At Steinhorst (2)

Well, another excursion, this time to Celle, only about 25km away. Went to C & A (much in evidence here in Germany), and  chatted to a young English mum in another shop.  She´s an army wife, and there is quite a big army presence here. There is some talk of them moving out, but this has caused some controversy: it will have a big impact on the local population, because not only do the army families spend their money in the town, but the army also employs many local people at the barracks.

Found a lovely Fair Trade Shop, tucked away at the rear of another premises. The shops at the back pay a much reduced rental because they do not have frontage onto the main street. This shop was like an Aladdin´s cave of fair trade goodies from all over the world: food, textiles, carvings, toys, from every continent and island.  Then the obligatory ice cream at a pavement cafe.  Very yum.  We notice smoking is very popular here, probably more so than in England, and the fact someone is eating at the next table doesn´t prevent people from lighting up...

There are some lovely wonky old houses here too: some date from the 1630´s, and are most attractive.

Next, Mission Impossible. Find some replacement windscreen wiper blades.  Well, there isn´t an equivalent chain like Halfords round here, so luckily the relatives are full of little bits of local knowledge, and off we go.  First place didn´t have the right size.  The second place, whose address at no. 22 Something Strasse on an industrial estate, seemed, bizarrely to be, not between 20 and 24, but somewhere amongst the 30´s.  Anyway, it had closed down, some time ago. Finally, to an unlikely looking building on another estate, manned by a couple of old gents in checky shirts and braces.One of them looks up the part on his computer and toddles off into the back room,, then returns with a box.  Aha, looks like we´re cooking on gas, but no, wait a minute, it´s got the wrong fitment, you can´t possibly take that one.  Eventually, he found some replacement wiper rubbers. Hoorah, at last, we get it sorted, but 24 Euros lighter in the pocket department.  What a palaver.

Finally, to the supermarket, and while trying to squeeze past a group of four older people, we got asked (in English) "Where are you trying to get to?"  One of the men was actually in REME, here in Celle, and got talking to Geoff about army life... Well, 15 minutes later we managed to get away.

We noticed in Steinhorst village a couple of houses with a sort of "target" with a date (2001, 2008 etc) attached to the side of the house, up under the eaves. These are the Schutzenfest (shooting festival) champions for a particular year.  As well as being a great honour, the shooting champion has to have quite a bit of money, because he has to buy the drinks for everyone.  Shooting festivals are happening all around this area at the moment, and hunting is also quite a popular pastime around here.

The village of Steinhorst, so the story goes, gets its name from a man called Horst, who was very strong, and threw a stone (Stein) up in the air, and to this day it has never come back down. I think maybe the people round here are not taking any chances though, because I haven´t seen any glasshouses lately.