WEEK 1 .........the short version

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We have had a few days to settle in with Karin in Hassloch. The weather has been warm to hot...apparently we brought it with us, as the week before our arrival, it was cool with temps around 19c. Phil has had his first drive of Karin's new Peugot, on the wrong side of the road with me as the extra eyes......which translates to LOOK OUT!!!!! , Go, no I meant STOP, or Get out of the gutter or watch out for the other cars side mirrors! Sitting where I would normally be the driver on Aussie roads, having no control of how close we are to other cars is weird. With Hector the Cat's road safety message of "Look to left, look to the right, look to the left again, if the road ahead is clear of traffic, walk straight across the road...DON'T RUN...walk straight across the road", taught by rote as children......meant nothing here in Europe...It seems each man/car for themselves.

We had a day of helping Karin clean up her home after some recent renovations. She herself had only moved back into her home the day before we arrived, after living by herself in a flat for 2.5 years, after the break down of her 36 year marriage. (Sadly Hans was not able to control his alcohol intake over the years, and when faced with an choice of Karin or the grog...........he chose the grog. Quite sad really. Also sad is that his body finally gave up on 30th June and he passed away but with Karin and Claudia by his side.) Any how we managed 2 trips to the tip for my big sis, and earned our supper, so to speak.

We travelled to nearby Neustadt (NewTown) and had a delightful meal sitting outside with many others in the Open Air Platz. Apart from restaurants, shops are closed by 6pm and open at 10am, with village shops then closing at 12pm for lunch and re-opening at 2pm. So I think ok, I am going for a shop tomorrow in Hassloch centre.Yay, retail therapy at last!
So after another restless night of hi heat & humidity, we awake on Wednesday at around 9am, stuff about and then after brunch deccide to shop.......No can do!! Shops are closed on Wednesday afternoons! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! And the germans call themselves modern!

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