…er…truncheon at. (That’d be night stick for the colonial cousins. And – Germans being direct as usual – locally, it’s a Schlagstock. Hitting stick. I told you they don’t mince…
There are 3 types of fun. Type 1 fun is enjoyable while it’s happening. Also known as, simply, fun. Type 2 fun is miserable while it’s happening, but fun in…
Alfa Romeo Spider Duetto, somewhere between 1966 and 1969 i.e. the time I left school to the time I left New Zealand. And somewhere north of €40k I had a…
Jan rides to Mayence From Wiesbaden to make me Excellent coffee
When it’s 30°C in the shade (86°F in old money…) and your shop is right opposite the Rialto ice-cream bar in the Altstadt…
It’s been a bit damp around here recently – I think the drains must have got blocked or something, because the Rhine went seriously over its banks last week. (This…
That’s local dialect for “Hügel”, a hill. And topographically, Rheinhessen is right up there Someone came up with the idea of developing walks of around 11km through vineyards/woods/open fields and…
…Anguis fragilis (aka deaf adder, slowworm, blindworm, long-cripple or hazelworm. Actaully a legless lizard Making tracks between rue (Ruta graveolens) and Swiss chard, having recently shed its skin and on…
On the 100km bike path between Mainz and Koblenz. 4.5 hours. Non-electric. Whenever I see a sliver of blue in the distance of a grey sky, I always think affectionately…
10 degrees. Summer. Yeah right…
Just across the road from St Stephan’s with the Chagall windows and where I met Monsignor Mayer all that time ago. Excellent prix fixe lunch, nice guests and just up…
Davis Slack is a speech writer, woke (as in: knows history and sees an injustice at 100 yards) as shit, humourist, published author and all-round good guy. He writes daily…
“Those who knew him know what we have lost” wrote Annemarie, Billy Crash’s widow. This strikes home like an arrow to the heart. I first saw Martin – pronounced “Maddean”in…
You can’t see the rest of the insect, which is, of course, its bum. In America, of course, it’s called the Assblebee…
Let’s roll the clock back 10 years. There’s an article in Sensor magazine about a couple of young dudes opening a pop-up espresso bar at the corner of Gaustrasse and…
…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…
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
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…
Mainz Daily Photo 