Fine band. Maggie Bell, who sang backing vocals on Rod Stewart’s Every Picture Tells A Story. For which she should get a knighthood Or sainthood Or both. Not actually crows…
The Ali Baba Kebap Haus, just up the steps from the Gaugass, is arguably one of the best (if not the best) döner places in town*. And if only for…
Seriously. GEMA (Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte/Society for Musical Performing and Mechanical Reproduction Rights) represents the rights of performers, collecting royalties for both live and – er –…
ZZ Top clones as Rockin’ Santas. At least it’s not “Rockin Santa’s…….. Yet….
People, it’s only mid-October. Why on EARTH are you selling bottles of mulled wine as if the festive season is only a week away. Next thing, they’ll be selling Christmas…
The Catholic church gets up my nose on occasion with some of its medieval attitudes. Not my problem, of course. Let the adherents to the faith sort it out. But…
The old Customs building at the river port, a fine example of creative conversion and now housing start-ups and media companies. The rest of the area will be growing apartments…
A vehicle with two wheels in tandem, usually propelled by pedals connected to the rear wheel by a chain, and having handlebars for steering and a saddle-like seat. Right, so…
The other day, we featured a balcony full of rampant petunias threatening to take over the whole of a highrise block. The City of Mainz is going one better. It’s…
The Gaustrasse – the main route from town to the top of town – is a bit of a mess at the moment. The tram lines are in the process…
Two Euros and 50 bloody cents to take your bike across the Rhein at Ingelheim Highway..er…fluvial robbery. At least Dick Turpin wore a mask…
Some strange stuff turns up at our place, vaguely reminiscent of familiar blossoms, but “they’re new” and “not really that expensive..” Compared with a Ferrari, that is…
The tour guide’s spiel went like this: “OK, this is the meeting point” (Neglecting to mention that the “meeting point” aka the Market Well is one of the oldest architectural…
A motley collection of geriatrics kicking up a fuss in front of the cathedral this morning and demanding an uninterrupted view of cathedral in Worms. Eh? Worms is 48km from…
…..stuff like this doesn’t turn up at our place? I’m not too keen on the colour nor the pattern, but I DO like the price……
Same road, 500 metres apart. Just how hard is it to find a rubbish/trash bin around here? But, no – just sling your half-finished takeaway out of the window. And…
Nothing compared with what it used to be like during the Cold War (and for more than a few years after the Wall came down), but there’s still an American…
I don’t much care for them, either. Nor am I particularly fond of the wind farms that sprout up faster than you can blink. But if we want to reduce…
Not quite 12th night…. Although our household does its fair share of global warming contribution pretty much year round….
Remember the 650 year old trunk of an ancient elm tree in the neighbouring village of Ober-Olm? Well, some pea-brained little twerps tried to set it alight the other night.…
There should be a law against this. It’s OK to make wreaths out of grape vine prunings or hydrangea flowers, but taking something as sacred as HOPS and wasting them…
For 20-odd years, Senfkorn (“Mustard Seed – here’s the parable)has been a meeting point for folks with alcohol or psychological problems, where they could feel secure among their peer and…
Now, I’m not for the Nanny State, with bureaucrats telling you what you can and can’t do at their whim (Friends are renovating a 1930s cottage in New Zealand. It’s…
…Winkel jb. It appears that I fell under the spell of the Demon Alcohol sometime back in September, nodded off, time-warped and woke up just before Christmas. That’s my only…
Norbert Trock has packed up his tent and moved on to the next oasis. Wherever that may be. So what do I do now…?
…loutish behaviour and enormous quantities of rubbish. For some people, at least. Namely those who risk blindness by drinking this stuff…
The “Drei-Mädchen” fountain on the Ballplatz, suffering from severe dehydration. The reason: No money. As usual. Mainz has enormous debts – close to €1bn – and it costs €220,000 annually…
And it came to pass that THE LORD did appear before the HIGH PRIEST of the Melanchthonkirche in the Schlesische Viertel of the City of Mayence and SPAKE unto him…
Talk about ungrateful! Provide a family of blackbirds food and lodging (they even recycled one of my tea bags from the compost heap for the nest…) in our clipped box…
Or lanes. I feared the worst when the grinder came along a couple of weeks ago and skimmed off the bike lane markings on my direct route into the Fumée…
Unless you want to strip the bark to build a canoe, birch trees are a pain in the bum. Their roots go everywhere, you can’t underplant them particularly successfully and…