22 - 28 April 2013

St Florian is the patron saint of chimney sweeps and firefighters. As Florian stood on the pyre, on which he was to be burned to death for refusing to persecute the Christians back in AD250, he challenged the Roman soldiers to light the fire saying, "If you do, I will climb to heaven on the flames". So they took him off the pyre, put a millstone around his neck, and threw him in the river Enns. His feast day was celebrated this week. Mary stood in her uniform amongst the ranks of volunteer firemen as the vicar blessed their new fire engine, bought to replace the old one which was bought, blessed and caught fire last year.

15 - 21 April 2013

English history is not covered much in Austrian schools. Caspar, Elizabeth and Mary will learn the names of all the rivers in Austria, all the farms in Maria Alm, but nothing about 1066 or Trafalgar. Fortunately, English history is very colourful and, for example, King Henry VIII and his 'groom of the stool' fascinate the children. The Groom of the Stool was an enviable position, which is a reflection of just how powerful the king was. This leads us to think, how on earth do we get the message across to Heyko that he is not the boss, when he poos and we pick it up.

8 - 14 April 2013

There are too many cooks getting involved in Heyko's training. His confusion is particularly exacerbated by Elizabeth's methods, who questions how she can train him to get down unless he is first up, so he gets a treat for jumping up before he is sternly told to get down.

1 - 7 April 2013

Reaching the summit at Mühlbach, Justine indicated the summit cross with an outstretched hand and gave the usual top of the mountain greeting, 'Sieg heil!'. She has since duly noted that the top of the mountain greeting is in fact 'Berg heil!' (Hail mountain!) and in the future she will do her best to avoid potential arrest, since Nazi salutes in written form, vocally, and even straight-extending the right arm as a saluting gesture (with or without the phrase), have been criminal offences since the end of the war, punishable by up to three years of prison.