Anyone for breakfast? This store is even open at 8.00 a.m. on Sunday. It is about a five minute walk along the main road from where I live. It originally opened as a small grocery store for bits and pieces but it was extended to cater for a quick snack and coffee and breakfast. In Summer there are a few chairs and tables outside. The owner also runs the only butchers shop in town. One by one our butchers in town closed down, they could not keep up with the competition from the big stores and this is the only one left.

Yes, I went again for a wheelie in my chair yesterday afternoon along the main road.

I drove past the bishop’s palace where the bishop of Basel lives. He has quite a nice little house, but the gate is always closed. Opposite there is the school for ongoing catholic priests.

Again the gates are locked. I have passed these buildings often, but have never seen anyone in the grounds or walking around. They really seem to keep themselves to themselves. Now and again a gardener might appear to trim the bushes.

Here is another villa, the road seems to be full of them. This is the villa Serdang named after a Sultanat in Sumatra. The guy that bought in 1859 was a very rich and many stories originate about his background. He seeme to be a successful business man in  Sumatra and some even tell tales of slave traffic etc. although I think this is more legend than truth, but who knows. The villa has 18 rooms and the police chief once lived there. It is now empty. For a while it was an art gallery and it has now been bought by a business man that wants to turn it into a sort of culture centre. At the moment it just sits empty opposite on the road and now and again there is a car parked outside.

It was interesting to go past these places and make more detailed photos, as usually I just have to snap what I can from the car.

Otherwise no big events at the moment. I am still plowing through my book “Radetsky March” by Joseph Roth, one of the great German classics. On Amazon it said 290 pages which I found digestible. However after a week I was at the end of part 1 and part 2 appeared. Yesterday I finished part 2 which was folowed by part 3. I have now discovered in the full edition, which I seem to have, there are actually almost 500 pages. Of course it is wonderfully written and a great book etc. but I think I do prefer Stephen King. The story is of three generations of the Trotta family in Austria. The first Trotta saves the life of Emporer Franz Josef at the battle of Solferino, more by chance, than heroism: he got between a bullet and the emporer. He gets rewarded with a title. His son becomes a clerk for the Austrian government and the grandson is a soldier. The grandfather is never forgotten as the so-called hero of Solferino. The story is not exactly exciting, but tells of life at the time of the monarchy in Austria. I still have a section to read, but there are now signs that war is approaching in Europe. I am reading it in the original german, which is no great problem for me.

It’s time again this morning for week-end shopping. Life seems to be full of week-end shopping, time goes so quickly, it is a life full of week-ends, especially when you are a golden oldie.  I will leave you with a photo of some heather I saw growing in a garden of a house along the road. Have a good Friday, you might even have the luck to have two free days on Saturday and Sunday. I have the luck to have free days every day.