THE NEED FOR SPEED . . .

I'm fine Calamity: 30 lbs lighter, still working out a lot (though the left knee is starting to complain) still working (though beginning to think about alternatives) and have just decided to leave work behind and meet with the tribe of Elise, daughters and granddaughters at the Adlon in Berlin in ten days. I'll get a lot of well-intended instruction on how to behave, that I'll ignore, but will have a good time watching wife & daughters introduce their progeny ( three 10 & 11 year old girls) to the world.

How's everything in upper San Diego ?

You'll have a splendid time at the Adlon and your granddaughters will enjoy the Berlin Wall, rather the artwork that has taken place there. My daughter was very impressed with Berlin.

We spent some time in Munich last month and upper San Diego is still paradise like, although we have an abundance of tourists here right now which makes maneuvering through our tiny town quite difficult.

I was thinking about you - a German friend of mine has hosted the SF boat show a week (or two) ago and she is managing the next SF yacht/boat show in January 2015 too. She made pictures very close to your yacht club which made me think that she probably was there as well. In June she hosted the yacht/boat show here in San Diego and sailed with Dennis O'Connor.

The only Kempinski hotel I've ever stayed at was in Macedonia, and that was several decades ago! Too high tone for my blood; prefer spending money on food and drinks over accommodations.

This is a very good museum by one of the existing walls in Berlin. It's called the topography of terror.

I recall (now a long time ago) sailing on alternate days with Denis Conner and Tom Blackaller in Perth at the last of the 12 meter races. Blackaller's boat and crew were a lot more fun than Conner's, but I do remember thinking that self absorbed, and totally focused bastard would probably win... and he did.

I've got a good friend who lives on a lake (Woerthsee) just outside of Munich who wants me to spend a few days there. He's a semi retired physics prof at the Frieuniversity in Berlin. He keeps me supplied with wonderful Regensberg mustard (why can't we get it here?) and regails me with his theories that Bavarians are really Celts (or, as he puts it, that we Celts are really Bavarians).

As my father said to the assembled on the night of one of my marriages...

Fer we Cailts, the live behind is a life o sorraw. And the life ahade, it's a life o sorraw. And the life we're leadin' tonight is a life o drinkin' and merriment and countin' up the many blessins o life.

I think that pretty well captures the contradictions in the often simultaneous melancholy, riotous excess and lyrical excesses we love so well.

Guenter tells me that as the Celts were migrating out of central Asia, after crossing the Carpathian's and what is now Hungary and turned north, they came upon a large sign saying " beautiful lakes and pastures this way"

The ones who could read followed the sign to Bavaria: the others continued on to Scotland and Ireland.

I've heard essentially the same story about the Magyars told by a Hungarian about the Finns.

Yes. Though somehow it also reminds me of modern American or Canadian beer advertisements.

I recently bumped into a fine gag re Morris dancing (I assume you know it). The reason Morris dancers wear bells is so that they can bore blind people too.

Just saw the gag from your friend. I like it.

Well yes, Bavaria is a special place and its inhabitants are a bit stubborn and peculiar, but also charming, due to the Gallic influence in some parts.

George, you should visit your friend! Woerthsee is beautiful and adjacent Ammersee as well. In Andechs, Ammersee, is a great monastery where the monks still brew beer. http://www.andechs.de/en/the-monastery-brewery.html. The scenic pilgrimage up to the monastery is quite intoxicating as is the downhill stumble after a few quaffable steins of dark "manna".

Thomas is Bavarian . . . but i still think he's a nice guy.

I 've not heard the term, Morris dancing . Is that related to irish step dancing? When I was a kid there were red-haired triplet girls who were always performing at the Gaelic League events - all the mothers gushed over them, but at their pre adolescent skinny stage I thought they were little brats. A few years later when they filled out nicely (and my own interests changed) I learned to appreciate it.

I think I'll do it. Guenter's been my guest on the Russian river and he owes me one.

Jesus! I had him in my house!

I don't know if I can tie Morris dancing to Celtic heritage as there's only mild allusions to beheading https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZjLATAUwao

Some female friends in Vancouver belonged to a troupe. I went to one practice, pretended delight then left and bashed my teeth out on a large rock.

Is Morris Dancing anything like doing the Fishes Wielding Dance commonly practiced by British Marines?

That's a favorite of mine though I'm not even sure why it is. Ridiculousness plus simplicity, I suppose. But watching it again makes me wish the producers hadn't followed the normal mode of the time with that god-awful laugh track.

as usual, youre just overthinking things. SIt back and just let the fish slap flow through you like a huge hefty bag of pudding dropped to the pavement from 30 stories.

Thanks for the video. I had never seen Morris dancing before. It looks very English. I'll stick with the step dancing.

Relax, he's not Bavarian - he just lived in Munich for a while. I think originally he's from Konstanz (Bodensee) in the state of Baden Würtemberg.

Interestingly there does appear to be a connection. The absurd quality is totally evident in Monte Python, but masked with a lot of implied tradition in Morris dancing. However the connection is unmistakeable, and I have little doubt the Monte Python folks took some inspiration from it.