Flying kites at Tempelhofer Feld.

Sometimes your dreams aren't all they're cracked up to be. I've started a list (I am a great one for unfinished lists you know), and this list is all the things I think I will be kicking myself for if I don't see them/do them etc before we leave. I've stuck it on one of the kitchen units so that I can add to it as I come up with things. Stevie is going to participate in some of these things, but some of them I will do with friends and some i'll do with the kids and some on my own. I have the feeling that the medical museum might be one I'm doing on my own.... But in case you're wondering, I already have a date for the concentration camp. One of my friends has wanted to go, but her husband refuses, so we're teaming up. Stevie thinks we are beyond understanding. He can't see why anyone would want to go to a place where there was so much suffering. He asks "So, are you looking forward to your day out?". Then swiftly moves on to asking when we'll be boarding a plane to view some mass graves in Kenya. I don't know. It seems important to see it. That's all I can say. 

God, I'm cheery. Anyway. Moving on. Another thing I've been planning on doing is going to Tempelhof and flying kites with the kids. I've been planning this for so long but somehow the weather never seems to be right. It's always too sunny and not windy enough. I've had two kites in the boot of the car for over a year. They've been driving the kids nuts cause we NEVER take them out of the car. Anyway, a week ago we decided to try flying them at our local park, but lo and behold there was no wind, so we did a bit of running and dragging. But on our way back into our building a lady told me there was a kite festival happening at Tempelhof last Saturday, so we went. My good friend Sarah joined us too. She was in the mood for getting cat gut wrapped round her throat and ankles. 

The festival organisers seemed to have brought with them only a handful of big impressive kites. Certainly the poster in the u-bahn depicted things an awful lot more exciting than reality. Most of the kites were pretty regular ones brought by everybody else there to see the fancy kites. We were however very impressed by the big kite made out of umbrellas (see above) and some of the circular kites. We were somewhat less impressed with the two I bought in the Ihr Platz sale for 2 Euros each. Hamish in fact could have been described as 'incensed' for most of the afternoon, thoroughly frustrated by his Thomas kite that kind of broke in the wind after 2 minutes. He spent the rest of his time moping and repeating "Ugh, I just want to go home now (via an Imbiss)". Kids, huh, they drain the fun out of everything.