The third quarter

Well that went quickly didn’t it!

The last three months began and ended with milestones. The end of August was summer holiday time, the end of November the exact opposite as the last corner on the road to Copenhagen has been taken. Although a story doesn’t have to start at the beginning (Jean-Luc Goddard) we’re gonna start there anyway.

August was a beautiful month. Robyn and Dave visited us for some summer fun in Berlin with bike riding, playing in kid’s playgrounds and beer gardens all playing a prominent role in daily activities. Kirsten and I then rode to Rostock (from the outskirts of Berlin) on a dedicated bike trail that runs from Berlin all the way to Copenhagen! The weather was perfect and every day was, in a word, awesome.


September saw the theoretical arrival of autumn, but summer persisted much to everyone’s delight and we had gorgeous weather. I left for the first 10 days to go to the UK for a bike course and it rained heavily for 8 of those days. The lake I was camping on rose rapidly and came very close to my tent....I had ducks at my tent door almost every morning which was a bit unsettling but finally the rain stopped and out came the ‘current bun’, some warm weather and many happy campers (excuse the pun). Mum came over at the end of September and we had a great two weeks sight-seeing in some of the capital cities of Europe, as well as a 75th birthday party of a long time family friend in Amsterdam which was a truly amazing event. Mum took some great photos which I'll add soon.

October was a month of visitors, and saw the arrival of the colder weather - including the first snow! Mickey came for a few days and found some great purple high heel shoes in an Op shop, I’ve heard they’re a hit at the office. We ate nice hot German food in our local warm beer hall too – and stopped frequently for coffee in small Berlinesque cafes. Paula left warm sunny France to come visit...and Berlin turned on its first Baltic breeze for a very chilly 4 days. She borrowed a few of Kirsten’s clothes to warm up...and I got confused once or twice, at least peripherally. We also ate German food in our local beer hall and had many cups of coffee in gemutlich cafes. Jane and Peter came over for Kirsten’s birthday and we had a more organic Berlin experience. Botanical gardens and arboretums were day number one which was really cool. We got a little homesick when we saw Grass Trees and Acacias in the glasshouse – but a jazz band in a Berlin bar later that night helped us to get over that!

November has been a more ‘homely’ approach, as Kirsten knuckled down to work every week day (and every week night) and most weekends. She went to Barcelona for one of the final preparatory meetings before Copenhagen...and came back pretty exhausted but still full of Special K zest. Her colleague/friend Claire moved in with us for the month and our lounge room became an extension of Climate Analytics workspace ... it was just like an extended sleepover – although the fun to work ratio was severely disproportionate. The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall happened over the month of November, and there was some really amazing stuff going on. Hard to describe the mood really, but we feel lucky to have been here for the occasion. We went to one of the first bridge openings on the 9th and heard Angela Merkel and Mickhail Gorbachev give speeches about that day so long ago (or not so long ago). Check out the giant puppets (that were moved by Cranes!!) that searched for each other through the streets of Berlin over 3 days (representing the reunion of east and west). There were also various remnants of the old wall moved to various parts of the city....and while I'm no expert in automotive engineering, I'm pretty sure this little fella is no ant when it comes to carrying heavy stuff around, and these wall segments are as heavy as they look. I guess the Traubi (famous DDR plastic 'ish' car) wasn't up to it.

December arrived and Owy and Morven brought over some Scottish cheer which was great fun. They fully embraced German culture and Owy is now fluent at asking for three tickets. Morven re-discovered her high school German too, and spoke sehr gut Deutsch mit viele Leute. We went to a local bar and I won a CD for working out the most covers of heavy songs played slowly and melodically – Owy could have won but he must have slept through Nirvana’s hey day. Just kidding Owy ;-)

...and now the serious stuff. Copenhagen is underway and Kirsten is there giving it her best as we all knew she would. The hours logged to date already resemble an international phone number, but she’s still going strong. Her passion, commitment and uncompromised ideals have made her a fully fledged climate policy nerd, and nerds are cool these days in case you’re behind the times. I’m a very proud Hausmann! Please send her some best wishes if you get the chance :- )

Have a fantastic festive season wherever you are – we miss you all.

Tschussi und bis bald, Simon and Kirsten.