Getting around in Germany

Have you ever seen one of these?



It's just a bike, right?

Look closer. There are no pedals.

This is called a Laufrad (a walking bike--some English brand names include LikeaBike). It is for children ages 2 to about 5. The point of this piece of equipment is to teach your kid to balance on two wheels. They start by toddling along on it, but as they get more experienced they learn to cruise on it. Most kids I know who used one of these learned to ride a real bike--without training wheels--in a single afternoon. I was amazed when we first got here by the number of tiny kids on bikes without training wheels. Now I realize that some were Laufraeder, but some were real bikes where the kids had learned on one of these.

The price? We bought this one for 30 Euro because it was on sale at Christmas. Do you know how much these go for in the US? $100-300 on Amazon.com/ToysRUS.

So if you're coming to Germany any time soon, it might be a good investment to buy one of these things and sell it on E-bay when you get back.

(no subject)

Only about 500 words yesterday, and another 500 today. My throat hurts and so does my ear. I spent last night wondering if I'd wake up like my husband did Christmas before last with half my face paralyzed. The spot where it hurts is near the place Bells palsy hits. But no, it's just a sore throat. I wish it would go away. It's hard to come up with Deep Emotions and Exciting Plots when it feels like something's drilling into your head. Also, I'm writing a football scene, which the story demands, but which is personally not as interesting to me as other parts. Do any of you have spots like that in your books? Not places that are boring and should be removed from pacing, but spots that you know you need but which you just don't have deep feelings for? Or maybe I'm just weird. It matters to my character, but not so much to his author.

I hope everyone has incredibly productive days and feels great.