Liebe Jungs und Maedchen, bitte schaut Euch die entsprechenden Bilder zu der Geschichte weiter unten an. Danke!!
Heute kriegt man ja oefter mal so eine Power Point Presentation geschickt, wo mitfuehlende Menschen einem eine gute Nachricht praesentieren.
Nachdem ich nun das Jahr 2010 in meinem blog (gibt es dafuer einen Deutschen Ausdruck – Internet Fasel Ecke vielleicht) bereits in Englisch zusammen gefasst habe – viele Seiten Geschreibsel und viele Bilder – will ich fuer meine Deutschen Freunde eine kurze (ha ha ha) Zusammenfassung in unserer Muttersprache zusammen zimmern.
Power Point hat ja einen Vorteil (den einzigen, glaube ich) es zwingt einen bis zu einem gewissen Grade dazu, den Text kurz zu halten.
Ich muss gestehen, ich schlage das System normalerweise. Aber na ja, wir werden sehen.
Nun geht’s chronologisch und stichwort artig weiter.
Na ja, und wie Ihr seht, habe ich auf power point verzichtet und alles in die Internet Fasel Ecke verbannt!
JANUAR
Etwas gekennzeichnet von “Zusammenbruechen”
Der gute alte Drucker/Fax etc meldet sich fuer immer ab, ein neuer muss her.
Am 17.1. so gegen 15.00 macht es ‘bang’ und der Computer Bildschirm strahlt weiss.
Strahlen hin, weiss her, die Festplatte ist kaput.
18.1.2010 mein IT Helfer kommt um zu retten was zu retten ist.
Jochen kriegt um 17.30 einen erheblichen Schuss in den unteren Ruecken – Hexenschuss. Bewegen – nix da!
Die restlichen Tage dieses Monats humpelt so ziemlich alles.
FEBRUAR
Der Hexenschuss ist ins rechteBein gewandert und das selbige ist so gefuehls sensitiv dass Jochen fuer eine Weile im Sarong rumlaeuft, statt Hosen zu tragen.
Dicker Auftrag wird angesagt. Tolles Ding, drei Wellen uebers Jahr verteilt. Umsatz davon alleine mehr als im ganzen Jahr 2009.
MAERZ
Fragebogen kommt, die Arbeit beginnt, erste Rechnung raus und bezahlt. Jochen arbeitet.
Dann befaellt Jochen ein akuter Anfall einer langjaehrig erlittenen Infections Krankheit. In Fachkreisen morbus peregrinatio genannt (Auslandsreisensucht) und Barry der Reiseonkel wird um ein paar Vorschlaege fuer eine bescheidene Weltumrundung gebeten.
APRIL
Der job wird erledigt und zweite Rechnung geht raus. Jochen entscheidet ueber den entgueltigen Reiseplan Sydney - Hong Kong – London – Hamburg – Amsterdam – Kampala – Amsterdam – Hamburg – Muenchen – New York – San Francisco – Honolulu (Hawaii) – Sydney.
MAI
Jochen wendet sich der akuten Heilung der o.a. Krankheits Symptome zu und verlaesst Green Point Richtung Hong Kong am 4.5.
der weitere Genesungsplan sieht wie folgt aus
Am 6.5. geht es weiter nach London
9.5. gen Hamburg und Faulueck (Besuch bei Reinold und Familie)
11.5. nach Kampala
21.5. zurueck nach Hamburg, zur rechten Zeit fuer die Geburstagsfeier
25.5. Flug nach Muenchen, 19.00 Stammtisch im Vinorant!
28.5. auf nach New York
31.5. kurzer Flug nach San Francisco
JUNI
3.6. es geht nach Hawaii
8.6. Zurueck in die Heimat
10.6. Kuendigung der zweiten und dritten Welle des schoenen Auftrags und eine neue Erkrankung erfasst den Jochen. Diese wird in Fachkreisen morbus paupertas genannt (schlichte Armut)
Ende Juni, hilfreiche and grosszuegige Ueberweisungen von ein paar guten Freunden in Deutschland fuellen das Bankkonto mit einem Notstandspaket.
JULI
Jochen entscheidet, dass es so nicht weiter geht und der Schuldenberg ein fuer alle mal abgebaut werden muss. Der Verkauf von Green Point Palace wird ins Auge gefasst und geplant.
Der Herbst, Winter schlaegt zu und es wird richtig kalt. Jochen braucht jetzt zwei Decken in der Nacht! Doch die Sonne scheint nach wie vor.
Arbeits Suche
AUGUST
Australien waehlt sich eine neue Regierung, was den Immobilien Markt fuer eine Weile lahm legt.
Da die Australier es geschafft haben, in den Wahlen keiner Partei eine Mehrheit einzuraeumen, geht die Verhandlerei mit den Unabhaengigen ueber die Buehne, was den ganzen Prozess der Regierungsbildung erheblich verlaengert.
Arbeits Suche
SEPTEMBER
Wir haben so etwas, was man eine Regierung nennen koennte.Spaeter im Monat kommen erst Thomas aus Adelaide und dann Dorothea und Helmut aus Muenchen zu Besuch. Schoene Tage mit guten Freunden. Sehr erfreulich
Ende September kommt ein neuer Auftrag
OKTOBER
Der Oktober ist gefuellt mit Arbeit an dem neuen Auftrag. Etwas Geld kommt in die Kasse.
Die Angebote der Makler sind alle beschissen und Jochen entscheidet, das Haus selber zu verkaufen. Vorbereitung und Publizierung einer ‘virtual tour’ und Beginn der Anzeigen.
NOVEMBER
4 Samstage offenes Haus, wenig Besucher oder Interessenten. Aber die, die es sehen, finden das Haus fantastisch. Na wie schoen!
Es wird waermer und der Sommer streckt seine ersten Fuehler aus.
Arbeits Suche
DEZEMBER
Weitere offene Tage doch wenig Zulauf. Die Realitaet bestaetigt meine Vermutung, dieses Haus zu verkaufen wird laenger dauern.
Es gibt einen Kaeufer, ich muss ihn nur finden! Anzeigen nun auf allen (11) relevanten Webseiten
Mitte Dezember, Bruder Klaus mit Sabine und Freunden Ruth und Harry kommen fuer 4 Tage zu Besuch. Sie koennen Green Point Palace noch geniessen!
Mehrere Anfragen aber noch kein neuer Auftrag. Das Jahr naehert sich seinem Ende (und das gilt auch fuers Geld)
Haus Marketing Pause bis Mitte Januar.Feiertage und Ferienzeit sind keine Immobilien Freunde
21. bis 23. Dezember, Jochen stellt mehrere mehr oder weniger absurde Jahreszusammenfassungen in verschiedenen Sprachen her, um damit seine Freunde in der Welt maltraetieren zu koennen.
Jochen wird durch regelmaessig eintrudelnde Weihnachtskarten daran erinnert, dass es auch anders geht, wenn man nur rechtzeitig daran denkt!
Euch allen alles Liebe und Gute und sehr herzliche Gruesse. Vielen Dank auch fuer Eure Gastfreundschaft und liebevollen Zuwendungen.. Lasst uns hoffen, dass 2011 mal wieder ein gutes Jahr wird.
Euer Jochen
PS vergesst die Schneeketten nicht!!
Wednesday, 22 December 2010
The Year gone by (almost) – in words and pictures
For some time now I have thought about doing a little bit of a wrap up of the year 2010.
Receiving many cards and e-mails from loving friends and relatives from around the world in the last few days, was probably a useful reminder for me to ‘get on with it’ as the year, well and truly draws to a close.
It’s been a year of mixed fortunes. A year where I often sat at home and thought, how is this going to end. I guess if/when a downturn in economic activity gets its own moniker – GFC (global financial crisis) things are really serious.
And whilst our various governments can dream up stimulus packages for banks, car manufacturers, airlines and other worthwhile gigantic enterprises, the stimuli for one man bands in the market research capers are well and truly far and few between.
And when the managing director of this world wide operating one man enterprise suffers from morbus peregrinatio (overseas travel addiction) then the follow on infliction, morbus paupertas (poverty) is not very far if the circumstances are right for it. And they proved to be right for it.
However, having very good friends also means that at some stage a most generous survival package hit my German bank account in form of a loan from some caring souls, which was more than appreciated.
The early days of the year were filled with work. In fact it was a large contract for one project in three waves, stretched over the entire year, which brought on the above mentioned morbus peregrination. It looked like the fortunes had turned and this one contract was worth more than the entire turnover of the company in 2009. However, in June, shortly after my return from my trip around the world, wave 2 and 3 were cancelled and we were back to the follow on infliction, morbus paupertas
Receiving many cards and e-mails from loving friends and relatives from around the world in the last few days, was probably a useful reminder for me to ‘get on with it’ as the year, well and truly draws to a close.
It’s been a year of mixed fortunes. A year where I often sat at home and thought, how is this going to end. I guess if/when a downturn in economic activity gets its own moniker – GFC (global financial crisis) things are really serious.
And whilst our various governments can dream up stimulus packages for banks, car manufacturers, airlines and other worthwhile gigantic enterprises, the stimuli for one man bands in the market research capers are well and truly far and few between.
And when the managing director of this world wide operating one man enterprise suffers from morbus peregrinatio (overseas travel addiction) then the follow on infliction, morbus paupertas (poverty) is not very far if the circumstances are right for it. And they proved to be right for it.
However, having very good friends also means that at some stage a most generous survival package hit my German bank account in form of a loan from some caring souls, which was more than appreciated.
The early days of the year were filled with work. In fact it was a large contract for one project in three waves, stretched over the entire year, which brought on the above mentioned morbus peregrination. It looked like the fortunes had turned and this one contract was worth more than the entire turnover of the company in 2009. However, in June, shortly after my return from my trip around the world, wave 2 and 3 were cancelled and we were back to the follow on infliction, morbus paupertas
The end of civilisation as we know it is near!
For this travel mad homo not so sapiens, who is used to be brought to the Teutonic borders around early March for a first visit (usually followed by around two more appearances in a normal year), a certain malaise evolved, which at the time I described thus:
The end of civilisation as we know it is near!
Any man mad disaster pales into insignificance compared to what is going to happen shortly.
The mountains of Switzerland will tremble and the gnomes of Zurich will shudder
And not because they are watching in horror a tax evasion scheme being parlamentarially dismembered.
And not because an uncaring soul – foreigner that is – has told a joke in Bern after 13.30 on a Friday which made the solemn congregation of the faithful in the local church cringe and looking shocked as one of theirs burst into laughter on Sunday at 10.30 (Bern people are said to be slow and hence the rule of not telling jokes after 13.30 on any Friday)
And not because the huddled masses in certain Indian metal factories are grinning like Cheshire cats with too much crème around their salivating mouths
BUT because I, Joachim Rolf Peter Holzrichter am running out of PIPE CLEANERS
The world knows our gnomes in Switzerland for two manufacturing miracles (apart from tax avoiding schemes that is) and that is Kuckuck clocks and pipe cleaners.
And because of their state of preciousness – the pipe cleaners that is – they tend to only be sold in well and truly civilised countries, such as Switzerland, Germany, Austria and, may be, as an occasional errant pack, also in the sophisticated parts of her Majesty’s realm, thus being confined to world class pipe shops in the Soho area of Londonium.
And yes, the huddled masses of Indian metal factories also do produce such useful and irreplaceable items, however, their quality is so shamefully inferior to the Swiss made implements of identical purpose of use, that no self respecting pipe smoker would ever be able to scramble together all the will and conviction needed to use them for the intended purpose of pipe cleaning, since they are utterly useless for the task. Which is a good enough reason as to why they are sold in Newsagents around the outer realms of Her Majesties Kingdom (Australia) in the children’s do it your self handicraft section of said commercial enterprises.
In times gone by – no make that in a bygone era – I, J.R.P.Holzrichter tended to purchase sufficient quantities of those Swiss made “Blitz System Konische Pfeifenreiniger mit Buerste” a registered trademark of Denicotea, in fancy red and white and occasionally in the even more fancy blue and white fashion design, to last him the time between visits to the mother country.
However, due to utterly unfortunate and - at the time of last purchase entirely unforeseeable – changes in travel arrangements, brought, in part, on this suffering soul by some of those other machinations for which the gnomes of Zurich and their brethrens in the new world of the former colonies of her Majesties realm, The US of A have been responsible, the GFC, the over decades finely tuned and timed purchasing habits of this devastated pipe smoking individual have been proven to be inadequate and hence the currently arising, devastating, shortage of pipe cleaners.
The world will mark Monday the first of March anno domini two thousand and ten with a dark and shrouded pipe cleaner symbol in the world’s calendariums (that’s when I really ran out)
And that day will forthwith and around the world be known as the end of civilisation as we KNEW it.
(doomsday merchants of this world, eat your hearts out and mark my words)
The end of civilisation as we know it is near!
Any man mad disaster pales into insignificance compared to what is going to happen shortly.
The mountains of Switzerland will tremble and the gnomes of Zurich will shudder
And not because they are watching in horror a tax evasion scheme being parlamentarially dismembered.
And not because an uncaring soul – foreigner that is – has told a joke in Bern after 13.30 on a Friday which made the solemn congregation of the faithful in the local church cringe and looking shocked as one of theirs burst into laughter on Sunday at 10.30 (Bern people are said to be slow and hence the rule of not telling jokes after 13.30 on any Friday)
And not because the huddled masses in certain Indian metal factories are grinning like Cheshire cats with too much crème around their salivating mouths
BUT because I, Joachim Rolf Peter Holzrichter am running out of PIPE CLEANERS
The world knows our gnomes in Switzerland for two manufacturing miracles (apart from tax avoiding schemes that is) and that is Kuckuck clocks and pipe cleaners.
And because of their state of preciousness – the pipe cleaners that is – they tend to only be sold in well and truly civilised countries, such as Switzerland, Germany, Austria and, may be, as an occasional errant pack, also in the sophisticated parts of her Majesty’s realm, thus being confined to world class pipe shops in the Soho area of Londonium.
And yes, the huddled masses of Indian metal factories also do produce such useful and irreplaceable items, however, their quality is so shamefully inferior to the Swiss made implements of identical purpose of use, that no self respecting pipe smoker would ever be able to scramble together all the will and conviction needed to use them for the intended purpose of pipe cleaning, since they are utterly useless for the task. Which is a good enough reason as to why they are sold in Newsagents around the outer realms of Her Majesties Kingdom (Australia) in the children’s do it your self handicraft section of said commercial enterprises.
In times gone by – no make that in a bygone era – I, J.R.P.Holzrichter tended to purchase sufficient quantities of those Swiss made “Blitz System Konische Pfeifenreiniger mit Buerste” a registered trademark of Denicotea, in fancy red and white and occasionally in the even more fancy blue and white fashion design, to last him the time between visits to the mother country.
However, due to utterly unfortunate and - at the time of last purchase entirely unforeseeable – changes in travel arrangements, brought, in part, on this suffering soul by some of those other machinations for which the gnomes of Zurich and their brethrens in the new world of the former colonies of her Majesties realm, The US of A have been responsible, the GFC, the over decades finely tuned and timed purchasing habits of this devastated pipe smoking individual have been proven to be inadequate and hence the currently arising, devastating, shortage of pipe cleaners.
The world will mark Monday the first of March anno domini two thousand and ten with a dark and shrouded pipe cleaner symbol in the world’s calendariums (that’s when I really ran out)
And that day will forthwith and around the world be known as the end of civilisation as we KNEW it.
(doomsday merchants of this world, eat your hearts out and mark my words)
Trip around the world – first stop Hong Kong
But as I said before, the first few months of the year were filled with merry work and the replacement of some electronic stuff
And sometime in late March or there abouts, Jochen called on the services of his trusted travel agent Barry in order to make arrangements for me to travel around the world in 40 or so days.
The final route I settled on – having in mind my disgust for flying more than 8 hours in one go – did not always fully comply with my principles but I guess that is the price you have to pay when you decide to live in Australia and don’t always fancy the idea of going via Singapore. Hence Hong Kong was this time around the first stop over, followed by a few days London, to meet some lovely friends there.
The Hong Kong interlude was planned for only 2 days during which I re-traced some old and well known paths. Staying in Kowloon I took the ferry to the island and from there the double story tram to wiggle my way towards Fortitude Valley. (may be in the vain hope that the name might rub off on my business?!?) Every now and then getting off and looking at some of the lively markets.
And yes, this was my view out of my hotel room. pretty ain't it?
And sometime in late March or there abouts, Jochen called on the services of his trusted travel agent Barry in order to make arrangements for me to travel around the world in 40 or so days.
The final route I settled on – having in mind my disgust for flying more than 8 hours in one go – did not always fully comply with my principles but I guess that is the price you have to pay when you decide to live in Australia and don’t always fancy the idea of going via Singapore. Hence Hong Kong was this time around the first stop over, followed by a few days London, to meet some lovely friends there.
The Hong Kong interlude was planned for only 2 days during which I re-traced some old and well known paths. Staying in Kowloon I took the ferry to the island and from there the double story tram to wiggle my way towards Fortitude Valley. (may be in the vain hope that the name might rub off on my business?!?) Every now and then getting off and looking at some of the lively markets.
And yes, this was my view out of my hotel room. pretty ain't it?
Second stop London
In London it was planned to meet in real life some friends from the internet. We had been chatting for some time and enjoyed each other, so now was the time for a real world meeting.
I booked myself into my standard hotel, the Norfolk Pine. The main feature of this venerable establishment is the fact that it is located some 5 minutes walk from Paddington station, where one arrives by train from Heathrow. And from here the Underground brings you almost where ever you desire to go in London.
To me that more often than not means the Tate Modern. I love to walk along the river for a while and soak in the London sights and sounds, before entering the Museum for what ever exhibition is there to see.
And since walking through a gallery for a while can make a person hungry, I stopped for a little lunch at the salvation army diner just across the Thames on the other side of the footbridge from the Tate.
And from here my walk leads me slowly but steadily to Leicester Square and Covent Garden, where our first meeting with my friends was arranged.
In London in those days, there was also an ‘outside’ exhibition on with colourful animal sculptures gracing the footpaths and public places. It somehow seems to be some kind of global movement, because I have seen similar exhibitions also in places like Munich or Johannesburg.
I booked myself into my standard hotel, the Norfolk Pine. The main feature of this venerable establishment is the fact that it is located some 5 minutes walk from Paddington station, where one arrives by train from Heathrow. And from here the Underground brings you almost where ever you desire to go in London.
To me that more often than not means the Tate Modern. I love to walk along the river for a while and soak in the London sights and sounds, before entering the Museum for what ever exhibition is there to see.
And since walking through a gallery for a while can make a person hungry, I stopped for a little lunch at the salvation army diner just across the Thames on the other side of the footbridge from the Tate.
And from here my walk leads me slowly but steadily to Leicester Square and Covent Garden, where our first meeting with my friends was arranged.
In London in those days, there was also an ‘outside’ exhibition on with colourful animal sculptures gracing the footpaths and public places. It somehow seems to be some kind of global movement, because I have seen similar exhibitions also in places like Munich or Johannesburg.
Third stop Hamburg
From London I winged my way to Hamburg to be met by my best and oldest friend Reinold Hillebrand and whisked away to the most northern parts of Germany where he and his family live in Faulueck. And as usual, we had wonderful 24 hours of talking, eating, drinking, pipe smoking and just having a good time. Our friendship which now goes into the end of its fifth decade, and started, as the saying goes in German, im Sandkasten, is such, that we could continue a conversation mid sentence after it was rudely interrupted for 12 or so months.
After a very brief stay at my sister’s house, the next leg of the trip was to be started and on the wings of Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, for those not entirely familiar with the dutch language, KLM in short, this took me from Hamburg, via Amsterdam to Kampala, capital of Uganda. For reasons unknown to me, the chaps from KLM decided that Kampala would be a worthwhile destination in their worldwide net and I don’t argue with them on that one.
Some of my friends, a few years back, to be precise in 2004, somehow suspected that I had withheld the news from them that I was appointed to the board of directors of Emirates Airlines. Another very plucky airline which I like and frequent a lot. And the reason for such suspicion was the fact, that said airline introduced two new direct connections which seemed far too much tailored for me (in 2004 I started my regular travelling to Uganda) as to be introduced randomly or based on sound economic grounds. And those direct services were Dubai – Kampala and Dubai – Hamburg.
Since this was my 13th trip since March 2004 to Kampala, things were to some extent routine for me. But it’s always a huge pleasure to see my boys and spend a few days with them.
After a very brief stay at my sister’s house, the next leg of the trip was to be started and on the wings of Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, for those not entirely familiar with the dutch language, KLM in short, this took me from Hamburg, via Amsterdam to Kampala, capital of Uganda. For reasons unknown to me, the chaps from KLM decided that Kampala would be a worthwhile destination in their worldwide net and I don’t argue with them on that one.
Some of my friends, a few years back, to be precise in 2004, somehow suspected that I had withheld the news from them that I was appointed to the board of directors of Emirates Airlines. Another very plucky airline which I like and frequent a lot. And the reason for such suspicion was the fact, that said airline introduced two new direct connections which seemed far too much tailored for me (in 2004 I started my regular travelling to Uganda) as to be introduced randomly or based on sound economic grounds. And those direct services were Dubai – Kampala and Dubai – Hamburg.
Since this was my 13th trip since March 2004 to Kampala, things were to some extent routine for me. But it’s always a huge pleasure to see my boys and spend a few days with them.
Fourth stop Kampala
As most of you will know, my main purpose for making all those trips to Uganda is to help my boys to get on their own feet and help them to look after themselves economically. And we have come a very long way since I started all this and when those guys were basically sitting on the street with no prospect for any meaningful future.
With the exception of 2 – and I am working on this one – all are now more or less gainfully employed or self employed, earn their living and have learned a lot. As is life, occasionally, some people lose their job and have to look for a new one.
On this occasion it was Johnny. He had been a lolly seller for quite some time and I was very pleased to see him in some form of employment – he was a bit of a Sorgenkind – But now, I saw him on a daily basis sitting at the lounge table with little expression on his face and quite obviously seriously unhappy. So I knew I had to try to invent something which would give him a new start. And whilst thinking about our other little market businesses, such as Wunderbar, the second hand clothing boutique, GPSS (which stands for Green Point Secretarial Service) our little secretarial service, the hair dressing salon etc. I thought, that GPSS could do with a bit of advertising.
Being in market research for nearly 40 years now, the first thing which came to mind, was obviously to do a survey on the un-prompted and prompted awareness of GPSS amongst the local community. Hence I designed a little survey, the guys did 200 interviews and we established, apart from a few other useful things, that 0% of the people actively knew GPSS (unprompted awareness) after it had been operating for about 12 months. And prompted awareness was around 10%
Now came the idea to me that we could promote the business by using a sandwich man, as we call them in Australia. That is a person who walks around the streets with two advertising boards hanging on the front and back and thus becoming a walking advertising sign. At the same time the sandwich man can also distribute little leaflets and answer questions. And I thought, Johnny was the ideal person for that.
Hence we bought some light timber panels and I designed a few promotional signs which we stuck on the boards, using Velcro dots in order to be able to change them when need be, without having to change the boards. Hence those signs were laminated (by GPSS of course) and stuck on both sides of the board. And, presto, we had a new job for Johnny. He was/is very proud now being the very first sandwich man in Uganda and walks around the local area for about 4 to 5 hours a day.
And as every market researcher would know, you do a follow up survey to check, whether your marketing/advertising has any of the desired effects. And so we did three months later. And what had been a zero unprompted awareness has gone up to 18% and what was 10% prompted, grew to a healthy 48%
Sillyness is part of the game!! Figaros socks and an old look smart Ueberbleibsel
And something happened, which I had hoped for, other businesses around the area saw Johnny walking past every day and thought it to be a good idea. And now we can start ‘selling’ our services to other little businesses in the area and we have the numbers to show that it works!
No visit to Kampala would be complete without visiting Mum at her village and grandma in the African bush.
With the exception of 2 – and I am working on this one – all are now more or less gainfully employed or self employed, earn their living and have learned a lot. As is life, occasionally, some people lose their job and have to look for a new one.
On this occasion it was Johnny. He had been a lolly seller for quite some time and I was very pleased to see him in some form of employment – he was a bit of a Sorgenkind – But now, I saw him on a daily basis sitting at the lounge table with little expression on his face and quite obviously seriously unhappy. So I knew I had to try to invent something which would give him a new start. And whilst thinking about our other little market businesses, such as Wunderbar, the second hand clothing boutique, GPSS (which stands for Green Point Secretarial Service) our little secretarial service, the hair dressing salon etc. I thought, that GPSS could do with a bit of advertising.
Being in market research for nearly 40 years now, the first thing which came to mind, was obviously to do a survey on the un-prompted and prompted awareness of GPSS amongst the local community. Hence I designed a little survey, the guys did 200 interviews and we established, apart from a few other useful things, that 0% of the people actively knew GPSS (unprompted awareness) after it had been operating for about 12 months. And prompted awareness was around 10%
Now came the idea to me that we could promote the business by using a sandwich man, as we call them in Australia. That is a person who walks around the streets with two advertising boards hanging on the front and back and thus becoming a walking advertising sign. At the same time the sandwich man can also distribute little leaflets and answer questions. And I thought, Johnny was the ideal person for that.
Hence we bought some light timber panels and I designed a few promotional signs which we stuck on the boards, using Velcro dots in order to be able to change them when need be, without having to change the boards. Hence those signs were laminated (by GPSS of course) and stuck on both sides of the board. And, presto, we had a new job for Johnny. He was/is very proud now being the very first sandwich man in Uganda and walks around the local area for about 4 to 5 hours a day.
And as every market researcher would know, you do a follow up survey to check, whether your marketing/advertising has any of the desired effects. And so we did three months later. And what had been a zero unprompted awareness has gone up to 18% and what was 10% prompted, grew to a healthy 48%
Sillyness is part of the game!! Figaros socks and an old look smart Ueberbleibsel
And something happened, which I had hoped for, other businesses around the area saw Johnny walking past every day and thought it to be a good idea. And now we can start ‘selling’ our services to other little businesses in the area and we have the numbers to show that it works!
No visit to Kampala would be complete without visiting Mum at her village and grandma in the African bush.
Fifth stop Hamburg and Munich
After 10 days came the time to say good bye and return to Hamburg in time for my 62nd birthday which was celebrated in Beate’s and Klaus Martin’s garden with some friends and relatives around.
And just a day later it was time to visit another friend and celebrate her birthday in style.
The days in Hamburg were followed by a few days in my old home town Munich and to meet for the “Stammtisch” with old and lovely friends again.
This Munich Stammtisch has a special character. All in all it’s a German tradition to have a and go to a Stammtisch regularly. This one has the ‘twist’ that it only gets together when I am in town. And it is always a very happy and lively affair which is enjoyed by all. And to my great delight, my very good and long term friend Georg from Loerrach could make it as well.
With cousin Angela I travelled to Chiemsee in order to visit my old friend Traute. She is for the last few years burdened by Parkinson’s disease and needs the daily help of a retirement home. And we were trying to prepare her for the visit and provide some basic explanation as to who the visitor may be. However, in this case that was not necessary …..Ich wuerde Jochen sofort auf der Strasse erkennen…. (I would recognise Jochen immediately on the street) were her words.
Sadly, her own son who was also called Jochen, had died a few weeks earlier.
And one day was reserved for 4 of us, Dorothea, Helmut, Georg and me to drive a few km into the Bavarian countryside to visit Kloster Andechs and to enjoy a real beer (my Australian friends will excuse my emphasis on ‘real’ in relation to beer from Andechs.) However, who ever has tasted the brew will understand.
And just a day later it was time to visit another friend and celebrate her birthday in style.
The days in Hamburg were followed by a few days in my old home town Munich and to meet for the “Stammtisch” with old and lovely friends again.
This Munich Stammtisch has a special character. All in all it’s a German tradition to have a and go to a Stammtisch regularly. This one has the ‘twist’ that it only gets together when I am in town. And it is always a very happy and lively affair which is enjoyed by all. And to my great delight, my very good and long term friend Georg from Loerrach could make it as well.
With cousin Angela I travelled to Chiemsee in order to visit my old friend Traute. She is for the last few years burdened by Parkinson’s disease and needs the daily help of a retirement home. And we were trying to prepare her for the visit and provide some basic explanation as to who the visitor may be. However, in this case that was not necessary …..Ich wuerde Jochen sofort auf der Strasse erkennen…. (I would recognise Jochen immediately on the street) were her words.
Sadly, her own son who was also called Jochen, had died a few weeks earlier.
And one day was reserved for 4 of us, Dorothea, Helmut, Georg and me to drive a few km into the Bavarian countryside to visit Kloster Andechs and to enjoy a real beer (my Australian friends will excuse my emphasis on ‘real’ in relation to beer from Andechs.) However, who ever has tasted the brew will understand.
Sixth stop New York and San Francisco
On the 28th of May it was time for me to say good bye to Munich and make my way to New York. Once again a destination which I like very much and have been visiting so many times in my life that I feel almost at home.
Since I had some work on my computer, I spent a fair bit of the time in my hotel. But no visit of NYC, in particular in May, would be without an extended stroll through Central Park and a visit to my favourite bar/restaurant the Boathouse.
Sadly I did not manage to get in touch with Anita, my cousin and her husband Oliver. They might have been in their summer residence and who would blame them!
NYC was followed by the equally well known and loved San Francisco. I would imagine that my number of visits here is close to or equal to those of NYC. And whilst NYC is a real ‘walking town’ SF is more of a driving town for me. Hence a little car was picked up at the airport for the familiar drive into the city.
As a regular visitor to SF would know, the city can sometimes be seriously shrouded in fog. On my first day after breakfast I made my way to Twin Peaks and guess what, the fog had rolled in and covered the entire city. The funny thing was that there was a Japanese Tour bus with about 40 elderly Japanese and I started a conversation with the guide about what he is going to tell his travellers what they might have seen, had it not been for the blanket of fog. Thankfully for him, it started to lift and at least a few photos could duly be taken.
A bit like in Hong Kong, I was re-tracing long and often trodden paths down Market street, around Union Square and over to Embarcadero.
The next day was reserved for a tour into Napa Valley and for lunch at my favourite Restaurant in this part of the world, the Horizon. I remembered taking our mother and Frau Hillebrand there during our trip in 2000
Since I had some work on my computer, I spent a fair bit of the time in my hotel. But no visit of NYC, in particular in May, would be without an extended stroll through Central Park and a visit to my favourite bar/restaurant the Boathouse.
Sadly I did not manage to get in touch with Anita, my cousin and her husband Oliver. They might have been in their summer residence and who would blame them!
NYC was followed by the equally well known and loved San Francisco. I would imagine that my number of visits here is close to or equal to those of NYC. And whilst NYC is a real ‘walking town’ SF is more of a driving town for me. Hence a little car was picked up at the airport for the familiar drive into the city.
As a regular visitor to SF would know, the city can sometimes be seriously shrouded in fog. On my first day after breakfast I made my way to Twin Peaks and guess what, the fog had rolled in and covered the entire city. The funny thing was that there was a Japanese Tour bus with about 40 elderly Japanese and I started a conversation with the guide about what he is going to tell his travellers what they might have seen, had it not been for the blanket of fog. Thankfully for him, it started to lift and at least a few photos could duly be taken.
A bit like in Hong Kong, I was re-tracing long and often trodden paths down Market street, around Union Square and over to Embarcadero.
The next day was reserved for a tour into Napa Valley and for lunch at my favourite Restaurant in this part of the world, the Horizon. I remembered taking our mother and Frau Hillebrand there during our trip in 2000
Seventh stop Hawaii
And from SF it is only a hop and a skip to one of my favourite Islands on this globe, Hawaii, or Oahu to be more precise.
This time I had booked myself into the Aqua Waikiki which was a bit cheaper than my otherwise standard hotel the Sheraton Waikiki. But it served its purpose perfectly.
On Kuhio Av. I went to the good old car rental place where I get myself usually a little jeep.
It’s one of those places which in Australia we call rent a wreck. The cars are not up to the usual standards you might expect from Budget or Avis but who gives a damn. Cheap and airy is the way to go. And it got me around very nicely to many of the places which I would call my standard excursion places, such as the Polynesian Cultural Centre,
Diamond Head
and of course my most loved place Waimea Falls.
Here it’s nature and her way of producing flowers and trees which always excites me and which I don’t tire to see and take photos of.
And I have a special ‘friend’ on the Island. Somewhere on the road along the rugged coast line on the eastern side there is a little cart on the road, where a woman sells fresh fruit to the tourists. This woman, as I found out many years ago, is Australian and comes originally from Bondi. And many years ago, she followed her heart and married a Hawaiian gentleman which brought her to this part of the world.
As things sometimes go, the marriage does not exist anymore, but her dream of once again managing to go to Bondi is a never ending one. And I am, somehow, her one and only ‘connection’ to her beloved Bondi. I must admit here, that I do occasionally invent some gossip for her, since my visits and familiarity with Bondi social life are highly limited. But it serves the purpose and, as I feel, a good one at that.
And so the days go by and the time comes to say Aloha and return home after, what was all in all, a very enjoyable trip over 39 days in May and June.
This time I had booked myself into the Aqua Waikiki which was a bit cheaper than my otherwise standard hotel the Sheraton Waikiki. But it served its purpose perfectly.
On Kuhio Av. I went to the good old car rental place where I get myself usually a little jeep.
It’s one of those places which in Australia we call rent a wreck. The cars are not up to the usual standards you might expect from Budget or Avis but who gives a damn. Cheap and airy is the way to go. And it got me around very nicely to many of the places which I would call my standard excursion places, such as the Polynesian Cultural Centre,
Diamond Head
and of course my most loved place Waimea Falls.
Here it’s nature and her way of producing flowers and trees which always excites me and which I don’t tire to see and take photos of.
And I have a special ‘friend’ on the Island. Somewhere on the road along the rugged coast line on the eastern side there is a little cart on the road, where a woman sells fresh fruit to the tourists. This woman, as I found out many years ago, is Australian and comes originally from Bondi. And many years ago, she followed her heart and married a Hawaiian gentleman which brought her to this part of the world.
As things sometimes go, the marriage does not exist anymore, but her dream of once again managing to go to Bondi is a never ending one. And I am, somehow, her one and only ‘connection’ to her beloved Bondi. I must admit here, that I do occasionally invent some gossip for her, since my visits and familiarity with Bondi social life are highly limited. But it serves the purpose and, as I feel, a good one at that.
And so the days go by and the time comes to say Aloha and return home after, what was all in all, a very enjoyable trip over 39 days in May and June.
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