Walking on Water

I feel this post needs a little background:- It was a Friday night.  It was cold outside.  It was very cold outside – like really cold.  The snow had frozen to ice on the pavements of Berlin.  Little old ladies were falling over in their dozen -you get the picture.  Two new friends met in the warmth of a jazz bar with some good hot Kartoffleln Suppe and Tempranillo wine, (one perhaps had a bit too much – crazy what a bit too much potato soup can do to you).  Conversation covered life, the universe and most things.  As I say, fuelled by the potatoes, two solid actions were decided upon; one being a trip to a lake on the West of Berlin the following morning and the other a weekly positive observation to supplement Wiebke’s blog to the world.

I want to focus on the things we don’t think about, or notice, but without the world would be a lesser place.  I want to keep it relevant to the season of the country that i happen to be in, they’ll be short, and of course it will end up being slightly personal – we’re in a blog site after all.  So here is the first issue of ‘ellie’s seasonal things she likes’ – right – catchy – i’ll work on it…

Walking on water

Isn’t water brilliant!? Two atoms of hydrogen completing the outer shell of an oxygen atom making a stable but charged molecule – essential for everything – including ice skating.

Picture yourself:– wrapped up snug and warm; thermals on; ear muffs secure; scarf draped appropriately; ready for a winter’s walk along the banks of Schlachtensee, somewhere outside Berlin. As you approach the water’s edge you realise that there are people gliding over the water. ‘That’s strange you think’ – people = dense objects, water = liquid with weak dipole interactions…’Hmm you think – perhaps a god does exist’. Then the pieces slot into place and you realise how amazing physics and chemistry are, and witnesses and enjoyed by so many biological beings with bladed shoes.

Wizzing across the ice, where once water flowed, people (regardless of age) are transformed into 5 year olds – gliding; spinning; slipping,; sliding; running; laughing; playing; living. I am not sure what the rest of the biological beings think of it all – birds constrained to water holes, fighting for space; fish confined to darkness listening to the weird scraping, scratching, tapping and muffled voices. And god it is cold!  But hey – the humans are having fun, (well – except the old ladies that have fallen over – see above).

When you think about it water is possibly the best molecule – not only are we made of it, drink it, eat it, but it is less dense as a solid than a liquid – amazing – solid but floating – i think that is why i like ducks too. (Expect frequent duck entries in these blogs). Without it we would have to skate on frozen milk, or beer; both would smell, so i don’t think that would really work.  Long live frozen H20.