August 1: Old goofs like me may remember a TV program called That Was The Week That Was. It was a British satirical news program, originated by folks like David Frost and ultimately cancelled because it was seen to go beyond the bounds of good taste. I liked it. Herewith, then, a brief review of my week that was:
Thursday: On arriving at Frankfurt Airport and doing the usual procedural thingies, I set out to find the Lufthansa shuttle to Heidelberg. Walking across the terminal I did find a Lufthansa bus, but only to Strasbourg. On inquiring at their 
counter, helpfully located on the other side of the terminal, I was told that there was no shuttle to Heidelberg. It had been cancelled. After discovering that I was 5 minutes late for a train to Heidelberg, I was directed to another shuttle bus which, with genuine Teutonic efficiency, departed the airport and sat in a 35 minute traffic jam. In the afternoon I collected my bike and discovered that the gear I had stowed in the saddlebags last autumn (Helmet, boots, bag liners) had been slightly damp and had grown a modest colony of mildew. Scrubbing ensued at the hotel to limited effect.
Friday: After 4 attempts, I found the Honda guy who serviced the bike last autumn. He was in the next village and it took 70 km of gas going back and forth to finally find the shop. I needed to buy a rain jacket, but his shop had none, and he wasn’t there. I could have just called…
Then I attempted to find a Lycamobile shop to buy a new SIM for my phone. First guy says I need a new SIM in every country. Second guy says no, I need to log in to the company and have them re-set the phone every time. Third person, a kind and open woman from Laos, made 3 phone calls and confirmed that it would work in every country. She even directed me to Vodafone to see if they had a better card and when they didn’t, I bought the SIM from her.
Saturday: I started my first “real” day on the road with a trip to Mannheim to buy a rain jacket. That accomplished I headed south and crashed about a half hour later. I was attempting to cross from an off ramp back onto the highway and assumed that the grass verge was level with the road. It was not. Physics took over and down I went, breaking a mirror in the process. Thankfully there was no traffic on the highway, and a couple of guys stopped to make sure I was okay. So back to the Honda shop where they removed the mirror (after 4 hours of dicking around) and I discovered that my debit card did not work.
Sunday: With a new mirror ordered and time to kill, I took a “day off” and did a short run, some sketching and reading.
Monday: Headed further south in the morning, through the wine areas of Alsace and the Vosges mountains. At the end of the day I logged in to this computer and got a message that Windows could not be opened without re-installing the operating program which, not surprisingly, I wasn’t carrying around with me, or by resetting the programs and losing all of my personal data. I picked door number 2 and after an hour or so of cursing and watching data be cleansed, I have a computer which is mostly operational. For now …
Then I called my Credit Union to sort out the debit card and was told that they could find nothing wrong. The fact that it still didn’t work when I tried again and called back, was a mystery that remains to this day.
Tuesday: Started heading north through the Black Forest in anticipation of the mirror arriving in Mannheim. Stopped for gas a short time later and on arriving at the hotel that night, discovered I had left my passport at the gas station. After calling the Consulate and finding it closed (it’s open Monday 8 to 1 and Wednesday 1 to 6) I managed to find a number for the gas bar and called only to be told that yes, indeed, they did have the passport.
Wednesday: What looked to be about 125 km on the AutoRoute back to the gas bar was in fact longer because the kind woman at the hotel sent me to the interchange by way of Stalingrad. Four hours and 3 traffic jams later, I was home with passport in hand. And the thunderstorm I went through wasn’t really that bad.
So that was the first week that was, and it already feels like a month. I’m hoping to actually get the mirror done tomorrow but the verdict is still out. The service guy wants to disassemble the fairing and that “might take 2 or more hours”. We are negotiating.