Karneval

Mid-February is the climax of the Karneval season in Germany. It starts on the 11th of November at 11:11 and is immediately suspended until after Advent but it only really gets going in the final week. The Köln and Düsseldorf region is the main area of Karneval in Germany and despite it not being an official holiday most businesses are closed for several days.
I had been repeatedly warned that the whole area goes totally 'crazy' and 'descends into chaos' at this time, drinking, singing, dancing, dressing-up and going to parades etc. This sounded to me like the most cringe-inducing, organised 'fun' and a microcosm of everything I hate. It turns out that I'm not alone and many locals choose to escape on holidays. However one must not judge (well, not before trying it) and so I decided to go with Michael (a local and veteran Karneval goer), Aris, Karen and Ralph to the biggest parade in Köln on Rosenmontag.

Our plans were nearly scuppered when we were given observing time over the weekend but we organised around it. As it happened it snowed almost the entire time and so we could not observe due to snow sticking to the dish. Ralph and I nearly got stuck at the telescope and had to drive through deep, drifting snow back to Bonn.
On the Monday Michael (dressed as a clown) hobbled into the station having slipped on ice and hurt his ankle. Despite the pain he still wanted to go and see the parade. Karen had painted her face but Aris, Ralph and I remained steadfastly undecorated.

The train was full of people dressed up and Köln was thronging with costumed Germans shouting "Kölle Alaaf!", the traditional local-dialect greeting at this time. We made our way to the parade route and joined the crowd. The parade had tens of floats (often with political themes), marching bands etc. From the floats people were throwing candy and flowers into the crowd, the crowd egged them on by shouting for more. Everyone was drinking, singing (to truly awful marching band music), eating candy and enjoying themselves immensely. The crowd was also very well behaved (as drunken mobs go) and there were plenty of families.

After the parade we had some beers in bar nearby and listened to some more bad music before getting an U-Bahn back to Bad Godesberg. It was a rather sorry sight seeing Michael limping back home in his clown costume.
In the end I think the 'craziness' that I had been warned about was much over exaggerated. It was really just a few days of carnival and partying, the only thing that makes it crazy is that it's in Germany. Of course the next day everyone was back to studiously ignoring each other. I'm glad I went but I'm not sure I'll be back next year.

Christmas

A couple of weeks after the Cardiff trip Mum and Dad came over to visit me and do a bit of shopping at the famous weihnachtsmarkts in the region. My flat was not really in a state suitable to have guests but luckily Pickfords had eventually found and delivered my mattress so they has somewhere to sleep. We went to the weihnachtsmarkts in Köln, Bonn and the little one in Bad Godesberg. There are several in Köln and we went to the main three. They were huge and so busy that you could hardly move. The one in Bonn was our favourite, large enough to have everything but not nearly so busy.
I had a couple of weeks off over Christmas. I had planed on driving back in time for Mum and Dad's party. Nick was visiting which was nice because I hadn't been able to see him when I visited Cardiff. Despite the snow I made it to Calais in good time. I then spent four hours waiting to board a train. The knock on effect of the Eurostar failures had thrown the Eurotunnel car service into chaos and they didn't seem to have any extra staff to deal with the backlog.
When I made it to the UK it took me another six hours just to get to Oxford. There seemed to be no good reason for the problem. It wasn't snowing, there was very little snow on the ground and it was warm enough that ice wasn't a problem. Despite the mild conditions I spent 90 mins on the M40 in first gear at one stage. I eventually arrived at 2300 just as everyone was leaving! AJ had to abandon his car and walk home having spent seven hours to go a mile.

We had the big family Christmas as usual. Things seemed little rushed this year because we've all been very busy, particularly Mum and Dad who have had major work done to the house. We were ready by Christmas day, just!
For the new year break Nick and Ceri had organised a rental cottage near Malmesbury. Doug was there as well as Lynsey and Andy, who I hadn't met before. We had a very nice time just eating, drinking, playing games and visiting the very good local pub. It was a very relaxing week and just what I needed.
I managed to get out of the UK just before the real snow arrived and brought the country to a standstill. Thankfully my trip home was much easier than my trip to the UK.

My things arrive at last

My things from Australia were eventually delivered in November but not before the removal company had lost three of my boxes. One of them included my entire DVD, CD and software collection so I was not best pleased. Initially they just sent me an insurance claim form but I harassed both the Australian and UK ends until they eventually found my things in the warehouse in the UK.

On the day they were to deliver they turned up in a huge double trailer truck and were surprised when they couldn't find anywhere to park. This was particularly annoying as I'd paid for them to use a smaller transfer vehicle. They disappeared and returned eight hours later in a rental van. Apparently they'd been doing the transfer in lay-bys and kept being moved on by the police. They'd also managed to lose my mattress by this point but all the other boxes were there. It's not exactly the professional service I'd hope for.

I've since finished unpacking and there doesn't appear to be anything missing. Unfortunately there has been damage to the furniture due to very poor packing and handling. I made an insurance claim which they eventually approved, but not before they'd managed to make a mess of that too. The incompetence is staggering!
The damage is annoying but it's a relief to have all my things again and have the flat sorted out and feeling like home.

Moving into Bad Godesberg

After a few of weeks of flat hunting here (back in September) I managed to find a nice place in Bad Godesberg, according to Wikipedia 'the posh part of Bonn'. When Bonn was the capital of Germany this was the area where most of the embassies were. It's a short train ride from the centre of Bonn so it's very conveniently positioned. Also Aris and Michael live just down the road.

When flats in Germany are described as unfurnished they really mean it, no lights or kitchen, just wires and pipes! Luckily there is a toilet and bath but that's about it. I made a massive Ikea order and had them deliver all the parts for my kitchen. I decided to save a bit of money and install it myself. It took me a whole day and I nearly destroyed my back in the process of lifting and cutting the worktop. In the end though it all has gone together pretty well and it was actually quite satisfying.
I had a lot of furniture coming from Australia so I had to wait for useful things like my bed to arrive. I have a new sofa so I only had to spend a couple of weeks on Norbert's airbed (borrowed by most of the new pulsar group when they arrive in Bonn) before moving onto the sofa.
It didn't take long to get the internet and TV sorted out so despite the lack of furniture things were comfortable, if a little sparse.

A trip to Effelsberg

Last week Michael took Paulo and me to see the telescope in Effelsberg. I'd been to Effelsberg before during a conference in Bonn over six years ago but this visit was more interesting because I knew I would be using this telescope a lot over the coming years. Unfortunately, unlike the day six years ago, it was cloudy and rainy.

We were introduced to the local staff and shown around the main building before going on a tour of the telescopes. I say telescopes because a new LOFAR station has been built next to the 100m. While LOFAR will be an amazing instrument and this station alone has the same collecting area as Parkes, it's not exactly spectacular to look at. It is basically a lot of wire in a field with a big box-o'-electronics next to it. Still, it's going to be fun to use.

Then we turned our attention to the 100m itself. It's a beautifully designed telescope which changes its shape in an entirely predictable way as it moves. This means that unlike the GBT it can maintain an accurate high-frequency surface without needing actuators. We took a lift up to the top of the towers. To get to the focus cabin the telescope was pointed nearly horizontally allowing us to walk along one of the support arms. This has the added advantage of not having to climb all the way. From the arm you get a good view of the primary and secondary focus cabins.

Once inside the primary focus cabin the telescope was slewed so that it was pointing directly up. It was interesting how our perception of the space in the focus cabin changed as the floor slowly became the wall and visa-versa. Once we'd reached the zenith we climbed up to the roof to admire the slightly damp view of the valley.

Back on the ground we inspected the cable wrap before heading to the control room. In the rack of backends I saw a familiar sight, a PDFB from the ATNF. It still needs a bit of work before we can use it regularly. There was also the new multibeam backend which vital for the new survey.

After a quick meeting we drove back to Bonn, stopping for a late lunch and a beer in a nearby village. I'm looking forward to going back to observe!

Bonn

've been in Germany for nearly two weeks now. Luckily I've not had any jet-lag worth mentioning, in fact it's been nice to be getting up early in the mornings. I'm staying at the Internationales Gästhaus just a couple of mins walk from the lab. It's small but has everything I need for the moment.

My office isn't quite ready yet so I'm sharing with Norbert. He, Paulo, Aris and I make up the pulsar group, but there are more people on the way. The weather has been beautiful and we've been eating out on the roof most days despite the wasps.

At the weekends I've been out exploring Bonn. It's quite a nice little city with plenty of old buildings and lots of parks and squares. Despite the city being small on Saturdays it's very busy with people shopping and there's something happening in most of the squares. But on Sundays all the shops must shut by law and it's a ghost-town. The public transport is excellent and there are plenty of bicycle lanes. Living in Canada and Australia I'd almost forgotten that bicycles existed but here they're everywhere.

The latest news is that I've found a flat in Bad Godesberg, just 4 mins by train from Bonn. It's nice and big with a spare room for visitors and a south-east facing balcony for my satellite dish :) Unfortunately it doesn't have a kitchen or any light fittings which is normal in Germany. There's lots to do but it's relief to have found somewhere already.

Leaving Sydney

Ten days ago the removers came and took all of my worldly possessions to send them to Germany. I had spent the week before taking apart all my Ikea furniture to keep the shipping-volume down. By the end of the week I was sleeping on the sofa and living out of a suitcase.

They took four hours to pack up all 75 boxes / thingies and take them away. It was pretty stressful watching my things bump around in the back of the ute on their way up to the van.

After that I moved into George's spare room which he had kindly offered for my last week. It was surprisingly tidy, I suspect that the imminent arrive of Sha may have had something to do with this :) The last week was good fun, every night we were drinking and eating somewhere with friends. Jono and I even managed a last Pizza Tuesday.

I had the traditional pulsar farewell at Fusion before Dick left for Parkes. It was nice that so many people could come to say goodbye (and avoid the cafeteria). I sold my car and returned the house so that I could spend my last weekend in Sydney having fun rather than messing around with moving.

On my last weekend we had a little BBQ around at George's house. That day he was busy taking Sha to Manly (well there's a double entendre for you - but since it's George that I'm talking about, Manly clearly refers to the place). Anyway, Vik helped me go shopping and grab food, beer and fuel for the BBQ but we forgot to lock the house and we found Anna tidying when we returned.

I really enjoyed the BBQ. Anna burnt down George's garden, George played a duet with Sha, Sha and Jono beat everyone else at mahjong and Jo kicked my butt at Tetris.

The next day George, Sha, Jo, Vik and I headed off to Watson's Bay for nice boat ride, a short walk and a great view of the city. It was a stunning (to borrow George's favourite word) day - sunny and cloudless but not too warm.

We had fish and chips at the dock then walked around to the head. We passed a nudist beach which was a little disturbing with blokes standing around butt-naked but Sha and Jo seemed interested! We walked around the cliff-top and enjoyed views of the waves breaking against the rocks below. Vik managed to find a way down and we walked around exploring the rock-pools before the rising tide made it time to go. George, of course, managed to get wet.

Mike kindly gave me a lift with my huge bag from George's to the ATNF on Monday. I had a final morning tea and said goodbye. George, Jono, Mike, Vik and Neerag waved me off when the taxi arrived. "You're a very popular guy," said the taxi driver. They just wanted to make sure I actually left :)

Unfortunately, on the way to the airport the taxi hit a plastic bollard which then jammed under the car. We had to pull over in one of the tunnel's emergency stopping areas to remove it and check the tires. I thought this might be ominous but other than that it was a pretty smooth trip. My bag weighed 31.4 kg (which means that George's scales are accurate to within 0.2 kg) but I wasn't charged any excess.

I managed to sleep well on the flight and arrived in Frankfurt rested. I spoke German for the first time in ages when buying my train ticket. It was easy stuff but I has quite pleased with myself until I turned to leave and said 'Merci', immediately followed by 'Bollox'!

The train travelled along the bank of the Rein all the way up to Bonn. There were lots of little villages nestled between the valley sides and the river and it's really quite picturesque.

I got to MPIfR just before 0900, got set up in the guest-house and then was ready for work. I managed to stay awake until 2200 and had a very good night's sleep.

Getting ready to go to Germany

There are 55 days to go until the move to Germany. I have a huge to-do list which must all be ticked off before I leave. Of course most of it can only be done in the last couple of weeks but I have managed to get a few important things done already. I've booked the removal company, sorted out the shipping insurance, short term accommodation for the first two months and a couple of days ago I booked my flights. I was surprised to find that Qantas had a route between Frankfurt and Cologne. I wanted to see who the code-share was so I clicked on the link:

It was a train with a QF number! I like the "Aircraft type: Train" :-) I can image wandering round the airport looking for the right gate only to be directed to a platform. While Bonn and Cologne share an airport they have different stations so it's good to know before I turn up with all my bags after a 24hr flight.

Moving to Germany

For a while I've been considering several options for work after my contract at the ATNF runs out in September. It was not an easy decision but in the end MPIfR made me a offer that was too good to turn down.

So in September I'm moving to Bonn to work for the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie on a 5 year contract. They have a 100m telescope in nearby Effelsberg which is the 2nd largest fully-steerable radio telescope in the world. There is plenty of good work we can do with a telescope like that!

I've bought a 'Teach Yourself German' book in the hope that I'll be able to improve my atrocious, mostly-forgotten, school taught German. However I suspect that it will join my 'Learn to Speak French' book that I bought before going to Montréal - hardly read in the corner of the bookcase!

I'm looking forward to being long drive or a short flight away from the UK making it very easy to visit friends and family. You have been warned!

With three months to go I've got to start getting moving quotes and working out my ATNF 'exit strategy'. The advantage is that it should be at least 5 years before I have to do this again... I hope!