In Gryphiusstraße 28 there is a favourite  program in the morning at six o’clock (sometimes even earlier, rarely later), each movement of the leading actress is followed to be able to react if she suddenly moves towards specific food bags in the kitchen.

Image edited by: PhotoFunia

Who of the slightly older readers does not remember Rubiks’s Cube, which conquered the world in the 80s. Obviously this equipment is getting more and mor popular again in competitions and with mathematicians. There are suposedly people managing to solve the cube blindfolded, others do it within seconds. For them there is an interesting garment:

“Don’t worry, I’ll solve it in less than a minute!”

You appreciate the finer things in life. You have a split personality – wild or conservative, depending on your mood. Wherever you go, you like to travel first class. Luxury, style, and fun – who could ask for more?

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

via: Desideria

News from Simon’s cat.

via: Twitter by Sven Dietrich.

This Wednesday I had the opportunity to take this snapshot of the cargo jumbo, which abandoned take-off, slided beyond the runway and broke into at least two pieces. The picture was taken through the window of the airport express and makes it quite clear that it was a near miss before turning into a huge catastrophe. If the plane just would have moved 50 yards further, it would have fallen onto the tracks, and fuelled as it was for a transatlantic flight, it would have exploded for sure. Not to think about the consequences if train would have passed at this moment goint to or coming from the airport. Only abot 200 yards further there is the high-speed track from Brussels to Liège and Cologne.

As it was, there were 4 staff on the plane only of whom just one was injured.

If you see those garbage loads after Whitsunday, you know that we had a nice weather situation over the weekend and that people enjoyed their pizzas in the park over the long weekend. I often think that a deposit a couple of Euros should be introduced on pizza packings and that pizza shop should be forced to take them back and recycle them. It should not be the case that this kind of dirt should be removed by society. On the other hand there are a lot of bottles bought with a deposit in this heap of garbage, the buyers do not seem to care.

But there was something exciting about this morning as well: the clematis has open her blossoms the first time this year.

NASA is offering the following, however limited job: 90 days in bed with a compensation of $17.000. Does not really sound unattractive, does it?

During my wonderful long weekend in Berlin there was a mixed type of weather, so to speak. Hours of sunshine took their turn with heavy rains. The sunsets in these weather conditions to me are much more interesting than in a pure high pressure situation, the light colours of the sun form a beautiful contrast with tose of the dark clouds. And of course with those of the roses in the largest tub on our roof terrace.

There are a lot of opportunities to sit on the terrace and to enjoy the sun. But there are disturbances, especially the cries: “It is raining the seat covers have to get inside!” On these occasions the seats which just have been made comfortable have to be freed of their covers to protect them from the rain (even when I thought that they were weather-proof, but my beloved wife states that they are not). And when the sun shines again I hear “Beloved one, could you please take out the covers again?”

Our cats do love the rain breaks.

On Friday evening my flight took me from Hamburg to London, not with Ryanair from Lübeck, but with Easyjet directly to Luton, while Hanna left Berlin a bit earlier by Air Berlin to Stansted. Hamburg is a strange kind of airport, the departure lounge is some 600-800 m long and I had to walk the whole distance. Anyhow, at the end of the hall there is a moving walkway of about 20 m length, probably for people to rest just short of their breakdown or to pass the smokers’ cabin faster. This glass cabinet of about 2.5 by 2.5 m is really offering room for about six smokers, with eight people inside it would become difficult not to produce burn holes into each others clothing. It is interesting to watch people’s luggage, the foto is showing a particularly interestinhg piece, obviously made for people, who want to be sure to spot their luggage on the baggage belt.

Luton is a small and clearly laid out airport with fast passport control and baggage delivery and after a short ride on the shuttle bus you reach the station, from which a train took me to Farringdon in just over half an hour.

Farringdon is right in the middle of London City, the place where our hosts live, but it seems to be a hot spot for London night life: lots of slightly drunken people, a large contingent of police at the station. Somehow it has to be like this as lots of English people love the “Binge Drinking” and more or less go beyond their bonds.

Going on from Farringdon I past a shop called Kurz & Lang – the Bratwurst Company, which is specialised in fried sausagaes of all kinds served with bread and Sauerkraut, Just like an average London person would expect a cultivated German “Bratwurst” meal.

My walk led me further on to pass a wonderful Victorian market, interestingly one of the largest and most modern meat markets of Europe, the Smithfield Meat Market. In previous times hundreds of cattle were kept in huge underground quarters for sale and for slaughtering, now the cavements are used for cars and for dancing.

From this market it is not far to Little Britain, the road in which we are to live over the weekend. Across the the road from the flat there is a small park offering a kind of morbid place of interest: at some stage commemorative plaques have been installed remembering people who lost their lives trying to save other people.

Since our arrival everything is revolving around eating, talking and shopping. I am a pround owner of a new suit now.

On Saturday there will be a reading in Neukölln and I am part of it. Anyone in Berlin is welcome to come.

The following people are going to read:

susanne englmayer
jochenausberlin
don dahlmann
Axel Wegner (myself)
björn graumodeste
ally klein
maike