Summertime

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Here in Germany nobody uses the term 'daylight saving time'. It was introduced decades back under the pretense that it would support energy saving, but there are serious doubts: in the end everybody makes best use of the longer evenings, and many activities are connected with energy consumption. We use the term 'summertime' here, and that's the reason for the title.

I found it a quite creative way of tackling the DST problem in a zero-emission-clock, but of course nobody is allowed to be really picky about precision here.

Bakar is a place of narrow alleys - no vehicle traffic possible there - and one of those you see to the right. Of course there are several rings of motor traffic enabled streets, so it's only a small number of houses that cannot be reached by cars. To live there is not as comfortable as we would like it, but it certainly gives a good impression of a town that was built some centuries back and left in central parts untouched since then.

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Bakar Beer Poster

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I found this beer brand poster in a window in Bakar, Croatia. The bar behind it was as empty as this poster is weathered.

Meanwhile I am fiddling with the domain name system for my new web presence. What is easy and straightforward when you order domain and web presence in one shot can become at least a bit demanding when you distribute those parts on different companies. At the moment I keep my fingers crossed that by tomorrow the DNS will know about that 'markus-spring.info' domain and point to the correct server.

Update: http://markus-spring.info is now working. I have added another gallery to the 'peoples' category. Now I have to fix the rss links.

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Background: Bakar

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With such a foreground, it is probably hard for a small town to survive. This coal loading/unloading unit claims a similar amount as the whole city of Bakar. Up to the nineties it served a coke oven plan, which is not running any more. It has had a changeful history: Up to the first world war, the Austro-Hungarian navy had one of its most important bases here.

In spite of the advantageous natural situation of the bay, the Italian army managed to capture it in a surprise attack of only 30 soldiers coming on speedboats. It took a probably a long time to overcome this defeat.

Now the croatian flag is flying high again, but Bakar has lost its importance.

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Storytelling Door Handle

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Today I am on a short trip to Croatia again, helping my sister to clear up the caravan and prepare it for hibernation in a local garage. Travelling alone, I could afford to stop in Bakar, a former important harbour in the bay of Rijeka in Croatia. It once hosted one of the croatian navigation schools and was the home of a number of captains.

Now the street from Rijeka to Krk passes far away from Bakar - you see the audacious construction high over the roofs, and Bakar is mainly visited by little numbers of locals. The door handle in the main street tells this story very precisely.

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