About Me!
Guest Book!
Prayer Matters
Christkindl, Upper Austria
Simmonds Sprach Akademie
Rev Dr Rodney C. Simmonds
of/von
11th December 2009 - 10th January 2010 /11. Dezember 2009 - 10. Januar 2010
Homestead, 64 Ullcombe Gardens,
Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7QZ, England
Tel & Fax: 0044/1227/46 43 58
from/von 15th April/15. April 2007
Libellanweg 2,A-4040 Linz-Treffling, Austria.
Tel: 0043/732/79 05 94
rodneycs@hotmail.com
I have now been more than two years in my new place and have had three harvests from my part of the garden. Runner beans amd sunflowers grow well but strawberries, broad peans, French beans and peas do not. I have a good show of marigolds and dahlias and gladioli do all right. I also have a yellow rose and a hydrangea and have planted raspberry canes. Tomatoes and marrows/pumpkins all years have done poorly. Beetroot, cellery and artichokes have also done poorly but this year do have three brussel sprouts plants growing.
I found a new place to live because of problems with the landlady because an argument between two old ladies which had been going on for over sixty years all because my former landlady was the mistress and had children by her future husband before he was divorced from his first wife and sixty years ago that was frowned on. The old lady on the top floor fell down and asked for my help and my landlady did not like me helping her so that is why I had problems. I handed over the keys to the old flat on the 20th May 2007. This old lady died in March 2009.
My place is just outside the city boundaries of Linz off the road going towards Freistadt and Prague [although most traffic uses the motorway which is also close by]. I have 3 rooms [living room plus balcony, bedroom and a room where I have my fridge and microwave] on the first floor of a house owned by an elderly couple [Josef 87 & Rosie 86] whose 3 children [Erhard 2 years younger than me, Dietmar & Ilse who actually owns the house] all live in Vienna where Dietmar & Ilse own a 5 flat house and Erhard his own house. There is a nice garden round the house in Libellenweg [It was named Libellenweg because of all the dragonflies(Libellen)]. I am enjoying being able to pick strawberries from the garden and cherries from the trees. I have been assigned a section of the garden on the west side of the house which is rather shady where I have planted flowers and vegetables which are growing well. I keep my bicycle in the garage which is in the basemnt as Josef is no longer driving a car because of 3 strokes and a triple bypass. There is one other room upstairs which Dietmar or Erhard use to sleep in with their families when they come. There is also a bathroom/wc.
I live between two Winkler farmhouses, the upper one was built in 1800 and is now a 'Most Heuriger' i.e. a place where you can drink the alcoholic 'Most' rather like dry cider and have snacks on Monday, Wednesday & Friday evenings. There are nice walks close by as well including along the former Horse Railway which went from Budweis in Bohemia through Linz to Gmunden in the Salzkammergut.
Hence the name of the locality is Winkler Siedlung as well as the name of the post bus stop on the B125. The whole Winkler Siedlung has the same post code as Linz [A-4040] and the same telephone code [0732] compared with the rest of the community of Engerwitzdorf which have different codes. Now there is a move to have the whole of Engerwitzdorf use the same post code but is being resisted by the people from Outer Treffling. This summer a Scottish familer moved into the next street named after former occupants of the Winkler farmhoouse. They have come as missionaries with the ECM to do work with young people and both Johnny and Kristine are learning German at present wehile Rachel 6 and Lee 12 go to local schools.
I was in England from the 11th - 29th June - 8th July and from the 5th- 26th September 2008 when I had to have the central heating boiler replaced as it was 41 years old. The previous year[2007] I had classes into August on two courses but all courses beyond this were taken over by the owner of the firm. I had very little paid work from the beginning of September and was thinking of packing up & returning to England last summer until things opened up with the VHS.
Two years ago I started to teach at the Volkshochschule and had one continuation course with Hostesses of the Linz Town Council and had two courses starting in September with the telephonists of the Linz Town Council. I have also had a course with 4 people from the Botanical Gardens in Linz and they were complete beginners so little could be achieved in the 12 lessons other than giving them a few phrases which they could use with English speaking visitors who came to the admissions booth.
I had the English Conversation Course in Dornach on Monday mornings and a False Beginners Course on a Wednesday morning (A1 which will be A2 this coming academic year) and a complete Beginners course on a Wednesday evening (This will be A1 in the coming academic year). After Christmas I had an intermediate B1 intensive English course as the previous course did not run as there were insufficient participants-- the course has too few partcipants for this group to carry on in the autumn. All these courses have now finished and I am down in the catalogue for new courses starting the end of September. I also have had one course of theological English with a priest from the oldest church in Urfahr.
I expect to be continuing with the co-teachings in the vocational schools in Upper Austria which did include the vocational schools in Gmunden but have stopped going as the newe director does not see a need.
For one academic year from last autumn I taught English to nurses of the Sisters of Mercy Hospital [Baumherzigenschwestern] Nursing School in Linz with 40 hours for the first year nurses and 20 hours for the second year nurses. I have continued to teach the former head editor of the Rundschau who lost his position at Christmas and is now an independent media consultant. I also had a couple for private lessons for one academic year as well as one 15 year old girl for coaching.
This academic year I have continued with the Monday morning conversation class in Dornach plus the A2 class on Wednsday morning and an A1 class on Wednesday evenings. I have also had co-teachings in vocational schools 5 & 9.
Last year [2008] I had 8 days in Poland which was very interesting but also very exhausting. I also went on a 'Werbereise' to the Moselle Valley and enjoyed drinking the Moselle wine which is more to my taste than the dry vinegry Austrian white wines.
Last year I also went to the Christmas Market at Aich Bichl which is a farm in Land Sazburg for maintaining rare breeds of farm animals. This year I went to Telc in the Czech Republic in June and to Romania in July as well as returning to Dresden for 3 days in July [I visited the Christmas Market there in 2007] shortly after I return from England where I was from the 8th June to the 5th July. While staying in Dresden we had a day's tour of the Erz Mountains to the SW of Dresden. Romania was very interesting.
I was knocked off my new bicycle by a racing bicycle on the 8th April 2009 and ended up in the accident hospital for 8 days with a broken shoulder, a broken rib, a broken nose and a broken tooth from which I am still recovering -- for more than a month I did not get on a bicycle. The front wheel and gears were also destroyed and had to be replaced on a bicycle which I had only bought three weeks before the accident. Three years ago I broke the right shoulder in a cycle accident also on the way back from visiting my GP. This year my allergies to fish and nuts have been confirmed as well as bees and wasps. Most of all I am highly alergic to two different forms of dust mites which makes cleaning difficult Asthma has also been copnfirmed.
Rodney on London Eye summer 2000
Rodney with Japanese student in tea shop summer 2003
Please contact me for:
English teaching in your work place or home for adults and children -- I specialise in special English like Technical English, Financial English, Banking English, Military English/
englisch Unterricht am Arbeitsplatz oder zu Hause.
English translation from German to English/
englisch Ubersetzen von deutsch auf englisch.
Maths Teaching/
mathematik Unterricht.
Piano Teaching at home/
Klavier Unterricht zu Hause.
May the Lord bless and keep you/
der Herr segnet und behutet euch!
Thank you for visiting my page/
Danke für Ihren/Deinen Besuch.
A Hidden Place
Each of us has a hidden place
Somewhere deep within ourselves;
a place where we go to get away,
To think things through, to be alone, to be ourselves.
This unique place, where we confront our deepest feelings,
Becomes a storehouse of all our hopes,
all our needs,
all our dreams,
And even our unspoken fears.
It encompasses the essemce of who we are
and what we want to be.
But now and then, whether by chance or design,
Someone discovers a way into that place we thought was our alone.
And we allow that person to see, to feel
and to share all the reason,
all the uncertainty and all the emotion
we've stored up there.
That person adds a new perspective
to our hidden realm.
Then quietly settles down in his own corner of our special place,
Where a bit of himself will stay forever.
And we call that person
a friend.
A Prayer For My Computer
Every night I lie in bed
This little prayer inside my head
God bless my colleagues
my students and my friends
who bring me such joy
God, there's just one more thing
I wish that you would do
if you don't mind me asking
To bless my computer too??
Now I know that it's not normal
to bless a small machine
but listen just a second
and I'll try to explain...
You see, that little metal box
holds more than odds and ends
Inside those small components
Rest a hundred loving friends
Some it's true I've never seen
And most I've never met...
never shaken hands or
Ever truly hugged, and yet....
I know for sure they love me
by the kindness they give,
and this little scrap of metal
is how I get to where they live.
By faith is how I know them,
Much the same as I love You
I share in life it brings them,
So if it's OK with you...
Just take an extra minute
from your duties up above....
to bless this little hunk of steel
that's filled with so much love
So God, Please Bless My Computer....
My Cyber Friend
I haven't ever seen you,
But I know you're really there;
I click you into reallity
Like magic from the air.
Your voice is like an angel,
Though I really do not hear;
Your hug as warm as any
Of loved ones I hold dear.
You're always there for comfort,
Or a word of cheer;
Though you are very far away,
I always have you near.
You're a very special friend
Like none I've ever known;
As long as you're in cyberspace
I'll never be alone.
by Rita Ralston
Email
