HEM

Its not exactly "Summer temperatures" here at the moment! Lots of rain...

I've actually never been to Helgoland! Been on some of the North Sea islands (almost all of them have a small airfield so I flew there in a motorglider - some years ago).

Its calmed down now but even worse is forecast for tomorrow & the weekend. I'm due to fly out of Hamburg airport Sunday evening!

We had a very wild night last night here (on the West side of the city of Hamburg). My room is on the Northwest corner of the house & the wind itself was loud plus it was tugging at the roller blinds covering the window. Masses of rain - local beck overflowed its banks & meadows under water. Even worse - see this video of the regular service from the North side of the river Elbe to the Airbus site (Finkenwerder):

I retired (employer gave me no option) at the end of January 2018 having reached the age where I could retire without loss of (German) pension - in my case that was 65 1/2. I'd been working from home office for about the past 15 years in remote global support for a major computer manufacturer. Worked up to the last evening. A phone call with my manager (located in Silicon Valley) and that was it. Some time before an elderly guy said the equivalent of "you dont want to retire in Winter - you will fall into a back hole". Far from it. Over the next few days packing up my company desktop to be sent of to German head office, give the desk a clean & set up my own PC in its place. Completed the task of sorting a patchwork of pensions (UK & German). No time for "black holes" - I'm involved in organising the sport of gliding at all levels - club, national & international. Being at the wrong place at the wrong time I got assigned the unpaid job of "Claims Officer" which means I have to examine the claims from German Aeroclub pilots for records - both world records (which then get passed onto the FAI for final examination) and national. I suppose it was because the rules for these (i.e. the Sporting Code) are written in English and so I was deemed best person for the task. Then (or was it beforehand?) I was nominated to join the IGC Sporting Code Committee - the international team that maintains the rules for the Sport of gliding. All work is remote (e-mail); I have only once met one other member of the team. Since our committee chairman (who resides in the UK) is not able to travel on health grounds I've been representing the Sporting Code Committee at the annual Plenary Meetings of the IGC since 2018. Its most interesting to meet the delegates from various gliding nations around the world. Its been suggested that I should become chairman of the committee but I feel that that position should be taken by someone who will do the job for a number of years & at my age that is not going to happen. Trouble is - some team members are older than I am! The downside is that I'm not had been able to do much actual flying - due to a combination of the above work and poor weather (restrictions at times due to Covid-19 has not helped either).

If its any consolation my daughter (29, works in the lab of the forensic medicine department of the large Hamburg hospital) first had AZ, second was BionTech. She was off work for 2 days each time (as were some but not all of her colleagues). Last week she had her "booster" (BionTech) & was again K/O for 2 days. Wife & I had Moderna both times (end May / early July) and apart from stiff arms had little other effects. We have appointment for "booster" on 4th January (6 mths + 1 day).

The latter having a Ph.D in astrophysics from Imperial Colledge London based on data taken using the equipment on Tenerife.

In 1966/67 together with my parents & brother I spent a year in Munich. The war ended only 21 years before. In 1977 I made my first visit to Hamburg as part of a High Energy Physics collaboration. The war had ended 32 years before. In 1982 I moved out to the Hamburg area "for one year". The war had ended 37 years before. There was a weekly TV program "Vor 40 Jahren" (40 years ago). You can imagine the content. In 1988 I married my German girl friend. Yesterday we had our 33rd wedding anniversiary. The war had ended 76 years before. Thankful for peace.

THB I avoid the Schweinshaxe! But there are plenty of nice things to eat here. We cook a mixture of German & UK meals (my wife is from Northern Germany). I made "Pork Chops in Cider" this evening and very tasty it was too.

Asparagus is almost on the same level as religion in Germany, often served with boiled potatoes & smoked ham. That certainly one meal I've grown to enjoy here - delicious. However frozen asparagus (available in many supermarkets including Lidl here) is very good, avoids the work of preparation & we've never had a "wooden" stem.

I have to add that after a few "A" levels I did get a BSc. in Computer Science in 1973 & an MSc. in Advanced Computer Science in 1975 - what youngsters learn now under "Computer Science" is way more advanced than what we ever did 50 years ago when Tom Kilburn was leading the department at Manchester University. Kept me in gainful employment until retirement age. As Simon Lavington (one of the lecturers back then) says in a Youtube video on the ATLAS computer: nowadays your washing machine has more processor power than ATLAS did... PS: We love Roses.

Ha - I got "O" level Woodwork in 1968, along with a handful of others. No metal back in those days. Served to be usedful when we bought our house in Northern Germany & I made a rack to fill one wall of a cellar - probably far too massive but its served us 30+ years.

At 20 feet in any form of aeroplane you can only go straight ahead.

Conjures up the vision of Captain Mainwaring playing the bagpipes... "I spent my honeymoon in a remote village in Scotland called InverGeechie. It was a wild and lonely place. The nights were long ... and there was nothing else to do."

Not me - I find straight-and-level flight exciting enough. To bring things to current times - yesterday I (a Brit - Yorkshireman even) flew 2 elderly German passengers in a 2-seat glider from an airfield near Hamburg. Only short flights (August - in fact the whole Summer - has been dissapointing with thermals). But passengers very happy. The elderly husband (retired Dr.) of one passenger related how many years ago he had been training to fly gliders but had not made it to his license.

Pawnees are pretty tough & the pilot is reasonably well protected in the event of a crash (risk with crop spraying). (I don't have a license for power planes - just gliders & motorgliders).

You ever been in a glider? I won't go deeply into the subject (which is important if you are on a 7-hour flight or even longer - especially at my age) but polish gliders do generally come with a "Pee-tube". Don't fly close behind one.

As a Brit who flies a glider/sailpane through German airspace I am fully aware of this & wish that the UK press would do same. Additionally I head negociations with German ATC for our local airspace . Back in 1994 I flew my father in the club's motorglider to Neustadt-Glewe (an airfield in former East Germany), flying through the Hamburg control zone along the river Elbe & over the docks. Back then you could still see the scar on the ground where the divide had been between East & West - father was most impressed that we were able to freely fly over it.

It was bad enough being stuck with ONE vegan at our table back at the Friday evening dinner during the 2015 German Gliding Conference in Freudenstadt (nice little town in the Black Forest). Said voluminour young lady discovered that her colleague had booked the restaurant but the message that a total-veganer had to be fed did not get across (latter lady said that if it was so important the V should have taken care). Not only did her salad appear with grated cheese on top but all they could conjour up at the last minute was some plain steamed veg. Thankfully after a while the V left in the proverbial huff & our table of 6 could relax.

Was that not Michael Jackson's plan?

I heard someone say it was like sitting inside a vacuum cleaner! The noise level really depends on the build of the glider. The old-timer mostly-wooden gliders were quite noisy but have a charm of their own. Modern high-performance gliders made of glass-fibre etc are much quieter. Bit like with boats really.

I'm 6ft 4 and have the same problem with beds (last 2 times we stayed at a B&B in Keswick I explained the problem & they reserved a suitable room). It used to be a problem finding a car but in recent years they seem to have more headroom - even the Japanese cars. As for flying - there are a number of gliders into which I cannot fit. I learnt on the ASK-13 & had to do so without a parachute. Now I have my own full-length (rather than just back) parachute & just fit into the ASK-21 with it. Currently I own a DG-808c which is not perfect from viewpoint of comfort but its OK. The performance of the glider is top - just this pilot is a bit rusty & old.

Ha - departure route from any airport can be loud. We live under one of the departure routes from Hamburg airport - take-offs on RWY 33 are typical due to the North / North-West / West winds that are prevelent here. After 5 NM DME either right turn (which does not bother us) or left turn which brings them right over our house & the local airfield. For the latter we have been able to negociate new local rules which so far have worked out very good for us glider pilots.

So yesterday morning (1st May is a national holiday here) we dug a deep hole where an apple tree used to be, relaid the border stones and burried poor Scotty together with his favourite toy (a squeeky rabbit that he used to chase around the lounge) and some flowers - all in sunny weather. Took all morning. Flower seeds have been scattered over the grave.