Endlich, sun.

A truly blissful walk this morning along the river;
- the weeks of grey clouds cleared overnight, leaving sub zero temperatures behind (I defy anyone to complain) and blue skies and sunshine.
- the low temperatures meant it was icy underfoot in places thus ensuring all the damn, klingeling cyclists stayed away.

On the way home I called in at the orthodentist with Ben's brace, he managed to break it last night whilst cleaning it. I handed over the brace to the receptionist telling her it was broken;
But you don't have him (Ben) with you, she stated.
No, I told her, he's in school (10:30 am, where else was he going to be? I mean, I know German school hours are short but 10:30 would be a tad extreme, even by their standards).
She called a colleague and handed the offending article over. And the same conversation was repeated, no, I didn't have the brace owner with me, and no I couldn't get him out of school, nor could I bring him along after school as their opening hours (on a Friday) don't fit in with school hours (mad huh?)
She trotted off to confer with a higher authority and returned saying Ben had to be present before they could remedy the situation. I can quite understand now that they need to see him before effecting any repairs but as this is the first time this has happened how was I to know?
What I do object to is the manner of the staff, I'm quite sure that we pay them a fair amount of money for the service they so grudgingly provide - it's a good job that the actual owner of the practice and the orthodentist that sees the children is very good and has a better 'bedside' manner.
Then again, she's not German.