Thus I kept travelling into the corners of
this world, preferably in the United States and in South
East Asia, using every kind of vehicle and aiming for
every remote corner and every hidden natural, cultural
or historic landmark.
near the border between Laos and Cambodia
|
near the border between Arizona and Nevada
|
near the border between Thailand and Myanmar
|
Quite often my
destinations were places with which I associate
nostalgic memories and which I like to visit again and
again.
Madison, Wisconsin |
Waipoua, New Zealand |
Canyonlands, Utah
|
If it comes to cultural highlights and the
splendour of the religious palaces and temples, no area
surpasses the East.
Rajabophit Temple, Bangkok |
Bangkok by night |
Kyauktawgyi Temple, Mandalay
|
But
the grandeur and wildness of Nature are equally exciting
in the East and in the West.
Wulingyuan, China |
Mekong Falls, Laos |
Shiprock, New Mexico |
The subsequent
photos from three different continents are meant to
convey how intensely these places attract me.
|
New Zealand's North Island
|
|
the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, USA
|
|
Deep in
the jungles of northern Laos I came across the
grave of the man whom I would have liked to
be: Henri Mouhot from Montbéliard in France
(1826-1861). He was the European who re-
discovered Angkor Wat, and he was the first
European who made it up the Mekong river all
the way to Luang Prabang, the former capitol
of Laos. Everything he found was new to the
world, and everywhere he mastered the
obstacles. He payed his price for this when,
only 35 years old, he died of a fever. His
grave on the banks of the Nam Khan river near
Luang Prabang, forgotten and overgrown, was
only found again in 1990. Remote and not
easily accessible, it does not attract many
visitors, quite appropriate for a character
who preferred to explore the unknown by
himself.
|
Meeting People
and Peoples
Before my
retirement duties filled my days, and I did not have
much of a social life. But since then I have had the
time to meet and interact with people. All races,
all types, all levels of education or prosperity.
The zoom of my camera has allowed me to capture
exotic characters from afar, the friendliness of the
South East Asian people has allowed me to get close
to them and to befriend with them. I have had more
time for my own family, I could meet frequently with my old friends, and I have found
new friendships at home and abroad. Again it doesn't
take many words to tell the story; the photos will
do it.
Family and Friends
I had no brothers or sisters, but one male
and ten female cousins (see the Section on my family).
Seven of them were still alive in 2015, of which I
like to mention three:
Christa from Duisburg |
Fritz from Duisburg |
Dörte from Stuttgart |
And there are
three female beings from the eastern world whom I have
loved, treated and tried to educate like my children:
Lanfen from Baotou, China, with her husband Bailu |
Mian from Shijuajuang, China |
Nalapan from Samut Songkram, Thailand |
Almost like
family are those friends with whom I got along even
better than with my relatives:
Vern from Cincinnati, USA |
Wolfgang and Almut from München |
Jörg from Darmstadt |
Last but not
least in this group are those friendships which
blossomed during these five years:
Sylvi and Dieter, my neighbours |
Charoenkwan, my colleague from Bangkok |
Nancy with Felix Richter, my former coworker
|
The closest of
these has been my relation with Susanne from Berlin, 13
years younger than me and full of life and joy.
Our encounter resulted from
a crazy circumstance: the lack of tables in the
riverside restaurant in Bangok on New Year's Eve
2013/14. We ended up at the same table, and since
then we have spent every New Year's Eve in that my
favourite restaurant, the "Be My Guest", and we have
shared many eventful activities at home and around
the world.
------------------------------------------------------
At age
75 there aren't many close
relationships left from ones professional or
even more distant past. Ever more rarely I
have met my former colleagues on birthday
festivities or funeral or memorial events, and for just a
few times I have met the remaining few of
my highschool classmates. But even in 2020 there
existed
a carefully selected group of former colleagues from
my department, with whom we met every month to drink
a lot of beer and to exchange old jokes and old
gossip from our active times.
with my old friends at a memorial event
|
with my highschool classmates at the
"Klassentreffen"
|
with my Freiburg colleagues at the "Stammtisch"
|
Of all the scientists whom I met
in all countries during my professional life I wish to
mention those two for whom I have the highest respect
and who, over almost 50 years, have become real
friends: Larry Dahl (born 1929) who was my
postdoctoral supervisor and who, together with his
wife June, gave me the courage to start an academic
carreer, and Pierre Braunstein (born 1947) with whom I
have shared a long sequence of scientific cooperations
and with whom and his wife Marie-Jeanne I have spent
so many joyful hours.
June and Larry in Madison, Wisconsin
|
Pierre in Strasbourg, France |
The Exotic East
South
East Asia is a challenge for all senses, be it by its
climate, by its food or by its colours and sounds. Being a
male, I am of course most highly attracted by the beauty
of its women, and I don't mind posing with the pretty
young ones.
a holiday procession in Mrauk U, Myanmar
|
Myanmar beauties in Yangon
|
Lao beauties in Vientiane
|
Thai beauties in Bangkok
|
in Champasak, Laos |
in Bangkok |
in Khong Chiam, Thailand |
Yet it is not only the beauty
that fascinates me, but the sum of all the exotic
characters, sights, places and events. Be it the
makeup painting on the faces of the Myanmar women and
children, the dresses of the minority peoples, or the
massing of people in and on their vehicles.
in Bagan, Myanmar
|
in Mynkaba, Myanmar
|
near Mae Hong Son. Thailand
|
Be it the
colourful appearance of people whom you meet in
the streets.....
in Chiang Mai, Thailand
|
in Nonthaburi, Thailand
|
in Mandalay, Myanmar
|
Be
it the surprising observation that the omnipresent monks
do everything that ordinary people do as well.....
near Luang Prabang, Laos
|
near Mrauk U, Myanmar
|
near Chiang Rai, Thailand
|
All
this culminates in Myanmar and in its female
inhabitants.....
in Bagan
|
my longtime friend, the beggar Cherry
|
in Mrauk U
|
The Ones who
are no more
As we get older, we have to say
Farewell ever more often to those who have passed
away. I wish to mention four who have been dear to my
heart: my former wife Carla who died in 2013 at age
77, my doctoral supervisor and longtime mentor Heinz
Nöth who died in 2015 at age 87, my highschool friend
and unwavering optimist Eberhard Hintzsche who died in
2012 at age 73, and my student friend and fiercest
intellectual challenger Diethard Wendt who died in
2015 at age 77. My photos show them as I like to
remember them.
Carla
|
Heinz
|
Eberhard
|
Diethard
|
My Foundation
Ever since I started travelling
in the Sout East Asian countries from Bangkok in 2008,
I have supported poor families with the purpose of
giving one of their children a better education. That
didn't cost me much, and I got a lot of pleasure from
meeting these sweet people and learning about their
living. Now I can call all the infant and adult ones
involved my friends.
my little ones in
Bagan, Myanmar
|
Htay Htay and her son in Bagan, Myanmar
|
a graduation in Bangkok
|
While checking the preschool to
which one of my "children" went, I got aquainted with
the people who run this preschool, the YMCA of
Mandalay in Myanmar. Nay Win, their secretary general,
became a friend, and during the discussions with him I
became enthused about running such a place for little
children myself. The idea was born, out of which
resulted the formation of my Foundation "A Place for
Children" (www.hv-foundation.de). The foundation was
established in 2012 and endowed with its funds by
myself. The pictures below show our emblem and myself
among the directors of the YMCA Mandalay.
our emblem
|
the directors of the YMCA Mandalay
|
It was with great enthusiasm that
we started building "my" preschool for 60 children
which was to be operated by the YMCA. In mid-2013 the
beautiful building in Patheingyi near Mandalay was
ready to use. But that was not to be. By that time the
aggression against non-Buddhists in Myanmar had become
really severe, and the local congregation of Buddhist
monks vetoed the operation of our school, and they
have not recalled that veto until today. So the
building remained unused and rotted away in the tropical
climate.
I have to acknowledge with great gratitude that my
YMCA friends collected funds for the construction of a
second school near the village of Paleik south of
Mandalay within the boundaries of a Baptist church
compound. It is located in a rather poor environment,
which suits the goals of the Foundation.
building the first school
|
unused for two years
|
the second school
|
Fortunately the disappointments with the first
school were more than compensated by the enchantments by
the second one. It was opened by the local bishop in
August 2015, and soon it sounded with the joy and
excitement of the three to five year old boys and girls.
Four nurses were hired to take care of the 60 children
who stay all day including a lunch and a midday rest.
with Nay Win during the opening ceremony
|
the school in operation
|
teachers and pupils posing for me
|
Initially two thirds of the Foundation's
revenues went into the Mandalay school. With the
remaining funds we supported varying educational
institutions of a similar character. Two examples are
shown below: a school for orphans in Pathein and a
preschool like mine in Kayinthonesint, Myanmar. Since
2015 we have become more strongly associated with
Michael Sebastian's SMILE project in Luang Prabang,
Laos, for teenagers whose parents cannot support them
(see below).
Bishop John and Father Florence in Pathein
|
the old church near the school in Kayinthonesint
|
Teacher Michael and his students
|
Mandalay |
Kayinthonesint |
Luang Prabang
|
Even
though our activities are just "a drop of water on a
hot stone", they are gratifying, and the protection,
the eagerness and the joyfulness of the children are
more of a reward than any income from the invested
capital. They are the sunshine of my old age.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
75-80
"Citius,
altius, fortius" (faster, higher, stronger),
the motto of the modern Olympic Games, dominates the
first half of a man's lifetime. Then, slowly but surely,
it turns around, and after a life of 80 years it has
become "slower, lower, weaker". It is quite a challenge
to accept this and adjust to it. Forced by the
increasing physical defects, I have tried to look at it
with a positive attitude, evoking the "Praise of
Slowness". And, more often than not, I have been able to
live accordingly and do the pleasant things before the
urgent things, see the photos.
The body got weaker, but the soul didn't.
During my whole lifespan I have felt like a child,
driven by curiosity rather than assessment, being urged
to experience the unknown, and learning by making
mistakes. In my old age this has kept me mobile. The
weakening legs made me slower, but they did not stop me.
The four pictures show how my physiognomy changed over
20-year periods. But the eyes, the windows of the soul,
stayed the same. They are the eyes of my mother, see the
Section on my family.
age 20
|
age 40
|
age 60
|
age 80
|
So the stories to be told in this Section are
all stories of enjoying life while coping with
decreasing strength. Fortunately there was no lack of
things that could be enjoyed, of people who were worth
meeting, and of places I liked to find or visit again.
1. Downscaling
Beyond
age 75 everything gets smaller. I could not avoid the
experience that I cannot sleep so long anymore, that I
can no longer eat two pieces of cake, and that the
time of full-day hiking tours is over. The number of
friends and family has decreased painfully, and even I
myself have been shrinking, from once 185 cm down
to 182.
But at age 80 I can still sleep, eat cake and hike,
and an easy walk with leisurely rests in the Black
Forest is just as enjoyable as the strenuous hikes of
the past used to be.
age 70
|
age 80
|
When family and friends are getting less,
the big events are shrinking too. Up to my 75th
birthday I used to stage a big party every five years
with all my former coworkers; for my 80th birthday it
was just a humble gathering with friends.
75th birthday
|
80th birthday
|
And there are always enjoyabe replacements
for those activities which have become impossible. The
fitness bicycle had to take the place of the mountain
bike, and my large TV screen had to let me relive the
Alpine mountain tours.
|
"on the road"
|
|
"in the mountains"
|
|
Just the same way as the physical abilities
are getting smaller, so is the private environment.
The house is becoming too big, the work in the garden
has to be simplified, the overloaded shelves must be
relieved of the books. With painful regret I had to
cut down my walnut tree which I had grown myself from
a nut. It had grown too big and became a threat for
the neighbourhood.
the fallen walnut tree
|
What is shrinking most, of course, is the
remaining lifespan. So far I have accpted the
challenge to use it rewardingly.
2. Enjoying Home
When the lack of physical fitness reduces
mobility it is time to remember the nearby pleasures.
So rather late in my life I realized how privileged I
was in having a most comfortable home in a most
beautiful environment. Almost two thirds of my life I
have lived in my house in Ebringen, built according to
my design and layed out according to my ideas of
well-being. The house, the village, the country of
Baden and the German-French surroundings make up an
ensemble which is second to none.
I wish to stay in my house as long as possible. I have
always been keen on keeping it tidy, even in times
when I had to do the housekeeping myself. It has
always been not only my living, but also my working
place, after my daily duties when I still had my job,
and later for all my office work. It has kept me busy
in the garden ever since I have lived alone, which has
given me satisfaction even in later times when the
back and the knees started aching.
The country of Baden has many valleys heading from the
Rhine river plane up towards the Black Forest. But few
of them are as pretty as the valley in which Ebringen
is nested. I have walked every path in the vineyards,
up the hills and in the surrounding forests. The
vineyards look down to the 1300 year old village, the
winegrowing dating back to the Roman times. And for
the connaisseur there are the hidden corners where the
blueberries, the lilies of the valley and the orchids
grow. They all are within a short walk from my house.
view to the north
|
the bumblebee orchid
|
view to the south
|
Further out the Rhine river divides Germany
and France, with the Vosges Mountains in the west
being the counterpart of the Black Forest in the East.
Both mountain ranges provided us with hiking trails
for our weekend excursions for decades. Later, when
the long hikes became too strenuous, the area was
explored by car, and always the trip was accompanied
by a culinary pleasure in a "Berggasthof" or "Ferme
Auberge" of which there are so many nested between the
hills.
the Vosges Mountains as seen
from my living room
|
the Black Forest as seen from
the west
|
Eating and drinking are an important part of the
privilege of living in Baden. But of course there are
other places which are world-known for their culinary
class. And I have had the additional privilege of living
in one of them: Bangkok.
Ever since I happened to become a temporary lecturer
at Chulalongkorn University I have returned to Bangkok
every winter for four months and every summer for one
month. Altogether I have spent more time in Bangkok
(more precisely Souh East Asia) than in any other
place except my youthtime in Dortmund and my life in
Ebringen. Righteously Bangkok is my second home.
After living in guesthouses, hotels and furnished
apartments for the first years, I found permanent
residencies in the large condominium buildings, and I
established friendships with the owners. I wish to
mention two of them here, Kitty from the Supalai River
Place and Tanya from the Urbano Absolute. The third
place in Bangkok which I can call home is a
restaurant: almost every night I have had my dinner in
the "Be My Guest" at the Klongsan riverside, and the
people there are like my family.
Kitty on "my" balcony
|
Tanya in "my" living room
|
"my" Be My Guest
|
Bangkok is
the place where I could enjoy a life without duties,
while having every service within reach, being only a
short flight away from all my destinations in South
East Asia and enjoying first class technical and
medical support. I always got along well with the
climate, and the friendliness and helpfulness of the
Thai people are unsurpassed.
Initially the famous monuments, the temples and the
markets caused the excitement. But that wore off, and
the atmosphere of the place became the attraction, the
chaos on the streets, the crowds in the narrow
shopping lanes, the omnipresent Buddhism, the
different ethnicities, the river with its busy
traffic, the numberless food stands,
the colour of the flowers among all the dirt and the
full range of all smells. Having lived in Bangkok long
enough, I have learnt to tolerate all the negative
aspects of the Thai world and to accept the Thai
attitude of ranking fun higher than duty. So my motto
"Every Day is Sunday" was born in Bangkok while I
enjoyed my strolls through the flower markets, the
breaks at my rooftop pool and the nightly views from
my balcony.
Unlike
Ebringen, Bangkok has no vineyards and no mountains
around it. But its panoramic views easily match those
of Southern Baden. There are more skyscrapers in
Bangkok than hills in the Black Forest, and the
fireworks on New Year's Eve spread across the horizon
just like the vines in Ebringen.
view from the Maha Nakhon
tower
|
I
would not like to stay in Thailand permanently. That
would involve too many negative aspects. But I call
myself lucky to be able to cherish the beauty and the
culture of both my home countries, Thailand and Germany.
3. Cherishing Friendships
When
one turns 80, many an old friend has passed away
already. I was lucky: I lost only a few between 75
and 80. So I could still enjoy their company, albeit
quite rarely with some of them because they live 5000 miles
away from Ebringen, both to the East and to the
West. I like to mention three pairs each from
nearby and from far away. First my German
friends from Ebringen, Freiburg and München:
Sylvi and Dieter
|
Lanfen and Bailu
|
Almut and Wolfgang
|
Second
my American
friends from Ohio, New Jersey and Delaware:
Elizabeth and Vern
|
Norma and Gordy
|
Flora and Joe
|
These longtime
friends
were accompanied in the later years by the new
ones from Bangkok, all related to the
university:
Kay and Jack
|
Soamwadee and Paul
|
Last but not least there
should be mentioned those
friendships which evolved out of
business relations. Years after my
retirement the age difference
between me and my first scientific
coworkers had become
insignificant, and we formed a
small group which meets once a
year. Similarly pleasant ties have been established with the people involved
in my children school in Mandalay.
Harald Beurich, Egbert Keller, Eckehart Roland,
Felix Richter
|
Gerhard, Nay Win, Sola
|
All my
life I had rather few friends, but that was
happily compensated by the closeness and
durability of those friendships.
4.
Having Children
Having no children of
my own, I was lucky that late
in my life I was blessed with
so many of them who are all so
likeable. I have talked about
them in detail in the section
on my family. Here I wish to
mention again those three who
became dearest to my heart, my
daughters Lanfen (born 1963),
Mian (born 1962) and Nalapan
(born 1988). The photos show
them as they looked when I
first met them.
Lanfen 1991
|
Mian 1999
|
Nalapan 2009
|
But this
short chapter cannot end without
showing the large group of my
little ones in my preschool in
Mandalay.
|
2019 painting of Myo Zin
from Mandalay
|
5.
Celebrating
Anniversaries
In my life many things
of significance happened between
my 25th and
30th year. I
bought my
first car, I
received my
Dr. degree, I
got married, I
went abroad, I
started my
scientific
carreer, I met
my longtime
friends, and I
obtained my
permanent
position in
public
service. Thus
the 50th
anniversaries
of all these
events were
due between my
75th and 80th
year. Some of
them were
worth
celebrating.
My
time as a a
student ended
on March 2,
1967 when I
received my
Dr. degree.
The university
of München
honoured me by
issuing
a renewal document
on March 2,
2017. Some old
contemporaries
and colleagues
joined me in
celebrating
this in
München.
the two "promotion" documents
|
guests at my "promotion" party
|
In
October 1967
I started my
work as a
postdoctoral
fellow in
Madison,
Wisconsin, in
the group of
Larry Dahl,
whom I hold in
such high
esteem. It was
in his group
where I met
the longtime
friends Gordy,
Joe and Vern,
mentioned
above.
There was no
doubt that the
50th
anniversary of
this had to be
celebrated. So
I went to
Madison in
October 2017
and enjoyed
the company of
all four of
them and their
wives. The
vitality of
Larry (then
88) and his
wife June
(then 87) was
delightful.
Larry 1967
|
Larry 2017
|
the old buddies
|
the group reunion
|
Vern
and I have
become like
brothers,
having visited
the
other
countless
times and shared
delights
of the palate
and pains of
the back.
The year 1968
also marked
our first camping
trip to
the American
West. I fell
in love with
it, and I have
returned again
and again,
camping in the
wilderness and
in the
National
Parks. So
after 50
years, in
2018, I had to
repeat that
first trip in
a campervan.
The photos
below show us
in the north
of Wyoming
near the
border with
Montana.
Bighorn Canyon 1968
|
Bighorn Canyon 2018
|
One
25 year
anniversary
must be
mentioned here
because it
relates to my
second home
Bangkok. The
first time I
visited
Bangkok was in
1981. It was
love at first
sight, and I
immediately
thought of
reasons to
come back,
an obvious
reason being a
scientific
visit of "the"
university.
"The"
university was
supposed to be
Thammasat, the
only one that
I became aware
of,
not knowing
that Thammasat
does not have
a chemistry
department.
Well, it took
25 years
before I
really visited
a chemistry
department in
Bangkok, which
fortunately
was that of
Chulalongkorn.
My happy
carreer there
started in 2006.
The rest is
history, see
above.
the gate of Thammasat, 1981
|
on the campus of Chulalongkorn, 2006
|
I
come from a
family where
every
anniversary
was
celebrated. So
I hope that
there will be
a few more for
me to
celebrate.
6.
Revelling
in Nostalgia
When
one is 80,
looking back
has become
more frequent
than looking
ahead.
Fortunately in
my life there
has been an
abundance
of
events and
places which
are worth
looking back
at. So with
the help of my
photos I could
turn my lonely
evenings into
festivals of
nostalgia,
relating to
the farthest
away places or
the
unsurpassably
romantic
moments.
"Farthest
away" is
demonstrated
by the drawing
below which
shows an
inverse
projection of
New Zealand
through the
center of the
earth onto the
map of Europe.
"Unsurpassably
romantic" is
demonstrated
by the evening
scene viewed
from my place
in the
wilderness
where I spent
the night in
my campervan.
Luckily there were
also enough nearby places
which were worth remembering.
In Germany it is the state of
Bavaria with which I associate
the happiest memories, in nearby
France it is the province of
Burgundy, both blessed with
cultural and natural wealth.
Escherndorf in Franken, Bavaria, home of the famous
white wine "Escherndorfer Lump"
|
near the Cotes du Beaune in Burgundy, France, home
of the famous Burgundy reds
|
Each of these places offers
pleasures for all senses,
including the palate. Two of
them are shown below: when I
came to München, my first
stop was always the
Augustiner restaurant for a
really good
beer and the original
Weisswurst. A visit to
Beaune was always arranged
such that a tour of the
Marché aux Vins was included, providing
a chance to savour the
very best of the
Burgundy's.
in the Augustiner
|
in the Marché aux Vins
|
My
most
romantic
feelings,
however, are
those for the
far away
countries.
First and
foremost for
South East
Asia which I
have made my
second home.
Second for
North America
where I have
so many
friends and
where I have
travelled to
almost all of
the natural
wonders.
Third for New
Zealand with
which I fell
in love during
my first
sabbattical in
1981, and
which I have
visited five
times since.
Last but not
least for Sri
Lanka with its
amiable
people, its
magnificent
history and
its gorgeous
scenery,
which I have
visited four
times. One
photo for each
of these
countries must
suffice
to document my
affection.
on the left the magnificent Shwedagon Pagoda in
Yangon, Myanmar
|
view from Muley Point, Utah
|
Lake Matheson on the west coast of New Zealand's
South Island
|
one of the huge temples in Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka
|
I may not
have many more chances to travel
to far away countries. But I can live on with my host of
memories of them.
7.
Wasting Money
I could call
myself a rich man almost
all my life, because I
needed less for my living
than I earned. Thus I was
able to accumulate a
little fortune. As I was
approaching the end of my
lifespan, this fortune had
to be allotted. Having no
natural children to be
appointed as heirs, I
decided in my last will
that my belongings
should be donated
entirely to non-profit
humanitarian
organizations.
When
I came to this
decision I was
already busy
helping young people
with their education,
see above. This way
my "daughter" Nalapan
obtained her bachelor
degree in English at a
Rajabhat university,
and as a reward for
this I invited her for
a trip through
Germany. For my Lao
student Vanhxay, who
wanted to become a
doctor, I
payed the fees for his
pre-clinical studies. My
reward for his excellent
performance was of a
kind which is
unthinkable in our
world, but commonplace
in these utterly corrupt
countries: in order to
continue with his
practical years he
needed a position as a
doctor's assistant in a
hospital. Such a
position was
available, but only
for a "handling fee"
amounting to
1.500 Euros.
With clenched
teeth I provided
this fee.
Nalapan with her colleagues
|
with Nalapan in Germany
|
Vanhxay (left) in Luang Prabang
|
Vanhxay's family in a mountain village
|
The major decision
about "wasting" my money
during my lifetime, of course,
was the establishment of my
Foundation in 2012 (see above
and www.hv-foundation.de). By
the end of 2020 about one fifth of my
estate was
spent in this context,
and no other expenditure in
my life has provided me with
so much pleasure and
satisfaction.
The first
big project was the
preschool in Mandalay,
Myanmar. I payed for the
land and the first
building. By 2018 the
school was so successful
that an extension was
deemed appropriate. I
provided the money, and
the extended building was
finished in 2019. It can
hold 140 children, and it
didn't take long and it
was full again.
location of the school in Paleik near Mandalay
|
the new building
|
the opening ceremony
|
My activities in Luang
Prabang, Laos, evolved slowly.
First I just supported Michael
Sebastian, the founder of the SMILE
project, with small amounts.
When the lease of his school
building was going to be
terminated, I decided to
become fully involved. I
gave the money for buying
a piece of land and to
start the construction
work. When finished, this
place should provide a
classroom, accommodation
for part
of the teenagers and a
living quarter for
Michael.
location of the school in the outskirts of Luang
Prabang
|
clearing the land
|
ready to start construction
|
All my life I was not
very generous in wasting money
for myself. But in my later
years this reluctance became a
bit more relaxed. The fun
trips from Bangkok (the
proverbial border runs) became
more frequent, and the long
distance voyages became less basic. I
didn't avoid the better
restaurants any more, but I
still did not care about
fancy clothing or an expensive
car. Two of my pleasant
luxuries are worth
mentioning: the little sweet
extras once in a
while, and the real
pleasure of flying
business class.
With all the
satisfaction they give, these
little pleasures and big
activities are still just the
preliminaries of the ultimate
challenge:
8.
Accepting
Old Age
After age 75 all the
troubles of old age start
sneaking in,
typically the weakening of
the senses of hearing, seeing and
smelling. In
my case it began with the
hearing aids and the varicose
vein operation. Then, slowly
but surely, the number of my
daily pills started rising.
The real
stuff came at age 78 with
the replacement of the
right knee, which
unfortunately was a
failure and did not
improve my mobility.
So the pills and the
various aids have
become my daily
companions.
the right knee "before" and "after"
|
I can't be without
|
In November 2018 fate
struck harder. A sudden attack
of polyneuropathy deprived
me of the feeling in both
feet, thereby severely
damaging my sense of balance. That added
the walking stick to my
daily companions. It did not
kill my desire to move around. So you
could see me with the cane
in my garden as well as
20.000 km away from
there at the
Milford Sound in Southern
New Zealand.
Let's not talk about
the nastiness of the memory,
but let's agree that the skin
of an 80 year old is no longer
that of a newly-born baby.
|
|
There is hope, though.
Even at age 80 I still had
almost all of my own teeth and
still my full head covered
with hair. That doesn't help much in terms
of strength and mobility, but it
offers a little
consolation against that lingering
end-time mood.
My
genes and my family
background have provided
me with rather realistic
views and a rather good
sense of humour. That
has helped me cope with
critical times, and it
will hopefully help me
through the times to
come. Is it
wisdom of old age
or despair which expresses
itself in the old German
epigram or in the adaption
of a Waylon Jennings song
below?
|
Well, I may be worn, but baby I ain't
worn out
______________________________________________
Well I look a little rough, and I've got a few
miles on me,
My body needs work, and my style ain't what it
used to be.
I've been wrecked a few times, and honey it
shows I guess,
And more than once or twice I have been
repossessed.
I guess that I'll no longer make it to the top.
Well, I may be used, but baby I ain't used up.
|
Be it like that or not,
there are certainly
enough pleasures and enough
places left, and
hopefully enough time to enjoy
them.
"Trink, o Auge, was die
Wimper hält, von dem
goldnen Überfluß der Welt"
(Gottfried Keller, 1879)
____________________________________________________________________
 |
Fortuna
with the horn of plenty, the Goddess of luck,
has been on my side most of my life. She
helped me stumble in the right direction, just
like my Guardian Angel caught me when I was
falling. Using the words of my old friend
Diethard, I can say:
If I ever
meet them, I will pad them on the shoulder and
pay them a drink.
Cheers!
|
|
____________________________________________________________________
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