Elsa, Clarence and Judy

All three were fans of British engineering, just like millions of others who took a ride in what a German newspaper described: "As English as driving on the left, London Taxis and red telephone boxes, the gnarled 4x4 mountaineer has ended its days"

Well my 4x4 Jeep has been showing signs of not being happy. Had arranged a check up for tomorrow but agreed to take it in today in case they needed to order parts and be able to get it done by Friday.

So took off with the dogs in the morning, a wonderful sunny, hot spring day as can be seen top left. Despite my winter pneumatic tyres (invented by a Scotsman), the hold up meant I didn't get to the garage in Mindelheim (Principality of Mindelheim was owned by an Englishman) until 12:01 to find a locked door. Not surprising with the amount of water around, if only I had a maritime clock (invented by an Englishman), Checked on my (mobile) telephone (invented by a Scotsman) on the internet (co-inventor an Englishman) that they had lunch until 13:00. Unloaded dogs (Border Collie, British breed) , pulled on my Wellington boots (invented by an Englishman) made by Dunlop (one of the first multinationals). Walked over the nearby grass (UK world grass growing and cutting nation) and viewed the five building cranes on the skyline (first hydraulic crane invented by an Englishman) as well as the Mindelburg Castle (once owned by Duke of Marlborough) Got in to a whirr of Twitter messages with Nogbad (made in Manchester) sending him a photo (first person to use chemicals to develop photos an Englishman) of the railway (invented by an Englishman) track repair business. Also a shot of two, 6 and 8 floor high, huge skyscrapers (first ascending room for take tourists to top of high buildings designed by Englishman) and so it goes on, and on, and on.

But why do you keep seeing entries in Wiki such as "Dunlop Rubber failed to adapt to evolving market conditions in the 1970s" - Norton, entire UK car industry ...... a never ending list?

Eventually after a very cold, wet, miserable walk, made only bearable by Nogbads Twitters, was punctually at the garage. Did the checking in but sceptical it will pan out as planned as the owner is away this week. Grrrr. Luckily #2 wanted to do a quick test drive and agreed to transport me & dogs to the train station where Angie had driven to and deposited car in the morning. Seems  like a bearing gone.

Drove homewards with steamed up windows from the dripping dogs and the dripping me, really fed up. Then suddenly had the idea at Sontheim to detour to the bakery - naturally to add to my misery the barriers came down in front of my nose to let some Swiss train through. Then bought lots of cheesy bread on Nogbads advice (we were still Twittering and he is a cheesy bread specialist). Returned home, fed dogs and unpacked from paper bags the 3 types of bread and the .... wait for it .... cherry Amaretto pastry. Then opening a jar of my home made Branston pickle and a pack of plastic Kerrygold Cheddar Cheese sat down for a Bavarian Ploughmans Lunch.

I am going to stop here - I had so much more to write about the UK's influence around here but it will be unending. The nub was going to be, we Brits are living in the past, are terribly London centralised and are arrogant of our importance in the world. Oh well that's one way to lose all your "followers"!

There is hope though as can be seen in the bus photo. Even the Germans make bad decisions - the bus company should never have bought an Italo-French vehicle. The train was Angie's when we picked her up in the evening. They are new on our line but old - we get the oldest rolling stock as we are probably the dinosaur line of the German network , still using diesel locomotives.

Map position is where we took the walk.