises that indicated he was either drinking or eating. So I peeked again... now he was sitting in the water bowl. But the water bowl was empty as he'd tipped it all over the base of the crate.
He had to go back in the garden. Now. So I carried the crate halfway down the garden, got a large shallow tray of water and opened the door.
Out he hopped and bounced over to the tree whereupon he discovered he couldn't climb it like a woodpecker. Nope, definitely can't fly. But I was hoping his parents were around to help him do whatever it is he needed to do. Eventually, he hopped to the fence and to my surprise squeezed right through. That explained where he may have come from as there are no nests in the immediate vicinity.
All was well, I hoped. I heard crows calling so left him to it.
I had visitors then for the rest of the morning but as soon as they went a bit of a racket started up at the far end of the garden. Calling Kita in, I noticed a couple of adult crows flapping around in a tree but couldn't see what was going on.
Very shortly after, the young crow (who I am resisting naming... but if I did he'd be called Edgar. Or Poe...) bounced back into the garden. He made a beeline (crowline?) to the water dish and promptly sat in it. Perhaps he isn't the brightest specimen of his species.
And there he stayed for most of the afternoon, alternating with hopping out of the bowl and lying flat on the grass.
At one point, an adult crow flew down and went over to the baby, who begged for food. The adult responded in heartless fashion by grabbing the baby's tail and dragging him right out of the water. Then it stalked off, beak in the air. It glanced backwards once with a disdainful expression and flew away. It's not been back.
Edgar The young crow has had some cat food to eat and, apart from being unable to fly, appears well.
Later I will construct something safe for him to stay in tonight but I will not be gaining another pet. Really I won't. No... definitely not...
Tim and Rhiannon have gone to the UK for half term and their flight left at silly-o'clock. I am staying here to look after the pets.
It was COLD. About 2 degrees C at that time of day. Frost decorated cars left on the street and some of the fallen autumn leaves.
We've put some bird feeders outside "my" window - the one nearest my computer looking out over my Japanese garden.
I stared out of the window into the darkness, hugging my morning cuppa and enjoying the peace and quiet of an empty house. It took a long while to get light but I could hear a few birds singing.
As soon as the sun peeked over the horizon birds came into the garden. Most visitors were Great Tits, Coal Tits, Blackbirds and Jays.
But then I was thrilled to see a beautiful Crested Tit taking a drink from my granite bowl.
On the big tree, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker arrived for breakfast.
And the pièce de résistance, a very smart Hawfinch paid a visit! I've wanted to see one of these ever since I was a child looking through my Dad's bird books.
Aren't they gorgeous? Nature is wonderful.
Unfortunately my camera didn't have a battery in it, so these photos come courtesy of Wikipedia.
And I don't think any of these were the "screecher" from the other night...
Late last night a blood-curdling screech ripping through the dark outside couldn't fail to grab my attention.
At first I thought it was a cat fight, but when the loud, eerie shriek repeated, I realised it was not a cat, but some other creature. Unfortunately I've heard enough cat fights, thanks to bruiser Raymi, to recognise the awful racket they produce.
It wasn't a fox. Again, I've heard plenty of fox serenades in my life. Although Tim did see his first ever fox earlier in the evening! There are plenty around; I've even seen one walk casually down the road in broad daylight.
There are supposed to be raccoons here too, but I've not seen them and I don't know what noise they make. And I didn't think it could have been a wild boar. At least, I sincerely hoped it wasn't!
So what on earth was it?
I went out in the garden to see if I could see anything. My dressing gown and slippers weren't the ideal attire for nature-spotting at 11.30pm in temperatures of 4 degrees C.
It screamed again. Now I was able to pinpoint the location: high up in our tall beech tree. It must be a bird.
What birds make such a noise at night? Owls!
But it wasn't a "twit-twoo" sound. Barn owl? They are also known as Screech Owls, and for good reason. But again, this wasn't a Barn Owl sound - it was too loud and deep, and a different format altogether.
It sounded like a steroid-enhanced Barn Owl trying to make a noise like an Long Eared Owl.
These creatures are fairly common here. I haven't encountered one yet, but our arrival notes (hints and tips and information) said to make sure they can't get into your garden as they make a dreadful mess of it. No kidding!
Yes, I'd like to see one: no I don't want to see one too closely, thank you very much. I hear they are rather dangerous!
Writing.
It's what I do. A lot. Word counts are the bane of my life as I tend to write too much as you have undoubtedly noticed!
And lets not mention deadlines. Or dreadlines as I refer to them...
There aren't many meeces left around here any more. Raymi has been doing a sterling job at keeping the rodent population down to reasonable levels.
Unfortunately he doesn't clear up after himself.
Kita is also showing her primitive hunting side and regularly tries to dislocate my shoulder on our walks when she spots a mouse in the undergrowth. One day she was successful in her hunt.
I'm homesick - not for the UK but for Japan. I miss almost everything about this incredible country. Apart from the horrendous summer heat and earthquakes. Rhiannon is very homesick for Tokyo and is worried because she's forgetting her Japanese language skills already.
Somebody asked us recently if we would go back for a visit but I don't see how that would be possible. It's so far, so expensive both to fly to and to live there, even for a short time. we just don't have the money. One day I hope to be able to go there again.
We've got a corner of the downstairs room set up as a sitting room. It's entirely decorated with Japanese objets d'art.
Jet Lag.
Horrible. Led to waking very early and an annoying bladder problem.
Janitor.
Wonderful Polish gentleman who comes to fix things from a jammed gate to teaching me how to open the windows. He also lent us a TV when we arrived because "you have a child? You need a TV!"
Late one night, while slaving away at my computer, I heard a strange sound outside. It sounded like water, but it wasn't raining.
I went to the door, and there in my garden was a....
Fox!
He was quite large and noisily lapping water from my Japanese stone water basin. Unaware of my presence he turned and sauntered slowly across the lawn, sniffing intently at the ground, picking up the scent of my pets.
He was very close and I marvelled at having such a beautiful wild creature in my garden.
However, I was a little worried as Raymi was still outside somewhere.
So I hissed at it.
The fox froze and looked at me, the light reflecting off his eyes in a disturbingly spooky manner.
Then it walked right towards me!
Not a good idea, I thought to myself, recalling some scary stories in the UK media in recent times. So I scared it away.
I have no idea how it got through the tiny hole we left for Raymi in the fence.
And Berlinfusion, natch! I like the design of this but I may have a fiddle with the layout at some point. Well, as much as I can with Typepad. I like the pictures down the right of this layout but I can't make any further changes to the setup unless I lose these. Let's see how much time I have in the autumn.
Japanory remains popular according to its hit rate. People are still searching for earthquake-related information but increasingly it's being found by people looking for touristy stuff. So I really must add "write some more blog posts for Japanory" to my never ending to-do list.
Bread.
Oh heavenly bread! How I've missed real bread. I'd never do well on a no-carb diet. Bread, well toast really, is my go-to food for all hours of the day. Bread in Japan was strange, sweet and small. Bread here is brown. Proper brown. With bits in!
I've eaten a lot of bread.
Biscuits.
Schoko Hobbits. Isn't that a fabulous name? Our cupboard is full of Hobbits! They are Chocolate Hobnobs. Or as near as dammit. There are non-chocolate ones too. I like Hobbits.
See? Not a chance going low-carb let alone no-carb.
Bells.
Church bells to be precise. Not the tuneful peals I remember from my childhood or visits to my Mum's. No, these are seemingly random clanging bells from a church not too far away. They ring at 6pm on most days. And for some unexplained reason at odd times in the morning. Often around 8.45am. And on Sundays. And religious holidays that I am unaware of.
If they were Change Ringing it wouldn't be so annoying, but apparently that's a typically English thing.
Birds.
My ornithological interest has reawakened as I can now identify most of the birds I see without searching fruitlessly through bird books.
After our return from sight-seeing in Berlin, we let the pets out into the garden.
Almost immediately, Raymi the cat reappeared with a mouse. The mouse was not dead and Raymi was doing that revolting cat thing of playing with the poor creature.
My inclination was to let the cat finish what he'd started, as I presumed the mouse would already be mortally wounded.
I told Tim what was going on out there in case the dog tried to muscle in. Since we arrived here Kita has realised she's a hunting dog and spends her morning walk wrenching my arm out of its socket in her unsuccessful but enthusiastic pursuit of various rodents.
I also told Rhiannon not to go out there. She's way too sensitive for that kind of scene. Besides, we'd already had a pretty stressful day.
Did she take any notice of me? Of course not.
Anyway, Tim rescued the mouse which, as it happened, was uninjured, just in deep shock, understandably.
The squeals from Rhiannon started, "Ohhh it's soooo CUTE! Please can we keep it as a pet? Please, please, pleeeaaase? I love it!". Repeated at top volume until your ears melt...
They released the little mouse outside our fence at the end of the garden. I didn't like to tell them that's where a neighbour's cat lurks...
Anyway, a few minutes later piercing screams of the utmost horror tore through the quiet air. I thought Tim, Kita or Raymi had been injured in some kind of accident, such was the intensity of Rhiannon's freak-out.
Nope. Yet another mouse had popped up through a drain on the other side of the house.
And Kita made her first kill.
I've wondered for some time what Kita would do if she did actually catch one. Would she lick it and try to make friends with it? Or did she have the killer instinct to dispatch it quickly and cleanly?
I suspected the former.
I was wrong. Apparently she was extremely efficient. And very proud of herself.
Shame she had to do it in front of Rhiannon.
I'm afraid my warped sense of humour kicked in and I suggested we send it to my friend to be stuffed... Rhiannon was most unimpressed and I think Tim was a bit horrified too.
I've been hard at work writing an article about Japan today. I'll let you know if / when / where it's published in due course.
So I've had my head down most of the time, but when I look up for inspiration (ie... gazing into the distance, thinking) I notice my garden is full of birds.
Now I grew up in a bird-watching family so know most of the birds I'm looking at, but it's still a lovely sight to see them in my garden. There are also some of the more 'unusual' garden birds. There are a couple I'm unsure about as when I looked them up to find their Latin names, I discovered some alternate options, noted below.
Perhaps I should feed them, but Raymi-cat has become a little braver and ventures out in the late afternoon / early evening now, so it seems cruel to encourage the birds to what could be a premature and unpleasant death.
Anyway, here's my list of "Birds I've Seen in My Garden Today":
Black Redstart - Phoenicurus ochruros
Blackbird - Turdus merula
Blackcap - Sylvia atricapilla
Bluetit - Cyanistes caeruleus
Chaffinch - Fringilla coelebs
Chiffchaff - Phylloscopus collybita
Coal tit - Periparus ater
Common Redstart - Phoenicurus phoenicurus
Great tit - Parus major
Greater Spotted Woodpecker or Medium Spotted? - Dendrocopos major / Dendrocopos medius (I didn't realise the Medium Spotted existed until I looked the Latin name up just now, so I'm not sure which I had in my garden)
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - Dendrocopos minor
Hooded crow - Corvus cornix
House Sparrow - Passer domesticus
Eurasian Tree Sparrow - Passer montanus (Again, not sure about this - to me, it looks similar to the House Sparrow)
European Starling - Sturnus vulgaris
Jay - Garrulus glandarius
Magpie - Pica pica
Nuthatch - Sitta europaea
Robin - Erithacus rubecula
White Wagtail - Motacilla alba
Wood pigeon - Columba palumbus
Wren - Troglodytes troglodytes
There are Nightingales around too, heard but not seen. And probably Warblers, but I can't tell one Warbler from another so tend to ignore them.
Perhaps I'll finally learn their differences while I'm here.
BlackbirdTurdus merula
BluetitCyanistes caeruleus
ChaffinchFringilla coelebs
ChiffchaffPhylloscopus collybita
Hooded crowCorvus cornix
JayGarrulus glandarius
Greater Spotted Woodpecker or Medium Spotted? Dendrocopos major / Dendrocopos medius
It's one thing procrastinating madly when the chips are in the air, but once they come down, then I do (finally) get to work.
Wednesday was a washout, work-wise (see previous post).
Then Tim told me he was taking Thursday off so I wasn't going to get my work done then. But that's OK. If I know I can't work on a specific day that's fine; I don't get The Guilt.
So on Thursday we took delivery of a secondhand freezer and an old set of sofas and armchairs. Why? Well, the freezer we currently is too small and with no supermarket within easy reach we need more space. Now we have an extra appliance in the basement. Excellent! And as for the sofas etc, the ones here before were a vile off-white leather set - too small, too revolting and too uncomfortable. The ones we've managed to swap them for are much bigger, not quite so vile and have dark blue covers. They'll do.
A lot of reorganisation was done on Thursday, including a trip to the shop to stock up on lots of food for a change.
Therefore, Friday was designated as my Bloody Well Get Some Work Done day.
This is how it went:
After four and a half hours of dreadful sleep due to leg cramps and my mind working overtime, I finally got up at 5am. This is an unnatural hour for me (I'm a confirmed night-owl), but it was rather nice. I felt more than fine.
I booted up the PC, got a cup of tea and caught up on news, emails and so on while watching a pair of jays outside the window. They were gathering nesting material. A good start to the day.
Got myself some breakfast and another cuppa and continued as above.
Woke Tim and Rhiannon up for work and school. A new experience for me and both were shocked!
Usual mad rush to get Rhiannon onto the bus - she was going for a sleepover so needed to have a case packed.
By 0815 I was out walking Kita. This I must do more often. We met more dogs than usual - not such a great thing at the moment as she's on heat, but we escaped without incident. I also saw four tiny ducklings which were delightful soul-food.
Once I got home I was ready to work because all my usual procrastination websites had already been browsed and closed down. "Like"!
I motored through and wrote five articles out of the nine that are due by the end of the month. I give myself false dreadlines, partly to ensure I have plenty of leeway in case of unexpected incidents (such as Rhiannon being violently ill or Tim taking unannounced days off) and mostly to clear the decks ready for my other projects.
Yes, I took breaks, but these were necessary for health and not, in my view, classed as procrastination: a walk around the garden to stretch my crampy legs, a quick play with the dog - that sort of thing.
However, Tim returned from work early, so although I was on a roll by then, I had to finish it there.
I finished the day's work feeling rather pleased with myself.
As a reward to myself, I cut some branches and a bundle of unidentified tree flowers from the garden and lost myself creating my first Ikebana arrangement in several months. I'm actually qualified to teach Sogetsu Ikebana, but my Sensei in Tokyo would have been dismayed by my lackadaisical arrangement. It looked pretty to me though.
Tim took me out to dinner in the evening and then we watched a movie.
A Good Day!
Note: A lot of the reason for my procrastination problem is that I don't particularly enjoy the subjects I write about. As you've seen by this blog (and possibly my Japanory one,) I certainly don't have a problem with getting lots of words typed up. That's because it's all about ME and therefore a terribly easy subject to write about. For a start I don't have to do any research.
For this freelance writing job, I only have to produce these articles once every three months, leaving me plenty of time (in theory) to concentrate on my other, non-paying yet far more interesting, projects.
My apologies to Robert Burns' poem To a Mouse, 1786. "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men, Gang aft a-gley".
I had great plans for this week: write my dreadline-due articles, organise a survey in preparation for my book which is currently in the planning stages, attempt to catch up on my studying, learn German (hah!), find random MIA articles from the move, get some business cards organised... well, my to-do list is endless.
But I was all ready to get going today. I felt inspired. No procrastinating this week; I was ready to GO!
Sadly, Murphy and his sodding law had different ideas.
Yesterday, after a morning spent hanging pictures and an afternoon walking in the forest, Rhiannon complained of stomach ache.
Her face looked a bit white.
She went and sat on the toilet a few times during the late afternoon, to no avail.
Then...
"Mum, I feel sick"
"Well, get into the toilet, QUICK!"
"But I feel si..."
Oh.
Timing has never been her strong point.
Projectile vomit all over the floor. Twice. Thankfully the rest made it into the toilet. Tim cleared up the mess - I'm not sure which shocked me more; Rhiannon's spectacular puking or Tim managing to clear it up without being sick himself.
Anyway, the sickness and diarrhoea continued ALL night, poor girl. I spent the night in her room; I can't say I slept as she was moaning in her sleep and racing to the bathroom every hour.
Incredibly, we have managed nine years without a major stomach bug like this. There was a short bout of food poisoning when she was a baby (thanks to a dodgy Mr Whippy ice-cream in Dawlish... say no more), but other than that, no sickness bugs. She's had a couple of other major problems, but I'll tell you about those another time.
So. No school. This involved contacting the catering company, the bus company and of course, the school. All before 0745. Emails sorted out the school and caterers, but I still had to get hold of the bus company. Who don't speak English. I managed to get through just in time though, so all was sorted on that front.
She's currently ensconced on the sofa with a temperature and feeling very sorry for herself. Still trotting to the bathroom every hour or so, but thankfully not being sick any more. I am providing water, sympathy and lots of cuddles, between writing this.
And she will be off school tomorrow too.
So much for my plans to get going on all my work and projects this week. Manic catch-up due as soon as possible.
Oh, and the mouse?
The mouse had plans to do mouse-y things last night - pottering around the garden, doing a spot of mouse-shopping and perhaps it had a date.
But unfortunately for said mouse, Raymi the cat has recovered a little from his agoraphobia. Only when it's dark though - there is no way he will venture outside in daylight yet.
When he returned from his night-time wanderings he came with a little present. Yup, a dead mouse. Or to be more precise, half a dead mouse.
I put a sign on the door saying "Beware of the mouse" to remind me to get rid of it this morning.
I am amazed at how quickly and well Rhiannon has settled into her new school routine. I'm immensely proud of her newly found confidence and she is thrilled with the school. Whilst I agree it's still early days, she seems to have got off to a great start.
Rhiannon's School Day. (Obviously not actually written by Rhiannon, but I did "interview" her last night!)
"I get up at 6.30am and go downstairs with Kita to make my breakfast. Of course, I don't wake Mum up - she doesn't do mornings. So I wake up Dad instead; after all, he has to get to work early too.
Dad takes Mum a cup of tea at 7.30am and hassles her until she growls and gets up. He leaves at 7.45am so I need Mum to open the gate for me because I just cannot work out how to use keys.
Mum gets up and starts yelling at me to get dressed. Well, I didn't want to spill breakfast on my lovely new school dress, did I? I really enjoy getting ready as s l o w l y as possible because it really winds Mum up. I can almost see her blood pressure rising as I decide what trinket to take to school today to play with. Mum says I shouldn't take my stuff into school because I always lose it. Well, I don't mean to lose it, I just forget about it because I'm having so much fun.
Yesterday was brilliant! I got up especially early as I wanted to pierce my ears.
Mum thought I was cleaning my teeth properly for a change but really I was trying to force an earring into my ear lobe. It didn't go through the skin though, and it hurt quite a bit too, so I stopped. Made my ear all red and it's got a little dent in it now. It's a bit sore; perhaps that wasn't such a good idea after all.
By 8am Mum has gone a funny colour. Well, I can't remember where I put my school shoes, can I?
Mum goes outside to open the front gate for me. The school bus arrives at 8.05am. Mum thinks this door-to-door bus idea is the best thing ever. She says it's great because she doesn't have to do the school run any more, but I think it's also because she gets Rhiannon-free time from 8.05 until about 4.45pm. Poor Mum, I wonder if she misses me?
There are seven other children on my bus. They are really interesting, a great mix of nationalities and religions. We had a really cool theological conversation the other day between a Christian, a Muslim and a Jew. I learned a lot.
This school is so much better than my old school in Tokyo. Although I do miss my friends there, I certainly don't miss the bullying. Everyone here is so nice. Our school is 'all-in-one', primary and secondary schools all on one campus, right the way up to 18 year olds. I've got three very special best friends and am having a sleepover this weekend.
Because it's summer now, we do most of our lessons outside! And our playtimes are longer than my previous school. One thing I am having a bit of trouble getting used to is the sheer amount of space at the school. There's a forest (but we're not allowed to go into the bit where the teachers can't see us), two playgrounds with climbing walls and frames, a slide and all sorts of other apparatus. And grass. So much real grass. It's weird - there was only fake plastic grass in Tokyo; or tarmac which really hurts when you fall over on it. I fall over quite a lot. And with all this space and playgrounds, I have had a lot of accidents. Not bad ones, but I usually end up with several new, big bruises every day.
Red squirrels are everywhere, foxes live in the forest - someone said they saw a dead rabbit outside the fox-hole with it's insides all over the ground. Eew! There are also some wild boar, but apparently most of them have been killed because they are dangerous. I think there may be two left. [UPDATE! I saw a wild boar in the forest today! We were really scared and didn't know what to do, but luckily it wandered away]
All that running around out in the fresh air makes me really hungry. Luckily we have this fabulous cafeteria at school. We can buy snacks and get a cooked lunch too. The waffles are the best things ever.
Lessons? Oh, they're OK I suppose. Because I started here in May, there are some subjects I have already done in my old school. That's OK because it makes me look clever. I do German lessons too, but find them really difficult - German is a lot harder for me than Japanese. Mum says this is because I started learning Japanese when I was just five which made it easier. Now I'm nine and a half and nearly grown up I suppose my brain doesn't work as well any more. Like Mum's...
At home time, it's back on the bus again. Mum's looking out the window for me so she can let me in.
Phew, I am glad this long weekend is over (almost). I am exhausted and frazzled beyond belief.
All the unpacking, bar some pictures and the garden stuff, has been done. Now it's just a case of rearranging things and finding somewhere to put it all. This is the bit that will evolve over time. Quite a lot of time, I suspect.
I can be regularly seen gazing in horror around a cluttered room wailing "Where is it all going to go?"
The basement is full of empty boxes awaiting collection, which pleases Tim. My back is not so thrilled.
While not a public holiday in Germany, Tim does have Monday off. I expect we shall go to Ikea. There is no storage in the bathroom at all. This needs to be rectified as soon as possible. I also still don't have a printer - hopefully he will be as generous to me as he has been to Rhiannon so I can finally finish my office area. I also wish to buy houseplants. Lots of them. I deserve it.
A major plus point: Rhiannon goes to school tomorrow. You cannot imagine what a relief this is to me. She has been almost constantly at home - wherever 'home' is - from 9th March. Much as I love her, this is far too long to have a demanding, stroppy child around. And boy, has she been stroppy.
Mostly she is "bored". There should be no such word, she has plenty to do now all her things are unpacked. However, she is used to being taken out on regular jollies with Tim. In Tokyo we were close to Disney and Disney Sea, aquariums, play areas, amusement parks and whatever. Not here though. She is going to have to get used to basic, rural activities of the sort I was happy to enjoy as a kid. Deep down, she is desperately missing Japan and its familiarity. As am I.
I think a lot of the problem is the whole change of environment. It's making her feel disconnected and unsettled. This is taking the form of of veering between argumentative behaviour and tears. All understandable, of course, and I've done my best to be understanding. I feel much the same, to be honest. She played on PowerPoint today and made a presentation about Japan to show to school. I thought it would be about what she missed and so on, but it was all about the earthquake of March 11th. It's a shame that's her abiding memory of the lovely country. I shall endeavour to remind her of the rest of it soon.
Anyway, as I said, today I managed to finally finish the unpacking. All the clothes are out of their boxes and into wardrobes. Apart from the mountain that needs ironing. After a while I got fed up with sorting out the 'to iron' from the 'creases will drop out soon, I hope' and just bunged everything into the wardrobe. I'll deal with them later... sometime, maybe.
Yes, I have had to commandeer another room's wardrobe space. Mainly for coats, but I may free up some space by putting in other stuff at some point. You know, those clothes-that-don't-fit-now-but-will-do-someday...?
In other news (at last!) - Kita saw her first squirrel. It's amazing how her hunting instincts kicked in instantly and nearly tore my arm out of its socket trying to climb the tree. She is very strong. The beautiful red squirrel sat in the branch chittering at us. Very cute.
The day ended with an accident though. Rhiannon was swinging on her beloved tree swing when there was a thump followed by some very loud screaming - the swing had broken and she'd crashed to the ground. Thankfully she was only bruised and very shaken and was soon made better by some reviving hot chocolate.
Of course, the swing should have been checked when we first arrived, but hindsight is always a pain in the butt - literally so for poor Rhiannon.
Saturday 16th April was when the sun finally came out and boy, did it make a difference.
I took my camera with me on my morning dog walk. This is a statue we pass on the way to the lake - Hubertussee.
There are some great bird-watching opportunities around the lake but I don't have my binoculars yet. I have recognised Black Redstarts, Wrens, Blackcaps, Greater Spotted Woodpeckers, all the tits, sparrows and general garden birds. But there are many others I can't quite identify.
Rhiannon phoned her new best friend while I was out and on my return I was informed she had been invited for a sleepover. We've only been here less than a week and already the hand of friendship is reaching out.
Thankfully, our new car has a rather excellent Sat Nav system so we were able to find her friend's house in Potsdam.
On the way there, we drove through some gorgeous forests and marvelled at the lake views. One of the bridges we crossed made Tim hoot with excitement. It was the "Bridge of Spies" - Glienicke Bridge.
From Wikipedia: During the Cold War, Glienicke Bridge was one of the few places in the world where the Soviet Union and the United States stood directly opposite each other. Thus, “deals” could be made here without any of their allies having any say in the matter. The bridge lies at an isolated joint where US-occupied West Berlin met Soviet-occupied Potsdam, which was in East Germany.
We arrived at our destination where we met a lovely couple and were introduced to a German custom I could certainly get used to, kaffee und kuchen - coffee and cake. Similar to afternoon tea (or elevenses), everyone stops at 3pm or 4pm for kaffee und kuchen. Yum!
After a lovely and informative chat, we left Rhiannon happily playing in the garden with her friend and headed off to do some shopping without a demanding child in tow. We'd had it confirmed that yes, ALL shops close on Sundays and public holidays, without exception. Some shopping malls may open on a few Sundays in the year, but in general, that's it. So I'm now quite worried about just how much planning needs to be done on the shopping front, groceries especially.
We found a duvet and cover, a microwave and a toaster. For some reason the toaster has blue LED lights around the base that flash when it's toasting. It looks like a space-toaster. Unfortunately, that's where our shopping had to stop as none of the stores took credit cards - EC debit cards or cash only. Oh dear.
A huge DIY store was tempting, but we only had enough cash left for a long length of rope so we can tether Kita in the garden so she can enjoy the outside while being safe from escape.
In the evening I insisted on us taking the opportunity to go out to dinner as it was our 5th wedding anniversary on 15th April and, as usual, nothing was done to celebrate it.
We collected Rhiannon the following afternoon and agreed to bring her friend back for a reciprocal playdate / sleepover - to be collected at about 4pm on the Monday.
Before collecting them, we discovered that a mall near Potsdam was open on that Sunday. Thank goodness, because I'd run out of cat food.
It was OK. There was an amazing amount of Easter stuff on display. I've never seen anything like it! I'd noticed garden trees decorated with coloured eggs around here, but Easter isn't something I've ever celebrated. And of course Japan doesn't "do" Easter at all, being a non-Christian country. I was taken aback at the sheer amount of bunnies, chicks, eggs and all manner of flower arrangements incorporating these items.
We found a large supermarket, a bit like a cross between Tesco and Wal-mart, and got a few items there.
Still Tuesday 12th April 2011 - this may take three posts as so much happened.
So, we had lunch and continued unpacking while Rhiannon ran amok in the expanse of garden.
Suddenly the door buzzer sounded - an unpleasant noise making us jump out of our skin. I lean to look out of the window and see dustmen asking for our wheelie bin which is behind a locked gate. I try to tell them that no, we don't have any rubbish, but they don't understand.
Quick, where are the keys? There's a box full to the brim of random keys in the kitchen and Tim has put his set somewhere 'safe'. Luckily, Tim found his keys and dealt with the men. I hadn't realised we even had wheelie bins...
Getting in and out of this house is a major palaver. There's a high gate to the front garden that can only be opened with a key - from both inside and out. Then there's the key to get in the front door. If the front door shuts behind us and we don't have our key... that's it, we're stuck. Oh, and there's yet another key for the rickety fence-mounted mailbox. Upon opening it, I was thrilled to find two "New Home" cards from very thoughtful and lovely friends.
Then it was time to visit the international school we'd chosen. Tim phoned for a cab (using the number in our handy home-guidebook) and managed to speak to someone who understood English.
How did we select this school? Some friends are amazed that we hadn't made the 24 hour trip to visit various schools beforehand. But seriously, it's too long a trip to do that. I did a lot of internet research instead. I did feel a little nervous about it all - our choice of school in Tokyo turned out to be a big mistake.
Here we had a choice of four schools; I discounted two instantly as they didn't run the full British curriculum (I think this was the reason - it was all done a year ago) and we will probably have to return to the UK after this posting.
Of the two that were left, I was very reluctant to choose one from the same family as the Tokyo school but tried to remain open-minded. However, after doing all my research I decided on one, based mainly on the photos of the buildings and grounds - possibly not the most relevant reasons! Actually, I'm just kidding - their pastoral care and certain other aspects really appealed to me and I thought it would suit Rhiannon down to the ground. But I left the ultimate decision to Rhiannon, without telling her the names of the two schools.
She chose the same as me, but for very different reasons. The shoes she could wear! One school had a yellow uniform - "No way, Mum!" While the chosen one allowed ballet flats and a pretty summer dress. Shallow child.
Coincidentally, a friend of mine from Tokyo is also moving to Berlin later this year and visited last summer to look at all the schools. We have different criteria for our children so she chose a different school, but was able to report her findings back to me which was useful. After the earthquake in Japan she came to Berlin for a while but sadly we just missed each other by a day. I'm really looking forward to seeing her again later this year.
We arrived at school a little early and were astounded by its sheer beauty. The grounds are extensive and a pair of red squirrels bounded across the lawns. Lawns! In Tokyo the school playground was on the roof of a seven or eight storey building or on Astroturf.
The headmistress was absolutely delightful. She showed us the various buildings and found Rhiannon's new class where she asked two girls to come out and show Rhiannon around the school. They skipped off together very happily.
The head told us they never accept children without seeing them first but she made an exception for us because Rhiannon's native language is English and her school reports were so good. Did she read the wrong ones?
Then we were introduced to another woman who will be the new head from September. Again, she was very personable. I was seriously flagging with jetlag by now though. So when she asked me what I was doing on Friday I said, "nothing".
"You are now," she laughed, "I'd like you to come and speak at our primary assemblies about your experiences in the earthquake in Japan."
Ah.
Armed with the times of the assemblies we collected a very happy Rhiannon and headed for home. She has already made two friends of the girls who took her around. And found some conkers in the school grounds. Red squirrels and conkers - what a lovely place.
The school have also invited Rhiannon to come into school for the rest of the week so she can find her way around and settle in; free of charge, meals and bus included.
Bus?
Yes, this is the best bit ever - the school provides a door-to-door bus service. I will never have to do a school run again. Sweet heaven!
For this, I will talk to the children about anything they ask.
Rhiannon woke us up just before 5am with the excited news that she'd seen a red squirrel in the garden. Yeah, OK dear...
Unable to get back to sleep I got up, dressed and trotted downstairs where I took a look outside for the first time.
Wow! What a huge garden we've inherited. Our 'garden' in Tokyo was about the size of most people's bathrooms, while this one is a field by comparison. In the centre is an enormous beech tree with a swing and a rope on it. Aged initials are carved into the trunk. A few shrubs surround the edges with pines and conifers at the end. A couple of small raised beds sit near the house where a small clump of daffodils shine in the morning light.
While supping my tea and drinking in the welcome green view I spotted a shape moving along the fence. Sure enough it was a red squirrel with a super-bushy tail. A proper Squirrel Nutkin! Gorgeous.
Rhiannon went straight out onto the swing and spent most of the day on it. It's so fantastic that she's finally got somewhere to play outside.
Time to evaluate our new home. Firstly I went for a quick walk around the garden to see what was there and to check that it would be dog-safe. It's not. The fence is only knee high so we can't let Kita out on her own untethered. What a shame. There's a lot of perimeter to re-fence; I can't see us being able to afford that. The weather's chilly and grey so I don't stay out for long.
Someone's left us a red folder with useful notes about living here. For example, details about recycling - but not when the rubbish collections are. Suggestions of places to go and what to do are also included. I peruse this, still in a daze of jetlag and travel exhaustion while Rhiannon happily swings away outside.
We've got a busy day ahead. Unpacking, of course. Someone's coming at 10am to tell us how things work in the house. We've an appointment with Rhiannon's new school at 3pm and we're hoping our pets will be delivered at around lunchtime. Tim's also expecting a call from the person delivering our new car telling him where and when to meet and collect it.
Unpacking takes forever. We don't have as much storage space here and I was horrified to see only one bookcase. I have thousands of books to come and no idea where they will go. Later we will have a restyle of the furniture in the house in an effort to make it work for us. I forgot to mention before - none of the furniture is ours, we have to make do with what's here and it's uninspiring to say the least.
I'm also checking out where I will have my "office". Downstairs is open plan; bedrooms upstairs aren't quite right. However, we do have an enormous basement with several rooms, including a laundry room. But I cannot envisage working in a basement. I need to see outside.
We'll turn the main room into a den for Rhiannon, another is a laundry room and the others are damp and pokey. So it's either a bedroom or a corner of the dining room area again. I plump for the latter so I can see the garden. Not ideal, but it will do.
Now all I need is some paying work so I can justify buying a new desk!
Our 10am appointment goes OK. Due to the jetlag though, I didn't take in much. I asked about the possibility of getting a new fence and didn't get a very optimistic response. We'll have to wait and see.
Around lunchtime we received a phone call from the pet shippers. All's well, thank goodness, but we can't expect our furry creatures to arrive before 8pm. Customs clearance, I guess. They've had a horribly long trip. Japan to Frankfurt by plane, an overnight stay at Frankfurt's "Animal Lounge". According to their website the "lounge" can house every animal imaginable. I wonder what Kita thought of cows, horses and bears! Then they have to endure a road trip of about 7 hours to get to us in Berlin. Poor things.
The unpacking continued.
And I will tell you about our afternoon and evening in the next post. Yes, it was a busy day.
