Finally in the air again

After a month of waiting, I could finally get some stick time. The weather the last few weeks had been limiting to say the least. Although not perfect, it would do to fly to EDTY from EDFE and back over EDRY. Unfortunately, the maps for 2012 were not to be had from my normal internet dealer and the folks at Air Navigation still did not have the current maps online. Sh*t. I checked with my FBO and they had some 2012 availiable and they would set on aside for me. An extra 10 Euros is cheap compared to a ramp check...
I like to fly to EDTY since this field was the first leg of my cross country solo last year. Giant relief when I could see the field that day.
I get to Egelsbach and pick up my map, final weather check, and out to the D-EGDG. I brought a soft cloth with me to clean the canopy. Not that they have a dirty a/c, but it is a charter plane that is mostly used for instruction.
After the pre-flight, time to start. Thinking that since the OAT is above zero, the start should be no problem. Wrong. After emptying the battery, I go and get the external starter. Thinking again that this will be a battle royal, the motor catches basically on the first turn of the prop. Hmmmm. The on-board battery is probably on its last legs. After double checking that the park brakes are set, I climb out into the prop-blast and undo the battery. It is one thing to be walking past a turning prop on the apron or even to be sitting in the cockpit, but to be only what seems to be a few centimeters away from those turning blades was truely nerve racking.
Call the apron, taxi to fuel up. Fill up to150 litres, call the apron again, taxi to 27. Unfortunately, I notice 3 seconds too late that I have miss the taxiway and am proceeding to the runway. Shit. Call the apron to get the OK to turn around and head back to Taxiway Alpha. Run up checks and away we go.
The is the first flight in ages where I could work with the Garmin 430, do some RNAV, and generally concentrate on flying and not concerning myself with Airspace Charlies, unhappy controllers, or consistently preparing for patterns.
EDTY came in sight and after having to slow down for a DA-20 in the circuit, I floated a nice long landing (I wanted to see how long I could stay a meter over the runway) and proceeded to my my next POI, EDRY (Speyer). They have an aircraft museum which I took some pics.
The flight back to Egelsbach was uneventful, however, I have noticed that I am in the habit of only using 20% flaps. This would explain why I have not been able to hit the numbers for a while. This weekend I will make the effort to use full flaps. I think I started using less flaps since the cross winds were close to the max allowed and I found that only 20% allowed me to see the runway better and correct.