Bye Bye Blogger, Blogger Bye Bye

Just to keep you all on your toes, I am moving.
My new cyber residence is http://meinaphase.wordpress.com.
Please update all links and memories.

Rügen

A last minute decision and before I knew it I was driving a Smart car up the A20 Autobahn, Richtung Rügen. I had been wanted to pay a visit to the German island in the Baltic Sea for a while and so we took the plunge and treated ourselves to a weekend break. Beautiful beaches, forests and cliffs and a gorgeous laid-back holiday atmosphere. The perfect weekend retreat and one that we hope to return to.

Norway should have won!!!

Another Eurovision scandal.
And to all those Britons who voted for Latvia: you should be ashamed of yourselves!!!
Check out the best song of the night here. What a tune!

Dance then, wherever you may be...

I have just started listening to Stephen Fry's podgram and I must say, my journey to work has never been so enjoyable. There have only been three so far but already I am eager for more. In his second podgram he discusses his allergy to dancing. It is a rant and rave that had me smiling on the tram, smiling over Lola's bridge, and smiling as I entered the office - no mean feat. Of the song that we all sang our hearts out to in school, "Lord of the Dance", he says: "If ever a song were guaranteed to create a generation of atheists and non-dancers it is that one." The lyrics, in case you are not familiar with this classic piece of Christian songwriting go:

Dance then, wherever you may be
For I am the Lord of the dance said he
And I'll lead you all wherever you may be
And I'll lead you all in the dance said he

I have an image in my head of the whole of Heslington Primary School sitting in assembly, singing Lord of the Dance. I can even see myself being swept up in the fun of it all. How it makes me smile!!!

I listened to the podgram a second time with Ragil - it was too good not to share - and, just a few hours later, headed out to Quasimodo jazz bar for a concert by the South American Pescadores de Ventanas. It was a great venue, a great band and a great gig and by the end of the night everyone was dancing.

I have had issues with dancing in the past and can fully empathise with Stephen when he talks about standing in a disco/dance hall and just wanting to get out. Sometimes I watch other people dance and feel so distance from them and from the whole atmosphere that I want nothing more than to disappear into the wallpaper. I have, however, come to realise that with me it is often a confidence issue too and I have acted on this reasoning to see dancing as a way to just let go and, for a few moments, to forget about everyone else. If I am in the right mood I find it can actually be quite liberating and if I am in the wrong mood, then I know I just shouldn't even try.


Post script:
Plans for the summer? In my head there is no longer a "summer holiday". My current employers are kind enough to offer me a whopping 20 days holiday a year, somewhat limiting my options. But I am looking forward to the flowers blooming, the birds singing, the lawn mowers rumbling, and sitting in the park every afternoon after work with a good book and my showerproof sun hat :) Berlin is supposed to be an amazing place to be during the summer months and that is enough for me at the moment. My life is such that it could suddenly take a big turn, so making plans seems somewhat nonsensical at the moment. A nice roundabout answer to a straightforward question. The simple answer reads: at the moment, no plans.

Reblog

I have been inspired to reblog by Bec who has managed to recover "Life According To..." from some blogger abyss and is now, much to my delight, posting regularly. I have narcissism issues with blogging and they have prevented me from writing meaningless posts about my seemingly meaningless life for a while. However, I love to write and this seems like a good place to do it, even if it means making my thoughts and my life reading material for everyone who bothers to read. I have to somehow convince myself that I am not doing this for my ego, rather for fun, for writing practice and for lots of other altruistic reasons :)