…sang the Mamas and Papas. Autumn creeps into Mayence
How it started Ursula Groden-Kranich (CDU = centre-centre-centre-right) was Mainz’s directly elected MP for the last 2 legislative sessions of the Bundestag. Place was plastered with her election posters, along…
Scheck-In (no, don’t ask me…) is a local supermarket belong to the Edeka chain, one of the 2 legacy supermarket groups fighting for their lives against the discounter (Aldi, Lidl…
Scratch a German and you’ll likely find a nature lover hidden inside that humourless exoskeleton. Proof of this are the nesting structures for storks they’ve set up all over the…
…the other one. This would be Olaf Scholz, SPD chancellor candidate in the upcoming federal election with a good chance of succeeding Angela Merkel, who could possibly have a chat…
But you should see the *other* guy…
..we all scream for ice-cream. The queue (“line” for the colonials..) at Piccin in NQM Nieder-Olm stretched right around the building last week…
Says Paul Bonna, barista extraordinaire, owner and proprietor of the exquisite Kaffeekommune in the Breidenbacherstarsse and friend (despite my having a good decade on his Mum) for close on a…
“OF COURSE it’s going back…!” Some people are just a bit too choosy. Gridlock at the post office in Klaa-Winnerum
So what do you when the budget doesn’t run to a premium conifer this year? Pile all the baubles into a bowl. Better for the environment anyway… Off to watch…
Actually, it’s a Hippeastrum. From South America. Indoor bulb. Amaryllis (Amarylli?…) hail from South Africa. Outdoor bulb. But they generally run under Amaryliss and you have to fight your way…
…of winter cycling. Somewhere down there is a concrete farm road. Somewhere…
…Mainz in gloom. My mate Houghton – connoisseur, master mariner, nautical historian and surrogate bro-in-law – who lives in Devo(nport), a village suburb of Auckland in New Zealand takes great…
Fine piece of festive artwork from Year 2 first cousin twice removed Thomas of the Hilltop Primary Academy, Tingley. Self-published, no less. Boy’s got a future….
…to Glue Wine. Oh. Glühwein… That‘s how you spell it? Live and learn…
Christmas tree decorations at Paul’s ever excellent Kaffeekommune. That’s it. Seriously…
Bro Paul of Auckland-West fame (and too good a photographer not to resurrect his site) reminded me today that I should by rights be in New Zealand. Thanks for that,…
Other people see a pomegranate aka Punica granatum I reckon a spray can of red paint and a handful of glitter would be just the job. But let me tell…
On the left bank of the Rhine, we have Mainz – cathedral domes and church spires and stuff. On the other side of the river, we have Mainz-Kastel. Which gets…
..the Light (and dark) Fantastic.
…to..for Xmas
…for Saint Nick? Based on this lot, I think it’d be “A horrific of Santa Clauses”…
Cheese puffs. World famous in New Zealand. They are really good. Easy as, too
Hard times for anyone in hospitality these days. Germany’s currently back in a mild version of lockdown for the month in an effort to get daily infection rates down from…
… brown red, and the sky is grey blue, I’ve been for a walk On an autumnal …… (choose your own…)
…as a chocolate teapot. It’s really good that the Corona app logs interactions with other folks and tells me that someone who a) wasn’t very close and b) briefly at…
…Orbis.Well, not quite accurate – it’s actually Urbi et Orbi (“to the city and to the world”) – and Orbis, a small town in the Palatinate with a population of…
…the Amiche. Which used to be a 30km/15 stop rural railway line linking Alzey and Bodenheim from the late 19th century until the mid-1980s. Tracks pulled and part of the…
There are red grapes with white flesh. That would be Pinot Noir plus a few others. That’s one of the varieties they use to make champagne. Which is…basically a white…
