KW-51 Piggies in the mist

And weather extremes

Towards the start of this week just gone, I had go and pick something up. It was so cold, the wind stabbing my skin so hard, that by the time I was at the bottom of the hill, I was almost crying. That evening, I spoke to a friend in Belgrade, Serbia where they had 19 Celsius.

No-one has ever suggested that I am not tough enough for this job. But by god, I nearly wept with the cold on on that bike ride.

There are two directions out of the barracks, to the North and to the South. To the North, where I had to go on Tuesday, there is a bastard big hill. Cycling up this is no fun at all. Especially with panniers full of plunder, which is how I usually ride up it.

Cycling down it is rather more exciting. It’s impossible to do less than 60kph down here (I mean, technically you could use your brakes if you wanted, but if there’s need, so why would you?). But at 12 degrees below Zero, in massively insubstantial gloves, with shoes with holes in them, 60kph on a bicycle is zero fun.

Fortunately, I did a thing for money recently. A thing that I am 100% sure would be legal in the UK, and 100% doubtful that it is in Germany, so we’ll leave it at that and just move on to the bit where I have 100 Euros in my pocket and I am going to get into town however I can (other than cycling) and spank the lot on gloves and shoes!

When it’s not howling a gale, the winter is in its spectacular phase. I went for a long walk in the woods, first following the path, and later, chomping though the undergrowth. At the start, I was accompanied by the footprints of strangers with their dogs who had gone before me. The deeper into the forest I went, the less I saw of human imprints, and the more of fox and rabbit. Eventually these too started to fade away and the more I saw of deers, usually in pairs or triplets.

Most of the forest here is commercial, and criss crossed with the tracks of the machines, but there are some spots where you can get nicely lost in undergrowth and thicker walls of trunks. In here, live the piggies. The wild boar. In family groups of twenty or thirty. Soon enough, the only traces in the snow were of wild piggies. Suddenly, I heard a noise. And no-one can tell me that I don’t know the noise of a piggie in her sleep. I froze. More snuffling. There was, no doubt about it, I was just the other side of a thicket to a family of wild boars asleep in the snow.

I froze, the piggies settled, and I silently left them to it. Sorry it’s not a dramatic ending, but it was a breathtaking experience, and I wanted to share it.

So how about some spring planning. How much winter have we got left?

• Until the end of the Eisheiligen (ie, the last day of frost): 148 days

• Planting of potatoes: 126 days

• Sowing of tomatoes: 106 days

• Sowing of aubergines and celery: 64 days

• First Asparagus: 146 days

It looks like it’s going to warm up a bit again. Today might well be the first day of positive temperatures since 6th December. To be honest, I’m fine with not freezing my balls off for a day or two, but if it continues, this might be the first non-white Christmas around here for as long as anyone can remember. Wierd.

Finally, a massive hello to Sarah and Philip - the newsletter’s two new tree-planting annual subscribers, and to the three people who shared the newsletter to their socials! Welcome aboard :)

Until next week, much piratey love

Your

Pirate Ben

xoxo

https://wronghands1.com/