Random pictures! No, not here - though speaking of it, you could actually have one:



The random pics I am talking about are actually on my phone... and are helping me to learn Finnish. I've posted a while ago about some of the things I learned about language learning over the years. One of the things that is a rather new tool for me, and that I enjoy a lot, is getting little images and charts and explanation pics via feeds on Instagram. There's a hashtag that I follow where a lot of these turn up, and if there's an especially helpful one, or funny one, I take a screenshot and save the image.

However, having the stuff is good, but not completely helpful yet - these things will only get more language into my brain if I can actually see them. So I've looked for a smartphone widget that picks random images from a folder and displays them.

There's a few of them in the GPlay app store, but most free ones that I tried had some trouble, or cut off the image if it did not by chance fit the frame, or were otherwise annoying. But a few days ago, by pure chance when looking again, I found one written by a German developer called Zufallsbild. This little thing does exactly what it should - you can select a folder or several folders and have it swap the image after a given time, or swap to the next one yourself. It scales the image to fit into the frame, too. Which means that I'm now very happy, and get to see all the nice and funny things on my phone home screen, one after the other.

So if you're looking for an android app for displaying images on your phone, because just having all those funny or nice or beautiful things is not enough... maybe it's the thing for you, too!

There's more to tell about the Leiden trip: Travel Adventure Stories!

I'm not someone who goes on Big Damn Adventures - I've never done trips into really far-away foreign countries with really different cultures. No hiking through China or India for me, no Turkey or Russia. But I'm fond of the little adventures. The small things that are still exciting, but there's nothing that can go desastrously wrong - and I am utterly happy when things do not go wrong, or the stories have a happy end after all.

Little adventures like travelling via the train with an interesting itinerary. In order to get to Leiden in time to have a look at the Stockings exhibition, the solution was to leave early in the evening of Thursday to catch a train in the "wrong" direction, to board the night train in Passau and then wake up in Düsseldorf. From there, it's easily possible to arrive in Leiden at noon.

I had booked one bed in an all-female compartment, which is always interesting as you never know whom you will end up sharing with. (In this case, there was only one other lady in the 3-person compartment, from Vienna, and she was very nice.) We only chatted for a very short time in the morning, as she left the train one stop earlier than I did.

The ticket for the sleeper included the bed space plus a goodie bag with some snacks, a small bottle of sparkling wine, a pair of house slippers (yes, really), a pen (to fill out the breakfast order), a pair of earplugs, a small muffin, a bottle of water, and a towel (sealed in a plastic bag) with NightJet design.

I was amazed to hear from the conductor during breakfast that these were all intended for the passengers to take away with them, and that whatever was not taken would not be re-packed, but thrown away. So I packed my towel. And the snacks (I would have taken those anyways), and the slippers, and the remainder of the goodie bag contents of my compartmentmate, who was already off the train.

Fast forward to the way back from Leiden, where I took an early train back to get home by afternoon. I had packed some food for the way, leftovers from Chinese takeout shared with friends on Saturday evening, and the bag with the food sat in the front flap pocket of my backpack. Which, in the train, went on to the shelf for luggage... until I changed trains in Duisburg (to get into the next train early, as they were predicted to be very full, and I was very much hoping to get a seat for the ride).

I did manage to get a seat in the next ICE which was not reserved... and there I discovered that the bag with food had quietly and sneakily fallen out of the backpack front, and thus still sat in the other train. Which made me sad for three reasons at once: I was without the lunch I had been really looking forward to (as yesterday's food was delicious with a capital D); I was without my trusty and very convenient re-usable silicone doggy bag, which would probably be thrown away by some train worker at the train's end station; and the food would also be wasted.

So I thought about trying to get it back via the lost-and-found service of DB... only to find out that a) they usually don't care for things worth less than 15 €, b) they do charge for their services, and c) they also charge for calling their service phone number (almost 2 € per minute from my mobile). Sigh.

And then I remembered that one of my friends lives in Karlsruhe, which is the end point of said train. Thanks to the magic of modern communication, I reached him in time (facebook can actually be useful once in a while), and he had, indeed, not any plans for lunch yet...

To my utter delight, he did manage to rescue the bag with food from the train, and I hope he enjoyed the meal! Also, this means we'll have to meet some day, for me to get the bag back, and to celebrate the successful rescue action. This shows that it's a good thing to know people at all places in the world...

It was also a good thing that the night train had supplied me with the snacks, and that my friends had handed me some fruit and extra cookies to take along on my trip back when I packed the lunch - because these had not been in the front pocket of the backpack. They were safely stored in the main compartment, and saved me from getting really hungry on the train. Hooray for friends!

 
 

Recently, I've recommended the travel mug I'm using to someone else. Again. Then I started wondering since when I've been lugging mine around... and today I've finally looked it up.

[caption id="attachment_4848" align="alignnone" width="326"] The battered trusty mug. 


I bought this mug back in fall of 2012, when it was much more shiny and only available in this one single colour, at least at the place I bought it. I wasn't too excited about the brown, but really excited about the promises that came in the description: stainless steel (so very sturdy), large capacity, completely leakproof, and holding beverages hot for a really long time. Especially the completely leakproof was something I had been looking for.

It cost me 45 Euro back then, and I did think hard about whether I wanted to spend so much money on a travel mug - but then, the plastic to-go mugs I had before hadn't been leakproof, and they had given up rather quickly, and they had a theoretical insulation (being double-walled) which was not very good.

So I did buy it. And I used it a lot - when travelling, of course, but also at home when I wanted a large coffee that would keep hot for a long time. The lid gave out in 2015; I got a replacement lid with very little hassle and for about 8 Euro from the German main distributor.

I've been totally happy with this thing ever since I got it. The lid can be a little finicky to clean if you're having milky beverages, but rinsing it out as soon as possible, using a brush or a toothbrush to get into the crevices, and occasionally taking it apart and bathing it in hot water with soda added will keep it nice and eliminate all traces of sour-milk odour, should the dire thing have happened. I'll usually fill it with coffee at home when I am travelling to have it on the road, and when I need a second one (or when I'm not starting from home), it doesn't only eliminate the need for a disposable cup, it also keeps my drink hot for long times. Since I tend to stretch out my coffee-drinking, that counts as a rather large bonus. (Downside: if you fill it with boiling hot water, it will take forever for it to cool down enough to drink. Brewing tea in there means keeping the lid off for a while, until cool enough to sip, or else you will have to wait for about 6 hours before drinking...)

When we were in London, I was even happier about the mug than usual, as there were some coffee shops that only had disposable cups, even for the people sitting down in the shop. So out came the mug... which, usually, also meant a discount on the price of the tea or coffee. And I did mention it's rather large, right? Which means that in most cases, you're getting a little more hot beverage of your choice for about the same price. Even without that bonus, though, we then did the maths... and realised that getting a pricey thermos mug, if you use it regularly, will amortise itself really quickly.

My mug has cost me 45 €. Say you're getting an average discount of 0.20 € per cup of hot beverage. That's exactly 225 hot drinks - a year has about 250 work days, so if you get a cup of something every day you are going to work, this mug has paid for itself in one year. And that's without taking the bit of extra filling into account.

Soon now, my coffee-holding travel companion could celebrate its seventh workbirthday*, and while I'm not using it every single work day, it has long since gone past the 225 hot drinks. It also has seen a lot of different countries, sat inside my car with me for hours and hours, was dropped onto hard floors (hence it can wobble a little now when it's standing), and also has seen the wrong level in a dishwasher (it's okay in the upper level, but the lower one is too hot - which is the reason a lot of the colour has peeled off). I love it, even though it looks battered and not too fancy anymore... and I'm pretty sure there are a lot of coffees and teas in its future still.

Thus, the moral of the story - if you think about getting a travel mug, go ahead and get a good one. Even if it sounds ridiculously expensive at first, it will pay for itself rather quickly!

 
*Probably by having coffee!

We have a small red currant bush in our garden, and now is the time when the fruits are ripe... so it's glorious, glorious custard time!

I love red currants best in two ways: As jelly sandwiched between Christmas cookies, where there is just no replacement for their taste, and buried under hot vanilla custard in the summer. This is one of the childhood tastes that just lingers with me, even though I am making it with different custard today... but it still is a comfort food for me. And it's utterly delicious (or at least I think so). And easy to make to boot:

Pick (or buy) ripe red currants. Make custard according to the instructions on your vanilla custard mix packet, or however else you prefer to make your vanilla custard. While it is cooking, wash the currants, shake them dry-ish, strip them from their stems, and place them into a bowl. If you like your sweet dishes sweet, sprinkle a little sugar on top of them.

Gently pour the hot custard on top of the fruit and let it sit for a bit. That's it. Enjoy.

[caption id="attachment_3882" align="alignnone" width="640"] It's not looking spectacular, I know... but the taste is wonderful.


I like it best when still warm, but it's also delicious when cold. Currant season. I love it.

I like travelling. Well, up to a point - at some point, it does get tedious, and then I really love to be home again.

It's made much nicer, though, by having stuff that I don't want to be without with me, and some things are by now a no-brainer to stick into the bag. My own pillow, for instance. While I used to be able to sleep on about any pillow when I was little, at some point, this changed, and I'm now much more comfortable with my own little pillow to rest my head on. So that does accompany me.

Another thing is some stuff to amuse me, which usually boils down to knitting and an ebook reader (as that is easy to transport and offers a whole library). Finally, something for the yoga habit: my day starts with a bit of yoga, and so I take either a mat or a yoga towel or yoga paws, depending on the space I have and the willingness to carry stuff.

And then there's the food and drink related things, like these:



If you have travelled with me, or seen me at a fair or other event, chances are high that this battered mug was there, too. It's a Thermos King Tumbler mug, holds close to half a litre of drink, is absolutely spillproof when closed and keeps things hot forever. In most cases, baristas will fill it directly and thus save one disposable cup at a time, which is also nice. I usually call it "the world's best thermos cup". I also usually have my own cutlery plus a bit of salt (you never know when you need salt) and, most recent add-on to the essentials, the mini-immersion heater. Add a few bags of tea, and the world's your oyster... because somehow, I really love to have a cup of tea in the evening when I'm alone in my room, getting ready for the night.

Anything you really, really need to have with you when you travel?

I've finally caught up on Escapepod. I still have a hard time believing it - that was a lot of stories, and most of them nice to wonderful.

From last year's bunch of stories, my three favourites were:

Joolie and Irdl
Murder or a Duck
In a Manner of Speaking.

The first two are Hugo-eligible, and I think they'll end up on my list. The third I'd nominate in a heartbeat, but unfortunately it is too old. However, if you have the time and like good stories, go check it out - though let me warn you that it is a bit sad. (If you don't like audio productions, you can also read the stories on the website if you follow the link.)