Berlin FAQ Blog

I've just received notification from the International Weblog Licensing Organisation that as my Berlin blogging days are effectively over (at least for the forseeable future), I am required to post an appropriate announcement.

So I therefore invite you to join me 9 hours ahead of GMT in this totally other capital city where I am currently trying not to get embroiled too much in a debate about charisma.

It's nice, when you're in a strange place full of even stranger foreign food which is likely to be having tentacles sticking out of it at odd angles, to you know you can always get a good old German döner kebap when you need one.

Just a few years ago, a telephone in an aircraft was a rare and hideously expensive sight. Now, thanks to the unstoppable march of technology, mere mortals can blog live from somewhere over the Urals, and how much better life has become now I can inform you almost in real time about the sumptuous meal I have just enjoyed. Wanting to get into the swing of things I went for the Japanese meal: fish, including the sushi-like thing on the right, and for desserts there was the very un-Japanese cheesecake on the left, which was surprisingly tasty if a little on the small side. Although I would certainly never fly just for the meals, as airline food goes it was quite good: it seems the competition on this route keeps standards fairly high, I have only experienced one high-altitudte gourmet disappointment, and that was on British Airways, surprise surprise.

In three or four hours there'll probably be instant noodles for anyone that wants them, and breakfast will no doubt be served somewhere around the longitude of Peking.

Well, the flight assistants are coming round tucking everyone into bed (normally rather early for sleep, but in 6 or 7 hours it will very suddenly be 9am), so I'll have to stop here (Internet access over much of Siberia is apparently not very reliable anyway) so as not to disturb one's fellow aviators. This will probably be the last post on this blog for a few weeks, but you should find me here on this totally other blog where up until now I've mainly been recycling old photos.

For anyone not glued to the radio: a BVG strike will take place from around midnight tonight (Thursday) until 3pm Saturday.

S-Bahn and Regionalbahn are not affected. (Glad I live almost next to an S-Bahn station

For the record: the last major BVG strike I remember was 1992.

One of the disadvantages^* of living outside of Japan is that one is somewhat isolated from the latest entertainment trends circulating in that sushi-soaked archipelago. For example, it was not until very recently that I was made aware of the "Hard Gay" phenomenon, and due to a lack of bloggable material I think it's high time I made use of YouTube as a space filler.

So with no further ado, Mr. Hard Gay himself in all his leather-clad exhibitionist glory:



Check out the official Hard Gay site, which plays the YMCA song in Japanese, but please note if you feel strangely attracted to him, the guy is actually married to an actual female.

^* By "disadvantage" I may mean "advantage"

(Strangely, my German - English dictionary translates "Fernweh" as "wanderlust", although in German "Fernweh" and "Wanderlust" are similar but not exactly synonyms).



The return date is provisional. Blow-by-blow minutae and / or photos of silly stuff may be available on this totally other blog.

Added: having just checked the flight details, turns out it's a Boeing 777.

I was delighted to read your article about Deutsche Bahn buying up various railway companies in the UK, it gives one a small ray of hope for future rail journeys through parts of Albion.

However, I was somewhat concerned about the caption in the picture you used with the article:

which reads "Einfahrt in den Bahnhof Shropshire in Wales" (train entering Shropshire Station in Wales).

What the fuck, precisely, do you put in your subeditors' drinks? Would you seriously consider writing a caption like "Einfahrt in den Bahnhof Niederbayern in Thüringen"? If so, please let me know and I will cancel my subscription forthwith. (Especially as the photo shows a very long modern electric train running on what appears to be a 4-track main line: I'm not terribly familiar with Shropshire's railways, but if they're anything like those in the neighbouring county of Herefordshire, two-car diesel units running on tracks the former Deutsche Reichsbahn would have been ashamed of are far more probable.)

Thankyou.

The great clearout continues here at Penguin HQ! Why not while away those rainy January evenings with a fine selection of high-brow literature in English from the Penguin's personal library? Buyer collects, can deliver to Stammtisch and / or vicinity of Penguin HQ. Place your reservations in the comments or by email to mountpenguin [squiggly mark] gmail.com.

Currently on offer at the bargain price of €2 per volume are:

Terry Pratchett:
# Going Postal
# Carpe Jugulum
# Interesting Times
# The Last Continent
# Jingo
# Soul Music

(or all 6 for €10). Reserved by Ed

Also available: "Wachen! Wachen!" (German translation of "Guards! Guards!").

Stephen King:
# Lisey's Story
# Black House
# From a Buick 8

(or all 3 for €5).

Also available for free: "Das Mädchen" ("The Girl who loved Tom Gordon"). Improve your German with this scary story of a young girl lost in the woods of the NE USA. (Note: was "preisred. Mängelexemplar").

Tom Wolfe
# Bonfire of the Vanities (note: published 1990, condition good but a bit on the well-read side)
# I am Charlotte Simmons

(or both for €3).

Other Authors:
# Ian McEwan: "Atonement" (now a major motion picture! Read the book and save yourself the price of a cinema ticket!)
# JG Ballard: Empire of the Sun
# Tom Sharpe: Wilt
# Neil Gaiman: "American Gods"
# Kim Stanley Robinson: "Red Mars"

All books are in good condition, most were bought new by myself.

Love couldn't tear actor Sam Riley apart from girlfriend Alexandra Maria Lara. He's just moved to Berlin to live with her

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/jan/19/insiderguides.berlin

Full of hot tips on the hippest places to go. Print it out and put it in your wallet. I'll never be leaving home without it.

While looking for a low-cost route to a certain Far Eastern archipelago, I was somewhat concerned to find this information on the Uzbekistan Airlines website pertaining to new entry procedures in Japan:



(source).

Unfortunately they don't seem to fly from Berlin, though I was impressed by the way they consider aircraft maintenance important news worthy of note on their home page.