Mrs. Martin and Mr. Blohm, Episode 28: Was music ever anything other than magic?

On that Sunday morning, after a nine-hour sleep, Evelyn and Regina woke up and could still see a little sunshine on that first April weekend — a small sign that spring was finally arriving. Both felt completely refreshed after getting enough hours of sleep. Especially Regina was feeling much better than the day before, when she had started to feel as if she were coming down with the flu.

The two prepared breakfast together. With a simple caffè latte and toast with ham and cheese, they sat down at the long wooden table Regina had brought with her from Munich to Hamburg. From there they looked outside toward the Rondeel, a small extension of the Alster. Everything looked peaceful and calm that morning.

As they enjoyed their breakfast, they reflected on the evening with Mr. Blohm the day before. Regina found it rather strange that Mr. Blohm had rejected her informal “you” when she had finally offered to let him call her Regina and Claus.

Evelyn found the situation absolutely hilarious. When Mr. Blohm answered that he was “not ready yet,” she liked his spontaneous response and had a completely different impression than Regina. Evelyn appreciated the humor of Mr. Blohm.

For Regina, the whole moment felt made up and a little overstretched — not her kind of humor at all.

But Evelyn still couldn’t stop laughing about it.

The later it got that day, the darker it became. The sun disappeared, and Evelyn felt it was time to continue her journey home to Stuttgart. She had only stopped in Hamburg on her way back from Denmark to Stuttgart to see Regina’s new place — the place Regina had fallen so much in love with — and to check how her friend was doing after the breakup with Paul.

Evelyn still had about seven hours of driving ahead of her to reach the west of Germany. So she set off. Soon enough it started raining again, and the weather turned gray, dreary, and cold once more.

Before Evelyn left, Regina took her into her arms and thanked her for always being there when she needed her.

A New City. A New Regina.

After Evelyn had gone, Regina finally had time to reflect on the past six months since she had moved to Hamburg — the move from Munich, the breakup with Paul, finding the right condo directly by the Alster, and starting her new professional challenge at La Perla.

Regina sat at the long wooden table in her beautiful studio, lighting a candle and looking out over the Alster. Even though it was raining, the atmosphere felt cozy and warm. Regina loved her new home very much.

She had now been in Hamburg for six months and thought about everything she had achieved during that time. Moving to Hamburg had never really been her plan — she had wanted to move to Miami.

As she sat there in the gray, cold weather, she wondered where her Miami dream had gone.

She did feel quite at home in Hamburg, and her job at La Perla was going well. Still, it was not her dream job. The new production had been moved from Italy to China, which had caused many unhappy customers. The lingerie simply did not fit the same way anymore, and Regina couldn’t agree more with their criticism.

And even though her neighbor, Mr. Blohm, in a strange way made her feel cared for, she still had her doubts.

Regina also reflected on the fact that she had finally secured her membership at the Club an der Alster. The club was legendary among the rich and beautiful of Hamburg, and at first it had seemed almost impossible to get in — but Regina had made it happen.

With a full membership, she could play even more tennis and was slowly getting to know more and more people in Hamburg.

Of course, her landlord, Gerhard Meyer — the chic hairdresser — kept calling her and inviting her to wonderful events. Most of the time she was unable to attend, as she was traveling so much for La Perla. Regina took her new job very seriously.

Overall, Regina felt very comfortable in her own skin. Having finally drawn a line under her past relationship, she felt that her self-confidence had grown more in these six months than in the previous ten years she had spent in Munich.

Mr. Blohm’s persistence

Regina also thought about the lunch with Mr. Blohm, which was still three weeks away. She had acted toward Mr. Blohm as if she were extremely busy in the evenings — which was true — and that was why Mr. Blohm had suggested a lunch instead. Of course, Regina occasionally had a free evening, but in truth she had not really wanted to meet Mr. Blohm again. She had secretly hoped he would simply give up. Instead, Mr. Blohm had come up with the idea of a lunch date — very creative, Regina had thought at the time — and that was why she had agreed.

Still, the idea of having lunch with Mr. Blohm felt a little strange to her. Regina didn’t like lunch. For her, lunch was for wimps — just like the famous line in the movie Wall Street. After lunch you felt like taking a nap and no longer felt productive, at least in Regina’s opinion.

A Sign from the Sun

The last three weeks had once again been filled with terrible, gloomy weather in Hamburg. Then, exactly on the day of her lunch date with Mr. Blohm, the sun finally appeared again. Already in the morning the sky was bright blue — something that had not been seen for weeks.

Somehow, for Regina, it felt like a sign. Unbelievable that exactly on the day she would see Mr. Blohm again, the sun was shining. The sun was Regina’s true elixir of life.

She could hardly wait now for Mr. Blohm to pick her up at her La Perla showroom for lunch so she could enjoy the sunshine.

She was so sun-hungry that even though it was only the end of April and the temperatures in Germany — especially in Hamburg — were still quite cool, sitting in the sun felt perfectly pleasant. For Regina it was clear: she definitely wanted to sit outside for lunch.

So that was absolutely Regina’s goal. She had already put on her black La Perla coat and her beloved gray scarf. When the doorbell rang in the La Perla showroom, Regina ran downstairs as quickly as she could.

Through the glass door she saw Mr. Blohm standing outside. He looked absolutely great. He was wearing sunglasses and a gray cashmere coat — but no scarf. That was something Regina immediately noticed, because she loved scarves on men.

Regina opened the heavy wooden door, and the two greeted each other quite formally with a handshake.

“Good day, Mr. Blohm,” said Mrs. Martin.

“Good day, Mrs. Martin,” Mr. Blohm replied.

Mr. Blohm then immediately said, “I’ve chosen a wonderful restaurant for us for lunch. It’s another one of my favorite Italian restaurants, besides La Tana, and it’s absolutely fantastic, Mrs. Martin.”

By now Mr. Blohm knew that Mrs. Martin was such a fan of Italy, so he had put some thought into introducing her to another special Italian restaurant.

He also seemed amazed that, after weeks of gray weather, the sun was finally shining again that day.

“Isn’t that a good sign, Mrs. Martin?” Mr. Blohm said.

“Yes, it certainly is a good sign, Mr. Blohm,” Regina answered.

The two then walked to Mr. Blohm’s silver Mercedes, a car Regina was already quite familiar with, as it had been parked in her parking space more than once.

Mr. Blohm walked around the car and opened the passenger door for her like a true gentleman.

Regina thought to herself: A true gentleman, this Mr. Blohm.

And finally the lunch conflict

So the two drove off, and the restaurant was only about ten minutes away from Regina’s showroom. Mr. Blohm quickly found a parking spot, and they got out of the car. Mr. Blohm pointed proudly to a house in front of them and said, “There’s the restaurant, Mrs. Martin.”

When Regina saw the entrance and the front of the restaurant, she simply said, “Mr. Blohm, I hope this restaurant has outdoor seating!”

Mr. Blohm raised his eyebrows slightly and replied, “Well, Mrs. Martin… there are no outdoor seats, but they have the best homemade pasta.”

Regina immediately turned around. At that moment she spotted a small coffee place across the street, where the sun was shining directly onto the terrace. Even the furniture was still tied up, since hardly anyone had wanted to sit outside during the past few months.

Regina said to Mr. Blohm, “Let’s just sit over there and have lunch outside in the sun.”

Mr. Blohm looked a bit puzzled. At the same time he noticed the chef of the Italian restaurant waving from the kitchen window, pasta pans in his hands and noodles flying in the air.

Mr. Blohm tried once more. “But look, Mrs. Martin, this Italian restaurant has the best pasta, and I already made a reservation for the best table. It’s a very cozy and romantic place. That coffee place probably won’t have anything special for lunch, and we might not even get service outside, since none of the other guests are sitting there.”

But Mrs. Martin was already practically on her way to the café across the street. For Regina it was only a lunch, not a romantic date, so she couldn’t have cared less. She simply wanted to finally have the sun right in her face.

So, dear readers, if you now want to know whether this lunch will happen at all — since there is already a disagreement about which place they will choose for lunch, all because of the exceptionally sunny weather — then stay tuned.

And as always, make sure you have Mr and Mrs SYLTBAR ready. We look forward to continuing the story, because as you know, without Mrs. Martin and Mr. Blohm there would be no SYLTBAR — no Mr, no Mrs — simply unimaginable.

You will find out more in Episode 29. 🥂