Serendipity - one of the spices of life

In the English language - or in the UK at least - there is a saying that states that 'variety is the spice of life'. That is to say that if you want to spice up your life, you should try out new things and activities.

I'd argue that serendipity also adds a bit of spice to one's life. "What is serendipity?" I hear you cry. The dictionary definition of serendipity is "the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way". For example, your bicycle is stolen and you're not sure how you can afford to buy a new one. By chance, you meet your next-door neighbour who is having a bit of a clear out and doesn't know what to do with an old bicycle. When the neighbour hears of your misfortune, you are given the old bike free of charge. 

Ever since we had to study a work by Swiss novelist and playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt at school for German A level, I've very much been a fan of 'chance' or 'coincidence' (a major theme in Dürrenmatt's work), and serendipity is basically based on happy coincidences. 

As you may know, I loathe the new German public library in town. So much so that I am considering not renewing my membership of it. Instead, I thought I might give the 'Bücherschränke' a chance to provide me with books. 

Yesterday, after running a few errands in town, I passed by the glass cabinet closest to my flat and thought I'd take a peek inside. Imagine to my delight finding books by two authors I like to read: a 2021 book by Donna Leon (an Inspector Brunetti book naturally) and a 2002 book from Ingrid Noll (who basically always writes about women killing men and - this is the best bit - getting away with it). And both books were in great condition. As new practically!

As yesterday was a public holiday in this part of Germany, I took great pleasure in spending the afternoon and evening on the sofa, reading both books one after the other. 

Serendipity really can give one great pleasure.

The price of freedom is EUR 9 a month

The lovely German government has come up with a scheme to encourage people to leave the car at home and use public transport more: a ticket that costs EUR 9 a month and allows you to travel across Germany on regional transport. Just so long as you don't use InterCity trains or InterCity Express trains, then you can travel on buses, trams, underground trains and normal trains for as long as you like and as far as you like in the months of June, July and August - for EUR 9 a month.

Yesterday, therefore, I decided to go to the Middle Age market and "Ritterspiele" (jousts) at Schloss Burg, a rebuilt castle originally constructed in the 13th century. Just going there and back would have cost me just over EUR 12. 

A EUR 10 ticket got me into the castle and then, as the courtyard looked like a building site as maintenance work on the castle's structure was being done, I had to trudge a while through woodland and up a hill to get to the site of where all the mediaeval market stuff was. 

Unfortunately, not long after my arrival at the castle, the heavens opened and kept raining until I was on my way home. When I got to the field, it was a muddy area of the red grit you get on tennis courts. Lots of little puddles everywhere. Everything damp and dismal and very disappointing. I did get a carnelian pendant and a lump of amethyst crystals, so the journey was not all in vain.

Anyway, I made my way down the steep hillside and got the bus back to Wuppertal-Vohwinkel station and then got onto the S28 train towards D'dorf. 

The S28 runs between Wuppertal and Kaarster See, right on the other side of Neuss, to the west of the Rhine. I've always wanted to go that far and now, thanks to this new ticket, I had the chance. As did the woman who sat next to me on the train. It turns out that she was travelling here and there, making the most of the new cheap monthly ticket, so we travelled to the end of the line and then took the same train back two minutes later. 

I think we won't be the only two people in Germany just taking rides at random, especially not when you consider that by the end of May, a day before the first month's cheap ticket was valid, 7 million Germans had already bought it. Including me.

Punctuation is...fun?!

Last Friday, I did an entire lesson on punctuation. The focus was on the use of the comma, semi-colon and colon. I always get nervous at the thought of having to teach this subject as it can be as dry as dust. To my amazement, however, there was laughter in the classroom since some of the examples in the handouts and some that I came up with on the spur of the moment were actually amusing.

At the end of the lesson, I said, "I hope a few lights have gone in your head now." And to my surprise, one student agreed wholeheartedly. And the two 16-year-olds in the group laughed and said it had been fun and that it would be useful for their creative writing. 

I can honestly say that no-one has ever called punctuation fun. Well, not since Victor Borge's sketch on phonetic punctuation, which is here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf_TDuhk3No

To explain the colon, I used the sound 'da da dahhhhh' to show that that piece of punctuation could be used to dramatic effect. I like to believe that now, whenever anyone in that class comes across a colon in a text, they will hear the sound 'da da dahhhh'.