Bike Bag and Barbershop Blues: Monday, June 25th!

The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them. -George Orwell, writer (25 Jun 1903-1950)

Wayne Sutherland You are looking like Grizzly Adams. Tell me about it! Lady Dar is threatening me with a machete! She plans her own trim if I won't go to the barbershop close to here! Marvin Angelo Glad you’re doing well Patrick James Dunn. If I’m being honest I’ve seen you worst Thanks, Marvinator! I think your comment is a compliment! Cheers! Judy B Pratt Happy you are out of hospital 😘safe travels and see you soon! Thanks, Judy Blue! Looking forward to having you as my bridge partner soon! Cheers!

Dear Patrick, please relax at your last days in Germany. It is not necessary to send back the money. I think you can better use it for having a cab to the airport, so you don`t have to change money before. But i really would like to receive a postcard from your hometown cause one of my hobbies is collecting postcards :) Therefore i send you my address. Thank you a lot for the nice pictures! Is your wife going from city to city with that car to marry somebody to somebody? When i was thinking about our meeting i was wondering how badly i explained my work to you.... so i send you an article which describes what i have done almost 2 out of my 4 years as a PhD student :) So i am at work right now and I have to go back to the laboratory to finish some experiments.

So please enjoy your last days in Berlin and maybe you can have a short walk outside (here in Wernigerode the sun is shining). And for tomorrow i wish you a pleasant flight and i am sending greetings from Thomas to you and your Lady :)
Au revoir! :)
 

Good Evening, Ulrike and Thomas! Thank you for sending along your address as well as your fascinating, detailed article. I'm very impressed even if I can only begin to understand the very surface of the research. Bravo indeed! Much appreciate having a bit more of an insight into your research.

Today Lady Dar insisted I have a haircut and beard trim as she claimed I looked like a wild, mountain man. Friend, Sarge, in Vancouver, said I could pass for Grizzly Adams when he saw a picture of me. Barber, Jake, was a terrific chap, from Bristol, so it was a treat to chat as he snipped and buzzed. [When we were in Bath in 2013 I rode from there to Bristol on a wonderful bike trail.] Afterwards we tried to find a soft case for my folding bike but to no avail. 
 

The one store Lady Dar found that would likely have had the sort of carrying case Air Canada requires was closed today and we won't have time tomorrow, before flight to pick one up. This being the case, we've arranged to have the bike shipped to our close friend, Maggie, in Denmark. So I guess I'll be cycling there when next we are back in Europe! Perhaps you can join us as well!

Back to the hotel room for most of the rest of the afternoon. We just returned from having a lovely meal at the Italian restaurant across the street and once in our room spent the next little while packing up as much as we could so that we will have very little to do before we take a taxi to the airport tomorrow morning. Well, Ulrike, thank you again, for everything. I will be in touch once we are back in Penticton. 

Well, it is time for bed now as it will be a long, long day tomorrow. Take care of each other and stay well. Fondestos from Lady Dar to you and Thomas. With great affection. Cheers, Patrizzio! Pics: What I looked like after fall in Auschwitz and then near Castle in Kraków! The New Patrizzio!

 
Hello Lady Patrizzia and Sir James! I gather you have been calling Burns Street to inquire as to my whereabouts and well-being. Have been in Berlin since last Sunday when I was hospitalized for pneumonia for a week. 
 

At the time I was en route to Denmark to spend time with close friend Margareta. Obviously that part of the trip won't happen, as well as my return to Chabeuill to leave my bike. More to the story than that but this will have to suffice for now. To help me home, Lady Dar flew to Berlin, arriving on Saturday and came to the hospital as soon as she had checked into the hotel which is only about ten minutes away, so an unbelievable amount of good luck in this regard!

Lady Dar collected me, Sunday morning, around 10:00 am. After I was discharged she walked my pannier-laden bike back to the hotel and I followed. Fortunately the rain had stopped so it was quite pleasant to be out in the fresh air. We are now comfortably ensconced here until tomorrow, Tuesday, June 26th, when we fly to Toronto, around noon, then on to Vancouver and Penticton, arriving around midnight, I believe. Today she insisted I have a haircut and beard trim as she claimed I looked like a wild, mountain man. Sarge said I could pass for Grizzly Adams when he saw a picture of me. 
 

Barber, Jake, was a terrific chap, from Bristol, so it was a treat to chat as he snipped and buzzed. Afterwards we tried to find a soft case for my folding bike but to no avail. The one store Lady Dar found that would likely have had the sort of carrying case Air Canada requires was closed today and we won't have time tomorrow, before flight to pick one up. This being the case, we've arranged to have the bike shipped to Maggie, in Denmark. So I guess I'll be cycling there when next we are back in Europe!

 

Unfortunate way to end what had otherwise been a remarkable month's worth of cycling in the Czech Republic and Poland. Not sure if my pneumonia would have surfaced anyway but to add to my woes I tripped on an uneven paving stone at Auschwitz on Monday, June 11th, knocking myself out, and spent two days in hospital there. Once back in Kraków, I fell again, trying to avoid a pedestrian who suddenly moved right in front of me, coming back from train station where I had had to change my rail reservation! Landed on my poor face but didn't lose consciousness and after about six hours in hospital, (five stitches in my forehead, five in my right hand), I was released. When I left, made it as far as Prague where I had to spend two nights as no train reservations for my bike for two days. On to Berlin where same was true when I tried to board for Hamburg.

Probably a good thing, given my increasing pneumonia. Unbelievably, a complete stranger, Ulrike Blaschke, "saved" me and called the paramedics when I couldn't board train. She arranged for my bike and baggage to be stored at the station until I was ready to collect them and I was whisked off to the hospital, the Charité, but ten minutes away. Hospital stay was fine but I had no internet access and my phone was with my knapsack at station. Eventually I was able to phone Maggie from hospital and she alerted Lady Dar who set everything in motion for my Escape from Berlin!

 

Furthermore, on Saturday, Ulrike and her boyfriend, Thomas, came to visit me. Earlier that week one of my doctors had called her when I knew that she planned to visit, (Lady Dar called her from Canada to thank her on my behalf, for everything and Ulrike mentioned the coming visit to her.), and the station so that authorities knew she had permission to collect my bicycle and baggage. As it turned out, they were not able to meet Corinne. It was shortly after 7:00 pm when she was able to walk from the hotel to the hospital and they had to leave by 6:00 pm to catch their train home.

 

Furthermore, unbeknownst to me, (until I read a note left with paramedics), she had put €50 in my knapsack in case I needed a bit of cash and couldn't get to n ATM! I suppose I was still not thinking as clearly as I should have been as I had fully intended to return the €50 her when she visited but completely forgot. This being the case, when we were out today we stopped by a post office outlet and picked up a small box. I still had three tea towels, (like the one I gave to Lady Patrizzia the evening you took me to the wonderful Indian dinner), and Lady dar packed them, together with money, to mail to Ulrike before we leave. I had asked her to send me her street address so that we could post the small gift, (along with the money), as a tiny measure of thanks for simply everything she did, for all her selfless kindness and remarkable assistance, rendered to a complete stranger! 

Overall, I feel reasonably well, given my week in hospital, but still not a lot of energy, due to the pneumonia, of course. Corinne sends her very best wishes to you both, Lady Patrizzia and Sir James. Fondestos and Cheers, Patrizzio!

Pics: Morning I left Penticton, for Vancouver, April 12th. Lady Dar beside her "MarriageMobile"! Chloë drove me to Vancouver as she was going there for the weekend. What I looked like after fall in Auschwitz and then near Castle in Kraków!
 

Marlo now has her custom back brace that helps absorbs bumps when they are in the car or when she is walking with her walker. She has a Vitamin K deficiency which she needs to address with diet and medication before they will do the surgery to put in a port. The port is a permanent way to administer drugs rather than using another vein in her arms. This means eating more dark green vegetables, eggs and fish. Vitamin K helps the blood to clot. She will have more chemo this week and tomorrow they meet with the cancer specialist to review all her tests and discuss further treatment options. Emmett and Quinn are having a difficult time with all that is going on.

Taking Patrick home tomorrow. He will need a lot of time to recover. Much love to you all, Corinne/Nana Good Evening, Ulrike and Thomas! Thank you for sending along your address as well as your fascinating, detailed article. I'm very impressed even if I can only begin to understand the very surface of the research. Bravo indeed! Much appreciate having a bit more of an insight into your research.

Today Lady Dar insisted I have a haircut and beard trim as she claimed I looked like a wild, mountain man. Friend, Sarge, in Vancouver, said I could pass for Grizzly Adams when he saw a picture of me. Barber, Jake, was a terrific chap, from Bristol, so it was a treat to chat as he snipped and buzzed. [When we were in Bath in 2013 I rode from there to Bristol on a wonderful bike trail.] Afterwards we tried to find a soft case for my folding bike but to no avail. 
 

The one store Lady Dar found that would likely have had the sort of carrying case Air Canada requires was closed today and we won't have time tomorrow, before flight to pick one up. This being the case, we've arranged to have the bike shipped to our close friend, Maggie, in Denmark. So I guess I'll be cycling there when next we are back in Europe! Perhaps you can join us as well!

Back to the hotel room for most of the rest of the afternoon. We just returned from having a lovely meal at the Italian restaurant across the street and once in our room spent the next little while packing up as much as we could so that we will have very little to do before we take a taxi to the airport tomorrow morning. 
 

Well, Ulrike, thank you again, for everything. I will be in touch once we are back in Penticton. Well, it is time for bed now as it will be a long, long day tomorrow. Take care of each other and stay well. Fondestos from Lady Dar to you and Thomas. With great affection. Cheers, Patrizzio! Pics: What I looked like after fall in Auschwitz and then near Castle in Kraków! The New Patrizzio!

Hi Chris, Bike will be at Adina Apartment Hotel, Platz vor dem Neuen Tor 6, 10115 Berlin. It is to be delivered to Dr. M. Maunsbach. If there is no one home please put it in the unlocked garage. Margareta lives near Aarhaus. Here is her phone #. I assume we will be notified for rest of the payment. Thank you Corinne & Patrick 

Hi Zamir, Sorry a month late, can the approvals and conditions be updated? Thank you, looking forward to hearing from you.  

Hi All. Yes, I will work on pushing everything out. Once you are about a month and a half away from closing, check in with me so we can start collecting the supporting docs as the ones on file will be outdated. 

Man, those developers sure take their sweet liberties with time which is totally unfair because it’s not like you could keep pushing out closing if you weren’t ready to complete. Oh well, what can you do? Have a good day. zamir

Thanks, Zamir. Much appreciate all your hard work on our behalf. Keep up the good fight!