River Cruising Water Cooler

[Kristelle]

yes they certainly do. Lots of Aussies too. Just not me.

[notamermaid]

Today it has already been dryer, the sky brighter and this will continue. Temperatures are going down so that rain will turn into snow in cooler areas tomorrow and then we will have days of frost and almost no precipitation. So good for the river levels to recover.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Things are improving along the rivers, the weather has turned now and it really is colder. This year my Christmas roses are blooming bigger than ever. Such a lovely sight in my otherwise grey yard. The young black cat is busy exploring, but I must say, he needs to work on his winter fur... Not enough for him to spend long hours in the freezing temperatures.

 

Tomorrow we have the highly unusual occurrence of a farmers' strike. It is anticipated that blockades of roads will lead to disruptions. I have just realized that the passengers of the Viking Tialfi may see that first hand in Koblenz. As I do not need to be out and about in a car I should be alright going to places and doing my standard weekday routines. I was wondering if the strike may lead to disruptions of supply chains but it does not sound that way. When people in Germany strike, we strike in a planned and orderly fashion. Jawoll!

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Canal archive]

Yesterday evening we drove across the Vale of Pewsey to meet friends who were walking from their Narrow Boat, for an Indian meal, the road was in places just passable due to the standing water and gritters were out as freezing conditions were predicted . Absolutely clear Skye’s wonderful stargazing night, really good meal okay a bit spooky in parts but an excellent evening. Our area at its best!

[Host Jazzbeau]

Baptism of the Lord.  Christmas Tree undecorated and put out at the curb.  [Liturgically correct!]

 

[Reminds me of something our beloved pastor used to say:  "What's the difference between a liturgist and a terrorist?  You can negotiate with a terrorist!]"

[notamermaid]

Around here I have noticed that people are not so strict with that these days. Twelfth Night is not the term, but we say 6 January the sixth, i.e. Epiphany, decorations are taken down. That is when Christmas ends. But the older version is taking all Christmas trees out and decorations down by Mariä Lichtmess (2 February). By the way - language nerd speaking - the a umlaut stands for the possessive case, meaning Mary's or of Mary. Literally Mary's light mass. You call it Candlemas.

 

Churches (not sure which one does what) and some people stick to that instead.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[RDVIK2016]

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Around here I have noticed that people are not so strict with that these days. Twelfth Night is not the term, but we say 6 January the sixth, i.e. Epiphany, decorations are taken down. That is when Christmas ends. But the older version is taking all Christmas trees out and decorations down by Mariä Lichtmess (2 February). By the way - language nerd speaking - the a umlaut stands for the possessive case, meaning Mary's or of Mary. Literally Mary's light mass. You call it Candlemas.

 

Churches (not sure which one does what) and some people stick to that instead.

notamermaid

 

notamermaid,

 

I can imagine how many needles remain on trees the are kept inside until Candlemas!

 

As a bit of a language nerd myself I will point to what is most common use of that genitive form of Maria that I am aware of: Mariä Himmelfahrt - Assumption of Mary. Many churches carry that name, including the Stadtpfarrkirche in a certain Bavarian town where no one had windows closer than I did to the bells in the steeple. That was a little too close, but I do love the sound of church bells in Germany. 

 

RDVIK

[Canal archive]

One of my most favourite services was a Kristingle held in one of my most favourite churches the Chapel in the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, the chapel is beautiful and filled with children  both military and civilian a magical experience.

[Canal archive]

 

 

Sorry tried to copy a wonderful picture of mounted guardsmen in the snow and failed dismally.

 

Edited January 9 by Canal archive

[notamermaid]

On 1/9/2024 at 5:43 AM, RDVIK2016 said:

I can imagine how many needles remain on trees the are kept inside until Candlemas!

Yes, barren branches and a full bag in the vacuum cleaner. 😁 I think most people try to avoid that...

 

On 1/9/2024 at 5:43 AM, RDVIK2016 said:

As a bit of a language nerd myself I will point to what is most common use of that genitive form of Maria that I am aware of: Mariä Himmelfahrt - Assumption of Mary.

That is indeed the more common use of Mariä, i.e. the one we hear most. We have already talked about the male version, like in Martini and Michaeli, the latter being Michaelmas in English (29 September).

 

On 1/9/2024 at 9:41 AM, Canal archive said:

One of my most favourite services was a Kristingle held in one of my most favourite churches the Chapel in the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, the chapel is beautiful and filled with children  both military and civilian a magical experience.

I happened to be in Kent for a Kristingle service in a small village church many years ago. That was very nice.

 

Really cold here today, frost day and night. Just sheltered places in Germany in the warm regions see the thermometer climb to zero or one degree Celsius. Proper January. It will change soon and get a tiny bit warmer, and then, next week, rain again.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Daisi]

4 hours ago, notamermaid said:

 

 

Really cold here today, frost day and night. Just sheltered places in Germany in the warm regions see the thermometer climb to zero or one degree Celsius. Proper January. It will change soon and get a tiny bit warmer, and then, next week, rain again.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

 

I noticed that, it was funny checking the weather for Cochem and Cologne and seeing the temps below ours. We had a storm go through yesterday, snow, freezing rain, rain and today it's sunny and 4C...gorgeous day, and hopefully the ice will melt off the roads in time for our next big snowfall coming in on the weekend. 

 

By the way...I don't find -3 cold, that's a nice day but we're used to that! 🙂 

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, Daisi said:

I noticed that, it was funny checking the weather for Cochem and Cologne and seeing the temps below ours.

Now that is unusual. We are certainly okay with minus three here, just plain proper cold. It was too warm in December. In the hills it is minus ten at night. That is a bit cold but he have had lower temperatures in the valleys in recent years, you know, just occasionally. All in all the Rhine valley is a warm area of Germany.

 

By the way, yesterday morning there was some snow in the Rhine valley I have been told. Did not see it myself. It is generally dry weather though, a high bringing cold temperatures from the Northeast of Europe.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

Hmm, that farmers' strike obviously only - basically - concerns us locals and we do not want to discuss politics - river cruising is for holidays, leave the politicians where they belong... But what I had not anticipated or thought of is that - apart from logistics companies blocking roads, that I knew - this is extending beyond those sectors; now those sailing the inland waterways decided to participate. In the North of Germany barges blocked a main commercial traffic canal artery. Four ships not sailing and staying put, just like that, major delay all around. It is all about Diesel subsidies. And that is where river cruising comes into it. Now the excursion boat companies are joining in with words - even in unusual hyperbole saying it is the death of river day trips. Really makes me wonder if an institution like IG River Cruise is going to comment or take action as well. Not a perfect time to do this as most people in the sector are off work. But come February, who knows.

 

Just saying. If anything important happens I will post it here or in a suitable river thread.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Snow! Well, seeing so little of it, I got quite excited over the one centimetre that stayed on the ground last night. I got surprised by the sudden snowfall and turned round and went back home as our pavement got icy. So I put my boots with the thick soles on and went shopping.

 

I read that Britain is getting really cold temperatures and snow. Not too bad here, may get a bit of snow on Monday but the temperatures should not drop far in the Rhine valley.

 

Our river levels are going down well and also the hard hit areas are finally improving. A bit of uncertainty in what will happen during the week but all in all the rivers should stay below unpleasant levels.

 

I have this niggling feeling that, seeing that we have saturated ground, we will get flooding again, either in January or February. For this coming week I can look forward to being proven wrong.

 

Back into the warm boots and off to go shopping, there is a shop that has got these amazing offers today and then there is this other shop... snip.

 

Have a good weekend.

 

notamermaid

 

[Daisi]

They were calling for 30+ cm here for last night & today, but looks like we are only getting about 1/2. We are still staying mild, so if we ever see the sun for more than a couple of hours a week, the snow may go quickly.

 

Hope you enjoy your snow.....

[pontac]

To change the subject, I have this advert for Ama Waterways at the top of this forum:-

 

 

 

Did no one at the ad agency or  Ama Waterways actually read it before approval?

 

 

[gnome12]

36 minutes ago, pontac said:

To change the subject, I have this advert for Ama Waterways at the top of this forum:-

 

 

 

Did no one at the ad agency or  Ama Waterways actually read it before approval?

 

 

I’m not sure what you are questioning. If it is complimentary vs complementary I think this is correct although with an e also makes some sense. 

According to my Funk & Wagnalls dictionary 

complimentary: given free

complementary: serving as a complement; completing

[pontac]

Look again at the line above  😉

 

Re  complimentary vs complementary  

 

47 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

with an e also makes some sense

 

a complementary experience isn't necessarily free. Complimentary Land Package is correct imo.

[notamermaid]

Yup, it is the "receive". Not the first time that I think a second pair of eyes like was standard before printing presses and journalists were "computer guys and girls I can do it all alone type" would have come in handy. Not that it matters that much but one should keep standards up. Much easier to keep folk like me busy and frustrated who had to learn this from scratch...

 

Happened to me at work many years ago. Wrote an important letter. Read it three times. Passed it on to my boss. He found a mistake, completely obvious one. Annoyed with myself. Comment from boss just what I said above - the second pair of eyes.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[gnome12]

20 minutes ago, pontac said:

Look again at the line above  😉

Whoops! I missed that too. 

[gnome12]

21 minutes ago, pontac said:

a complementary experience isn't necessarily free. Complimentary Land Package is correct imo.

Yes, I agree. But the land portion does COMPLEMENT the cruise. (I only looked into this because I missed the real error.)

[pontac]

@notamermaid You are so correct. If we rote it then we can't do a final proof because we sea what we expect to see, and if we uses a homonym it doesn't get picked up by a spell checker.

 

I've proof read books for others and others have proof red my books and all the proof readers pick up something.

 

Not picked up by spell checker in the above because they are not misspelled - just the wrong word.

 

rote should be wrote

sea should be see

uses should be use 

red should be read

 

Edited January 13 by pontac

[Host Jazzbeau]

"I before E" – what good are mnemonics if they lead you astray?  Oh, there was more? 🤣

 

"30 days hath September, all the rest I don't remember"

[pontac]

2 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I before E" – what good are mnemonics if they lead you astray?

 

I was taught 'I before E except after C' which is not only good but rhymes. 

 

The rest, on months, I do remember

[d9704011]

5 hours ago, pontac said:

@notamermaid You are so correct. If we rote it then we can't do a final proof because we sea what we expect to see, and if we uses a homonym it doesn't get picked up by a spell checker.

 

I've proof read books for others and others have proof red my books and all the proof readers pick up something.

 

Not picked up by spell checker in the above because they are not misspelled - just the wrong word.

 

rote should be wrote

sea should be see

uses should be use 

red should be read

 

I'm gonna have to quibble about your use of the word homonym:  1.  words spelled the same with different meaning, or 2.  words pronounced the same with different spelling.  I don't think either of these are spell checker and/or proof reader weaknesses in the context of your thesis.