Berlin FAQ Blog

Is your apartment overflowing with books? Is your IKEA shelving collection still lacking some important elements? Check out these fantastic, once-in-a-lifetime (not sure who's lifetime though) bargains:

BILLY

200 x 80 x 28, 6 shelves (complete, EUR 20)
105 x 80 x 28, 3 shelves (complete, EUR 10)
105 x 60 x 28, 2 shelves (complete, EUR 8 )

(or EUR 30 the lot)

IVAR


Side units:
220 x 30: 8 (EUR 5 each)
220 x 50: 2 (EUR 8 each)

Shelves:

80 x 30: 35 (EUR 1.50 each; a couple are a bit grotty, will throw those in for free)
80 x 50: 3 (EUR 3 each)
40 x 30: 7 (EUR 1 each)

The 220 x 50 units and the 3 80 x 50 combined make a useful "wardrobe", there is also a bar for hanging clothes on which fits onto the side units

or EUR 100 for the whole lot.

Piccies:

A 220cm x 30cm IVAR unit in its full glory (misc junk not included):



This is the 220cm x 50cm IVAR unit in use as a sort of wardrobe / general junk dumping ground. Clothes and general junk are not included in this exclusive one-time offer.

Yes - the Penguin is back in Berlin for a limited period only and is clearing out his inventory of miscellaneous junk at bargain prices beginning at 0 Euros! Watch this space for the latest offers. Leave a comment or contact me at barwick [at@] gmail.com.

For sale:

: various IKEA "Ivar" and "Billy" shelving elements (see here for details)

This fantastic TV / DVB box / DVD player combo for just 50 Euros or best offer:

For free:

: 2 x white metal storage shelves approx 170cm high (suitable for cellar etc.). One unit picture on the left; has 3 or 4 more shelves to go with it
: metal umbrella stand thingy, modern fashionable design to impress your friends and neighbours, possibly from IKEA but who cares, about 60 cm tall
: IKEA Billy-style (but not actually from the BILLY range) shelf unit, 170 x 60 x 25, light brown wood veneer.
: fridge (Foron) still available basically as-new, energy efficient, counter-top height

Already gone:

First off: this fantastic IKEA Brattby chest of drawers, in classic IKEA plain pine with the odd scratch but nothing that would shock your mother-in-law too much. Ideal for storing clothes, videos, other stuff you would normally store in drawers. Free to the first bidder. Instructions included. gone


: shower curtain rail for corner shower, grey, approx 90cm x 90cm, unused gone

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.