Sunday, June 5, 2011

Dancing in the Streets

We have had one of our town festivals this weekend. The streets were lined with crèperies and sausage stalls, as well as champagne, wine and beer stands. Live bands played music on a huge stage in the marketplace and smaller stages in the side streets, the river was "set alight" when lights, torches and colored smoke and a fabulous firework display was held on Saturday night.

People come from far and wide to join in the fun, dance in the street and watch the fireworks. Our little town thronged on Friday and Saturday night, and I for one danced the nights away! Last night I was still dancing on the marketplace with some friends till after midnight.

I am also happy to report that my piano playing at the concert yesterday also seemed to be a success. About a third of the way through the first piece, I suddenly thought, what am I so nervous about? I can play this! And turned out I could! It was kind of a good trick that has never happened to me before. Usually I am such a bundle of nerves when I have to do something like that, that I automatically insert a few errors.

It is such a relief to have some positive, happy events like this with the background of the terrible e. coli infection from the strain EC O104 (EHEC) that is rampant throughout Germany, but particularly in the north. We really don't know what to eat any more. And there are, in the meantime, more than 2000 people suffering badly, the hospitals are overfilled, resources are becoming scarce. Nobody knows where this has come from - every time a clue is followed, it turns out to lead to nothing. I wish and hope there will be some abatement, soon.

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