02/11/2024 I have started to plan the 2025 cycle ride Rotterdam to Leipzig for the annual Bachfest in June 2025. The route chosen entails a night in Nordhausen where they put me up for a night in the hospital last time I was in the area.
It will be OK – I will give myself 10 days of cycling knowing that if I’m not enjoying it I can give in.
What about all the other resolutions about not going on your own again?
You never know, I might be able to attract a suitable companion. Get it about that if there are any fun loving moderately fit people out there (ability to fix a puncture preferred), they should get in touch with me. They would enjoy the challenge even more if they come alive to JSB.
What about getting back?
Train/ferry unless the ride is so good that I ‘ll just turn round.
17/12/2024 It’s my own fault. I have just had a phone call from a lady “I understand that you want someone to look after an elderly gentleman”.
17/12/2024 Martin Wigglesworth: And will she look after you?
17/12/2024 Probably not. I will have to be more careful. My cousin, 2 weeks younger than me, has detected signs of deep depression in this year’s Annual Report. Just remember A scout is cheerful in adversity. And when Adversity fails to turn up s/he is even more cheerful.
I love Baden Powell. Mad, but optimistic
09/01/2025 2025. Another exciting year on the way.
Meanwhile hold on to your seats. Life in Bridlington is never pedestrian. Or petrol driven. Just wait.
16/01/2025 We take nothing for granted, but my intention is to cycle to Leipzig and Prague and Vienna in some order or other this summer. The only fixed requirement is to be in Leipzig from 12th to 21st June.
If anyone wants to join, they will be welcome with the extra delight of Bach concerts.
16/01/2025 I intend to go out cycling on Saturday to start limbering up.
Won’t he ever grow up?
I hope not.
10/04/2025 Back in the real world my ambitions have been modified.
The motor for the bike was a big disappointment. The gain in added power was more than offset by the additional weight and instability.
Now to try ferry (Rotterdam) to Hannover then train to Leipzig. The distance to be covered each day is not much different from the ride to Sweden even if the total is much less.
“When April with his sweet showers has pierced the drought of March to the root….
Then folk long to go on cycle rides”
Chaucer said “pilgrimages”, but much the same sort of thing.
And I’m excited again.
10/04/2025 A man has taken the motor off the bike. It’s a lot better now.
26/04/2025 The world moves on.
Now the motor has gone from the bike life is a lot brighter. June’s ride has been scaled down to just Rotterdam to Hannover. However…
How about cycling to Iceland next year? It can be done. Sort of.
All I need to do is to get to Jutland and then nip on a ferry.
By that time I hope to have gained a new lease of life by selling 1, Mayfield Rd and moving into an apartment. Whatever will I do with myself?
The ride can be taken in easy stages
There are historical reasons for trying this out. Aalborg University was one of the very first users of Simpleplot in 1982. They had a CDC mainframe.
I will need to find a catchy title for the ride though.
26/04/2025 Karyn Easton: Iceland is well worth the trip – it’s just such a different kind of place to the UK. They sell very nice jumpers there in case you get cold 👍🏻
15/05/2025 Plans for the cycle ride are being modified daily. I am booked to go by ferry Newcastle (North Shields) to Amsterdam on 2nd June. Then meet up with Phil in Hannover on 11th June. Train to Leipzig for the Bachfest 12-22 June. 23 June train to Hannover. So far so good. Then my options are endless.
“Have you sold the house?”
No.
“Hadn’t you better do that first?”
Well, maybe.
But if it’s probably going to be sold (it isn’t) I could keep going North for the seriously expensive ferry to Iceland.
15/05/2025 No luck with the Nottingham people?
No. The house wants too much work doing. They did call me a very polite gentleman, though
25/05/2025 After some turbulence, all engines (well, chains) are oiled for the Grand Depart on Monday 2nd June from North Shields, masquerading as Newcastle.
No accommodation booked yet until Leipzig on 12th June. Tomorrow I will book rooms for Phil and me in Hannover on 11th June.
This should give plenty of time to cycle in a leisurely fashion from Amsterdam on arrival by ferry.
For the last 6 months I have been practicing not losing my passport by carrying around £110 in a cloth bag around my neck. No problems. Next week I will add my passport, plastic and euros and be able to set off in full confidence.
I’ve not decided what to do about coming back.
I had a very happy meeting with the Solicitor buying and selling houses for me. She advised “stay away”. The Estate Agent will be pleased to be rid of you, and I can sort out the purchase if necessary. I had imagined that unconcern about the transactions would be perceived as a lack of interest. Which might even be true.
I still have the option of cycling to Jutland for the ferry to Iceland. However I am a very poor tourist and wouldn’t want to go on my own. If any of you can contemplate getting up to Hirtshals for about 3rd July let me know. Cycling in Iceland is strongly discouraged. The roads are rubbish, the towns are miles apart, there is no accommodation, and the drivers don’t respect you.
“But apart from that?”
Maybe some other time when I can find a suitable companion.
And the weather is dreadful. You will get soaking wet, frozen, and blown off your bike
Just as well you don’t work for the Icelandic Tourist Office
02/06/2025 So, comrades and friends, I am on my way. Train to York then to Newcastle then cycle to the ferry in North Shields. That last leg may be negotiable. It is theoretically possible to get a metro train to Percy Main from Newcastle. PM is only 2 miles from the ferry. To avoid unnecessary problems I may even do that.
I met 2 cyclists at Bridlington station who talked. They arrived yesterday from Morecambe. They were from Malvern and going back home. They admired my bike and my gear mechanism. “Best thing I ever bought”
They could be persuaded in spite of the weight. They had been outraged by the rudeness of motorists during their 3 day ride. They have never cycled in the Netherlands. This may change. The lack of physical challenge may be more than made up by the politeness of motorists.
02/06/2025 After all those previous adventures, the one weakness of the arrangement is my mobile. It’s a bit late to ask now, but what would have been the best strategy to manage lost/ theft of mobile?
Take two?
Did I tell you that I have been disturbed by my apparent need to look at it every 10 minutes?
For the first time I almost didn’t switch it on at all yesterday (Sunday). It was difficult. I used to be very dismissive of young people who panicked when they thought they had lost their mobile. I now understand.
Martin Wigglesworth: “lifeblood”
02/06/2025 17:00 and we are off on the high seas. High? Pretty flat really.
I had forgotten to take the water bottle off my bike and needed a drink. But what deck was it on? I described where it was to a man in a uniform “straight in from the road, no ramp to climb” and he guessed correctly Deck 3. When there a young man recognised me and without me saying anything led me to my bike. Perhaps it’s part of the routine training, but I was impressed. They seem to fill up the decks from top to bottom. I’d have thought the ferry would end up being top heavy.
03/06/2025, 08:18 This message will not be sent until we are within sight of land. No doubt you all know that already. However, to fill in the time I have been reading through the earlier reports. Now I was brought up to never show off. However, it was good to recapture some of the more surprising twists and turns of previous journeys. The best part is never knowing what happens next. In spite of all the sociologists (boo) and all the other determinists, you never know how it’s all going to end.
03/06/2025, 06:00 Awake, dressed, and full of life. It’s another hour until breakfast.
I’m not at all confident about being able to cycle through Amsterdam. Apart from my natural difficulty with right and left the sun is shining brightly. The glare from the reflected light on my mobile makes it impossible to see the route. Hmmm. I can always make my way to a railway station and get out of the city when taking a wrong turn isn’t as much of a problem.
“Go East”. Find the sun and navigate to the left. I have always found this difficult.
03/06/2025, 09:00 Another conversation packed breakfast. They do me good. A couple at the adjacent table helped me find the milk. And then we started talking.
I hope you don’t mind me troubling you, but I really am upset by all these people piling their plates with food and then leaving most of it. It was an exaggeration, but it would have been true if it happened exactly like that.
They then started talking. Anna and Stein from Norway. She was originally from Nottingham, Stein was Norwegian and sat back and smiled.
They live on an island in a small town with plenty of mutual obligations to fulfil. As they had 4 daughters who had played in a band these were considerable. They were probably your age.
We talked about Constitution Day which their town celebrates with enthusiasm. If only I had thought about it I could have asked them for a lift to a station. Too late.
16:02 – I hadn’t intended to come to Zwolle today but a nice railway assistant asked Where do you want to go? and it was the only town I could remember. I was due to cycle through tomorrow.
I had been on my way from the ferry into Amsterdam and by chance came across a railway station. 2 fit young people were waiting on the platform. “Do trains go from here to Amsterdam?” Yes, can I help with your bike? “Thank you”, and he lifted it up to the platform. He showed me how to buy a ticket for the bike and another one for me, and lifted it on to the train which came in. He and his companion both worked in IT in Stuttgart. The young man programmed in a language I hadn’t heard of. The lady spent her time trouble shooting for other people. They both cycled, but not long distances. I joined a group of 13/14 year old boys in the train. They were not exactly sophisticated, but were quite funny. I asked them about the natural languages they learnt at school. English German and French. “From what age?”. 9. And they learn to spel. Extraordinary. As they left they said Goodbye sir which surprised me.
Once at Amsterdam Centraal station I must have been looking lost. Confused at worst. A lady railway official asked if she could help. That was when she wanted to know where I was going. The plan had been just to get out of Amsterdam to avoid the worst of the traffic. I got a ticket to Zwolle. More people rallied round to ask if they could help. I was really impressed by all this good natured willingness to make life easier. It has prompted the thought, though, “do I look like an old man?”. I do see people around and without thinking categories them as “old”. But I’m fit and active. Maybe they wouldn’t guess.
I had booked in to a hotel housing Patrick’s Whiskey Bar When I arrived they’re full. I had booked in for 2026. They found me another hotel a couple of miles away. It all looks very athletic.
17:21 And here’s a surprise – I’ve just taken a phone call on my tablet from Wattsapp. Tell me the story slowly that I may take it in. What else can I do?
Can I phone all of you on my tablet from WhatsApp?
Wow
03/06/2025 Martin Wigglesworth: yes, all of that! wow. At the top, you can make a “group” call if you want to wake us up in the middle of the night also
04/06/2025, 17:46 Another extraordinary day.
I am back in my room for the night, having been awol for over 2 hours.
But in order…
The day started fine, I intended to cycle 60 miles. I thought it would only be right to try to make for Hannover in 4 days rather than the original 7 after cheating so much by taking the train so far yesterday. Everything was going well. I kept up a pretty constant speed of 11mph for the first 3 hours. Only light rain on and off. And then it started pouring down.
This presents a bit of a problem as my solution of bringing a plastic bag to cover the mobile is all very well, but the route keeps getting obscured. The battery wouldn’t necessarily last out for the full journey. I had intended to call in at a café on the way to recharge, but “stuff this for a lark”. I looked for a suitable place to book nearby, found one, and made for a village about 5 miles away. The battery was running low, but there would be enough in it to get me there.
The people at the b&b welcomed me even though I was early. I was in Germany. They were Dutch and spoke English fluently. Their daughter and grandchild live in Hull.
I put on the mobile to charge and left it while I went out to find the bakery just down the street.
This was where it all started to go wrong. I didn’t think to take the tablet. Or to remember where I had booked for the night, or the name of the village where I was staying. So that when the bakery was closed for the day and people gave me contradictory information of where there was another one and I had wandered for miles all over the place coming eventually to a cafe attached to a garden centre, I was at a disadvantage.
No matter. I confidently strode off back the way I had just come until I came to crossroads. They don’t do place names on sign posts here, just street names. No matter. I turned left, hoping I would come across something I would remember. Well, I might have done. I hadn’t come across anyone else on the journey so far, but came to 2 workmen.
“Ich bin verloren”. They spoke no English. I had a cursory acquaintance with the Lutherbibel, but you will probably remember that the Israelites themselves struggled to make their way from Egypt to the Jordan. It took them 40 years. And they didn’t ask the way.
Where are you going to?
I couldn’t remember. I knew it was a village with 2 syllables in the name, and I had booked using booking.com
I also knew that there is a historic Lutheran church in the village just down the road from the b&b, but that meant nothing to them. The older man told me to get into his car and drove me to Wilsum, which I thought might be the 2 syllable village. And there it was.
“Rejoice with me for I found the sheep that was lost”. He would take no money, but I forced it on him and we were all happy.
Now to plan tomorrow’s venture
05/06/2025 Another good nights sleep. If you do have a problem getting to sleep, I have a well tested solution.
The weather forecast for today is dull but dry until it starts to rain again at 13:00. So off on the road at 08:30 , then pedal hard. With a smile on the lips and a cheerful heart.
05/06/2025 Robin Reid: Hang on – what’s this well tested solution for lack of sleep?
05/06/2025 Karol Whettlock: Getting lost abroad.
05/06/2025 On the right track, Karol, but with a missing detail. Getting lost and then getting rescued.
It’s another day and I am sat outside tonight’s accommodation with the thunder raging and me in the shelter of the porch.
I have been given the one key to the bike shed, the front door and my room. The bike is safely in the shed.
It rained heavily on and off today but never for longer than 15 minutes. I suppose the route was pretty boring, except that I never knew what was coming next.
05/06/2025 14:17 Enough of an uneventful journey. Tuesday’s fellow guests were even less interesting. They were generally young, fit, and morose. Not one of them would have 4 daughters, 3 of them playing in the band. Even the ones who had someone to sit next to ran out of things to say. There were no peals of merry laughter at 06;30 when breakfast started. Perhaps it mellowed a bit later.
I did write up a report for booking.com on the accommodation. I was generally content but did take issue with the fact that they took for granted that everyone knew how to work the DIY coffee machine, and how to squeeze the real oranges to make fresh orange juice. Some of their guests just did without.
The previous night’s accommodation had been exemplary. Encouragement to take away anything you couldn’t eat immediately.
06/06/2025, 12:20 -I am going to be a disappointment to you all. After a solitary ride for a couple of hours through the unpopulated countryside with only my head for company I managed to terminate the route on my mobile. No matter, I started a new one from where I had reached to more or less where I was making for. The route went through Quakenbrük where I am sending this from. It is a proper town. With banks.
It had started to rain. As I had days in hand I could stay here. I booked a one room apartment for the next 3 days. I have a book to read and there will be time to get to Hannover for Wednesday.
On Fridays I take out £120 from my account. This converts to about €140. There was a Volksbank nearby where a nice young lad showed me which of the machines gave money out. I poked this and that. The machine put up a message, in English “the bank has denied the transaction”. Help. Does that mean that the card doesn’t work anymore? I pushed the bike into town, found the Information Bureau where the lady spoke English about as well as I speak German, and asked whether I could leave the panniers with her while I went to the bank across the road. Natürlich. The notes came out just like that.
Thinking about it I will have another go and get some more. “Just in case”
I will finish my leisurely meal of I know not what with mushrooms and potatoes. It is certainly warm and dry in the restaurant. I will come here again. And order it again if it’s on offer
06/06/2025, 12:28 – As Judy always said at the end of one of Zdena’s meals “That was a lovely meal. Thank you”
06/06/2025, 12:33 -Or, as we used to sing in The Grove School, Totnes: Thank you for the world so sweet, Thank you for the food we eat, Thank you for the birds that sing. Thank you God for everything.
Just about covers it.
06/06/2025, 12:39 Just a thought have you let your bank know you are travelling in Europe?
06/06/2025, 13:15 -Yes. Last week my account was unaccountably frozen. I engaged in a vigorous conversation with a lady, saying this would be disastrous if I was in the middle of Europe in the next few months. She promised to make a note, and that I didn’t need to take bundles of notes.
However, I have just had a request to get €100 out denied. I will have to be thankful for the transactions that work.
06/06/2025, 13:38 This happened to Lisa when in the states she had informed her bank but extended her stay for 3 days and ended up with no access to cash on her return journey. An Australian man on the plane back donated some cash so she could get from Heathrow to catch her luckily prebooked train back up north. The kindness of strangers never ceases to fill me with a warm glow If you get stuck for money maybe Phil could send some by money transfer to a Post Office in a nearby town?
06/06/2025, 13:51 -Yes, people will often be generous beyond necessity when they come across someone in difficult circumstances. Especially sweet young women and harmless old men.
The sun has come out. It is a lovely day.
06/06/2025, 16:24 – I don’t deserve this. I stopped at this town just because it started pouring down. I booked an apartment here, choosing at random. The apartment is better than I could have hoped for. It contains a washing machine and dryer. And an oven. And a frig. And there is a bakery up the road which opens at 06:00. Next to the bakery, there is a decent supermarket which sells socks. I may have forgotten to bring more than 1 pair, which I have worn every day.
So the washing machine is doing its stuff and will apparently turn into a dryer when appropriate.
Quakenbrück claims to be a Hanseatic town. I know nothing yet.
I asked at the Information Centre, “Is there a library here?”
Yes.
“Is it open?”
On Monday
06/06/2025, 17:13 There is an easy ride from here to Hannover on Monday to Wednesday.
Or I could even get the train down the road.
Surely not!
06/06/2025, 20:33 – I could be getting paranoid.
In the apartment there is a big screen. I was tired. I switched it on.
The messages were all in Cyrillic so I tried to reset.
It gave me the option to use YouTube. “Harmless enough” you might think.
It then wanted me to login to a Google account. Not wanting to give too much away I logged in to a defunct account. After resetting a password since the old one has long been forgotten, I needed to do something on my phone. At the end of all this was a menu offering an extract of a 2010 Prom which I certainly remember watching years ago. It was an orchestral arrangement of a Bach Passacaglia and fugue by I think Respighi (might be wrong about that).
I think it may have been a different recording of the same Prom, but that was maybe because of the huge screen.
How did Google know?
Do I have to stop watching? Are there any secrets yet to be uncovered? Is this going to be embarrassing?
Worried of Quakenbrück
06/06/2025, 20:34 – Martin Wigglesworth: Good luck logging out of the TV
06/06/2025, 20:42 – Don’t make it worse.
I may even be able to remember that the BBC Welsh orchestra was performing.
The players looked very young, but that’s maybe because I am seeing them at a distance. If you want a cheap thrill it is bwv582. It is splendidly loud and vulgar
07/06/2025, 16:53 – It’s now Saturday afternoon. It has rained all day. It is going to rain even heavier tomorrow. The decision to abandon the ride for 2 days was a good one.
I have been messing around for most of the time.
I brought a 19th century school book containing the Odyssey book 10 where Circe turns Odysseus’ companions into pigs. Not much of a change there, then
Shame on you.
However, I have been able to read a lot of stuff on the tablet about the construction of the Odyssey. It is really extraordinary.
From the beginning of time no-one wrote anything much, and then out of nowhere Homer(?) wrote down stories that had been sung all through the Greek world longer than anyone could have remembered.
You didn’t have to cycle to Germany to find that out.
I know, but it beats looking at television.
08/06/2025, 13:26 – What’s all this about being careful about logging out?
When I switched the TV on again next day, YouTube remembered me. Doesn’t that mean that whoever turns up next will be able to pretend to be me?
That could ruin my reputation as a respectable old man.
Some of the other options offered by YouTube have been plausibly related to choices I may have made 10 years ago. Very middle of the road stuff popular (?) 100 years ago. Stuff like Stamford Songs of the sea.
Drake is in his hammock and a thousand miles away. If the Dons sight Devon, I’ll quit the port of heaven and drum them up the channel as I drummed them long ago
08/06/2025, 16:03 – All is not lost. I have found out how to log out.
You can always login again later.
I don’t think so.
That’s it. Tomorrow morning I set off early before it starts raining heavily again. Just 3 or 4 hours without a hill in sight.
It’s been a funny Sunday.
09/06/2025, 10:20 – By 10:00 this morning I had woken up late (05:30) packed, made a cup of coffee, eaten a banana, cleaned the room, written a thank you note to the owner, recharged the mobile battery, completed a 30 mile ride to tonight’s hotel, ordered and eaten a hotel breakfast, and negotiated with the builder about work he is doing to fix a problem of damp.
Oh Lord, what a morning!
It is all too good to be true.
The ride was completely without incident. I passed 2 cyclists, sang, reverted to my childhood (a regular distraction), gave thanks for all the entirely unfamous people who had seen to bringing me up, and carried out the normal calculations for a ride. Converting km to miles and working out the fallacy behind my optimism about distance … If I have to travel n miles, then each mile completed is worth 2 … 1 for distance completed and 1 less to go. Other people seem not to suffer from this.
Now, what do I do for the rest of the day?
Walk into the local town, see whether there are any bookshops here, and act accordingly. And then?
Go to sleep, probably.
09/06/2025, 19:38 – As the lady said with such confidence All shall be well. All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.
The weather forecast for tomorrow is rain followed by drizzle for an hour, followed by rain.
I looked at getting a train. They will sell me and my bike a ticket for the journey, but will not let me take the bike
Nothing for it but to wrap the mobile in a plastic bag and defy the odds.
Or perhaps Julian of Norwich was right.
Did you know that Susannah Clarke was writing a new novel based in Bradford and including a firm believer in the principles of Julian? I periodically look out for reviews but haven’t seen any yet.
09/06/2025 Karol Whettlock: “If I have to travel n miles, then each mile completed is worth 2 … 1 for distance completed and 1 less to go.” I too enjoy this, especially when I am running.
09/06/2025, 20:34 Ooh that’s good. And I thought it was just me being clueless
10/06/2025, 09:37 They exaggerated.
The rain would hold off until 09:00 and then pour down.
I skipped breakfast, checked out and set to with a will.
The route was excellent in parts. It went a few miles down an unsurfaced wet country lane. Creatures hopped along with gay abandon until they became aware of me. They really didn’t need to worry. As the lane came nearer to a town it started to acquire a better surface. Once through the town I joined a cycle path by the side of a main road. Unimaginably boring, but much easier than a country lane. And on.
I noticed that I was getting slower and started the silly calculations – If I can keep cycling at this speed, and it starts to rain later than forecast, as I have now cycled 20 miles, and the wind is blowing the clouds towards the direction I am going, how far will I be able to get?
A waste of effort as I reached Nienburg on the river Weser safe and sound. It still hasn’t rained an hour later.
Hang on, I hear you say, haven’t I heard of the river Weser, deep and wide which washes the banks on either side?
Yes indeed. It is where the Pied Piper managed to solve the youth. problem.
11/06/2025, 07:27 I am in Hannover. Phil will come to see me later today. I will probably look for a library and spend a happy time fighting Homer. It’s hand-to-hand combat, but living in a world of fantasy has its own rewards.
The Ibis hotel I am staying in is quite satisfactory.
Yesterday I sorted out my travel arrangements, having noticed that I had booked a ticket to Leipzig tomorrow for my bike but not for me.
The most competent Deutschebahn lady sorted me out and also found and printed my tickets back to Amsterdam which I wasn’t sure of. That’s a big relief. Once in Amsterdam I can do what I like, within the limits of conventional morality. It all depends on whether the train system is less chaotic than last time
I can cycle the 15 or so miles to the ferry to North Shields, or the 30 or so miles to the ferry to Hull and betray the P&O ferry workers. It is a lot easier getting back to Bridlington from Hull, though.
Now that my rain affected journey is completed the forecast for the next 5 days is warm dry sunshine.
No challenge.
11/06/2025, 07:36 And the river Weser deep and wide washes its wall on the Southern side.
I re-read the poem The Pied Piper of Hamelin for the first time for probably 70 years yesterday, and it pleased me much. That’s what real poetry is all about
11/06/2025, 09:01 – Karol Whettlock: Hope you’ll be taking a selfie of you and Phil with Hannover in the background.
11/06/2025, 09:15 – It’s not the sort of thing that either of us would normally do, but maybe since you ask, I will negotiate.
I am in the warm, quiet library, truly thankful.
I am normally city hostile, and observed all the sad looking people with some disdain. And then noticed the children, full of life and joy. There is a moral to be taken from this.
11/06/2025, 09:21 – Karol Whettlock: IMG-20250611-WA0001.jpg (file attached)
Two of our running friends have just travelled through Hannover.
11/06/2025, 09:23 Perhaps all the sad people I have seen should have taken their clothes off.
11/06/2025, 20:27 IMG-20250612-WA0000.jpg (file attached)
You wouldn’t necessarily have thought that Phil had such long arms
11/06/2025, 20:32 The man on the horse was the last king of Hannover
That’s funny, I thought we had taken them over
12/06/2025, 12:02 All shall be well.
My train from Hannover to Leipzig was cancelled. The Deutschebahn lady said I could take the next but one. This would get me into Leipzig with barely enough time to get to my hotel, get changed, and arrive for the evening concert in time.
When the next train arrived, Phi engaged an official in a vigorous conversation. I heard him say this was a Deutschebahn problem, not mine. Could I go on the earlier train?
The official seemed to say more than my job’s worth. Then, 45 seconds before the train was ready to go, another official beckoned me and ushered me onto the train.
Phil said that he had been told all the bike places would be filled up in Brunswick. He had been deceived.
I am now in Magdeburg with plenty of bike spaces empty.
Magdeburg was an important city for Judy’s grandfather. It was where he lost his leg in the First World War. I suppose he didn’t exactly lose it. It was taken from him.
12/06/2025, 12:49 Good outcome for you but not so much for Judy’s Grandad
12/06/2025, 16:20 And now this couldn’t get better.
I am in Thomaskirche waiting for the first concert. The lady in the next row is from Puerto Rico and has just been emotional about the first time she heard the Matthew Passion. So was I. We were both about 15 years old
We neither of us knew it could be so good. I remember hearing it on the Third Program in Totnes. It changed my life.
There is a decent range of ages for the audience this afternoon, but I guess there are more of us over 50 than under
That’s a pity.
12/06/2025, 17:48 – Robin Reid: Dare I admit that the first time I heard the St Matthew Passion in full was on YouTube in 2020 over the locked down Easter Triduum. Yes it was quite emotional – but that might have been more because it was the first time I’d ever spent Easter alone.
12/06/2025, 20:27 – On reflection, I was probably 16 when I first heard the Matthew Passion. I remember telling my violin teacher that it was going to be on, and he said I should start with something less demanding. He knew nothing.
The opening concert this evening was odd,
We had an organ prelude and fugue on the name B-A-C-H by Liszt, a sinfonia on the cantata (?) “We must through much distress”, what sounded like the opening section of the Christmas Cantata, and part of the B minor Mass. A bit of this and a bit of that.
Tomorrow I have only booked for a cantata at 20:00 – well after the time I am finding it difficult to stay awake. There are other events throughout the day.
I have already booked for “Bach by Bike” on Saturday at 10:00 from Thomaskirche. I don’t know what that’s all about, but I’ve paid money for it
The hotel I’m in is definitely odd. I may be the only guest here. The hotel seemed to be closed when I arrived back after the concert, I got in with my key. When the lady booked me in on arrival, she asked Would 8am breakfast be OK? I’m a nice guy and said “yes”.
Not as good as 06:00, though.
13/06/2025, 08:10 – So it’s 07:47 local time. I have had an adequate, but solitary, breakfast and in about half an hour I will make my way into Leipzig to find a library.
Before I go, I will try to negotiate an alternative breakfast time.
I’ve been engaged in all kinds of odd reflections in Leipzig. The people here have been disappointed for generations. They really did thrill to the nationalistic confidence of Hitler. And then that hope collapsed. And then the USSR promised them an even better legacy. And that didn’t work out. The hope of Germany reunification then brought hundreds of thousands of immigrants.
Perhaps the anti- immigrant AfD will deliver all they want.
Perhaps their best resolution is to just give up hoping, live for themselves and become hedonists.
That won’t work, you know.
I will pay close attention to tonight’s cantata and will report back.
It is already hot. Not the least trace of rain.
Lobe den Herrn
13/06/2025, 18:00 – Robin has got a scam email from sdbutland@outlook.com
How do I disable it ?
13/06/2025, 18:01 – Robin Reid: You can try changing your password.
13/06/2025, 18:01 – Karol Whettlock: So have a few of us.
13/06/2025, 18:02 – What password? I have got scores of them
13/06/2025, 18:02 – Martin Wigglesworth: Its your email password that needs changing
13/06/2025, 18:02 – Karol Whettlock: It was obviously a scam. You supposedly wanted a gift card buying from John Lewis for a friend with cancer. And you were “out of town“.
13/06/2025, 18:02 – Robin Reid: That’s the one.
13/06/2025, 18:03: I keep changing a lot of them. They are all slightly different from each other
13/06/2025, 18:04 – Martin Wigglesworth: They should be much different from each other not slightly like a suffix number only
13/06/2025, 18:0: And I have not bought my list of passwords with me
13/06/2025, 18:04 – Martin Wigglesworth: So different in fact that you are forced to write them down lol
13/06/2025, 18:04: I always write them down. At home
13/06/2025, 18:06 – Robin Reid: I wouldn’t worry too much about it until you get home. If it’s possible that you have email contacts who might fall for it (given that you are indeed out of town, as the email says) then you I contact them directly via other means.
13/06/2025, 18:08 – Karol Whettlock: The message was very out of character.
13/06/2025: One day you must tell ne what has happened. If everyone had messages from …outlook.com can I kill them all? It is not an email address I would use
13/06/2025, 18:09 – Ann: I had one that just asked if I had received it but no further details, oh heck😫
13/06/2025, 18:10 – Karol Whettlock: One came from BT I think.
13/06/2025, 18:10 – Robin Reid: It starts off like that and if you reply you get the follow up scam.
13/06/2025, 18:11 -: Mine was from btinternet so I thought it was one of the addresses David uses.
13/06/2025, 18:12 – Robin Reid: Email 1:
Good afternoon,
Did you get this?
Thanks,
David
Email 2:
Thanks for your response. I need to get a John Lewis gift card from giftcards.co.uk for a friend of mine who has been diagnosed with stage 4 mesothelioma cancer. It’s her birthday, but I can’t do this now because I’m out of town. I tried purchasing online, but unfortunately, I had no luck with that. Could you help me order one online? I’ll reimburse you when I get back. Please let me know if you can handle this so that I can provide the details.
Thanks,
David“
13/06/2025, 18:12 – Karol Whettlock: Getting the first one wasn’t out of character as I know David has a few different emails, that’s why I answered that one.
13/06/2025, 18:13 – Robin Reid: The second one screams, “I’m not really David.”
13/06/2025, 18:13 Refuse to talk to me until I have had time to contact BT
13/06/2025, 18:14 – Robin Reid: Outlook is not BT. It’s presumably happening from multiple addresses.
13/06/2025, 18:14 – Karol Whettlock: It certainly does! He doesn’t do birthdays or medical and wouldn’t shop at John Lewis or say “out of town”.
13/06/2025, 18:26 – Martin Wigglesworth: Mine was from btinternet, effectively inviting a followup
From: S D B <sdbutland@btinternet.com>
13/06/2025, 18:27 – Martin Wigglesworth: Its possible its one of use sending the emails also .. if it doesn’t have DMARC setup to prevent email spoofing
13/06/2025, 18:30 – Karyn Easton: Yep I got one too!!
13/06/2025, 18:30 – +44 7954 139520: I’ve blocked and reported it.
13/06/2025, 18:41 – The trouble is that I am just about to go into the Kantata zum Sonntag Jubilate
We might live in a wicked world, but Though all the world were devils o’er and waiting to devour us,
We lay it not to heart so sore
not they can overpo’er us
For let the Prince of ill
Look grim as e’er he will
A Word will swiftly slay him
Sorry for the delay.
I have just been lost.
Will get back in touch
13/06/2025, 18:47 – Robin Reid: If the scam email had sounded more like this, I might have been taken in! 😃
13/06/2025, 18:48 – Karyn Easton: To be fair – I very nearly did fall for it lol 😂
13/06/2025, 18:58 – I am in the upper upper gallery at the same level as the organist whom I could spit if I had the projection .
I may be able to login to sdbutland@btinternet.com if I can, what do I do? In 2 hours’ time
13/06/2025, 19:03 The massive church is even more full than on a wet Sunday
13/06/2025, 19:08 – Robin Reid: Try logging in and changing your password (typically under My Account or My Details or something like that). If possible you can also try adding two-factor authentication (2FA) so that you will also need to enter a code pinged to your mobile before logging in again. It’s more faff but safer.
13/06/2025, 19:08 – Robin Reid: I’m also about to go into a church hall for a concert – probably on a different level from yours.
13/06/2025, 19:30 – Martin Wigglesworth: If you use the 2FA such as an authenticator app that you show a QR code, remember you can “backup” your QR code to an encrypted file. Otherwise you might lock yourself out for ever.
13/06/2025, 19:56: Thanks for all that.
It’s half time.
And wonderful.
Much of your excellent advice will have to wait until we meet again.
Meanwhile when I’m back in my room with my tablet I will try to contact BT
Funny that. The next piece of music is going to be about trübsal which I think is trouble.
13/06/2025, 21:46 – The following message has been sent to a friend in Bridlington.
Did I ought to send it to everyone else?
How?
But not tonight. I can’t remember when I was up this late in 2025
Thanks for the message.
People have been alerting me to this all day.
I have done something that will limit the nuisance in future.
I’m just from today’s evening concert and will wake up fresh and new in the morning.
Sorry to have been such a nuisance.
A message from the authentic David
Accept no substitute l
13/06/2025, 21:46 – Oh, and I changed my BT password
13/06/2025, 21:48 – Trübsal is more grief than trouble. I don’t have a lot of one but do cause a lot of the other
13/06/2025, 21:57 – Robin Reid: Well, I’m just out of the concert myself. I can best describe it as a brave attempt.
13/06/2025, 22:02 – Karol Whettlock: What was it?
13/06/2025, 22:14 – Robin Reid: Great Horton Theatre Company’s summer concert. I had actually been asked to take over the musical directorship of the group when the previous MD was leaving. I chose wisely.
14/06/2025, 07:27 – It is indeed a new morning. Fresh. I haven’t yet done anything wrong.
It’s going to be an exciting day today. I signed up and paid for “Bach by bike”.
They sent me an email in the tiniest lettering entirely in German a couple of weeks ago. For the entire period of the Bachfest, a group of multilingual students man an information centre between Bach’s 2 main churches Thomaskirche where he ran choir school and the ginormous Nikolaikirche.
The Nikolaikirche premiered a number of important works.
The man was phenomenal.
A splendid young girl read through the text of the email and translated. We are going to cycle about 12 miles to a church where Bach commissioned the organ. We will attend a musical event, have lunch, and cycle back.
We have to be fit enough, take a puncture kit and pump, and not be illegal immigrants. She didn’t say that last bit, probably out of embarrassment.
So here goes.
There are other Bach by bike events during the year, cycling from his birth place to Leipzig. If I’m spared as old Mrs Hewitt would have said. She wouldn’t have been.
But I’m back after a fine ride through deciduous woods around Leipzig. We set off in 2 groups of about 30. My group included a Japanese man who cycled 200 km each Sunday. Nothing like as many miles, of course. And a couple of people from Johannesburg who seemed to feel protective of me.
They wanted my mobile number so that they could Wattsapp me. Maybe that’s how people take over your emails. I told them about Judy and about her strange relationship with Scouts. supportive as long as she didn’t have to have anything with children. The ethos of the 1st Bridlington Scout group entirely at odds with what seems to be normal. Never, ever, Rich kids only, but to anyone, You can come, but you have to contribute.
Much healthier. I always wanted to rename the group “1st Bridlington Scout Group (Marxist-Leninist)”
It was after this escape into fantasy that they wanted my phone number. I believe, though.
Another group of people I got talking to was from Lucerne. The lady saw me slicing my unfinished roll and putting in some uneaten meat to put in an empty box in my saddle bag. It was the War, you know.” That conversation rolled on for a bit. She was 85. If she had cycled with the rest of us, she is a lesson to us all.
The organ concert in the little church was excellent. The church would hardly have held as many as 150 people, but the clarity of the organ couldn’t have been better,.
A tenor(?) sang among other things Ich habe genug. My mother would have said, Amen to that.. I think it’s a paraphrase of the Song of Simeon: Lord, now lettest Thou thy servant depart in peace. He also sang Bist du bei mir. There’s a lot about those 16th and 17th century hymns to withstand the effect of change and decay.
The concert started and ended with organ music that requires 3 hands and 3 feet to play. Quite extraordinary.
15/06/2025, 06:27 – In an idle hour I re-read the account so far.
It contains errors. But you are all intelligent people and can fill in the gaps.
However, there is one that you might have missed.
On Friday I mis-remembered:
For let the Prince of ill
Look grim as e’er he will
He harms us not a whit
For why? His doom is writ
A Word will swiftly slay him
Is it possible to do bold lettering in WhatsApp messages? I didn’t want you to think I had got it from Donald Trump.
Judy and I both brought to our relationship a well stocked store of half-remembered quotations. I regularly raid the pantry while cycling along. It’s getting barer.
Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To give the poor dog a bone
But when she got there
The cupboard was bare
And so the poor dog had none
It will come to that some time
15/06/2025, 09:41 – Martin Wigglesworth: As you type, you can surround with a * for bold or _ for italicised… no need to go into a menu. The closing * or _ causes the effect (and is shown in dim in typing it but is removed when sent)
15/06/2025, 11:25 – I need you all *Increasingly*
Did that work?
I have just come out of the morning service at Nikolaikirche. Arrived 20 minutes late through a misunderstanding. They had run out of printed service sheets with the words and music, so I had to supply my own.
Not too difficult as the tunes were good 4-square 17th century German ones with predictable metres so I just chose my own words.
The music was exceptionally good, of course. At the end of the service the congregation applauded the organist.
I recognised the Gospel reading pretty soon – Luke 10, the parable of the Good Samaritan. I made up my own sermon in the 20 minutes the preacher allowed me.
And then we sang again and again.
The congregation seemed to be pretty multi-ethnic so presumably I was not alone in my incomprehension.
This afternoon there is Cantata 64 for the 10th Sunday after Trinity in the Thomaskirche with an introduction in English at 4.00 pm in the Central Kabarett. That sounds interesting.
15/06/2025, 13:40 – So this is what the preacher in my head said this morning.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan is beyond rationalising. It is a subversive story in defiance of all categories of conformist behaviour. While we know something of the background of the priest and the Levite we know nothing about the Samaritan, and that’s not important. All we know is what he did. He might well have been foolish. “You can’t go round patching up all of life’s casualties. There will be no end to your generosity”. But that’s the point of the story. It is not a programmer for social reform. That would entail organising a police force to establish law and order. And establishing a set of rules. This is a story of one anonymous solitary man, confronted by another anonymous solitary man who needs help, and who does something.
This is not a model of a well organised Welfare State. Just an encouragement to do something positive, right or wrong, wherever you find yourself.
Where does that get us? Not far enough, of course, since we always want to rationalise our behaviour.
Never mind the rights and wrongs. Just do it.
Or as we encountered our 8 year old children “… I promise to do my best to… help other people and to keep the Cub Scout Law”
“Cub Scouts always do their best, think of others before themselves, and do a good turn every day”
And even that is too legalistic. Focus on ” think of others before themselves”
That will do.
15/06/2025, 19:22 – This evening’s talk and cantata were more troubling. As it is the 10th Sunday after Trinity the lessons, and therefore the text of the Cantatas (1 for each year) are all about the destruction of Jerusalem.
Martin Luther, on whose translations the Biblical readings were taken, was a thorough going antisemite. This gives some of us considerable dismay. But it was true.
Perhaps it was just as well that I didn’t stay until the evening performance of the St John Passion (it didn’t start until good Christians should be getting ready for bed).
The Gospel of John is strongly anti-Jewish as well. It was Martin Luther’s favourite.
Perhaps the bad press for the Priest and the Levite this morning is of a piece with the destruction of Jerusalem 70/71 AD. I hadn’t thought of that before.
However, the banner on the wall of Nikolaikirche does say war is not according to the will of God.
Nikolaikirche had an interesting role in the downfall of the GDR in 1989. The huge empty space of the building with no pews was filled with people 24 hours a day in a non- stop protest against the GDR.
There was a lot more to it than that, but all the information is in German, so my understanding is probably defective.
So what’s that got to do with the price of bacon?
Nikolaikirche is a Lutheran foundation. Luther held strongly to the separation of Church and State. They operate according to entirely different principles.
A good Christian can be an excellent hangman for the city. Loyal to the state and kindly in his dealings with his neighbours.
15/06/2025, 22:46 – Robin Reid: I think the most important background thing about the Samaritan is that Jews and Samaritans hated each other. The priest and the Levite – both men of the cloth – were too busy to help their own. And the hated Samaritan was the only one who came to his aid.
16/06/2025, 19:27 – The Gasthaus where I’m staying is most peculiar. It will hold, probably, 36 people. For the first 2 nights there were no other guests. Then about 8 of us, then just me, and at least a handful tonight.
The complex looks very German and seems to have shooting facilities. You can hear guns going off all day.
Accommodation is in a separate “Pension”. It includes a kitchen for guests and a separate breakfast room.
The lady makes the scrambled eggs and coffee. I was going to ask her to do me a soft boiled egg this morning. She just left the ingredients in the kitchen.. I was therefore able to shine
The establishment is a mile from the nearest tram. I could perfectly well cycle in to Leipzig, but find the traffic unnerving.
I went to the wrong building for this morning’s concert.
No matter, I found the City Library.
Tomorrow evening there will be a performance of the monumental “B Minor Mass”. It is the one piece of music that choirs love to sing above all others. Bach wrote it – orchestral parts, soloists and choir- and never performed it. Even though it’s the best music ever written. Ask Cynthia (Trasi).
Some say this, some say that.
The text is for a Roman Mass. Was Bach preparing for a career move?
We may never know.
The theme for this year’s performances is Transformations. I do hope it isn’t going to be an arrangement for kazoos and saxophone
16/06/2025, 22:15 – Robin Reid: The B Minor Mass with kazoos and saxophones does sound interesting. Not necessarily good interesting but certainly interesting. Enjoy! 🎷
17/06/2025, 11:13 Tuesday:
In order to get to the right place for the right time this morning I turned up for breakfast at 06:45. No problem.
I have revisited my adolescence. I needed to get the tram into Leipzig, then another one out to the Paul Gerhardt Church. That was when the nostalgia started. Paul Gerhardt came alive for me when I was about 14 or 15. In the 1600’s he wrote the most compelling hymns which were set to highly singable chorale tunes by his older contemporary Johann Crüger. Unknown to me, Judith Whiteley in Leeds had already discovered them. And her father before her.
So before the concert even started I had already enjoyed coming.
The concert was led by a group of musicians from the Early Music School of Leipzig. It consisted largely of hymns composed by proto- Bach’s, members of the family who had lived and died before the great JSB.
They were full of anticipation of their illustrious successor.
The ensemble, ancient instruments and modern performers could not have been better.
And in the middle of it all we all sang one of the 17th Century hymns.
The text of the hymns was revealing. You may not realise it, but we live in a wonderful, but spoiled world. Just wait.
The general theme of many of the hymns was reminiscent of “Never ever beaten sail … O come quickly, gracious Lord and take my soul to rest.
Considerably different from contemporary sentiments.
The singers and instrumentalists could not have been better.
I have found out a bit more about tonight’s performance. It will be given by a couple of dozen performers divvying up-the parts between them.
We shall see.
18/06/2025, 06:30 – At Christmas time the Whiteley’s and visiting friends and relatives would sing Messiah round the piano. Not all of it. Just the rousing choruses.
It was a lot of fun.
Last night’s Transformation of the Bach B Minor Mass was almost certainly fun to sing.
The really big choruses that choirs love so much felt a bit thin.
The big problem for me was that periodically someone read some significant text. He read very nicely, and his mother would have been proud of him, but I had no idea of what it was all about.
Here’s a thing… Bach wasn’t performed again for over 100 years after his death. Robin can correct me on that if I’ve misunderstood. Then he was rediscovered by Felix Mendelssohn (“Here comes the bride”) and Arthur Sullivan (“Jerusalem”). I believe that Arthur Sullivan once said that the one piece of music he would like to have written was the big chorus “Sanctus” from the B Minor Mass.
Today I am off early to try to find the venue for the 09:30 concert.
18/06/2025, 08:05 – Robin Reid: I will correct that “Here comes the bride” was actually by Wagner from Lohengrin. Mendelssohn wrote the other wedding march from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
18/06/2025, 08:16 Alison: And, of course, Sullivan was the first recipient of the Mendelssohn scholarship prize.
18/06/2025, 08:18 – Perhaps Mendelssohn liked The Lost Chord
18/06/2025, 14:02 – This morning’s concert was excellent again.
An early music ensemble played and sang music from the 16th. (Palestrina) to the 18th (JSB) centuries. Well, we all did. The melody of one of the hymns was printed so that we could join in some of the verses. The words were by Paul Gerhardt as were the words of one of JC Bach’s motets Fürchte dich nicht Be not afraid. As if.
JC Bach was an older relative of JS.
18/06/2025, 14:12 – And then I pushed it a bit by attending a 13:00 organ concert in the Reformed, = Calvinist Church. My attention span had dropped considerably, and I was pleased when it was over. I had done mathematical things with the numbers on the board long before it finished.
I now have an a capella performance by the Thomaskirche boys’ choir at 17:00 and then back to the hotel.
It was a mistake going to the evening performance yesterday. It didn’t finish until after 22:00 – my bed time. I have another 22:00 performance later in the week. I will try to negotiate a ticket exchange for something on earlier.
18/06/2025, 14:20: However, one thing of interest in the Reformed Church – Mendelssohn had been baptised there. In the 16th and 17th centuries Lutherans and Calvinists hated each other. At least as much as they hated Romanists. *But* the main theme in Mendelssohn’s Reformation Symphony is Luther’s hymn Ein Feste Burg, so they must have eventually learned to live with each other.
But not with the Romanists.
18/06/2025, 17:55 -That’s better. The unaccompanied boys’ choir was extraordinary. More than 100 of them. Boys. No messing around.
My only quibble was that they ended up singing Bach- “sing to the Lord a new song.”
Hang on, he wrote it 300 years ago.
19/06/2025, 10:33 – Thursday:
Best morning so far.
Up early as usual. I had intended to cycle to the Paul Gerhardt Kirche this morning just to confirm that I can manage city traffic. Children manage it. I got dressed in my cycling gear and over breakfast wimped out.
Maybe later today.
I still wasn’t sure of the directions, so found it on my mobile. That was unnecessary – just follow the crowds.
This morning’s concerts included works by Bach and other 17th century composers.
It was designed just for me. It was largely in the form of a Lutheran service complete with hymns that we joined in, Bible readings based on the rich man and the beggar Lazarus, a (short) sermon, prayers and a blessing. And a rich accompaniment of organ music, choir, and orchestra.
The congregation appeared to be made up of rich men rather than Lazaruses. Somehow the point had been missed.
You would not necessarily have enjoyed/understood it so much, but you could have enjoyed the music.
Once again the organist had a more than average number of hands and feet. She was applauded warmly at the end.
As were the 8 singers and period instrument players.
What about the rest of the day?
I’m not so keen on the other concerts. I will probably go back to the hotel and cycle out of the city somewhere.
I can’t swap the 20:00 tickets for tomorrow night’s performance. Hmmm. I can always prepare for going to bed late, or just cut it. It goes against the grain wasting a perfectly good ticket. Perhaps I practice by going to bed at 23:00 tonight.
It may be extreme, but better than wasting.
20/06/2025, 07:05 – Friday: so I am compromising. Up at 07:00 this morning, 2 hours later than usual.
Yesterday afternoon I set off on a 20 mile ride to Halle and back. After 5 miles I turned back when the route degenerated to a loosely compacted gravel track. Today’s Bach events don’t start for me until 17:00 “Sing Bach”. Children are invited to join in, so it should be manageable.
I have found a cycle route around a lake about 10 miles away. There seem to be a lot of lakes around Leipzig. The result of mining. Someone said on Saturday “charcoal mining”. I guess it was coal.
It is forecast to be a warm day here. Not as uncomfortably hot as the UK.
21/06/2025, 06:42 – Saturday; it was a warm day. Warmer than average but still pleasant.
The cycle ride would have been a great success if I hadn’t got lost – the sun was so bright that I couldn’t see the directions on the mobile. But it was OK cycling through woods on largely smooth cycle paths.
Back to the hotel, shower, and dress in respectable clothes ready to Sing Bach.
I didn’t need the directions to the church venue – just follow the crowds. The church would have held 800 people. Max. It was full. And that was before the choir came in – over 200 8-10 year old children
The mistress of ceremonies was magnificent. She permitted children and parents to wave to each other. Once. And then it was down to serious business. Do not dare to take your eyes off me. If a Valkyrie tells you that, you obey.
There was a lot of loud and vulgar pseudo Bach on saxophone and drums and clapping and waving arms in the air and general fun. If the children hadn’t obviously enjoyed it so much, I would have been sniffy.
The clapping was obviously a major feature of the performance. The Salvation Army couldn’t have done better. In the middle of the welter of sound, you could hear Have lightnings and thunders their fury forgotten? from the St Matthew Passion.
They did sing a bit (not daring to take their eyes off the führer) but the overall effect was of rhythm. And joyful exuberance.
We got to sing as well, “dum, dum, dum-di-diddy, dum, dum” while the children sang something else.
We were good.
Other things happened. The temperature soared.
I went to the introductory talk in English to the evening cantatas. This was itself excellent, but it made me feel inadequate. The lecturer was a retired professor of something at a New York university. He was an enthusiast. He heard things in the music that passed me by even after he had explained them. He heard the “accompaniment” to the recitative playing in half time the chorale at the basis of the cantata.
Judy’s father would have loved it. He had an exceptional ear for music. He heard everything in tonic sol-fa and had perfect pitch. I loved him without reservation.
21/06/2025, 17:11: It’s the end of the week. Another music-rich day.
The concert in the morning at Nikolaikirche was again in the form of a Lutheran service with lashings of musical accompaniment.
How do you know it’s Lutheran service when you don’t understand a word that they are saying? You sit down to sing the hymns, stand up to hear the Gospel reading, stand to say the “vater unser”(Our Father) some time, and pay close attention to the sermon – the highlight of the service. And applaud the phenomenal organist at the end. And as it is a Bachfest, listen to a couple of cantatas.
Not for Everyone, you may say, but just the job for some.
So far, I have avoided cycling into the city. Little children do it, but I lose my nerve.
I had decided not to attend the evening concert, which doesn’t start until 20:00, so would walk the mile to the tram stop for the afternoon concert. When I got over halfway, I found that my bus pass was missing. This is it, then. Back to the hotel, and get on my bike. Well, I made it. If all else fails, you can push it along the pavement.
Thomaskirche was packed. The music included work. By Årvo Pårt, and a complete cantata by Bach, based on the hymn Praise to the Lord, the king of creation. Now, here’s something you may not have known….
Praise to the Lord was written by Joachim Neander, after whom the Neander valley – the Neander-tal was named. He was a much loved local Pastor. They only stumbled upon our distant relatives later.
The choir sang, the percussionist banged, the trumpets blew, and the organist used every last finger and foot part he had been given.
Judy and Judy’s dad (and me) knew Joachim. We didn’t know about his anthropological associations, though.
22/06/2025, 07:26: Sunday morning: a beautiful warm morning, forecasting to be a red hot day later. Not as difficult as it seems to be in the UK, though.
It will be an action packed Sunday.
Morning service at the Nikolaikirche. Afternoon Cantata, followed by talk before the final Bachfest Abschlusskonzert. This will be an authentic, no compromise, performance of the B Minor Mass. I am looking forward to the talk. Reading between the lines, the work was never played in its entirety until over 100 years after Bach’s death, but contains large sections which featured in other works. Some say this is the culmination of a life time dedication. Some say it is an advertisement for promotion to a well paid job with the aristocrats. I will be most disappointed if that is the story told this afternoon.
Here is the schedule for the next few days:
Tonight – in bed for 21:00.
Tomorrow – up at 04:30 to pack and cycle to the station in good time for the train. I am then in the hands of the German and Dutch railway systems. If all goes according to time tables, I have time to get to Rotterdam for the overnight ferry to Hull.
Otherwise I don’t.
And it doesn’t really matter.
22/06/2025, 08:18: Don’t believe all you are told. The morning service is replaced by a Bachfest event. Which gives time for reflection on the Nikolaikirche school.
2 of its famous pupils were Leibniz and Richard Wagner – The Ring. Leibniz featured incidentally in our undergraduate lectures,(another of those Continental crazies), and was more famous for inventing Calculus independently of Newton. They developed the same Idea but with different terms and annotation. What was that all about? Philip? You were good at mathematical things.
It had something to do with infinitesimals (so small that it doesn’t make any difference), but although I could answer exam questions, I never understood what it all signified.
Leibniz had some association with Hannover as well. He featured in street names. The library included a Leibniz section with displays of his prototype computing machine. In this section was a drawer labelled Leibniz for children. It included a single item Infinitesimals for kids.
Wow!
23/06/2025, 05:17 I managed cycling in to the station as well as the next 8 year old would have done. Assisted by the fact that it was just after 05:00 and there wasn’t much competition.
The lady who makes breakfast had left me cereal, milk, unbaked rolls and stuff. It was easy to bake the rolls, pack the stuff and be off.
Sunday had been full of delight from beginning to end. The unexpected treat was in the afternoon which included the programmed cantata and also a succession of fun choral pieces, accompanied by all kinds of strange early instruments. Blown, bowed, banged and strummed.
Once again my musical knowledge was shown up to be inadequate.
They sang something that I knew well, but simply couldn’t place. It went round my head for ages. You could fit all kinds of words to it. I resorted to one form that we had sung to it over 70 years ago, and searched. It was that exceptionally memorable tune Old 100th with strategic notes stretched out. Judy and her dad would have known immediately. “And I, and I only am left”.
The talk was interesting again. I am a bit sceptical when people see/hear more than anyone else, but am prepared to at least half believe that it might be true.
Those adaptations of the Hilary Mantel books felt a plausible reimagination of what it was like to be caught up in the flood of new ideas swilling around in the 16th century.
But I’m on the train. Next stop Hannover.
23/06/2025, 15:41 – We live in a wonderful world. It is 16:30-jsh. I am in my cabin in Amsterdam-ish, expecting anchors to be weighed any time soon.
So you’re not going by nasty P&O from Rotterdam to Hull?
It appears that there is a problem with the P&O booking system so that no-one can book a crossing. You get to a Web page that says “You did not ought to be here”.
No matter. Both the trains were on time today, although one went from a different platform than the one on the ticket.
There was just about time to negotiate a ticket for my bike to a station just 2 miles from the ferry, and cycle to the ferry with an hour to spare. Or 10 minutes if you get lost around the docks.
This gives me the challenge of navigating from the ferry to Newcastle station tomorrow morning.
24/06/2025, 08:34: It is 08:30-ish local time and I have just eaten a most handsome breakfast. “All you can eat for £17.50”.
It’s at times like this that I review my life and get nostalgic.
We were poor. But content.
It was because of us that it took so long to recover from The War. You ate all that you had and were thankful. You never ever ever wanted anything you couldn’t afford. But you enjoyed everything that you did have. And you were acutely aware of the poor little boys and girls of Africa who had even less than you.
Or, as Karol’s mother had it: Remember Belgium.
The attitudes fostered have made it easy for me to start each day thankful that I don’t have arthritis. And that I can run about and play.
The young lady clearing the tables was reluctant to wait until I had eaten all that was on my plate. Every last drop of honey in the tub, every last bit of butter in the thingie.
She smiled when at last it was all gone. She may not have understood.
People are above all interesting. Even when we conform we do so in our own way.
Do not believe what the sociologists tell you. You are much more interesting than that.
24/06/2025, 08:35 – Karol Whettlock: Was this on the ferry?
24/06/2025, 08:36: Yes. Land is in sight.
24/06/2025, 08:36 – Karol Whettlock: Enjoyed you quoting my Mum which I had thought of as soon as you started on the topic!
03/07/2025, 07:39: Time for an annual review…
Major positives:
1. Seem to be in good health
2. A lot of local support
3. Cheerful
4. Head full of happy memories
5. Finances sound
Negatives:
1. Need to sell house
2. … and move
3. Wickedness in high places
4. Still missing my old companion
But there’s more to be thankful for than to regret
jbrip 