Update #1

Last month I wrote a post about the death of Max Schmeling. I knew there was a Tante Irmgard story but I couldn't remember it and I not-too-generously suggested he was a cranky old man.

I was wrong.

Dad asked Tante I about it and she said he was connected to the Friendship Force in Hamburg. Friendship Force is a travel organization with the idea of promoting peace through international friendship. More here.

When Irmgard was involved with FF she wrote Schmeling a letter and invited him to meet with some international visitors. He promptly wrote back and thanked her for the invitation but kindly excused himself, more or less because of his age. Apparently he wasn't cranky at all, but rather, a nice and generous man. Pamrentz.com regrets suggesting otherwise.

One time when Irmgard was with Friendship Force she traveled to the US. I can't remember what state but she stayed with American FF members and in the morning they didn't drink coffee and offered her none. (Any person familiar with German hospitality is cringing about now.) She finally asked if there was any coffee and they searched the bowels of their kitchen cupboards and presented her with a jar of instant so ancient she had to chip it out of the container. She called it "Roosevelt coffee" because she suspected they bought it when he was still in office.

Update #2
My second update concerns flipping off the Trimet driver.

According to OtherBob, the trains are on some sort of system where the driver can't just hold the door for the running passenger to hop on. I guess this makes sense since there are other trains and road crossings and so forth. I apologize for the bird and removed the curse and hope it didn't cause any inconvenience.