3rd January 2018

The storms are back - insane winds at the moment. If the forecast is right - they would be around the 110 km/hr mark - but I don’t know if that’s what it’s ended up being.  All I know is that while the temperature isn’t so cold, the wind is, it’s insanely strong and it’s barely stopped raining all day.  The ground around here is so waterlogged - it’s actually giving me a sense of déjà vu - with the pre 2011 flood sogginess. The rain is less torrential, but it’s just as relentless.  Mama says she thinks it’s pretty much rained (at some point) every day for most of 2017 and 2018 isn’t starting any better... hopefully it will dry up soon and let the ground settle.  All the drainage canals are almost full (which has always been why I’ve never worried when there are reports of floods in the north - those canals collect all the excess rain- but I feel like I’m back to watching the Brisbane River when I look at them.  In some places that I see on my walk, they are very close to breaching their banks.

So the day was a bit of a quiet one - and then it was off to Bremen (by train) to see Maike and have dinner.  Papa’s car shat itself and is at the mechanic’s being fixed, and he has a loaner, but we’d never have driven anyway - and in this weather it would be a really stressful drive.  Better to sit back and do the hour on the train.  (There’s very little difference in travel time car versus train anyway).

It had sort of stopped raining for a little bit when we got to Bremen and we had planned to go earlier and have a wander through the shops - but there didn’t seem to be any point with the crappy weather. When it started up again, we gave up and went to the restaurant early and had a drink instead, while we waited for Maike.

The restaurant - Rodizio Boi Na Braza - is a Brazilian restaurant and so we elected to enjoy the proper, full experience and have the traditional Rodizio - where they come out with various meats cooked on large skewers and they slice some off as wanted.  We started with chicken, there was also various pork, beef and lamb skewers.  There was NO way to go home not full after that!  The food was amazing, very flavourful, and not dry at all.  It was a fanstastic experience.

Luckily the train ride home was also uneventful (tweaker at Bremen train station trying to scrounge money - but that seems pretty standard everywhere these days).

Oh - today I was also in the paper - not specifically for me - but as part of the group that went on the Jemgum village walk.  Mmmm - technical issues - the photos of the article won’t load.....