Britta's Letters from her life divided between city-life in German's capital Berlin and life in a Bavarian village
Sunday 25 August 2013
Shturmovshchina
I hope that you have missed me a bit!
The very useful word sturmovshchina I found in the hilarious book: "The Horologicon. A Day's Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language" by Mark Forsyth. And it describes perfectly what I was doing - you just have to look at my last blog post...:
"It is the practice of working frantically just before a deadline, having not done anything for the last month. (...) Shturmovshchina originated in the Soviet Union. Factories would be given targets and quotas and other such rot by the state, but they often weren't given any raw materials. So they would sit with their feet up and their tools down until the necessaries arrived, and it was only when the deadline was knocking at the door that they would panic, grab whatever was to hand, and do (...)" the job.
Yes, suddenly I was very busy - translating texts for my new website - a lot of work which I could have started earlier...
But it was worth it!
In the photo above you see graphic designer Michael Felix Kijac - http://kolorit-design.de/ - who is my friend since almost seven years, from the time when Hans and I lived in Hamburg till now. Here we are standing in the Baroque garden of the Charlottenburger Schloss (in early spring) - enjoying ourselves as ever.
(You can imagine how much I like him when you consider that I choose to publish this slightly unbecoming photo of me because he preferred it to the second one we took on that occasion. Well - looks are not everything - hahaha).
He is really brilliant, as you will see when - soon! soon! - my new website is ready.
I think it looks terrific - can't wait to show it to you.
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I'm jealous, but - unlike John - not of you.
ReplyDeletePurr. And wait till you see the website!
DeleteI'm just like that Britta! Never do the job till I absolutely have to....when will I ever learn? Look forward to checking out Michael's website, & excited to see your new one! Bye for now, Jane
ReplyDeleteMaybe we've learned to work under pressure, meaning a shot of adrenalin - but then: it's time to change that, I told myself. That works for some time - and then: again...
DeleteWow, congratulations! Sometimes we need that little lull before the storm of activity to maximize our creativity. (Sounds good anyway, right?)
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see your new page. This one is beautiful. So's your picture... reminds me a bit of Britt Ecklund, if you know who she is.
Dear Susan,
ReplyDeletethank you! To compare me to Britt Ecklund is very flattering - the funny thing is that I have a little TV-Interview - me and Roger Moore - so we have 'contacted' in a sort of esoteric way, Britt and Britta :-)
You've been busy, I can see that!
ReplyDeleteI've always enjoyed your blog and the little bits of 'you' that I glimpse, and I think I like you even more for your having allowed a photo (which I find really quite attractive!)that you don't like in order to accommodate the wishes of your friend!
Dear Pondside, so good to see you back again! (I can imagine that you have lots and lots of other things to do!) Yes - friendship overcoming vanity... And yes: it was quite a lot of work - but we are happy with the result.
ReplyDeleteDear Britta, Thank you so much for your lovely visit. Great to see you enjoying yourself and having so much fun. Such a smashing photo of the two of you. The new website look is looking terrific too, congratulations on your launch.
ReplyDeleteDear Paul,
ReplyDeletethank you! I did some heavy thinking on: What does really interest me - and up came garden, garden architecture and garden history - and up came your lovely blog, of course, so I put it on my blog list here, not to miss it. (By the way: in London I had to find out that the wonderful icecream you once recommended (Gino?) has disappeared).