Nikolaus

Bavaria has many Christmas traditions which were new to me. (I'm not sure how many are German and how many are Bavarian, of course.)

Nikolaus is one of them. Today is the feast day of St Nikolaus (nothing to do with Santa Claus). Bavarians give gifts for the occasion. Wee ones.

Plätzchen are another tradition. Home baked biscuits, the trick being to find unusual recipes and to bake more different varieties (of unusual recipes) than the neighbours and relatives. They have to be baked by Advent (last Sunday). Then they are on offer around the house and given as presents until Christmas (or until all scoffed).

A newer tradition is to send me a food parcel of Plätzchen as a present for Nikolaus. I like this tradition. The parcel arrived on Saturday. Right on time. Very Bavarian.

In other very important news, it was dry all day with a bit of sun. Fife has been spared the worst of the flooding caused by the storm, but it's still nice when the rain stops.

I celebrated by cycling to the park and getting some much needed exercise (Plätzchen season, remember) and fresh air. The moment was spoiled slightly by being threatened by 2 aggressive Jack Russell terriers. As I was deciding whether to kick them into the pond (I would, believe me), kick their owner into the pond (less likely - he was a fat wee bast*rd), or do both, he decided to call them off. He'd had his fun. So had they.


I also went to Glasgow to see Caps play Braehead Clan. Kept me away from the Plätzchen for a few hours. Game could have gone either way, but Caps lost 1-2. They gave 100% and are still short of 2 top players because of injury, so no complaints.