This bloody weather...

You can take the girl out of Britain...

I shall start this installment by complaining about the weather. It's bloody awful. On Sunday, I went for a walk with the boy. Gale force winds and spurts of rain and hail. Hail that grinned as it hit me in the face (that's what it felt like, anyway). It varies between being so sunny my transition lenses decide we're in the Bahamas and I look like a dick, to the clouds of Mordor descending (at this point the Orcs arrive and start snarling on Vegesack High Street). Suffice to say I was rather spoilt with nice, non-wintry weather in 2014, and I do not appreciate being treated this way by Northern nature.

Anyhoo, enough whingeing.

I thought an update of my resolutions might be a good idea:

I will learn to play guitar. This one is going slowly (ie. I started yesterday), but it's going! I can play E major and A major - badly. I can also now tune the guitar using an app (I still marvel at technology on a regular basis). Apparently once I learn D and can play that, there will be hundreds of songs I can learn. As long as they're not all Status Quo.

I will learn German. This one is going well. The other nanny I work with doesn't speak much English so I have to understand her German. And understanding meaning is quite important when you work with small children... But I'm starting to find the confidence to speak to people, and although they reply in three different ways before I can understand, I do eventually understand. And that' for me, is a win!

I will bake new things. I have done this once so far. I still have no baking equipment so the only thing I can bake right now is flapjack (for non-Brits, this is a delicious mixture of oats, honey, sugar and butter that is baked and cut into bars). The 'new thing' about it is that I added raspberry jam, and this is because all the shops are closed on Sundays and I couldn't buy any filling!!

I will take at least one photo every day and post it here. Ummmmm.... yeah...

I will write more. Please see above resolution.

I will make more effort with friends and family. This is going well, although I still have so many people to get in touch with.

Ok, so it's a mixed bag as far as keeping my resolutions. C-, must try harder.

The only thing left to report is my list of THINGS I HAVE LEARNT THIS WEEK.

• I have no idea what happens in track cycling races. Especially when the commentary is in German.
• I like currywurst. I really like currywurst.
• It's rather difficult to get a double duvet. Germans have individual single duvets on double beds. 
• Germans love to knit. Or crochet. Or something. So many shops sell wool, and the supermarket has an entire section devoted to their love of woollen craftiness.
• The german word for some owls is Uhu, which is to be said musically, like a coo. I love that.

Time for some Rosetta Stone. Tschüss!