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On The High Müggelsees
Jun. 26th, 2023 01:20 amI'll admit I wasn't looking forward to waking up at 6:30am to get down to Müggelsee for 9am. Indeed, I was worried about it for much of the second half of last week. What wasn't helping was Wolfie has hurt his foot again, meaning I have been having to do most of the chores around the house. On Friday, this meant taking the bins out and going to the supermarket, so by the time I could relax, it was already getting quite late. I had bought a bottle of wine to try and drink myself to tiredness, but in the end, my brain refused to let me sleep. I had two hours and fifty minutes of sleep that night, finally nodding off at 3:40am, meaning I was quite tired throughout the day. However, for some reason, I was able to power through it and ended up having a wonderful time.
Wolfie wasn't able to join us due to his foot, so there was only 12 of us on the boat in the end. It took nearly two hours to get to Müggelsee by public transport as it's at the other end of the city - an end that looks almost identical to Spandau. I bumped into Juna on the bus between the S-Bahn stop at Kopernick and Müggelsee. I recognised her from Trax's Christmas Party so we started chatting, while at the bus stop, we bumped into another of our party so there were three of us. We managed to find the boat hire place, which was down this narrow country lane, and ended up waiting there for forty minutes for the others to arrive. Had I realised it wasn't a bang on 9am start, I would have perhaps tried to squeeze another half hour of sleep, but as I couldn't go on the raft trip last year due to COVID, I didn't know the arrangements.
Once everyone had arrived, we gave our €50 deposits to the gentleman owning the boat and he gave me the keys to the toilet, which was quite filthy. We then loaded the boat with supplies and headed out onto the lake. We had the boat hired until 5pm but halfway around, when we were swimming in one of the wide rivers, we decided to extend our hire by another hour. For the first few hours we just pootled along the waterways, looking at the sights and dodging the other boat traffic. On one occasion the waves came onto the boat while Jazzy spent quite a while tying a dolphin to the bow of the ship. We noticed other rental boats including one with a slide and another who had an inflatable unicorn, which I wanted to steal. I also spent quite a while eating Haribo and getting delirious off the sugar combined with the lack of sleep. The leather seats were very comfortable too. Due to the lack of a toilet on board, I kept drinking to a minimum, particularly as I wasn't comfortable peeing off the boat into the water. I was happy to pee and swim though, which was something I did when I was frolicking in the river. We had an inflatable ball too that Jazzy thought was Trax's banana, while the water was an odd mix of cold and warm, changing every time you stroked.
We anchored up around halfway in - an anchor that really only tied us to that one particular place but didn't stop the boat from rotating around and around it - and we had a BBQ. This we did between our swimming, with six of us going in beforehand and three going in afterwards. I went in both times. Juna went in independently and I thought she was a lady from one of the nearby boats. Meanwhile, we saw a few dogs and more naked old men with their cocks peeking out from their distended bellies. It was how I probably looked too. The meal itself was great - we had turkey, steak, sausages, corn, kebabs and a range of grilled cheeses including the fantastic halloumi - with the concept of a BBQ on a boat being a fabulous one. Oddly, it was rated one of the best electric machines in Germany despite it clearly being run on gas. We also had a lot of soft drinks and I had one of the four beers I had brought with me, only drinking two due to the aforementioned toilet situation. As I was getting onto the boat, I somehow scratched my leg, causing it to bleed. The scar still looks pretty bad now.
The waterways around here were quite interesting but not too dissimilar to Spandau. Seeing Kopernick from the water was a pleasure though, with its church and rathaus both having striking towers, while the waterfront palace was nice to see too. There were quite a lot of new-build architecture about, of mixed design really (but I did like the place with the deliberately wonky support struts) plus loads of empty space which looked like prime building land. There were also enclaves of richer neighbourhoods who had their own boats, particularly on the river portions of the water system. These grew in provinence on the way back to Müggelsee, when I spent most of my time sunbathing on the stern of the ship. I always find sunbathing too hot, but the breeze caused by our movement was relaxing, while I was quite comfortable being topless. Alas, some of the pictures of me side-on highlight just how big a belly I have, which I find quite loathsome. I really should get that sorted. Anyway, the harbour from where we rented the boat looked unrecognisable when we returned as nearly all of their boats were out on the water, whereas we were the first to depart that morning. I woke up from sunbathing around here and we soon disembarked, got our deposits back and were heading to Trax's.
I hadn't intended on going there, but the way home was quicker from his place than from where we were, so it made sense. It had also been a wonderfully sunny day and although I knew I should probably have gone and spent time with Wolfie, I thought an hour over there wouldn't hurt. This turned into nearer two, but I was feeling quite tired and so made my excuses at around 8:45pm. I was quite delirious and talking some weird random shit, but I was making people laugh at least, so I don't think I was annoying. On my way back, I called off at McDonald's and got a Happy Meal, where I noticed they were now selling the Squishmallow toys that Arcais had asked me to get at the start of the month. Alas, they didn't have the frog one she wanted, with me only finding out after I had bought the Happy Meal, so I got a pineapple thing instead. I'll try again next week. Meanwhile, once I had gotten back, the only thing Wolfie said to me was how nice it smelled. He was too busy playing a video game with friends and didn't really talk to me, so I just did the chores I needed to do before checking out VR. Alas, I was far too tired and soon succumbed to bed, going to sleep much earlier than usual. The tiredness also meant I still felt I was rocking on the ship, even though its movement wasn't that tangable when I was on it.
Today was part two of the Trax weekend, largely as many friends of his had travelled a long way to see him. Lightfox had flown from Sweden, we had a few Austrians, plus furs from Schwerin, Leipzig and Dresden. I knew most of them from previous events, so it was good to catch up with them. Sadly, Wolfie's foot was no better so he had to spend the day at home. I missed him. I got up at 9:40am this morning, still much earlier than on a workday, and boarded the 10:49am train to get to Trax's place before noon. He saw me drag my luggage case up his driveway when he was taking out the trash, so he let me in and we got to settle, reminding me of course not to damage the brand new floor his landlord had just put down after prevarocating over a year after a leak had afflicted the property.
We chilled for an hour, bidding Lightfox farewell as he had to get his flight home. Then, despite it being 27C, eight of us donned our fursuits and headed out for a fursuit walk. It was the usual place we go, Obersee, some three stops from Trax's place so quite easy. I was in a mischevious mood, frequently breaking away from the group to cause mischief, while at one point a group of kids wanted to play fight me using stalks of grass for swords. That was quite fun, but very draining in the heat. Many people were just interested in who we were and what we were doing. This was especially the case in the tram where I got to speak to a few kids and their parents in German about what we were up to. It was good to be able to communicate a little, but I always feel envious of most furs here and their ability to speak multiple languages. At Trax's, while I understood some of the German being discussed, most of the time I ended up resorting to English. This was particularly the case with the English guy who now lives in Copenhagen. He speaks Danish but little German, so we gravitated towards each other, at one point spouting off about the poverty of British politics. Like me, he had done a lot of travelling so over hot dogs on the terrace, we ended up talking about that while once we were back inside, I think the politics talk frustrated after a while. I ensured we went outside to talk to Trax about language instead.
The fursuiting was very hot, but a lot of fun. I may have slightly over-exerted myself, while the sparking water didn't quench my thirst as much as the still variety as the carbonation made it difficult for me to drink. The walk was very familiar, but it was great to mess about, while we also got some very good photos. Kamsirius in particular took some excellent ones, which I am looking forward to seeing more of. I also had to take my hand paws off quite regularly just to cool down. There were a few dogs who were a little circumspect of us, particularly the pitbull who was very yappy. I tried to calm him down but he was having none of it. Many of the kids on the way back to Trax's were interested in us while the automatic barrier that only raises for cars rose for us as we walked on by, which I took as something of an insult. Surely I am not THAT big. At least it opened for all of us. The shower after the suiting, despite volunteering to wait for four other furs to use it before I got in, was heavenly.
We got back at 4pm after the walk and largely chilled ahead of the IKEA hot dog feast. This has been something of a tradition with Trax for each of the three summers I have been here and it's always a highlight of the year. It was great chatting and chilling in the summer sun. It was basic fayre - rolls, sausages, mustard, ketchup and roasted onions - but sometimes simplisity is best. The rest of the evening was largely just chilling, chatting with all of the people who were around. People started to drift away from around 8pm as they needed to get back home while I headed off around 10:30pm with Tekki. He thought we were going to get the same tram, but it turned out not, so we said goodbye on the tram stop platform. I loved playing with his blue and grey husky character on the walk.
There's little else to report really. I always feel like I don't deserve good weekends like this, so my self-hatred comes back. I've experienced this in flashes over the last couple of days but it has evaporated quickly. I have been quite sober and didn't make an arse of myself either so that's good. Plus I think I was funny, although I know I just do the comedy to surpress my overwhelming shyness. Part of my confidence is related to my job, which has gotten worse in the last week, with my new boss not being particularly happy with my performance either. To be fair, I wasn't told definitively what was needed, but it is another dash to my confidence. I know Wolfie is trying to get me to quit and emotionally I know he is right, but I am hoping I can land another job first. I have started applying again, but right now my role is so thankless and prescriptive that I am not sure how much longer I can last. Worries about the furry fandom don't help either, with furries taking a kicking in the UK media about a most unlikely story regarding a pupil at an Essex school self-identifying as a cat. I know this is just another stick to beat the transgender community with, but I did prefer it when the furry fandom was under the radar and anonymous. I know this will likely blow over, and on the one hand it is all humorous, but on the other, it's sad that many people want kids to live in a grey morass with no imagination at all. The UK press, sadly, just doesn't like people being different and neither does the government.
The only other thing that's happened is my swollen salivary gland issue seems to have improved, although I have been dehydrated this weekend due to other reasons. If it's fine in the morning, I'll cancel my appointment. I have been very impressed by the health services in Germany, who responded very quickly to a non-serious issue. Asking for an appointment on Thursday evening, getting it for Monday morning and then seeing a specialist the next day is pretty efficient.
Wolfie wasn't able to join us due to his foot, so there was only 12 of us on the boat in the end. It took nearly two hours to get to Müggelsee by public transport as it's at the other end of the city - an end that looks almost identical to Spandau. I bumped into Juna on the bus between the S-Bahn stop at Kopernick and Müggelsee. I recognised her from Trax's Christmas Party so we started chatting, while at the bus stop, we bumped into another of our party so there were three of us. We managed to find the boat hire place, which was down this narrow country lane, and ended up waiting there for forty minutes for the others to arrive. Had I realised it wasn't a bang on 9am start, I would have perhaps tried to squeeze another half hour of sleep, but as I couldn't go on the raft trip last year due to COVID, I didn't know the arrangements.
Once everyone had arrived, we gave our €50 deposits to the gentleman owning the boat and he gave me the keys to the toilet, which was quite filthy. We then loaded the boat with supplies and headed out onto the lake. We had the boat hired until 5pm but halfway around, when we were swimming in one of the wide rivers, we decided to extend our hire by another hour. For the first few hours we just pootled along the waterways, looking at the sights and dodging the other boat traffic. On one occasion the waves came onto the boat while Jazzy spent quite a while tying a dolphin to the bow of the ship. We noticed other rental boats including one with a slide and another who had an inflatable unicorn, which I wanted to steal. I also spent quite a while eating Haribo and getting delirious off the sugar combined with the lack of sleep. The leather seats were very comfortable too. Due to the lack of a toilet on board, I kept drinking to a minimum, particularly as I wasn't comfortable peeing off the boat into the water. I was happy to pee and swim though, which was something I did when I was frolicking in the river. We had an inflatable ball too that Jazzy thought was Trax's banana, while the water was an odd mix of cold and warm, changing every time you stroked.
We anchored up around halfway in - an anchor that really only tied us to that one particular place but didn't stop the boat from rotating around and around it - and we had a BBQ. This we did between our swimming, with six of us going in beforehand and three going in afterwards. I went in both times. Juna went in independently and I thought she was a lady from one of the nearby boats. Meanwhile, we saw a few dogs and more naked old men with their cocks peeking out from their distended bellies. It was how I probably looked too. The meal itself was great - we had turkey, steak, sausages, corn, kebabs and a range of grilled cheeses including the fantastic halloumi - with the concept of a BBQ on a boat being a fabulous one. Oddly, it was rated one of the best electric machines in Germany despite it clearly being run on gas. We also had a lot of soft drinks and I had one of the four beers I had brought with me, only drinking two due to the aforementioned toilet situation. As I was getting onto the boat, I somehow scratched my leg, causing it to bleed. The scar still looks pretty bad now.
The waterways around here were quite interesting but not too dissimilar to Spandau. Seeing Kopernick from the water was a pleasure though, with its church and rathaus both having striking towers, while the waterfront palace was nice to see too. There were quite a lot of new-build architecture about, of mixed design really (but I did like the place with the deliberately wonky support struts) plus loads of empty space which looked like prime building land. There were also enclaves of richer neighbourhoods who had their own boats, particularly on the river portions of the water system. These grew in provinence on the way back to Müggelsee, when I spent most of my time sunbathing on the stern of the ship. I always find sunbathing too hot, but the breeze caused by our movement was relaxing, while I was quite comfortable being topless. Alas, some of the pictures of me side-on highlight just how big a belly I have, which I find quite loathsome. I really should get that sorted. Anyway, the harbour from where we rented the boat looked unrecognisable when we returned as nearly all of their boats were out on the water, whereas we were the first to depart that morning. I woke up from sunbathing around here and we soon disembarked, got our deposits back and were heading to Trax's.
I hadn't intended on going there, but the way home was quicker from his place than from where we were, so it made sense. It had also been a wonderfully sunny day and although I knew I should probably have gone and spent time with Wolfie, I thought an hour over there wouldn't hurt. This turned into nearer two, but I was feeling quite tired and so made my excuses at around 8:45pm. I was quite delirious and talking some weird random shit, but I was making people laugh at least, so I don't think I was annoying. On my way back, I called off at McDonald's and got a Happy Meal, where I noticed they were now selling the Squishmallow toys that Arcais had asked me to get at the start of the month. Alas, they didn't have the frog one she wanted, with me only finding out after I had bought the Happy Meal, so I got a pineapple thing instead. I'll try again next week. Meanwhile, once I had gotten back, the only thing Wolfie said to me was how nice it smelled. He was too busy playing a video game with friends and didn't really talk to me, so I just did the chores I needed to do before checking out VR. Alas, I was far too tired and soon succumbed to bed, going to sleep much earlier than usual. The tiredness also meant I still felt I was rocking on the ship, even though its movement wasn't that tangable when I was on it.
Today was part two of the Trax weekend, largely as many friends of his had travelled a long way to see him. Lightfox had flown from Sweden, we had a few Austrians, plus furs from Schwerin, Leipzig and Dresden. I knew most of them from previous events, so it was good to catch up with them. Sadly, Wolfie's foot was no better so he had to spend the day at home. I missed him. I got up at 9:40am this morning, still much earlier than on a workday, and boarded the 10:49am train to get to Trax's place before noon. He saw me drag my luggage case up his driveway when he was taking out the trash, so he let me in and we got to settle, reminding me of course not to damage the brand new floor his landlord had just put down after prevarocating over a year after a leak had afflicted the property.
We chilled for an hour, bidding Lightfox farewell as he had to get his flight home. Then, despite it being 27C, eight of us donned our fursuits and headed out for a fursuit walk. It was the usual place we go, Obersee, some three stops from Trax's place so quite easy. I was in a mischevious mood, frequently breaking away from the group to cause mischief, while at one point a group of kids wanted to play fight me using stalks of grass for swords. That was quite fun, but very draining in the heat. Many people were just interested in who we were and what we were doing. This was especially the case in the tram where I got to speak to a few kids and their parents in German about what we were up to. It was good to be able to communicate a little, but I always feel envious of most furs here and their ability to speak multiple languages. At Trax's, while I understood some of the German being discussed, most of the time I ended up resorting to English. This was particularly the case with the English guy who now lives in Copenhagen. He speaks Danish but little German, so we gravitated towards each other, at one point spouting off about the poverty of British politics. Like me, he had done a lot of travelling so over hot dogs on the terrace, we ended up talking about that while once we were back inside, I think the politics talk frustrated after a while. I ensured we went outside to talk to Trax about language instead.
The fursuiting was very hot, but a lot of fun. I may have slightly over-exerted myself, while the sparking water didn't quench my thirst as much as the still variety as the carbonation made it difficult for me to drink. The walk was very familiar, but it was great to mess about, while we also got some very good photos. Kamsirius in particular took some excellent ones, which I am looking forward to seeing more of. I also had to take my hand paws off quite regularly just to cool down. There were a few dogs who were a little circumspect of us, particularly the pitbull who was very yappy. I tried to calm him down but he was having none of it. Many of the kids on the way back to Trax's were interested in us while the automatic barrier that only raises for cars rose for us as we walked on by, which I took as something of an insult. Surely I am not THAT big. At least it opened for all of us. The shower after the suiting, despite volunteering to wait for four other furs to use it before I got in, was heavenly.
We got back at 4pm after the walk and largely chilled ahead of the IKEA hot dog feast. This has been something of a tradition with Trax for each of the three summers I have been here and it's always a highlight of the year. It was great chatting and chilling in the summer sun. It was basic fayre - rolls, sausages, mustard, ketchup and roasted onions - but sometimes simplisity is best. The rest of the evening was largely just chilling, chatting with all of the people who were around. People started to drift away from around 8pm as they needed to get back home while I headed off around 10:30pm with Tekki. He thought we were going to get the same tram, but it turned out not, so we said goodbye on the tram stop platform. I loved playing with his blue and grey husky character on the walk.
There's little else to report really. I always feel like I don't deserve good weekends like this, so my self-hatred comes back. I've experienced this in flashes over the last couple of days but it has evaporated quickly. I have been quite sober and didn't make an arse of myself either so that's good. Plus I think I was funny, although I know I just do the comedy to surpress my overwhelming shyness. Part of my confidence is related to my job, which has gotten worse in the last week, with my new boss not being particularly happy with my performance either. To be fair, I wasn't told definitively what was needed, but it is another dash to my confidence. I know Wolfie is trying to get me to quit and emotionally I know he is right, but I am hoping I can land another job first. I have started applying again, but right now my role is so thankless and prescriptive that I am not sure how much longer I can last. Worries about the furry fandom don't help either, with furries taking a kicking in the UK media about a most unlikely story regarding a pupil at an Essex school self-identifying as a cat. I know this is just another stick to beat the transgender community with, but I did prefer it when the furry fandom was under the radar and anonymous. I know this will likely blow over, and on the one hand it is all humorous, but on the other, it's sad that many people want kids to live in a grey morass with no imagination at all. The UK press, sadly, just doesn't like people being different and neither does the government.
The only other thing that's happened is my swollen salivary gland issue seems to have improved, although I have been dehydrated this weekend due to other reasons. If it's fine in the morning, I'll cancel my appointment. I have been very impressed by the health services in Germany, who responded very quickly to a non-serious issue. Asking for an appointment on Thursday evening, getting it for Monday morning and then seeing a specialist the next day is pretty efficient.
