26 October - 1 November 2009

Weltspartag (World Savings Day) was established in 1924 to raise awareness of the importance of saving money, personally, and for the economy. It has been celebrated for decades around the world on 31 October, but has dwindled lately as the recent age of virtual money makes the physical process of collecting coins less relevant. Still celebrated with gusto here, the two banks in Maria Alm provided bouncy castle, balloons, sweets, coffee and cakes, and money boxes for the children which come without a key. If they want to open it they must visit the bank, if they do so on Weltspartag they get freebies galore. What more motivation do children need, to persuade them to save for a whole year, than to receive truck loads of stuff that they never knew they needed. The children were giddy with delight. Justine and Simon would have rather received, for their good, responsible practice and huge contribution to the world economy, a nice fat bankers bonus.

19 - 25 October 2009

Kit - an essential part of the skiing experience. The well-heeled could spend £1800 on the world's most expensive skis, £795 on the world's most expensive ski boots, a pair of gloves can set you back well over £100 and the sky's the limit for sunglasses. Or you could get the entire kit for less than 30€ if you go to one of the many local 'tauschbösen' (sell your old kit and buy someone else's old kit) that take place at this time of year when everyone starts feeling the cold. We sold unwanted langlauf skis and bought much desired ice-skates.

12 - 18 October 2009

A word about our youngest. Each Sunday she is given a few coins to put in the church collection, usually collected by Caspar in his role as (probably) the only Anglican altar-boy in the Catholic church. As the basket moves along the pew towards us her grip tightens on the coins in her small hand. We exchange glances as it is passed to us and a look of panic comes into her eyes. She loosens her grip on one coin and looks questioningly at us. She puts her head in her hands and considers her options - (our neighbours on the pew wait patiently for the basket to be passed on, and politely ignore the argy-bargy going on) the second coin is dropped in the basket. To release the third coin, we grab her wrist and shake until her grip loosens again. After the service she is usually to be found still fondling the fourth coin. We explain how some children have no home, no toys, no food, no parents, etc. and when she is sure that they have absolutely nothing, she drops the final coin into the collection box before skipping off to tell anyone she can find that she has been helping the poor.

5 - 11 October 2009

Justine now has 16 beginner recorder pupils. As if that were not enough to give her a headache, the note B, in German, is not called B. B is B flat, and H is B. A long time ago the notes of the scale were named after the alphabet but the B natural was often softened to a B flat. A round letter B came to signify B flat, and a square B for B natural. The square B, for B natural, came to be mistaken for an H, and is called so today, a clerical error that has perpetuated over 1000 years. A further complication for Justine is that the recorder is called a Flöte (Flute) which she can't pronounce, and finds herself suggesting that we all play the 'Flirt'(which means the same in German as in English). It'll be a strange musical education for these children.

28 September - 4 October 2009

The new vicar was recently officially introduced, in a public ceremony, to all the clubs and organisations in the village. Each welcomed him in the traditional manner, with a schnapps. After about 8 of them in the space of 10 minutes they were possibly not so welcome. So there's another reason against shared parishes, paramedics will need to be on standby if the next vicar, who is also likely to be elderly because most of them are now, must be officially welcomed in the traditional manner by clubs and organisations from three parishes. I'm not sure that downing about 20 schnapps one after the other is in the job description for Catholic Priest.