Moments in History

Am sitting at home on a Monday evening listening to the sound of the rain on the roof. It's been raining since I got home just before 3 and sounds like it's going to continue raining for the rest of the evening.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. When I was in Berlin 3 years ago I found it really difficult to take in the fact that for 28 years the city was divided in 2 by a concrete barrier as there's very little of the Wall left. There were definitely still noticeable differences between what was East and West Berlin, but as time passes I suppose those differences will become less and less.

Today is also the 71st anniversary of Kristallnacht when Jews and their property across Germany and Austria were attacked - apparently in retaliation of the assasination of a German diplomat who was killed by a German-born Polish Jew. It's hard to believe in many ways that just 70 years ago Europe was embroiled in a conflict that resulted in the deaths of so many people.

I'm listening to Raag Hansadwani by Ustad Rashid Khan. Earlier I was watching some of the songs from Devdas which is what made me do a search for some Indian classical music on YouTube. Indian classical music is amazing - so expressive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Oq8L_SdAUw&NR=1

Haven't been up to much since I last wrote apart from the usual things. Was at work this morning examining and will probably have to go in tomorrow as I have to mark some writing scripts as well. I don't enjoy going into work on my days off, but if I leave the marking to later in the week, I'll end up with too much to do. What to do?

I spoke to my Mum and Dad last night and they both seem to be doing well. All my Mum's family seem to have Skype now, so I seem to be spending lots of time on Skype. One evening last week I ended up having 5 seperate conversations! Takako has just come online, so I'm going to call her and see how she's doing.