24 - 30 August 2009

'Oschauscheich' is a Pinzgau word which breaks down thus: 'Obi', meaning 'down', which in German is 'runter', is shortened to 'O'. Then comes 'schau' which is German for 'to look' (schauen). Then 'scheich' which is 'scheu' in German, meaning 'shy'. So 'shy of looking down', which finally translates as 'afraid of heights' and makes absolutely no sense to a German speaker because the word they would use is 'höhenängstlich'. Simon wears a t-shirt with this emblazoned on the front when he is working on the high ropes course.

17 - 23 August 2009

It could have been a perfect day on Thursday, the warmth of the sun in a clear blue sky was tempered by a fresh mountain breeze. But almost everyone from the village had gathered in the church yard to bury a little girl who had been accidently run over by her father. We knew her only by sight, but were engulfed by the huge wave of grief that left everyone here reeling in it's wake.

10 - 16 August 2009

On the grand scale, everything in this world is in motion, traveling at different speeds, and on different ellipses, moving apart and drawing close again. And on our tiny familiar scale, journeying on our own ellipse, we hope we will sometime draw closer to beloved family and friends moving on their own elliptical paths. Best not to rue the distance, but keep looking out for where we all are, so that we are not unfamiliar to each other when we eventually draw close again.

3 - 9 August 2009

One day this week, Caspar decided to swim and not stop. Up and down, up and down - Justine, Elizabeth and Mary can confirm that long-distance swimming is not a spectator sport. 1000 metres was his goal, and after 1100m Simon managed to convince Caspar that 1000m didn't mean 1000 lengths, so he got out. He went to the front desk to get his 1000m badge only to discover that they had not gone metric and only had a mile badge. Unperturbed, he was ready to jump back in for a further 16 lengths to win the mile badge. When he learnt that he had to start all over again he went home and cried himself into exhausted sleep. Justine and Simon didn't know how to console him and decided that it was just a tough lesson in dealing with disappointment (which really would have been absolutely no consolation for Caspar), when Simon's mum reminded us that we could have got him the 800m badge (doh!!!) and cycled back to the swimming pool to claim the prize before he had even woken up. This is now sewed proudly in the Caspar corner of Simon's old scout camping blanket.

27 July - 2 August 2009

Simon and Justine consider the ringing of church bells to be a glorious sound and can often be found at the end of the ropes when visiting England. It's the sort of sound that becomes part of life if heard on a regular basis, it doesn't disturb and it is noticed if absent, like planes if you live under the flight path, seagulls if you live by the sea, or the Maria Alm church clock if you live in Maria Alm (which incidentally was only temporarily broken - see 1 - 7 June). We visited several towers this week and recognise that now may be a troubling time for this 500 year old, almost uniquely English, tradition. There are a lot of bells, not enough ringers to go round, it's hard work keeping them all swinging and efforts are often unappreciated or even unwelcome. But if the sound dies away and is no longer a part of the English sound-scape, the neighbours will really complain if, at a less troubled time, we try and get them ringing again. At this time of persecution we need to double our efforts and ring with yet more enthusiasm (if it is possible for bell-ringers to be even more enthusiastic about bell-ringing) and be grateful that we are not being thrown to the lions. We are sorry that we are not there to lend support.