#13 Alle wollen Oben sein

When you ask me what article I am going to write next, I often don't know until the last days. Actually I am pretty nervous about finishing a second set of 50 G's. After this article I have to write another 37! Not yet a clue what to write next.
Often I got inspiration things that happen, things I see or hear. I was writing about the Gold Defender Frogman (which was linked to the white Tiger from the West), when I was listening to Justice (pronounce it like people in France do).
While I had linked gold already to D V N O. I discovered James Holden ("The Idiots are winning", just bought the CD), which looked great with the head banging hair, while Susan was actually listening to Mickey Moonlight's ever cheerful "Interplanetary Music" on my iPhone.
Writing a 50Gs article takes quite some hours of taking and editing photo's as also have to think a lot about the text. So after listening to The Idiots for the somaniest (sorry spell checker) time, I put 2Raumwohnung (Es wird Morgen) in my CD player. It had been a long time since I had listened to this CD. A strange feeling fell upon me when "Oben" was playing.
While the vast majority of popular music is companied with English lyrics, sometimes singing in your mother language fits much better (if English is not your native language). So do I love the music of Spinvis (pronounced the same in English as in Dutch, it is a word without meaning that could be translated as Spiderfish). As a true magician he conjures enchanting, mysterious and melancholic lyrics out of his high hat.
If everyone would just sing in plain English, how would "Je t'aime...mon non plus" by Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg ('69) would have sound? Probably less erotic.

While I was listening to "Oben" I was thinking, this would be a nice bridge to a next article. Oben means above, the lyrics suggest Oben is a good place to be. Everyone want to be above. Be first and you can reach a higher place. You can explain the text probably in many ways, but I thought I should take the most simple one. The longing to be above, and who could be a better partner up there than the Riseman.

The Riseman is of course already featured here on 50 Gs a few times (Remember Vintage's excellent "The Dragon and Serpent" story). There was only one little problem for my story. The Netherlands are as flat as a pancake (excepted from some goosebumps in the south east). Luckily I live near the "Dutch Mountains", the dunes.
I set my Riseman at 0 meters (I live at -0.3 meter NAP, NAP = the Dutch average sea level) and drove off to the highest dunes of Zeeland. When we arrived I noticed a black car. I should have taken my Black Helios Frogman with me.
The slope to the "Zeeuwse Riviera" is well known by mountain bikers. It's a long very steep slope. I have rode a lot to the top and since I have an altimeter on my mountainbike, I know that the top of the second hill is at 55m, so I thought, let's test this Riseman.
Of course you should better test it on a higher mountain, but you must use what you can get. The foot of the dunes are at 5m NAP, as Bram here demonstrates.
There it is, the "pimple" (cyclist slang). Subdued voice: "Look Bram, a deer!" Bram: "WHERE, WHERE, I DON'T SEE IT!" A brown flash hides under the bushes.
The Altimeter is following our path pretty quick.
It's pretty high and I'm afraid "Allen wollen Oben Sein" do not apply to Bram, while the steepest part had to come yet.
This is a very beautiful belvedere to Zoutelande (Salt Land). You can see that behind the dunes the land is below sea level. Oben ist Schön...

"alle wollen oben sein

oben sein heißt super sein
wir haben unten keine zeit

jeder holt den andern ein
darum immer vorne sein
denn oben ist der blick so weit"

"wenn man einmal oben war
ist die welt erstaunlich klar
und die aussichten sind schön

unten ist es auch ok
doch wenn ich ehrlich in mich seh
dann möcht ich immer oben sein"

"high
oben macht frei
oben macht schön
bleib ganz kurz stehen
hast du alles gut gesehen

high
höher geht`s kaum
die ist dein traum
ewig hier stehen
hast du alles gut gesehen
es wird schon runter gehen"

Finally we reach the highest peak. The Riseman tells us the correct hight. 55m. Exactly the same altitude my bike computer and my GPS show when I am cycling here. I'm afraid it will take a long time, before I will ride here again. My broken elbow is healing very slow and cycling is still painful.

"viele schafe trocknen schon
in zweiter dritter generation
doch auch die erde oben dreht

ich seh viele klammern fest
an jedem der sich klammern läßt
und hoffen nur daß er gut steht"

"mit einem kleinen risko
hilft man auch jemand anderm hoch
und beobachtete genau

wer sich länger oben hält
weiß wie und wo man runterfällt
denn andere fallen sehen macht schlau"

"high
oben macht frei
oben macht schön
bleib ganz kurz stehen
hast du alles gut gesehen"

"high
höher geht`s kaum
die ist dein traum
ewig hier stehen
hast du alles gut gesehen
es wird schon runter gehen"

When I took some photo's and enjoyed the "schöne aussichten" it's time to descent the small pimple. Let's see if the Altimeter works correct the way down.
Well, it seems we are back at 5m in the car. Although the ascent and descent were not world shocking heights, it's pretty nice to see it works.
After driving home the Altimeter shows sea level again when we reach home.

I've got a new lens (Canon 17 - 85 IS USM). Actually not special for EL backlights, but this pic looks pretty clear. Well, I know there has been already written a lot about this popular G-Shock model. Still I hope you enjoyed reading.Inspired by the lyrics of 2Raumwohnung - Oben (© I. Humpe, taken from from the album "Es wird Morgen", 2004)