Same old same old.....
Yes, there was a lot of the same old same old that I enjoyed this year.... like....
Run-Ins with Relations...
-- ah yes, making duty calls on the cousins certainly has its up side..... !!!
And there was going out with the In-Laws....
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On top of that there was cups-of-teas and great chats. - LOTS of them.
Sometimes in five star surrounds..... 
Sometimes in the back kitchen.
Or the back garden.
Even an airport....
The cuppas were always a delight - the company diverse - and the gossip five star.
The last birthday cuppa was with Italian born Laura - we practise German together! A lá Shakespeare´s Romeo and Juliet, Laura met her Romeo in Verona. It was love at first sight. Laura and her Romeo were not 13 and 14 and fortunately their families were not feuding. So all ended very well and both parties are still very much in the full of their health.
No one will challenge me if I say the most unusual cup of tea from these last two years was a Chinese Tea Ceremony hosted in Germany by then 14 yr old Pakistani born Canadian, Andrew. - Who was, by the way, born on March 17th and almost got named Patrick.
Definitely the most interesting chat- with-tea on the other hand: ( At least the most interesting I can mention on a family friendly public website!!!) Was the tea and chat I had with a woman who told me about her work as a German translator for a Scottish medium who speaks Swiss German, so his (living) clients don´t understand him! I kid you not... that conversation really took place..... I cannot tell you however how many spirits were priy to the conversation! .
And more of the same old same old ....
....just hanging out.
.... the day job(s)
- This is my commute to/from work.
Pity, you cannot see the snow capped Alps in the background!
The Mofa´s name is Harley Davies....
Then there´s the annual wellie race up the Swiss Alps - with a céile to boot!
.. There was the odd cycle about the local countryside when there is nothing much else to do.... 
And there´s the annual Fastnacht in Allensbach.....
And there were good meals with good friends...
And there were the visits to Ireland in good weather..
- AND bad!
Perhaps the most interesting locale was the pub with the walls covered with platinum albums and pictures of world famous singers imbibing in a pint of what ever your having yourself in the self same pub... It was of course the pub belonging to the Mammy and Daddy of Enya and her equally gifted siblings, the members of Clannad!Not all intersting converstions enjoyed with total strangers took place in pubs in Ireland, some conversations took place out in the wilds. One of the best we had, was a most riveting hour we spent with a man we bumped into walking over rocks on the Wild Atlantic Way. But that dear reader will have to wait... far too good a story to squeeze in here....
So what else of the same old same old.....
Oh yes, another pub with more strangers... a whole family of them. Together we enjoyed watching Kilkenny win the All-Ireland Hurling Championships... (The same men that play hurling at a similar level of excellent that world class professional soccar players play their game - only the hurlers get up to go to work the next day!)...That was the 36 th the All Ireland Championship win for Kilkenny since 1887. http://www.kilkennycityonline.com/kilkenny-hurling.asp
Like I said more of the same old same old. GREAT Stuff!
