> Years ago, I worked with a girl who insulted me to core by claiming in a v. derogatory voice that my culinary skills “probably didn’t even stretch as far…
> Back in the olden days, straw was gathered up into bundles. Then along came the hay baler that crept across the harvested fields and produced manageable chunks of biomass.…
Seriously. This is what they eat in Bavaria mid-morning. Weißwurst, Süßsenf, Brezeln and Weißbier One of Mrs jb’s Xmas bribes, if I recall correctly. Do the following: Empty the…
> The Christmas season encroaches more and more every year. The first decorations turned up in one of those smelly shops (to which I’m allergic on both olfactoral and financial…
> The annual wine festival in Hechtsheim, another of one of Mainz’s once-was-a-village-but-it-got-gobbled-up suburbs, last weekend. Not a lot to recommend it – the wine’s so dire that you ask…
> I’ve known Lena from across the road since she was a “littlie”, as Isla Leslie would say. “What’s your name? What are you doing? What’s that plant? When’s your…
> Not a very nice thing to say about me, but it’s probably true. Certainly applies to asparagus, though. Last harvest on 24 June, as they’ll let the frost take…
> Folks on occasion turn up at Ms jb’s office in the Vertical Village with gifts. Often it’s unadulterated bribery (“Can I have an apartment please?”. “Can you open my…
> At the moment, anyway. It links the path along the Rhine with Mainz-Weisenau, one of Mainz’s once-was-a-village-but-it-got-gobbled-up suburbs. I read somewhere that there are moves afoot to tear it…
> Or is it vampires that are repelled by Allium sativum? I’m confused
> The Burgschule (“Castle School”) in Nieder-Olm got a lick of new paint the other day. Looks pretty cool.
> These folks turned up over our place the other week. There’s a big hot air balloning centre in Harxheim, about 7km as the crow flies (or as the balloon’s…
> …Pete Dexter’s 1988 award-winning novel, has only recenetly been translated into German. Made big headlines in the serious broadsheets. This chappy is no relation. This is Dinner Trout. My…
> ..hooray. You can buy these on the market in bulk. (You can also get out the secateurs and plunder the hedgerows) You can also pay outrageous chunks of money…
> What an excellent evening. Kick-off was in St Quintins, with musicians representing 4 continents – a didgeridoo-er especially for Helen, an Central Asian throat-singer on byzaanchy, an African drummer…
> “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” John Wanamaker US department store merchant (1838 – 1922) This is NOT…
> Around here, churches are locked most of the time. Except the big ones and even some of THEM close down for lunch. {Shakes his head, muttering “Close down for…
> This is Dottie, the most famous chook in Mainz. (“Dottie”‘s short for “Dotter” – “yolk” in German) Attracts kids of all ages, but I was fascinated by the conversation…
> I looked at this sign – it’s where you enter the market square in from of the Dom in Mainz – and thought…. “No. They can’t really mean that”…
> Take your partner by the hand…. Mainz has a touch of promiscuity when it comes to partnering. They seem to chat up any likely looking talent and then…
> I have no idea where the blackberry vine in our garden turned up from. The strawberries aren’t an issue. I know I planted them I stumbled over ripped my…
> Saturn, one of the national consumer electronics megastore chains, has an advertising slogan that’s become embedded into the language: Geiz ist geil (Cheap is cool) Germans being financially conservative,…
> Saint Martin gets everywhere. And so he should, being a true heir to the Good Samurai or whatever his name was. There’s the modern statue next to the Martinus…
> …I heard someone say. “Not very nice” I thought. Oh, they’re talking about the RECYCLING bags. Big thing over here, with more wheelie bins than you can shake a…
> He was here just the other day, though. Johannes was getting a bit frayed around the edges (so am I for that matter and I’m nowhere nearly as old…
> …in a bag. Plus some tomatoes, a couple of onions and a clove or 2 of garlic
> James Rizzi must have been in the army. Where else would he come up with the principle: “If it moves, salute it. If it doesn’t move, paint it” This…
> …chantarelle. Eh? That’s what comes from translating colloquialisms literally. As in “Darauf gebe ich keinen Pfifferling” Or “Not worth a red cent” I rather like chantarelles, though. Fry them…
> Bunches of dill flowers on the market. Put me in a right pickle….
> .. as the situationally unware are wont to say. Can’t get lost on the Rhine, though. Every 1000 metres, a whacking great sign like this tells you exactly where…
> Toddled off to my first political event the other evening. Not that I can actually vote over here, but whatever.. Wolfgang Bosbach, one of the Head Honchos from the…
Mainz Daily Photo 