Showing posts with label Miscellanies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Miscellanies. Show all posts

Monday, May 01, 2023

Walpurgis Night

It may sound unbelievable, but I must tell you what happened last night.

Somehow I could not sleep in Walpurgis Night. So I got up again, put on my clothes, took the car and drove into the night. After some miles I decided to try what I had not done since I was a little boy. In X - my birthplace - I left the car, looked around to make sure nobody watched me, and then ran as fast as I could and ... yes ... took off. And nobody running behind me, trying to reach my legs and pulling me down. How lovely flying over the roofs.
So why not making a little trip?

30 minutes later I could see fire shining on the Brocken. As I have no official flying-license, and to avoid the traffic jam over the top, I landed smoothly at the foot of the Brocken, and started to climb. It was raining now, but I didn´t mind. After one hour I arrived at a small clearing. Crossing it suddenly a fairy appeared in front of me, aside her a Leprechaun.

"What are you doing here, Sean?" the fairy asked.

"Climbing up to the top of the Brocken."

"Could be the shortest way to hell", snorted the Leprechaun. "Any milk in your pockets?"

Oh dear. Of course I had no milk in my pockets. That could become difficult. Leprechauns can get extremely naughty, if one has no milk for them, and if it´s deep in the night inmidst a clearing half way to the top of the Brocken.

Automatically I searched my pockets, and ... felt ... impossible ... something cool ... a bottle of milk.

Whilst reaching it to the Leprechaun my eyes thought to catch a smile from the fairy's lips.

"Thank you, mate", the Leprechaun said without any surprise in his voice, and immediately started to drink.

"Thank you", I thought in direction of the fairy.

"You are welcome", she said. "Have a wish?"

"Eh, you mean ...?"

"Indeed."

"Any rules?"

"He sounds like a damn clever Paddy", the Leprechaun giggled.

"Indeed", said the fairy. "Even fairies couldn´t fulfil the wish of making a peaceful paradise of this planet. Therefore your wish must be a very personal one."

"Hm. ... Allright then: I wish ..."

"Stop!" said the Leprechaun.

"Yes?"

"You must not speak out your wish, otherwise the magic is gone. Just think it."

"Thank you, friend. But why are you so kind?"

The Leprechaun took his pipe between his lips, blew some smoke-rings and said: "Lucky you had milk in your pockets, mate."

So I thought my wish, and just wanted to say bye, when the Leprechaun asked: "Not surprised we know your name?"

"Well, yes. But I have heard the little folk knows quite a lot."

"We have no cameras, though."

"Cameras?"

"Do you remember the rainbow you shot some years ago on Beara Peninsula?"

"Yes, I like this photo very much."

"So do we", laughed the Leprechaun. "You see, your photo helped us find the gold-pot at the end of the rainbow."

"But ... but ... but how and when did you see the photo? The film got developed in Germany."

"Hm, as you said: We do know quite a lot."

"Keep your secret, friends", I said. We shook hands, and I continued to climb upwards.

Somehow everything was easier. Only the din I thought to have heard from the top had calmed down. Nothing to hear. At last I reached the top. Incredible. Wherever I looked sleeping witches. Two or three seemed to have had an accident: Still sitting on their brooms they looked like being sticked against the trees. Slowly moving on I realized there was only one witch still being dancing. Never heard mystic music reached my ear. I moved on. The witch seemed not to have noticed me. She danced. Beautifully. Ten meters and I'd be able to see her face in the shine of the fire. Trying to make no noise I tiptoed.

Suddenly there was a big noise, as if a giant blew his breath. From one second to the other the fire went out. When my eyes got used to the darkness, I realized a last glowing, in front of where I had seen the witch dancing. At least the full moon sent his silvery shine to the clearing. I hesitated. Carefully I walked on, stumbled over a dead branch. At least I thought so. In the next moment my bottom got a hit, and it was as if a voice hissed: „Idiot." I turned round, bent forward and - it was a broom.

„Was it you who called me idiot?" I whispered.

„At least your ears are intact."

„Why at least?"

„Well, if your eyes were better, you wouldn´t have stumbled over me and disturbed my Peace of the Night."

„Excuse me, but that´s ..."

„Schscht. Not so loud. You could get in damn trouble, if you woke up the ladies. - So now, calm down, sir.: What did you want to ask?"

„Better not to ask anything. I thought it only surprising that you chose ... almost I had said : my phrase."

„Never mind. If you want to stay stupid, don´t ask."

„Well ... then ... How did you come to use it?"

„My boss once - about five years ago - began to wish me the Peace of the Night."

„Your boss?!"

„Well, correctly spoken: my Queen."

„Your Queen? What´s her name?"

„Can´t tell you. Not fancy to get a bloody nose."

„Please."

„No, but you can ask herself."

... and the broom turned around and lay as if sound asleep.

Asking herself? Oh dear! Heart bumping. Blood rushing. Slowly I turned round. There she was. Behind the glooming fire she had stopped dancing. Now she slowly moved in my direction. Passing the gloom I got a glimpse of her face. Unlike the other witches I had seen before, she had no long hair. I got excited. She came closer. Should I flee? No, I decided to stay. Decided? Anyway, soon I'd see her face. 13 meters, twelve, eleven, ten, nine ... three steps more and she would appear in the moon´s cone. ... One ... black brown hair ... two ... my heart jumped ... three ... I saw nothing. I turned round. Where there had been the moon now was a big dark cloud. My knees felt like pudding. My nose smelled a parfume it had never smelled before. What would happen in the next moment? Ah, at least I'd have asked. But only I had opened my mouth I heard her voice very very close to my ear: She said: ...

Z...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz .................

In the next moment I woke up. In front of our house the musicians of the local fire-brigade had intonated „The May has arrived." Later on I saw the car where it is usually parked. But for hours I had eight words echoeing in my head: „I told you, it´s not fate, ... it´s magic!"

That´s my story. And I wonder what will happen next.

Hope you had a lovely dance into the May, and that you didn´t feel too exhausted today.

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Ingenious, eh?

Our grandson, who turns six on 1 April, recently said when he learned that some films (FSK 12) are only recommended for children over 12: "Then I'll have to live my complete life over again."

Saturday, December 31, 2022

Same Procedure as Every Year

If counted well the Germans today can/could watch Dinner for One (The 90th Birthday) 20 times at different times on various TV-channels, and apart from the original in various German dialects, inclusive Schwiizerdütsch (Swiss German). Very strange folks, the Germans. Well, judge for yourself. 

Tiny tip-off: Be absolutely determined not to laugh.


Dinner for One

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Laughing Lhursday*

Across the street from Seanhenge, a Christmas elf named Wolfram moved in at the beginning of December.

He has not yet been seen,
but he writes regularly, and often traces
of his highly varied nocturnal activities
are unmistakable.

The other day he was told in a letter
that the writer's grandfather
had cooked him a portion of rice, and ...


. . . that she, the letter writer,
hoped Wolfram would relish it.

And yes, it did taste, Wolfram wrote,
but asked for indulgence that unfortunately
he did not quite manage
to entirely eat the huge portion.


 * [For first time visitors]: Typo in the title? Nah. It's just that
I would not let a tiny T spoil an avantgardistic alliteration.

 

Thursday, December 08, 2022

Laughing Lhursday*

Weekend market in Spain.
One kilogram of garlic: 3 euros.


Weekend market in my little town.
One garlic bulb: 2.30 euros.

 * [For first time visitors]: Typo in the title? Nah. It's just that
I would not let a tiny T spoil an avantgardistic alliteration.

Tuesday, November 01, 2022

Personal note

As I do feel – let me say so – suboptimal I shan't be in bloggerland for the time being.
You take good care of yourselves, and be kind to eachother.
Sean

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Rewarded patience

To welcome today's partial solar eclipse, ...

... the astrophysicist had prepared everything.

But alas: Clouds, clouds, ...

... clouds ...

But then!

And the cherry on top:
An extraordinary marvellous sunspot.

Thursday, October 13, 2022

Thursday, October 06, 2022

And the Winner is?

So today the winner of this year's Nobel Prize in Literature will be announced.

I hope the members of the Nobel Prize Committee have not succumbed to the temptation to make Ukraine happy for the current occasion.

Even if there are remarkable authors there, such a decision would not be a sign of solidarity, but embarrassing at best.

I could much better live with one of the usual suspects: Roth, Murakami, Pynchon, Atwood, etc. ...

How about Edna O'Brien?

Monday, September 19, 2022

Double Jubilee!

Emil Zatopek (19 September 1922 – 21 November 2000)

Dana Zátopková (19 September 1922 – 13 March 2020)

As the fine incorruptible gentlemen of the International Olympic Comitee would not allow to embed this video, here the link:

Emil Zátopek Wins 5,000m, 10,000m & Marathon Gold - Helsinki 1952 Olympics

And here's a fine article about Emil Zatopek and Dana Zatopkova: how a husband-and-wife team won four Olympic gold medals at the 1952 Games.

Monday, July 18, 2022

His rainbow-loving Highness

As I read the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ)
only very irregularly, I am very much indebted
to the Russian Embassy in Bern
for threatening the newspaper with legal action
for insulting the deeply religious President of the Russian Republic and vigorous defender of orthodox christianity.

Otherwise I might never had become aware
of this fine caricature of his rainbow-loving highness.


Monday, July 04, 2022

Sunday, July 03, 2022

Sunday idyll

Whilst I was picking black currants,
the sky turned dark,
and behind my back painted this picture.



Saturday, March 05, 2022

March 5th: Fine date for a tyrannicide

5 March. Ten days to the Ides, when, according to Shakespeare, 2066 years ago Caesar asked incredulously: 'Et tu, Brutus?'
"What do you think about Putin?" I ask my friend who, as almost always, is busy proofreading his 1669 pages short opus magnum 'Pre-Assyrian Philately in a Nutshell'.

Tetrapilotomos, without looking up:
- I would have expected Vladimir Putler to march into Kiev sitting on the pipe of the lead tank. Then the little prick could at least have shown the world once that he has a giant pipe.
- Putler?
- Well, or Hitin, if you prefer. Riding in bare-chested on a Sibirian tiger would of course be even cooler. But the pants poisoner is too cowardly to do both. By the way, today is the 69th anniversary of Stalin's death.
- Ach, indeed? Why do you mention this?
- A fine date for a tyrannicide, wouldn't you agree?

Sunday, February 27, 2022

Put in Highest Alert!!

 Omnium puts its vocabulary on highest alert.

Friday, December 31, 2021

Same Procedure as Every Year

If counted well the Germans today can/could watch Dinner for One (The 90th Birthday) 13 times at different times on various TV-channels, and apart from the original in various German dialects, inclusive Schwiizerdütsch (Swiss German). Very strange folks, the Germans. Well, judge for yourself. 

Tiny tip-off: Be absolutely determined not to laugh. 

 

Dinner for One