London Dan

Flickering flame, or dodgy downlighter?

2008-04-10T01:35:00.003+01:00

As I was heading to bed tonight (late, as usual) I looked out my window to see what looked like the glow of a fire flickering against a wall nearby. Whatever was causing the flicker was just out of my line of sight, but I came to the conclusion it was either a fire ravaging someone's living room, or a street lamp that was blinking beyond control.

I found myself left in a dilemma. I couldn't smell smoke, but I also couldn't be sure it wasn't a fire. So should I get dressed and investigate, hoping not to walk into any unsavoury situations or should I hope for the best and let someone else - who can actually see what's going on - deal with it if it was indeed something more serious than an ill-maintained lamp post?

I went with the latter for a few minutes, climbing into bed, but then, drawn to the window, and convincing myself (through my blocked up nose) that I was getting a whiff of smoke, I decided I had to get dressed and go outside to investigate.

Walking around the corner, I realised it was just a crappy light bulb after all, but I'm glad I did go out to check.

Pointless story for tonight, but a reminder that it's always best safe than sorry.

A shot in the dark

2008-04-03T20:00:00.000+01:00

On Tuesday night I was woken from a dozing state by a loud crashing noise. Not sure what it was, I wondered if it was perhaps a gunshot, or a palette of some sort falling down onto the ground. I went to my window but couldn't see anything, so went back to bed. Then not long after, a helicopter came and hovered almost overhead for about five minutes or so. I could see it in the sky, so I presumed that whatever happened, it was a little distance away.

I woke up the next morning to see a text message from my flatmate telling me that someone had been shot in the night, so I phoned him up to find out a little more information. Turned out that someone had been shot just around the corner from our flat, and police were out there investigating. Yikes. That's the closest I've been to gun crime in London... the next closest being the times I visited a friend of mine who at the time was living in Peckham, and the many stories she had of gunshots in the night.

I was feeling a little shocked yesterday that it could happen so close, and it really didn't help that I didn't know any details. Later in the day I got the Crime Stoppers flyer through the door that said a man was injured in a shooting (so I was relieved that he hadn't been killed) and that it was Operation Trident that were heading the investigation (meaning that it's black gun crime).

I'm feeling a little more comfortable again, but I've noticed that I'm more conscious of who's around me on the streets. I'm quite astonished that the incident hasn't even made it into the news though...

Pillow fight in London

2008-03-23T15:19:00.002Z

I got an invite from a friend the other day to join in with a pillow fighting flash mob in London on Saturday (which I later found out was just one part of an International Pillow Fight Day. We met up just off Trafalgar Square and headed down there to be ready for the hoards of other pillow fighters expected to unveil their pillows and start hitting each other with them. The time came and went and there was no signal to start, so we just headed down the steps and joined in with the others who had turned up.

After a few minutes we were a little disappointed, wondering where everyone else was, and thankfully discovered that most of the action was going on up in Leicester Square. I chickened out of the fighting there - there were just far too many people, and I wanted to take photos instead, some of which will end up on Flickr once I go through the 1Gb of photos I shot.

The event saw feathers flying all over the northern half of Leicester Square, confusing passers by, and even encouraging others to join in the fun. Not even hail stopped the fighting which must have lasted for about an hour in the end.

Pam Ann goes viral with BA

2007-10-04T18:58:00.000+01:00

Pam Ann went 'viral' today with a BA recruitment video.

It's good to see some new material, though I have to say it's not as good as the clips I've seen recently on YouTube. One of my favourites, per chance, just happens to be the clip showing different air hostess characters... the BA one being fantastic

"I'm Mona, your [something?] to Europe. I'm Mona, fack awf. Go on, fack awf. Fack awf. I said fack awf."

Hopefully I'll get to see Pam Ann live again when I am back in London... it's even better in real life!

How time flies...

2007-08-29T19:01:00.000+01:00

It's two months since my last post on here, and over four since my last post with more than 20 or so words in it. Ironic too that the last proper post was written whilst at home, taking a break, much like this one is.

So what have I been up to in the past 4 months that's kept me away from the blogging (on here at least)?

Well, to summarise... I had a boyfriend for a little while (which didn't last too long unfortunately, as I'll come onto later); I went to the spring beer festival and came out to most of my friends from the local pub; I went on holiday with friends from home and came back in pain after a drunken night in Magaluf in which I slipped on the steps of BCM; I had a little op (unrelated to the fall) in which the anaesthetic really wasn't helping towards the end and I could have sworn I was going to faint; I had some time off work and was cared for by my boyfriend at the time; I finished the treatment I was having (unrelated to the op); I got a little addicted to Facebook; I came out to senior colleagues whilst drunk and told one of them I was wanting to move back to London (oops); I've been blogging about maps and stuff elsewhere; I travelled to the US and visited their capital and a couple of my friends there; I visited Manchester on the way back to catch up with a few friends; I talked to my supervisors about the possibility of moving back to London (I had the same pre-emptive stress as when I came out to my parents!); I tried out a German sauna for the first time since being there (I managed to get over my prudishness when convinced by a new swimming buddy); I told my co-workers about my plans to move back; ...and then travelled home for my birthday the next day. I think that's about it.

Ever since moving to Germany I've had a sort of desire to move back to London, but as I'm nearing two years over in the land of sausages, that feeling is growing ever stronger. Knowing that I wanted to move back so badly really wasn't helping me commit when I actually met a guy I liked, and was the main reason for me breaking it off (compounded by some other issues like my op and different - although admittedly more sensible - ideas about drinking).

That horrible feeling of breaking up with someone because I didn't know what was going to happen in the near future then gave me the kick in the ass I needed to put a little more effort into actually organising a move back, and sorting out the work side of things. Luckily the work side of things sound like they should work quite well, with me effectively becoming a freelancing remote worker doing effectively the same thing... but from London.

So, London Dan is moving back to London later in the year.

Little Britain - Daffyd Thomas an der Bar

2007-06-24T13:45:00.000+01:00

Fantastich. Little Britain auf Deutsch. It's not "Provincial Queen" but "Province Prinzessin" hehe.

When dreams know better

2007-04-14T22:21:00.000+01:00

The other night I'd gone to a friend's house to watch DVDs and came home early (i.e. not the last train) in the hope that I could have a good night's sleep and be bright-eyed for work the next day.

The night previous to that I had gone to bed at 9.30 in the same vain, and still didn't feel happy about getting up in the morning. But this time was weird, mostly because I remember the dream sequence that I was going through while in the process of waking up.

I remember queueing to pay for lunch in a restaurant - sort of like one we have at work, and with the same people serving - before going over to collect it. (For some reason, paying and collecting food were switched around.) As I was queueing for the food, I decided to leave the place for some reason, but as I got through the door, I came running back in to get the food that I'd paid for, not knowing why I'd run out.

That's the point that I woke up and realised that my alarm had been going off beside me for a minute or so, without waking me. I suspect it had alerted my subconscious brain (the running out of the door) but not enough to wake my body enough to be able to press snooze on my phone. Or at least not until my subconscious had collected the food.

Needless to say, I was grumpy when I finally got past the snoozing stage and had to crawl out of my bed.

I don't think I've ever had that in dreams before, when I can link events in the dream to things that actually happened at the same time in the real world. People talk of dreaming about alarms going off in their dreams instead of actually being woken by them, but I don't recall that ever happening to me.

I guess my body is telling me it wants rest. It's a good job then that I'm home for 5 days, and can give it all the rest it needs without worrying about work or anything. Yay!

Another one to add to the list...

2007-04-04T23:25:00.000+01:00

Some of my friends at home were strangely impressed when I told them years ago that I had a syndrome, and it was something to add to a certain strange reflex I have too.

This morning I was coming back from a doctor's appointment and was waiting in the s-bahn station to get the next train home when I noticed that someone was being stretchered off to an ambulance. Curious, I watched as she passed me on the stretcher. She didn't look injured so I thought to myself perhaps she had fainted or fallen over or something. And that is exactly when I started to feel faint myself, vision deteriorating into whiteness (I think the worst it has ever happened to me), a cold sweat coming on and feeling a little dizzy and disoriented.

"Uh-oh", I thought to myself, "I'm going to faint if I can't get some water/chocolate/somewhere to sit." Thankfully I've never actually fainted when this light-headedness (or presyncope as I learned in my research this evening) but today I think is the closest I've felt to it. Luckily the train came in just in time so I could get a seat. I found it interesting that I instinctively held one of my arms above my head and raised my feet up onto the seats opposite. The feelings started to fade and I noticed, as my vision started to come back a little more, that a guy was looking over at me, probably wondering why I looked as white as a ghost (or at least I presume that I did).

It seems perhaps I have a blood/injection/injury phobia. I'm not a fan of injections, and they do cause me occasional problems with lightheadedness afterwards, though I have successfully watched the whole process a few times without problem. I think it's the injury phobia that is worst for me, as I noted the other week.

Fat lot of good I'm going to be if ever I have to put my first aid training to use.

Something I've not done for a while

2007-04-01T22:17:00.000+01:00

I did something today that I've not done for a while... I started tidying my room.

Anyone who has seen my room here, or pretty much anywhere I've lived (some have been much worse than others) will know that I like to keep my room in a state of (sort of organised) chaos. I usually know where things are to be found, and can find them if necessary, but today I came across something I'd lost. That was the token I bought when I first moved here that gave me ten sessions of swimming.

I had used a few of the sessions before giving up, but now that I'm starting to get back into the swing of it, I wonder if it will still be valid? It had been well over a year that the token had been in my wallet, and then on my floor with a pile of coins. Keine ahnung ob es expired ist oder nicht.

Tidying is not the only thing I did today that I haven't done for quite some time. In fact I think the tidying was inspired by the other. I went on the first coffee date I've been on in ages, ending up in the cinema watching Meet the Robinsons after what was quite a refreshing day (including the shower that threatened to soak us as we were sitting outside a cafe enjoying the lovely weather).

Porpoise Spit / Muriel's Wedding on Water

2007-03-29T22:38:00.000+01:00

Swimming tonight there was a guy that reminded me of David Van Arkle (Daniel LaPaine), the swimmer from Muriel's Wedding. I didn't think too much more about it until towards the end of my swim (1.125km), when the closing tune for the aquarobics was Abba's I do, I do, I do, I do, the song used at the wedding in the movie. How random.

ps, I wonder when I'll write a post that doesn't get put into the Cute Lads category? Hmm.

The music that motivates

2007-03-24T15:32:00.000Z

I went swimming after work on Thursday and was just going for a bit of a lazy swim as I hadn't had much to eat that day and didn't feel like I had much energy, but once I got into the pool I just kept going.

It was warmbadtag - where they heat the pool up beyond normal levels for one day a week - and so I was quite happy just enjoying the warmth (after all the wet, slushy, snow we've had recently). There were a load of old (and slightly large) ladies in the pool, most swimming slowly and chatting, which caused occasional problems when I wanted to pass them whilst also trying to avoid the annoying guy that kept getting far too close going the opposite way. Despite that, I was keeping up with the one length a minute target that MQ challenged me to (and has since passed that goal himself I believe). At some point a cute guy* fell into the pool (I don't know why he couldn't climb in like everyone else) and I started to get distracted a little, slowing down as I approached the 30 length mark.

Then, the aquarobics (is that what it's called?) lesson started in the adjoining pool. With cheesy music starting to blast out of the speakers I couldn't help but feel a little more motivated. Music such as 99 Luftballoons (99 Red Balloons), Country Roads, It's Raining Men and lots of others kept me going until I'd done 60 lengths in just under an hour. That's about 1.5 kilometers (give or take the times I had to stop short of the end due to ladies chatting, or dancing along to the music in the next pool) which I'm quite impressed with. Although an hour to swim that does sound like quite a long time, considering how much more quickly I could walk it. Hmm.

* he didn't actually swim very much, kept disappearing off to the showers, and I'm sure kept looking over. I should have said hello... is it ok to say hello to random people in pools? :)

Phwoar

2007-03-17T23:51:00.000Z

Straight to the treat

2007-03-16T19:48:00.000Z

I had intended to go swimming after work yesterday but completely forgot to take my swimming kit to work with me. D'oh. I remembered it today, but have been feeling pretty tired all day so wasn't sure if I was up to it or not.

By the time I'd left work I had convinced myself to do it but then chickened out as I was riding past on the U-Bahn - "ah, I can go on Sunday," I thought to myself. I was more interested in getting some spinach pizza and taking it home for a nice quiet evening in (spinach pizza being something I associate with swimming now because of its regular appearance after my pool visits in London whilst studying there).

D'oh again for going straight for the treat when I've not even done the swimming to deserve it. I wonder if I'll drag myself out of bed in time on Sunday (after St Patrick's Day) to get to the pool. Fingers crossed!

Clocks creeping forwards?

2007-03-15T19:15:00.000Z

I was a little more confused than normal when my clock radio switched itself on to wake me up. I have it set to go off at 7.30, and then also have my phone set to start making a racket at the same time. The radio is set two minutes fast to help wake me before the shock of the real alarm. It also helps me leave the door on time as I always seem to be running about 2 minutes late in the mornings. (Does that logic make sense? It does to a half awake Dan!)

But this morning there was more of a wait until my phone went off. Something didn't feel quite right, and as I am still trying to wake my brain up by that point in the morning I couldn't figure out what was different to the normal routine. It clicked after a while that my radio and phone were out of their normal sync, so I checked on my computer to see what time she told me it was (Hedwig is always keeping her clock spot on from the internet). It seemed the radio was to blame. I presumed it had just gained a little time and I hadn't noticed it gradually creeping into the future.

It got more confusing as I left the bathroom and realised the radio alarm clock in there (that is normally also 2 minutes fast) was now running 5 minutes fast as well.

What is going on? Are the radio alarm clocks aware that the US has moved their clocks forward an hour early this year, and trying to catch up before Europe changes in a week or so? Was there some sort of electrical surge that speeded everything up? Was there an alien invasion of some sort (perhaps they came to set the time on the clocks to some Prime Number)? Or did one of my flatmates simply change them both for some reason? Who knows. I should probably ask my flatmates before presuming it was an alien invasion though, right?

It reminds me of the scene in Amélie where she does all sorts of things to Colignon the greengrocer's apartment (including altering the clock) to send him round the bend.

Feeling faint in first aid training

2007-03-14T22:18:00.000Z

There's something about blood, broken bones and the like that I've always had a problem with. When I was in high school I would feel queasy occasionally as certain subjects were brought up in biology - on at least one occasion I had to leave the room and get myself together outside the door before joining the class again.

Today was first aid training at work and I wasn't expecting any trouble sitting there and taking it all in, but when the trainer was talking about potential accident scenarios I started to feel myself going into a cold sweat and feeling a little light headed. I think it was the one about a broken limb with the bone poking through the skin that really did me in. I was so close to walking out but didn't want to face the embarassment of it so I stayed a little longer, trying to take my mind off that bone poking through.

At least if I'd gone completely faint I'd have been in good hands, but luckily it didn't get that far as I'd started to feel a little more normal after about 10 or 15 minutes of suffering. Phew.

The gayest place names I've heard of

2007-03-07T19:58:00.000Z

Whilst walking past a map at work the other day I couldn't help but be distracted.

Without really looking I had spotted the word Gay somewhere, somehow, in the middle of a map of Russia. It's not a word I see often at work, but for some reason this place name jumped out at me. It turns out Gay is a city in the Udmurtiya region of Russia, though there appear to be a number of other places going by the same name in Russia.

Curious, I wondered if it was just a foreign thing to call places Gay. It turns out there are a few amusing names in the United States as well, the following being some of my favourites:

Gay - settlements in North Carolina, Georgia, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Michigan, Idaho, and I bet none of them have a gay bar

Gay Run - a stream in Ohio, or a bit of camp exercise

Gay Creek - a stream in Alabama, or the noises your body makes after a Gay Run

Gay Lan - a place in Georgia, or the basis of a gay online gaming party

Gay Spring - a spring in Tennessee, or that little leap up into the air when Cher starts playing

Gay Hollow - a valley in Texas, a erm, well, let's not go there

Gay Farms - a place in Virginia, or where gay animals are raised

Gay Mountain - a mountain in Virginia, or where Brokeback was filmed

Gay Island - an island in Maine, or like Lesbos or Mykonos but not quite so warm

Gay Airport - an airport in Atwater, Portage, Ohio (though I can't find many references to it, so I suspect they changed the name), or the place to begin your travels to all these other cool places

And last but definitely not least:

Gay Lemon Park - a park in Mississippi

It'd be fun to do a road trip to each of these places and get a cheesy photo at the entrance to each of them.

Wii strains

2007-03-02T21:06:00.000Z

Last night was game night* and I got a chance to play on a Nintendo Wii gaming console for my first time. I was curious to see people playing on it but I wasn't so keen to try it out for myself, partly because it sounded too sporty for me and partly because everyone else would get to watch me probably looking like a fool jumping around in front of the television.

I've not had a games console of my own since the days of Sonic the Hedgehog on my old Sega Mega Drive and seldom played on one either. I've never really had a desire to spend money on one, especially because I've never really been good at playing the games (something to do with coordination probably, or lack thereof). Having played on the Wii though, I have a strange desire to get one for myself (I'd need a TV as well though). It was so much fun playing Wii Sports tennis, and even after two games I was feeling like it was giving me a good workout, so it must be good exercise too.

Little did I know that I'd wake up this morning with an inability to push myself up out of bed without feeling like I've strained my whole right arm in ways I haven't for a long time (perhaps since I last played tennis... 10 years ago?). I've been aching all day, and still am now. Swimming after work (30 lengths in 30.5 minutes) helped me a little bit I think but breaststroke wasn't exactly the most comfortable to perform with Wii strains in my tennis arm/shoulder.

* try asking straight colleagues if they're going to game night, and look at the confusion on their face, presumably as they wonder why you're asking if they're going to gay night

40 lengths in 41 minutes

2007-02-24T18:07:00.000Z

I managed to drag myself to the Schwimmbad again today - I thought I ought to go considering it had been 2 weeks since I last went, and I was intending to start going once a week to lose a bit of the bauch*.

MQ had challenged me to try and do 40 lengths in 40 minutes. Last time I only had 25 minutes but still managed to do 25 lengths. This time I was running a little slower (I kept getting distracted by the guy swimming in the lane - yes, they had a lane this time - next to me) and did 40 in about 41 minutes. Still not too bad, and I should definitely try to do it more often.

I know I'm going to be aching after that though. It doesn't help either that my neck is already a tad stiff from being in a car on the way to work yesterday morning that some fool just decided to drive straight into the back of.

* I hope people don't get too confused when I throw in random German words... please put your hand up if you want me to start putting the English versions in too :)

Happy Valentine's Day

2007-02-14T19:34:00.000Z

It's Valentine's Day and once again I'm not actually spending it with someone. Hmph.

I started the morning off by reading through these Tips for coping with loneliness on Valentine's Day and it helped put a positive spin on things, so I've not even thought about it for much of the day. After lunch I got a cute Garfield e-card through from a friend of mine back in London, which was very sweet of him.

Anyway, here's a Valentine's kiss on the cheek for anyone who wants one. Mwah.

25 times in 25 minutes

2007-02-12T22:13:00.001Z

Whilst chatting to MQ on Friday night, drinking a bottle of wine, I admitted to him that I'd given up doing any exercise and somehow he managed to convince me to go swimming the next day. Partially due to his recent post about getting lanes installed in his local swimming pool I was keen to remind myself of just how crazy swimming without lanes can actually be.

He'd suggested I go in the morning and do 40 lengths in 40 minutes, but after polishing off most of a bottle of wine (minus a glass that my flatmate had as we were eating dinner) I wasn't feeling up to getting up early on Saturday the morning. Actually, I rarely do feel like getting up early in the mornings, and it's not always because I'm hung over, I often just need that extra bit of rest. It's tiring being lazy, don't you know.

So I was planning to go on Saturday afternoon after helping a friend out with his computer. That took much longer than expected, so we spent much of the afternoon lazing around infront of the television watching Voyager (disclaimer: I may be a geek but I'm not a Trekkie, though I did find it sort of amusing) whilst waiting for the computer to finish doing its stuff. The pool had long since closed by the time I was ready to leave. I had good intentions at least.

Not wanting the good intentions to slip away again, I managed to drag myself up to the pool on Sunday, despite missing my stop on the train (and having to get off at the next one, get a train back to the junction before which I was meant to alight, and then jump on the next one that was actually going the right way) and getting to the reception of the pool as the receptionist was closing the windows. "Argh", I thought to myself. "I've just made it all the way here only to miss the opening times by 30 seconds." But the lady let me buy a token and go on in for the last 40 minutes.

There were no lanes marked out, as expected, though I still kept up with MQ's target of 1 length a minute, even if I could only do 25 of them before leaving the pool to beat the rush 5 minutes before everyone else.

Non, je ne regrette rien

2007-02-09T19:56:00.000Z

I've had a real craving for French music recently. I found some great French pop music a while back (and may have blogged about it at the time, I don't remember) from In-grid who actually turns out to be Italian, but sings in French.

I'm not entirely sure what caused my recent desire for French music, but when you listen to the like of Édith Piaf's Non, je ne regrette rien, perhaps you'll understand. It's just such a beautiful tune, and powerful at the same time.

I do feel strangely guilty for not listening to more German musik though. Can anyone recommend any knowing what my tastes are?

Auch ein kuss?

2007-02-05T20:24:00.000Z

Friday was an attempt at work to get people to leave their cars at home and travel in using public transport. Partly, it was to relieve the earth of even a tiny slice of extra carbon emissions, but it was also a good excuse to get a group of people to go for a drink after work.

My intention was to go out for one and then leave to go to the post office (to pick up an Amazon package, after they couldn't get the first one to me) but as anyone who's read this blog for more than a few posts, you'll probably realise that's one of the things I find it very difficult to stick to. (Oh, the whole excercise thing has been another one of those things of late as well). I got to the first venue after most of the other people had already got there and been through a drink or two, and I had one or two before we headed off to the next stop, where I figured I may have time for one more before jumping onto the train and going into town. By that point though, I realised my other reason for not going out (hoping to meet up with someone on the Saturday night) had fallen through, so it was only the parcel stopping me from having a few more drinks with the guys from work. And I knew I could go for the parcel on the Saturday, even if hungover*.

So, some drinks there, some in a 'dive bar' (as one of the guys called his local), a trendy bar and a strip club (don't ask) later, we'd decided to go out to a club in town. We stayed there for what must have been quite a while, and I lost my colleagues a number of times (not intentionally, but everyone sort of went off and did their own thing and then bumped into each other every now and then). This was the first time I'd experienced the have-your-drinks-card-stamped-and-pay-on-the-way-out scheme, and I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. What would have happened if I'd have lost my card, and not had anything to show them on the way out? Who knows. It also meant that I had no idea what I was spending on drinks.

I wondered at one point if it was only drinks that were available through the card. After getting a drink, I looked at the bartender, und auch ein kuss? I asked with a cheeky grin. He didn't hear what I said - or perhaps just wasn't expecting it - and so I repeated. He told me no and so I moved swiftly away from the bar. Hehe.

Later on I was had a photo taken with random people (first one to find that photo on the net gets a prize), talked with more random people (mostly in English I seem to remember) and towards the end was chatting with some guy. I don't remember how we got onto the subject, but I think I asked him if he was gay, he told me no, but he had wondered what it was like inside one of the gay clubs here. He got my number and so I'm half expecting a random call from a random straight guy I don't remember much about, wanting to go to a gay club.

I don't know what time I stayed there 'til, but I remember it felt quite empty in there by the end, so I headed off home and got a kebab (the second of the evening) to keep me entertained until I got back. The guys at work inform me I was the last one standing, but then I think I was also the youngest by at least 15 years.

* That turned out to be a longer experience than I was wanting. I hadn't had a shower or anything, and looked like I'd just crawled out of bed hungover (I had, afterall) and so I must have scared the poor post lady a little. She kept grinning at me, especially when I thought she'd finished and went to grab the parcel. Noch nicht! .. or something, came the cry. Apparently she had to get another letter for me (a credit card, also from Amazon as they promise it'll save me 20EUR on my first purchase. If only it wasn't cheaper to buy from the British Amazon and have it shipped over. Well, shipped from their depot in Germany). She spent another 5 minutes trying to put all of my passport information into the system, looking confused about where I was from and asking me something, in a quiet voice, a number of times. Turned out she wanted to know where the passport was issued. But it was getting confusing because I didn't really understand what she was asking, and it's the same place as where I was born. Erm, anyway, back up to the main thread of the post.

In the waiting room

2007-01-29T21:16:00.000Z

I spent the first part of my morning today sitting in a waiting room full of people at least twice my age. I'd been in there once before as well, just before Christmas, after waiting about 2 months from my doctor's referral to get my first appointment.

On that occasion, the place was full and I must have been the youngest person in there. This time there were fewer people, but the age difference was just as pronounced.

One thing I hate about doctor's waiting rooms is the way that they always place the chairs so they face each other, maybe to make it more personable (either that, or to use the space most effectively). Sitting there waiting, I've no idea where to look, as I contemplate the appointment - wondering if I'll understand enough German to make sure I know what's going on, if the doctor will speak any English, or if I'll give the right answers to the right questions, etc.).

Normally, whilst waiting, I attempt to read the posters on the wall and occasionally stare down at my feet for long periods. I don't want to look around at people and start thinking about what they're all there for. It actually probably wouldn't be too difficult to guess, but that's precisely the reason I don't want to give it a moments thought.

As I was putting my iPod away in my jacket pocket, I heard my name called and popped my head around the corner to see a confused nurse wondering where I was. Sitting there waiting for the doc, I was perusing my medical records trying to understand what they all meant. Then he came in and spoke really fast in German. Oh, crap. I've no idea what he just said after the Guten Morgen part. Looking confused and apologetic, I managed to get out a Tut mir leid aber Ich sprech nur ein bisschen Deutsch. Phew, he spoken English, and after I told him where I was from he started talking about a famous German TT rider. I must admit I wasn't paying too much attention by that point, so I've no idea what the guy's name was.

Anyway. For each visit to a doctor here you have to pay a 10EUR admin fee if you haven't already paid that quarter. Only having a 20EUR note, I gave it to the receptionist and was told she'd find some change in a bit. As I was leaving, I went to collect my appointment card (I have to go back once a month for five more months) and question where my change had gone to after I didn't get it back with my health insurance card. I don't think she trusted me fully, she had a quizzing look on her face and told me that it should have been with the card that the other nurse gave back to me. Short for a reply, I stood there watching as she hesitated a bit, counted through the mornings takings and eventually gave me some change. I've no idea where the first lot of change disappeared to, but at least I didn't pay twice for a fee that I don't really get the purpose of.

Thanks for trying, Amazon

2007-01-29T11:53:00.000Z

I've been waiting for a book to be delivered from Amazon for a little while now, and just as I heard the postman at the door, I clicked over to look in my email, coincidentally, only to find this:

Greetings from Amazon.co.uk.

A delivery from the above referenced order has been returned to our fulfilment centre because of failed delivery attempts

As this package was undeliverable, we have returned the item(s) to our inventory and will issue you with a full refund for the order, including delivery. This should go through within the next few days and you will receive an e-mail confirmation once the refund has been processed. If, however, a replacement order was sent at no charge because the package was presumed lost, a refund will not be issued.

For your reference, the delivery address we have on file for the returned order is:

Dan Surname
Somestr. 123
Stuttgart
Baden-Wuerttemberg
12345
Germany
(with details changed, obviously)

We ask that you verify that the correct delivery address is listed for each open order you may have. We want to make sure you receive all orders. You may view your order status online by clicking on the "Your Account" link at the top right of any page on our Web site.

If you would still like to receive these items, we would encourage you to return to our Web site and place a new order. Please note that we are unable to re-deliver packages that are returned as undeliverable.

Thank you for shopping at Amazon.co.uk. We appreciate your business and hope you will continue to enjoy our service.

--------------------------
Customer Service
Amazon.co.uk
And you're done * or I would be, if you'd delivered
http://www.amazon.co.uk/
--------------------------

They had my full address and still for some reason the book got returned. How annoying! I wonder if the postman here didn't try delivering it because of the snow?

Snow at last

2007-01-23T22:23:00.000Z

Today saw the first of the proper snow arriving in die Nähe von hier.

It was still probably only about a centimeter in depth at most when I came home today, but apparently it could build up (it certainly feels cold enough, and the thermometer on my door insists it's freezing it's little buttons off). I'm dreading walking around in either my chucks or other trainers as nothing I own seems to have any grip whatsoever!

If the snow is only starting now, I wonder how long it will last? Will global warming cut it short and just give us a sugar coating, or will Winter push back into Spring? To be honest, I thought Spring had already arrived with the mild weather we've been having here of late.

(can you tell I'm British? ...a whole blog post about the weather)

Need some advice...

2007-01-21T04:46:00.000Z

So, I had a fun night out, but I'd like to ask some advice from those in the know...

I really enjoy chatting to people (especially if I get to practice my German, and they're willing to reciprocate with language I'll understand) but... If I start speaking to someone I don't particularly fancy (as is often the case), how would I later get to speak to guys that I have more interest in? I've never been able to say to someone that I don't like them in that way (if I'm speaking to them, I generally like them, but perhaps not in the way they think) or worked out a way of saying I like you, but...

Any advice greatly appreciated (especially if it translates well into German)

(met an American guy as well, who seemed lovely, but he had to travel back up towards the north of the state, where he lives)

Trying to stick to those resolutions

2007-01-20T21:01:00.000Z

These past few weeks I've been trying to stick to those resolutions and, well, I've been eating less chocolate (a friend brought me back some Ritter Sport minis from their factory after I mentioned that they're less bad for me than the full size 100g blocks), I've not been drinking two bottles of beer every night (though I've recently met some British people who enjoy pub quizzes and curries and things, so have been going to the pub occasionally instead), I've been having breakfast (although I've taken to drinking a cup of coffee in the morning now, as the coffee machine sits there staring at me whilst I'm filling my bowl of cereal) and I've been doing excercise (though nowhere near as much as is recommended by the regime thingie).

Tonight I'm having a few glasses of wine before I drag myself out clubbing and maybe even try and speak some German again - something that recently I seem to have been doing as little of as possible.

Starting the resolutions

2007-01-08T17:49:00.000Z

Today was going to be the day when I started really trying to do some things related to my resolutions, mainly in the areas of drinking less, eating less chocolate, eating more healthily and starting a little fitness regime.

My first thing for the day was to start eating a healthy breakfast. Seeing as I'm never up early enough in the mornings anyway, this has been quite difficult in the past. So instead I thought I'd buy milk and cereal and leave it at work, so I can sit reading my morning's emails whilst chomping away at some cereal. That plan didn't work out though as the shops were closed on Saturday due to some public holiday. But I have not got some cereal ready for tomorrow.

My second thing for the day was to eat better, including less chocolate. I survived until some time in the early afternoon, when the temptation of the chilli-whiskey-chocolate got the better of me. I had a German brötchen with ham cheese and pickle (oops, gherkin) for lunch, which wasn't particularly healthy, but not too bad for me either.

My third thing for the day was to drink less coke. Despite buying a can at lunchtime, I didn't actually drink it.

As I was coming home I remembered that the other thing I wanted to do today was to start on an excercise regime. It's one that Men's Fitness advertises with the headline TORCH FAT IN 28 DAYS. Obviously I'm not going to get rid of it all in 28 days, largely as I can't see I'll be doing as much excercise as I should be doing, but some is better than nothing. I've yet to start this one, but having had a kebab for dinner I need to wait an hour or so before I can even try. (I know, I know, but the thought of a kebab was just too great.)

So overall, not too bad so far... as long as I finish off the day with at least some excercise.

I thought I'd lost it

2007-01-07T20:57:00.001Z

Whilst in the local Irish pub last night, with a friend from work, he mentioned that they (him, his wife and sister in law) were thinking of going to Strasbourg in the morning and asked if I wanted to tag along. Strasbourg, I thought. Hmm, how random that I'd be going there so soon after meeting that guy earlier in the week who studies there.

This morning came around and when I was at their place, the topic of signatures came up, and how they shrink into nothingness over the years. I went to grab my passport to show off how rubbish my signature is, and realised I didn't have it. Oops, I'd seemingly left it back at my place - not good when I was meant to be travelling into a different country (even if it is in the Schengen zone). When I got back to my place to pick it up, I could only find the old one - the one that had been annulled only about 10 days ago and replaced by a shiny new RFID-sporting passport. Wondering how the heck I could have lost it already (presuming I'd left it on my desk at work after needing it on Friday) I got back into the car to head down to Strasbourg anyway (hoping that I wouldn't need it at all during the day).

We had a nice day on the other side of the border (some photos for Flickr soon) before heading back home. Once back, I wrote an email to my colleagues to ask them to check my desk in the morning (some of them beat me in, often by quite some time) and see if it was lying there waiting for me. But then I thought, let's just have another look, and overturn things again (as friends and family would agree, my room is often littered with allsorts of stuff) and have another look. Ah, there it is, under the suitcase (which is almost unpacked after getting back earlier in the week). Oops. After a slight feeling of stupidity and an "I'm foolish, ignore me" email to my colleagues I'm feeling very relieved that I've not lost it before I've had a chance to use it more than a few times.

Back to work

2007-01-06T17:20:00.001Z

I've been back at work now for a few days, struggling to catch up with sleep and get back into a sensible sleep cycle (I got in to work a little late on Thursday after only getting home from the airport at about 1am). After staying up to almost midday on Monday to watch the New Year's sunrise, I slept much of the next day, travelled to Manchester the day after and didn't get back to my hotel room till about 5am - and was due to be kicked out by 10am.

I'd met up with friends from when I was at uni in Manchester and had gone for a few drinks and dinner before going out into the village for a few more drinks and a bit of fun.

I went to Via, had a drink and got annoyed with schlepping my jacket and bag around with me, so went to drop them off before coming back. I couldn't get back in as they were closing for the evening, and so went over to Spirit instead. A vodka redbull in there and I'd decided it was too quiet/straight, and started wandering over to Poptastic. Luckily I bumped into a friend before I went in (alone), who took me over to a couple more bars with some of his friends before we went back over to Pop.

I must admit, I don't remember too much of the time I was in there, but I seem to recall I was dancing at least. I bumped into a friend in there that I hadn't seen for a few years (and despite remembering her name, I had apparently forgotten where I knew her from, despite being on the same course - geography - for part of my time at uni).

I also met some random people in there, who I was chatting with for a while, and probably dancing with too. He was studying in Strasbourg (just around the corner from here) and back visiting Manchester for the holidays whilst his two friends were doing something similar, one in Germany somewhere and the other somewhere else - I forget. When I asked one of his friends how to tell they guy in French that he was cute, she laughed it off.

Anyway, fast forward to the end of the night when everyone was leaving. I was about to leave my friends and head off back to my hotel (having failed to fulfil the power of the Shagtag) when I spotted that the Mancunian from France was getting into a taxi with his friends to go and get a curry. He beckoned me over and asked me if I wanted to go along. The thought of food, etc, and I couldn't say no. If only any of the restaurants in the Curry Mile were still open when we got there. Eventually, we found a takeaway that had a restaurant upstairs. With terribly slow service, we sat there for ages waiting. One of his friends was sobering up and getting quite grumpy, and I was getting sleepy, so soon headed back into town. (I also apparently managed to spill some Korma down my jumper, as I noticed when I wore the same one to work yesterday).

It was a nice evening, but I realised after leaving them in the taxi, I had forgotten to get this guy's number. D'oh.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-02T12:34:00.001Z

After witnessing the New Year sunrise (I was still awake with a few friends so we walked to the top of the nearest hill to watch the sun rise on 2007) and missing out on most of yesterday due to much needed sleep, I can now confirm it is a new year, so Happy New Year to all you lovely people!

As Mr Hoo pointed out on my previous post, this past year hasn't been quite so doomy and gloomy as I may have made it sound when planning what my resolutions will be for this year. I have met some lovely people, including himself (twice), and met some fun people in quite random places (all of which were bars), I've learned quite a bit at work (even if I don't like some things about it). I can't complain too much, but I am hoping that I can make this year an even better one.

(C)heers to a new year!

Another new year on the horizon

2006-12-31T19:42:00.001Z

Another year has come and gone (give or take a few hours of drinking this evening), and looking back on my resolutions from last year I haven't actually done that well at fulfilling them. I've kept up (at least patchily) with the previous year's resolution of keeping a diary/blogging (one personal - this one - and one a little more professional) but not managed to find myself a boyfriend or keep in touch better with my friends. I also haven't really done a good job at making new friends in Germany.

This year I'm going to try and get back on track with those resolutions. To help meet people I'm going to be spending more time on GayRomeo - the German online chat/dating/etc site I've logged into a few times over the past year - and to try and stay in touch with more of my scattered friends I'm considering setting myself up with a MySpace profile. I'm not completely set on the idea (and ugly look) of MySpace though, so we'll see if that happens or not.

In addition to those, I have a number of stocking filler resolutions to pick and choose from over the coming year (many of which actually intertwine):

drink less alcohol

drink less coke/caffeine drinks

eat better, including less chocolate

try and do some more excercise than just walking

shave more often

generally be happier in myself

(I'll no doubt add to this list as I think of more!)

Blown over

2006-12-31T19:12:00.001Z

Whilst I was out with my Dad earlier, walking our dogs, I was slipping all over the place in my red chucks. I had managed to keep my balance until a particularly strong gust hit me and completely blew me off my feet. I got back up straight away (before the dogs noticed and started playing with me in the mud) and realised my red chucks were now even worse than my old red chucks were when I got these, and my trousers were covered in mud.

Last time I fell I was also in the chucks, late for work and walking fast down some slippery steps. Getting up I noticed that my trousers were soaking and my arse and bag covered in squashed berries. Luckily I hadn't broken either the computer or camera in my bag, but I did have to sit around work all morning in wet trousers. Brr.

Walking in the Air

2006-12-30T20:14:00.000Z

Christmas is over for another year and the celebration of New Year is just around the corner. Plenty of turkey has been eaten*, drinks drunk and pounds put on around my belly.

It's been good being back at home, seeing friends and family (many of whom now agree that I look like Aled Jones) and generally relaxing. I've been out to the pub a couple of times with friends and even went out last night for a proper night out. I've been in good spirits today (after drinking quite a few last night) after having a fun end to the night last night.

As I was standing at the edge of the dancefloor, I looked over to my right and kept seeing a cute guy dancing much better than I was (I actually wasn't really dancing for most of the night, and when I tried, it was awful). Then one time I looked over and he was staring back. Hmmm, I thought. Then it happened a few more times, and finally I thought, ah what the hell, lets just smile at him and see what happens. After a second I looked away, then when I looked back he was nowhere to be seen. Curious, I headed over past where he was to go to the bar. Trying to pass behind him he, err, somehow fell arse first into me. Oops, I thought, and cheekily said 'Ooh, hello' before slyly (shyly) running off to the bar.

Later on he was wandering around the bar, looking lost, and each time I saw him I just wanted to go and say hello and actually chat to him or something. It took a while but I then went wandering around once or twice hoping I'd bump into him, and on the second attempt, managed to stop and chat for a while. Not sure how long I stayed there bantering, but a little while later one of my friends came over to tell me they were all heading off. I guess I'd sort of disappeared and they'd got bored/tired and decided to leave. I happily stayed a little longer and flirted some more (without even caring that a table of people were staring over with weird looks). I was in such a good mood by the time I left (apart from the fact that I actually had to leave) and woke up this morning ohne hangover and still really cheery.

Now if only this sort of thing would happen to me in Germany I'd be set. Only thing is, I don't think I'm that good at flirting in English, let alone a language I only speak a tiny proportion of.

* I got freaked out this year by picking through the remains of the turkey carcass looking for little morsels for a turkey soup. It felt like I was picking through alien bones. And then came the goo underneath. Eugh, I had to stop and leave it for someone else to finish the job.

Shopping for attitude

2006-12-03T17:26:00.000Z

After wandering around the Christmas markets today, I went to check again to see if I could find New Scientist magazine in the international press centre (a good source of all sorts of things, except New Scientist) in the main station here.

Walking in, I was momentarily distracted by the guy on the cover of this month's TÊTU magazine (a gay French magazine, often full of cute guys) before walking to the back of the store where most of the English magazines are kept.

There was an older guy blocking the area I needed to look in (the area I presume New Scientist would be, if they ever stocked it, with others like American Scientist, Popular Science, etc) so I hovered around for a while waiting for a chance to check the shelves more carefully.

Whilst I was waiting, I glanced over at what he was reading, mostly out of sheer nosiness, but couldn't tell what it was, so didn't pay much more attention. As he was putting it back in the shelf (I think he was conscious that I was looking at what he was reading) I realised it was attitude, one of the gay British magazines. I felt sort of bad for my nosiness at that point, as he wandered off looking a little embarrassed.

Renewing the lucky bamboo

2006-12-03T00:07:00.000Z

My lucky bamboo from IKEA (apparently actually a Dracaena sanderiana plant) started going a little yellow about a month ago and despite trying to help it through the cold months, it just got worse and worse until its leaves drooped completely and bits of the stalk had started to mould.

It's really sad to see a lucky bamboo wilting, so today I made a trip to IKEA to go and get myself a new one. After winding my way through the shop - it's really annoying to have to go all the way through everything and every one of the Saturday shoppers just to find the one thing you're looking for - I walked past a selection of weedy looking lucky bamboo plants. Thinking they were maybe just the rejects, or just a few randomly placed ones, I headed on through to where I got my first one.

Shock horror: they had promoted the straight buff bamboos to the front of the shop and left the bent bamboos hiding at the back where nobody would spot them. I couldn't condone that behaviour, so I went back and picked out the nicest bent bamboo I could find. Bobby the Bent Bamboo is now standing pride of place on my window ledge, waiting to bask in his first day of winter sunshine tomorrow.

Panorama Ephemera

2006-11-26T02:05:00.000Z

I've just been glued to a film for the past hour and a half or so: Panorama Ephemera. It consists of many different films from 20th Century America, tied together to tell a sort of story of the country over time.

I have to admit though that I was paying less attention to the underlying story and more to the seemingly random selection of often strange clips that have been shown to Americans in the past. Some of them are just plain bizarre to me.

Blogger beta = Gmail spam?

2006-11-25T22:27:00.000Z

As I was about to sit down and write that post earlier (I was already in a hurry to go out) I noticed that Google had made it easier for me to upgrade my blog to the new beta platform.

The temptation of what lay in wait after just a few steps was too great, so I started clicking through to upgrade. Forgetting that I was in a rush, I sat there patiently once I'd created a new Google account (which, by the way, is happily staying logged in at the same time as my normal Gmail account in a different tab) and watched it whilst it churned through my past two years (or close) of posts on here. Before too long, it had finished, and welcomed me in to my new home. It didn't look too different, though there were a few bits I noticed, such as the top bar, which seemed a little more useful than it used to.

I started writing the post I had intended to write before going into the upgrade path. I was already late by that point, but figured another minute or ten wouldn't hurt. Of course then I realised that I had all sorts of other things to do before I could leave.

Well, I was about 40 mins late in the end. Ah well. So now I'm back and taking a closer look at Blogger Beta, have given in to their recommendation of upgrading the template too, to make it more flexible. They promised they would keep a copy of the old version for any bits that didn't get transferred over. What I didn't realise was that they seemingly only keep that for 5 minutes or something. By the time I'd wrangled with the drag and drop nicities of the new system (which don't like Safari) the option to get back into the old template seemed to have disappeared. Grr.

Also, now I'm checking through my Gmail spam folder - happily ignoring their spam recipe of the day, which happens to be Spam Confetti Pasta - I notice that Gmail isn't that keen on the new Blogger system. It's treated a handful of the mails from the new system (including the welcome email, and a comment notification from Rhino) as spam. I wonder if it's because there were three of the same welcoming messages? I guess it is a beta, but the different Google services should at least trust each other, right?

Harold and Maude

2006-11-25T16:11:00.000Z

I watched the movie Harold and Maude (1971) last weekend after my flatmate had it recommended to her by a friend of hers. I was recovering from a night of too much Guinness and happily stayed in to watch the movie too. We'd found the DVD in a movie rental place - they didn't have it in the English shop here - and on the way back picked up some pizza for a proper movie night in.

The movie started out a little weird - well, very weird - and I couldn't understand why my flatmate was giggling away (she'd seen it before). It all started to make sense after the first scene or two, and turned into being a really entertaining movie (if still a little weird at times) about a young lad who falls in love with an older lady, and I do mean older, who shares his biggest interest in life: funerals.

As I was out shopping for food today in Aldi, I spotted an older lady who reminded me of Maude. There I was, walking around Aldi with Alexander the iPod playing Madonna in my ear, and every turn I made in there, she was there, with her pigtails, youthful clothing and overload of makeup.

Why does everyone want to change my name?

2006-11-19T18:06:00.000Z

I went to Starbucks today for the first time since I've lived here - I had a desire for something warm and haven't had a Chai Tea Latte in about a year or so. Mmm, I used to love Chai Tea Latte and usually had one a day (the skinny version, mind you) whilst I was working in the centre of London. So I went in there today and ordered, gave my name, and then picked up the Chai before I even left the cashier. It's not that they were fast making it, it's just that she was horrendously slow in giving me my change back.

When I looked at the name on the cup holder, I noticed that she'd written Danio. It sounds like a cool name, but it's not what I told her. Admittedly, lots of people do struggle to understand what I'm saying when I simply say Dan (be they German, American, English, whatever), and often I will go on from the shortened form and tell them my name is Daniel just to make it easier. And it is actually my name, so I don't mind too much.

She's not the only person who's changed my name recently though. I have (well, had) a nickname/username/identity that is cleverly made up of an interest of mine and my name stuck together. It also turned out to be a trademark of a company who felt I was infringing on their name. They asked me to stop using their domain and, afraid of being sued or something, I obliged. They were happy for me to add 'iel' to the end and so use my full first name.

Seeing as everyone wants to change my name recently, I'm considering changing it to something else entirely - Grizzly Dan. You'll understand if you see the photos of my beard in it's current state.

London Dan Finalist in Verve Weblog Awards

2006-11-12T20:45:00.000Z

I received an email last week (or there abouts) telling me that the London Dan blog had been nominated as a finalist in the Verve Weblog Awards. I read it and, as anyone who's ever emailed me would know I do often, then promptly put it to one side to do something with later on. Often that later on is days, weeks, or even months later. What can I say, I'm terrible with email.

It turns out the blog is one of five finalists in the Best GLBT UK Blog category alongside Trunk Guy and a bunch of others. Yay, cool, eh. Don't know what to say. I wonder if they noticed how slack I was at updating this thing?
Best GLBT UK Blog:

Bobz Yer Uncle

London Dan

Rhetorically Speaking

Tranniefesto

Trunk Guy

If you're inclined to vote, don't forget to do it before 30 November. Am I allowed to vote for me? Hmm. I need at least one vote :)

The hairdresser and the ex's ex

2006-11-11T23:34:00.000Z

My hair has been growing ever longer and ever more unmanagable of late and - despite a few days where it magically did something (without me trying) and I think it actually looked semi decent - it's long been in need of a good cutting.

A few months back I was in an Irish bar near where I live, and met a woman who said, as one of the first things she said to me, that I looked like I really needed a haircut. It turned out she was an English hairdresser, and looking for new customers. She gave me a card and I didn't think much more about it. Then at some point I went for a hair cut at a local salon, and whilst it looked alright at the time, it didn't look so good the next day. I had told they guy to do whatever he thought would look good, and he left the back and sides longer than I'd normally have, and I'd said it was ok. It looked good at the time. But these things often happen whilst still sitting in the capable hands of a hairdresser.

Anyway, it had been long enough that I'd lived with the long hair, and so I went last week to find the salon of the English hairdresser here in Stuttgart. When I found the place, it looked deserted, so I kept on walking past. This week I actually phoned to make an appointment, and then headed on into town to get it done. I went in, and sort of recognised her, despite having a mental block of what she looked like. Numerous Guinesses at the time wouldn't have helped.

She took my jacket off me, and sat me down with a magazine to check out some hair styles whilst she brought me a glass of water. So far so good: nice friendly service and a band playing music outside (because it's the 11th of the 11th, or something). Then, as I'm flicking through the magazine to find cute guys - oops, I mean nice haircuts - I look up to see a poster in front of me of someone that looks familiar. If I'm not mistaken (and I quite well could be), that model is my ex's ex. For the length of the time I'm sitting there, I look over every once in a while to wonder again if that really is him. (It helps avoiding me looking at the wrinkles that stretch out from my eyes to my cheeks when I'm laughing at what my hairdresser is saying).

I have no idea if it's him or not. I did send him an email to find out though, so, if he replies, I'll know soon enough :)

So, the long and the short of it is that it's now short. The hair, that is. And it's short on the back, so no mullet-like-thing can grow in for quite some time, unlike the last time.

A more confident smile

2006-10-24T19:39:00.000+01:00

For the first time since I've been here in Germany, I went in last week for a checkup with the dentist last week. I was having issues with at least one of my teeth and another one wasn't looking so good, so I was expecting to come out of there with another appointment for a filling or two.

It turned out that I was in need of 'five or six' fillings, mostly on top, to replace ones that I had done when I was younger that are right out in front, and really obvious if I smile. Since I needed those, I've hated my smile (and I do like to grin a lot), and often been very self conscious about showing my top teeth. They weren't so good any more, and so had to go.

I had my second appointment this morning, for the fillings to actually be done. I wasn't particularly looking forward to it, but I've had so many teeth out (there were too many of them in my mouth) and a couple of fillings in the past that I wasn't particularly worried. They kept me waiting in the dentist's chair for about an hour before I was seen by the dentist. I had almost fallen asleep a couple of times, partly because it was morning and I'm always sleepy, especially in mornings, and partly because they had a huge flat screen display on the wall showing relaxing underwater scenes and then other nature programmes.

Talking to a friend last week about going to the dentist, he made mention of spritzers, and naturally I thought of wine spritzers (not that I'd drink them by choice). It turned out that spritzer in German is the word for an injection. And, if you've ever had them, you'll know they're not as much fun as wine spritzers. They make me freeze temporarily from the time it's been stuck into my gum to the time of the last one and the time I'm told I can get up to rinse out that nasty taste. When the dentist said spritzer this morning, it didn't click that he meant injection, I thought for some reason he meant mouth rinse.

Oh yes, all of this is being done in German. Last week he tried a bit of English with me, when he saw from the look on my face that I'd lost track of what he was talking about. (It didn't help that he's sorta cute as well, in a young dentist sort of a way, so I lost concentration once or twice.) But this week was all German, and I managed to understand most of it to at least a certain level (less so with the assistant, but after asking a second time, I got the jist of what she was saying).

The thing that really made me cringe was before any talk of spritzers, it was when he told me how much it was going to cost. I think he said I could either go for the normal fillings (which, for front teeth, would look hideous) or I could pay for the better ones (which would look better and would be better for the teeth too). The thing is, the second ones cost 80-100 Euro per filling. At six fillings, that's not cheap. I'm thinking maybe I ought to go for the cheaper (free?) ones. But I couldn't bring myself to ask anything about them, knowing how ugly they'd look. Then he told me that because I was having so many, they could offer me a deal - 200 Euro for the lot.

Begrudgingly, though knowing I had to, I said yes to the better fillings and starting wondering why the hell I'm paying about a sixth of my salary into health insurance when I end up having to pay for things anyway. Argh. Anyway, it had to be done, so there's not too much point dwelling on it. I'll certainly have to try and take even better care of my teeth now that I have a smile I feel I can be more proud of once again.

A man at the bottom of the glass

2006-10-24T19:23:00.000+01:00

I was out of town over the weekend to meet up with some other mapping geeks (of which I am one) and had a great weekend in Muenchen, even if it was tiring on the feet. The train tickets had cost me quite enough, so I was happy when one of the guys had offered me a couch to sleep on instead of having to shell out more for a hostel. He didn't have much in to eat on Saturday night so we ended up going to a local Asian restaurant to grab something to eat.

I had what I thought was special fried rice (mixed bits of meat in fried rice). It turned out to be a little different than stuff I'd had in the past, perhaps less Chinese style and more another sort of style *shrugs*. Anyway, after the meal they came with the bill and a shot of Sake. When they put it down we realised that the cups had a looking glass type thing at the bottom and thought we were looking through to the rather garish place mats underneath.

Then he noticed there was a bikini clad girl at the bottom of his and pointed it out to me. I looked down to the bottom of my glass to see a Speedo clad guy looking back at me. They must have known. I didn't say anything, but grinned back. Then drank the Sake. Sadly he went all blurry after I'd drunk the alcohol (the looking glass didn't work when there was there no liquid above it). Isn't it just typical. It reminded me of that night out recently.

A few drinks after work

2006-10-18T23:04:00.000+01:00

I went for a few drinks after work tonight, to an old haunt that I have spent far too much time in in the past. One of my colleagues had given me a lift to the U-bahn station, which coincidentally is also the location of the place I used to live and the Irish bar which I used to frequent. I was waiting for the train to go home, but then thought, ah I can just go for a few, it won't hurt me.

I left after three and after I'd written down a load of specs for something that I wanted to work on in my spare time. A few beers are good for helping think through things like that.

Whilst I was there though, I was chatting to one of the waitresses - who coincidentally was also at the fest the weekend before last, and also admitted to having a stinking hangover the next day - and realised that I've been going there for almost a year now. Yikes. Admittedly, I've only been there a few times since I moved away to my new apartment, but time has flown by. I was thinking also about the cute barman that was there at one point and how I must have scared him on his first night working there by being all flirty with him.

Waking with a craving

2006-10-17T19:52:00.000+01:00

I woke up this morning about 5am and was a bit confused.

It's not really uncommon for me to wake up at different times through the night, often feeling confused about why I'm awake or what day it is, and if I actually need to get up. For some reason this morning though, there was some compelling reason for me to walk to the fridge, grab a bar of Milka (there's usually something in the house, the chocoholic that I am), break a few blocks off and wolf them down before climbing back into bed.

It's rare that I'll get up in the middle of the night - or any earlier than my alarm is due to go off (+30mins for snoozing) - let alone want to eat something. Strange. It must have confused my body even more though, as I cancelled my alarm for some reason and woke up to my body turning myself over and pointing my eyes towards the alarm clock.

8.51 it read. D'oh. I'd slept in. A quick email to the boss to say I was working from home this morning, and then a glance into my work email whilst lying in bed still. (I couldn't get my heater to work, meaning it was freezing, or at least pretty cold). An hour or so more of work and the cold had got to me enough that I had to travel in to the office because it'd be warmer.

Luckily, I discovered today that my other heater is working properly. Mmm, warmth.

Yay for SilverB!

2006-10-16T23:58:00.000+01:00

Whenever I get emails off SilverB, he always adorns them with shots of Jake Gyllenhaal. I can't imagine where he got the idea that I have an ever so slight crush on Jake. Mmmm. Thanks as always, SilverB!

The Sound of Music

2006-10-14T14:18:00.000+01:00

I've been going to bed early this week, or trying to at least, because I've been so tired, and I really can't justify sleeping in any longer in the mornings. The trouble with going to bed early though is that despite being tired, my body just isn't used to sleeping before midnight or so. To ease myself into it, I've been watching some episodes of Will & Grace or The Simpsons, or something else nice and easy on the brain. The latest one was The Sound of Music.

In the past I've often watched The Sound of Music in bed, and usually fall asleep before the end of it. I could have sworn, too, in the few times that I have seen it through to the end that there was a point in there that you had to change to the second DVD for the ending of the extra-long movie. I got as far as the intermission the other night and thought, 'Hmm, this must be the place I need to switch to the next DVD', but then it just carried on. It got to a point where I just closed Hedwig the iBook before the movie had finished as my eyes were drooping to the point of no return. Then last night I watched the rest - and still it seemed like it would never end, but it still didn't make me change the DVD.

Now I have no idea where I got the impression that you have to change the DVD part way through. Weird.

The failed attempt

2006-10-13T20:25:00.000+01:00

Last weekend began on Friday night with a night of drinking with colleagues in an Irish bar close to work (also the same bar that I spent a lot of time in when I first moved here). After a number of beers, too little food and also numerous tequilas the memories start to become more blurry, though I do remember coming out to a lot of my colleagues that night. I also remember walking out a door saying something like 'Yeah, I saw them at G-A-Y in London. Because I am. Gay, I mean.' I think I was quite loud at times that night, but hey, it was fun. I even convinced a couple of people to come back to the area I'm living because I knew a bar that would still be open. At 2 or 3am they were closing up and despite my ever so nice asking, they grinned at us and gave the sorry, no eyes. So a kebab search ensued instead.

The next day was spent recovering and seeing potential new flatmates, dreading the next day, having already agreed on going to the last night of the Volksfest (another excellent excuse Germans have to drink beer) with another group of people from work.

Sunday evening's session started around 6pm or so (Monday was a holiday for most of the people at work), with the first of two Maases of bier (litre glasses) that I'd got tokens for and the half a chicken which sometimes seems just that little bit skinny to actually be a full half of a chicken (and I don't remember it being as nice as the one at the Fruehlingsfest (spring festival either). I wasn't having much fun at the start but it got better, and the music they play at their fests here is always hip-swayingly/drunkenly-jumping-up-and-down-on-the-benches fantastic so that helps. We stayed there till they stopped serving at 11 or 12 or so before going into town and finding a bar that was open still. Unsuprisingly there weren't all that many places still open or still with people in, with it being a Sunday night, but we did find a place after a little searching. After some drinks and chatting with random people outside, I descended into the basement to find the toilet, only to come back up to find that the people I was with had actually left me there. It reminded me of almost exactly a year before (a night I can't find reference to in my posts for some reason - I guess I never actually got around to writing about it) when some of my potential colleagues had left me alone in an, erm, erotic dancing club.

'Ah well,' I thought, 'I'll just go home anyway, it's been a long enough night.' But on my walk home there are numerous bars and clubs, of which one or two are gay. I couldn't help but be tempted in when I saw there were still people coming and going at the first club I come across. I had to answer 'Ich weiss!' when the bouncers asked me if I knew it was a gay club (I hadn't shaved for about a week or so by that point so didn't look particularly like a pretty gay boy :) but they let me in without any hassle. And with it being a Sunday night, it was free as well, so there was nothing to make me think twice about going in. My time in there was a little blurry - not sure how long I was there - but I do remember bumping into a friend's ex flatmate and chatting to him for a while. But then I spotted a cute guy sitting at a table behind me, and there was an ever so small piece of bench left next to him. I finally convinced myself to go and ask him if there was enough room there for a littl'un and to my suprise he moved over and let me sit down. I tried to chat for a while, but I found it really difficult to make small talk and it was very patchy. He humoured me and answered some questions. I think I stopped asking though when he gave me an answer I suddenly remembered that I'd already heard. I'd asked him the same question twice, partly because there aren't that many questions I could ask a guy I fancied, partly because I don't know how to make small talk in German, and partly because I'd had far too much to drink already. I felt a fool for it and I think felt embarassed to try talking to him again after that.

I say I think because I don't really remember much after that. But the next afternoon I woke up with one of my MiniCards in my pocket, inscribed with an email address. In my hungover state it didn't look like my handwriting, but it must have been, as it was my address. I guess I'd written it on the card to give to him or something, but then never did because I was too embarrassed from my shrinking short term memory capacity.

I've not drunk anything this week. Next time I meet someone that I like, I hope I'm not so drunk that I make a fool of myself. A little bit is ok, I like to make a fool of myself, but not so much that I embarrass myself.

Argh, and I miss being able to go to gay places with friends. Starting to think I know where London Dan should move to (again) once I'm finished here.

Two weeks later...

2006-10-12T19:09:00.000+01:00

... and the hunt is over.

We'd seen a bunch of people that weekend, and found a few that we probably would have been happy to live with. We decided to offer the place to one of them, and when he said yes, we told everyone else that we'd found someone. Then a few days later we found out the guy had actually moved out of Stuttgart (he wasn't enjoying his course and found somewhere better to go to) and so couldn't move in. D'oh.

So the hunt continued this last weekend and again I was hungover from a night out the night before. I couldn't even stomach spending any time with the first person that came, I had to go lie down. Through the day I slowly recovered though, and we again found a couple of people that we could potentially say yes to. The first one we tried had already found somewhere, but the second still wanted to move in. Last night he came to sign the contract and measure the room and stuff, so now it's official. The stressful hunt for a new flatmate is over and hopefully we won't have to do it again for the rest of my stay here in Deutschland.

And yay, he's German (and speaks English as well, if needed) so hopefully I can practice my German on him.

Es gibt noch kein Platz

2006-10-11T20:17:00.000+01:00

I went this morning to try and register for the second installment of my German course and found out that I was too late registering. D'oh.

I knew that it had been running already for two weeks or so, but just kept thinking back to the first course where people were coming and going all through the year, and the classes were never full. It seems either this is a more popular level to do, or perhaps just a more popular time of year to do it with university starting up and everything, I imagine there are probably a number of foreign students trying to brush up on their German.

If only I'd had a chance to register earlier on, I'd have been back learning German schon wieder. Ah well, I'll just have to try for the next one that starts in a month or so, but it'll mean six hours of lessons each week (instead of three), straight after work for three hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 7 weeks. Ugh. That sounds tiring!

Doktor during holidays

2006-10-02T23:25:00.000+01:00

Hmm, what does one do when they want to see a doctor and then discover the next day is a public holiday? Do doctors in Deutschland work on public holidays? I can't imagine the would... Guess I'll find out in the morning.

Champagne Truffles

2006-10-02T20:33:00.000+01:00

Because you can't go to Brussels and come back without some form of Belgian chocolate. Mmm.

I'm thinking I could just have these for tea tonight. A salami roll for breakfast, kebab for lunch and Belgian Champagne Truffles for dinner: what a diet that would be!

Beta Blogger

2006-09-29T19:47:00.000+01:00

I've been curious for the past few days since I've been back here in Blogger land - what is the Blogger Beta option that it gives you when you log in? I tried clicking on it but it wanted me to tie up Google Accounts and stuff, and I think create a new blog, though maybe I'm mistaken.

Anyone tried it out? What's it do?

The hunt begins...

2006-09-28T21:40:00.000+01:00

One of my flatmates decided recently that he wanted to move out to be closer to work. I think if I was a baker and had to work at 4am every day, I'd want to be pretty close to work too!

So late last night my other flatmate (his girlfriend) posted an ad on the net in the hope that we'd find at least a few people interested in taking his room over. Well, she came in to my room today to tell me there were about 50 emails in response to the ad, all waiting for us to sift through them and find the cream of the crop.

Argh, just what I need in a week in which I've had no weekend to relax, am ill and have lots of work on. Tomorrow night we'll have to sort through the people that reply to our email to them reminding them it's a small room and that they have to be comfortable mit Homosexualität, and then invite them round on Sunday so we can meet them and show them the place.

I'm off to Munich on Saturday for a day at the Oktoberfest so come Sunday I'm likely to be no less shattered than I currently am. Ugh. Hopefully we'll find a nice flatmate without too much trouble...

Without hot water for 3 days

2006-09-27T20:19:00.000+01:00

I've not had a shower since Sunday morning. How disgusting is that?

When I came back to Deutschland on Sunday night, I came through the front door to read that between Monday and Wednesday there would be no hot water. Shattered from travelling, and not entirely sure I'd understood the notice, I didn't think too much more about it. That is, until the morning when it suddenly hit me that not having hot water for three days really wouldn't be a pleasant experience. I'd already slept in to try and recover, and was planning to work from home into the evening. It didn't matter too much then that I hadn't been able to have a shower.

Tuesday morning came around and I had to actually go into work, so attempted to at least wash my hair in the cold water that the shower had to offer. It really wasn't successful. My hair wasn't really any cleaner, I had managed to get water all over the floor, and pretty much stopped breathing because waking up to cold water isn't a nice thing to happen. I started to feel more and more groggy through the day in the office and was pretty much dead to the world by the end of the day.

This morning then and I'm still not feeling much better, so take the day off sick, petrified of the cold shower. Staying in bed this morning has helped me shake off some of the cold I think - no more sore throat, yay - though I'm still sniffly.

Finally, three days later, and I can have a shower again now that we've run the brown sludge through that had built up in the water pipes. I can't tell you how minging I feel right now, and can't wait for my first shower since Sunday morning!

New twist for carnival queen

2006-09-26T22:40:00.000+01:00

I found this story about the 15 year old boy that won the title of alternative carnival queen of a British village quite entertaining today. I'm suprised they awarded it to him, but good on him for having the courage to enter. I know I wouldn't have done that at the age of 15. But then I wouldn't be carrying a handbag and wearing make-up either.

David donned a long flowing dress, high heels and a jewelled tiara for his appearance.

David, who carries a handbag and wears make-up, told the Sunday Express, : "I’ve always liked the carnival and I thought, ‘Why not take part?’’

It'd been over a year

2006-09-26T20:36:00.000+01:00

I was in London for a long weekend last week before travelling elsewhere with work.

I had travelled back to London to visit a good friend from my course that I hadn't seen for a year, but also managed to catch up with a couple of other friends I hadn't seen in probably just as long. Not only that, but I managed to meet up with Anyhoo as well, who had very kindly organised front-row tickets to see the excellent Avenue Q. All in all, I had a really good weekend back in the bustle of London.

After only a day back in the land of sausages, I travelled up the most EUropean of european of cities to go to some conferences for work. I was looking forward to them - it's always good to meet up with others interested in the same things and share ideas. Of course, that does mean that there are plenty of beers flowing in the bar, and with glasses the size of the ones they have there, that can be dangerous. It had been a hectic night, trying to arrange to meet up with people from work, someone from another project I'm interested in, and also with my Dad who by chance was in town for a conference at the same time.

So, there I was sitting there drinking fruity beers (what else!), trying to make sure I get a chance to chat to everyone I'd managed to converge in the same place. A little later on, another group of people joined the table next to us and they seemed like a lot of fun. The guy next to me turned out to be a recruiter for a company that would be cool to work for, so of course I started asking some questions. Unsuprisingly, he wasn't so keen to give the same spiel he'd been giving all day at the conference. Ah well, he turned out to be a nice guy anyway, so we were chatting a little for the rest of the evening.

Then the time came to be kicked out of the bar, at which time I should really have gone home - especially considering the next day was the first day of my conferences. It was too difficult to say no to going back to his hotel for another drink though, so I had then to try and get away from everyone without making it obvious that I wasn't going back to my hotel for a good night's sleep.

Erm, anyway, it was a fun night, and the next day I made it to the conference about an hour or so late after having gone to the completely wrong venue. Oops. The past couple of weeks have been really good for me, seeing lots of friends, meeting new people, having fun. I'm feeling sort of re-energised. Or at least, I would be, if I hadn't come back to Deutschland with a cold that seems only to be getting worse.

Unusal Food from the National Geographic podcast

2006-09-25T21:44:00.000+01:00

I was looking today to find some interesting podcasts to load up Alexander the iPod with. I found some news podcasts, music podcasts and then stumbled across the National Geographic podcasts, some of which are in video format (which Alexander can't cope with) and others plain audio. I signed up to the National Geographic Video Shorts video podcast and out of curiosity watched the latest edition through iTunes. How many people don't turn squeemish when they first get to see what's happening?

> Unusual Food video

The internet is for porn

2006-08-11T21:58:00.000+01:00

Someone sent me a link to a video earlier in the week. It's apparently been around for a while, but it's pretty funny, and addictive. A friend from home was visiting today and told me she'd heard the song as well. In fact, she has a full album of songs by the same people - it's going to be one of the songs in a West End show. I must get tickets for next time I'm back in London :)

Doesn't now sound like a good time to fly

2006-08-10T09:25:00.000+01:00

Just reading the news this morning about the foiled plots to blow up a plane mid Atlantic. I can't help but think though that BA could deal with the threat in a better way than stopping everyone taking handbaggage and drinks onboard their flights!

British Airways said no hand baggage would be allowed on any of its planes leaving British airports.

It said no electrical or battery powered items would be allowed in the cabin, including laptops and mobile phones.

British Airports Authority said all passengers on flights to the US would be subject to a secondary search at the boarding gate and all liquids would also be removed.
news.com.au

Deutschland!

2006-06-15T00:54:00.000+01:00

Ok, so despite impying in my last post that all I do is watch people, I've come to prove myself wrong tonight. I went into town this evening to watch the Germany vs. Poland game. The central square was even busier than on the opening night when Germany played. It was crazy. Though, this time with a police presence that really wasn't there the first time round.

I only really got there for the second half after going to my German class, but I'd gone to meet some friends (which is difficult in a square with thousands of people) so they could fill me in with what happened in the first half. Luckily (?!) nobody had scored, so they didn't have much to tell me.

I was getting bored with the game having met up with my friends and having a great place to stay. Football not being my thing, it's easy to get bored. And then there's not enough light to take photos of all the flag-waving supporters in the crowd. But then, ten minutes before the end of the game, I started to find myself making football-fan-like groans as everyone else did. Oh, Germany missed a goal. Oh, Poland almost scored one. Oh. Oh. Oh, Germany scored a goal. Wow! No holding back. Yeeeeaaaahhhhhhh!

Never before have I ever felt so much for football (even my Mum asked me on the phone last night, "but you're not into football, are you?"). The grunts, groans and cheers have never come so naturally before. In a football sense, at least. Erm, sorry, may have shared too much. I loved every minute of those last ten or so minutes. Especially when they scored right on the cusp of extra time.

Maybe if England played so well, I'd cheer just as much. Erm, yeah. The atmosphere here today was huge, and for England it simply wouldn't be. In England, I'm sure it would be, but I hear screens have been taken down from public places for safety/security reasons. Boo. Why can't it work like it does here, with thousands of friendly supporters causing no (or at least very little) trouble?

And, oh, it's amazing how many cute guys are into football. Yay.

Fussball feber!

2006-06-12T23:30:00.000+01:00

I keep thinking maybe I'm turning into a footy fan, with the amount of times I've been going into town to watch the games on the big screens they've set up in the centre. Then I remember, as Anyhoo noticed in the comments to this picture, that I actually pay very little attention to the game, and instead am sitting there people watching in the sun with a beer. So much fun!

My iPod knows me too well

2006-06-12T12:11:00.000+01:00

I reached down to the desk just now to unpause my iPod from the random selection I'd been playing earlier. 'I need a man' by Eurythmics was the first on the list. I think Alexander the iPod is getting to know me a little too well... :)

Clubbing

2006-06-03T21:32:00.000+01:00

Tonight will be the first time since I've been here in a foreign land that I'm actually going to go clubbing. I've no idea really what to expect, apart from the music and drink of course. Hopefully I'll have the courage to actually speak to people... argh!

Now that I've pretty much finished my bottle of local wine (very nice that it was) I must make my way into town... wish me luck.

Am kleinste Haenchen

2006-05-21T02:54:00.000+01:00

I'm just back from a singles night in town. It's one of those where you go and they give you a number, and people are expected to leaves notes for each other if they're too shy to go up to someone directly.

There were some nice guys in there, but I was even too shy to put my note in for the guy that I liked. Argh. At least I had someone to talk to for a large part of the evening, after he came up to me and started talking to me in English.

Ah well. That's my first time 'clubbing' here in Stuttgart. I didn't dance at all, and didn't go to speak to the guy I really wanted to speak to. I think I must get out clubbing more often.

Hmm, I wonder if my idea of a chatup line wouldn't have put someone off straight away anyway?

Willst du ein Englander kennen zu lernen vor das WM?

(it had to fit into quite a small space on the cards they give you to fill in)

Lorraine - I Feel It

2006-05-14T19:24:00.000+01:00

I've found a really cool song lately that I can't seem to stop myself listening to. Over and over. It's never a good sign when that happens because it means I'll soon become just that little bit sick of it. Nevertheless, it's really good at the moment. Maybe once this one starts to get on my nerves I'll spend a little bit more time with the rest of the album.

Based on a recommendation from Attitude (April edition) I went to check out Lorraine, a young band from Norway. Attitude described them:

"Combining Chris Marin's captivating melodic touch, an electronic splendour reminiscent of the Pet Shop Boys and Depeche Mode, and some pleasing facial characteristics, Lorraine are a feverishly tipped trio from Norway's musical capital Bergen - already known for bright electropop thanks to acts like Royksopp."

With a description like that - one which seemed to fit perfectly with what I'm into - I couldn't not take Attitude's advice, and quickly went to iTunes to try the sample tracks.

The track I've particularly fallen for is I Feel It (Cicada remix) which you can hear at their Myspace site. You can also hear the original over at their label's site.

And finally, it comes...

2006-04-23T00:34:00.000+01:00

I've been working here in Germany officially for around 6 months now, and I've been paying almost half of my salary into taxes and insurance and things, all kindly taken directly from my pay packet each month. It's state policy that I must pay for certain things, but I have the choice of which company I wish to use. Originally I was just paying into a random firm that my employer had chosen for me, but after a little research I discovered a slightly cheaper one.

To cut a long story short (I'm tired) I have only today received my membership card from my health insurance company. What brilliant service. Six months. I mean, that's just so fast. Well, maybe five, as I changed somewhere after starting my job.

Titanic Two the Surface

2006-04-14T20:59:00.000+01:00

I've just come across the trailer for the sequel to Titanic - Titanic Two the Surface. Basically it's the story of Leo's adventures in a modern world after he's discovered on the ocean floor frozen in a big block of ice.

Ok, I'll admit: it's not an official release. It's pretty amusing though and somebody's obviously spent quite some time tieing together a whole pile of movies to put this trailer together. Yay for mashups. Keep 'em coming...

Axe Click

2006-04-14T08:46:00.000+01:00

If ever you feel the need to buy some deodorant at the last minute and find that you don't have much choice, don't stump for the Axe Click (or Lynx Click, if they sell it in Britain). It smells exactly like repackaged air freshener, as I discovered this morning!

Gummy bear desertion

2006-04-13T22:59:00.000+01:00

I was quite proud on Monday to learn that my boredness the day before had led to me having one of the most 'interesting' photos on Flickr for the day. It turns out, it was the second most interesting on Sunday. Wehay!

Ice Age: The Meltdown

2006-04-13T21:58:00.000+01:00

The past few times I've been to the cinema here I've seen trailers for Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. You know the moment they start that they're for Ice Age... that icy chill that blows across the cinema, the blank screen and then all of a sudden, a little sabre-toothed squirrel (yes, I had to look that up) comes into shot and is searching that ever elusive acorn. Bless him.

I can't control the grin on my face when I see the trailers for it, so you can just imagine how I felt when I was finally able to watch the full movie. I wasn't quite sure how it'd match up to the first one, which I loved also, but it has faired very well. In fact, it's made me want to go out and buy the first one on DVD so I can remind myself of just how good it was.

I'm also really pleased that I've found a cinema in town that's almost half the price of the one I was going to originally - €3.90 instead of €7.00. Yay!

...and hello from drunken Dan

2006-04-06T23:50:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I've posted on here, but I figured I'd come and say hi in case anyone still reads it. I may do, in a years time, if someone starts posting responses to old posts (thanks, MQ for prompting me to read the through last April's entries - it didn't include quite the rollercoaster I was expecting, but even reading back now it's amazing how many things I remember that I must have deliberately omitted at the time, probably for the best in the long run).

Anyway, less of the past... moving on.

Tonight was the first poker night in a while, and I had originally said that I wasn't going to go. On Saturday I'd met up with some cool guys whilst checking out some bars in town. I'd visited a few after getting bored of the special 1st April late night shopping (in order to promote the city and give us all some nice entertainment before the World Cup in the summer) but ended up in one as I probably should have been going home. I went in, not knowing anybody, and just stood at the bar drinking. Then a few people left and I joined a table so I could sit down. After a few, I caught the glances of one of the guys across the table and he started speaking German to me. Not understanding what he said, I laughed a little, and then, out of guilt I guess, told him Ich sprech nur ein bisschen Deutsch. He looked away, so I stuck my head back into a local (state wide) gay mag that I hadn't seen before.

One thing led to another and I started chatting to this guy in half English and half German, and also got speaking to the guy next to him as well. He was to have a stage debut in a nearby theatre tonight, and I'd said I'd go along, if the other guy did as well. Chickening out a little, I decided not to go tonight, partly because I wasn't in the mood to concentrate on a German play, partly because I'd be in trouble if I'd gone and then was convinced to go out afterwards, and partly because I was feeling shy. Hopefully we can arrange another time... it'd be nice to get to know some more locals :)

Back to poker tonight: I came away with only a little less than I put in originally (that's a rarity, as normally I'll come away with virtually nothing) so I was quite happy. I enjoy spending time with the people from work, it's a nice time to relax with a few beers. I occasionally become a little too relaxed, and forget I'm meant to be dealing or forget what cards I have in my hand. But it's all par for the course in my book, and it's only small amounts at stake.

I felt foolish a few times, usually due to the forgetfulness, but also due to a question of Monopoly. I don't remember what made me bring it up, but I asked my American friends if they had Monopoly in the States as well. I grew up on Monopoly, and have many fond memories of playing the game with family when I was younger, but I only ever knew it as a British game. At no point in my life have I ever questioned the origins - I presumed the London version of Monopoly was the original. Tonight I realised that wasn't the case. Often I can climb my way, somehow, out of arguments, but this time I admitted defeat, actually having no idea of the history of Monopoly. Checking on the site confirmed the fact that it started in Chicago, but also reminded me of a time playing the game a few years back, which for various reasons, at different times, made me pause and step back from what I was doing. It was a game with a guy who's now an ex, a friend who is sadly no longer with us and a couple of friends who I don't get to see enough of.

Well, time for bed for me.

Brokeback Mountain

2006-03-11T00:30:00.000Z

It finally came out here (if you'll excuse the pun) so I had to go and see it. All I'm going to say is, go see it. It's a brilliant movie, beautifully filmed. It's an exciting love story and yet so tragic at the same time, my eyes didn't really cease to water for the duration of the film.

(You'll probably want to try and ignore Jake Gyllenhaal's mustache as he grows older, but there's plenty of eye candy in the movie to keep you distracted for most of the time.)

Madonna (or The Madonnas)

2006-03-05T00:50:00.000Z

When Madonna released Hung Up, the first track of her latest album, Confessions on a Dancefloor, I didn't take to it straight away. Part of the reason I think is that it reminded me of Gimme Gimme Gimme, a tv programme I used to like in small doses. Anyway, after hearing it a few times more, I started to really like it. Then one of my friends convinced me that the rest of the album was brilliant (she is a Madonna fan so wouldn't have told me any different). I checked it out on iTunes and found that I loved some of the other songs as well. I listen to most of them - but especially Sorry - most days.

Tonight I was surfing Google Video for comedy that's actually funny - people shouldn't be allowed to post videos into the comedy section unless it has some comic value other than thinking that person is a real weirdo! Looking in the popular section I stumbled across So Sorry by The Madonnas. It's So Funny.

Total Eclipse of the Heart

2006-03-05T00:38:00.000Z

I seem to be becoming lazy at posting on here in favour of my other blog, but there are some things I don't particularly want to put onto my other one. Like this: three shirtless guys miming to Total Eclipse of the Heart. I'll have the one on the left please.

Brokeback to the Future

2006-02-27T22:15:00.000Z

I've been exploring Google Video a little tonight, now that they've let us in Europe through the front door. I clicked on a few of Google's links to historic videos from WWII originally and then explored from there.

This trailer is abolutely brilliant though: Brokeback to the Future.

Trip to Brussels

2006-02-25T23:15:00.000Z

This weekend I took a trip to Brussels, though not really for a holiday. I've come for a meeting/conference type thing related to work, but partly out of my own interest in what's happening in the world of software. Anyway, that's for the work blog.

I flew in on Friday night - after a slight delay which coincidentally lasted not much longer than it took for a nice long drink in the airport. The first thing I noticed when I arrived here was that everything smelt of food - from the waffels in the airport to the distinctly French frite smell on the train, and then hotdogs in the train station. I couldn't resist, though I wish I had - or at least gone for either of the first two options instead!

After checking into my hostel etc, I went for a wander round town taking photos and finally met up with my boss for a few drinks. Those few drinks turned into me getting to my hostel an hour after they locked the front door... d'oh. Not sure what to do, I tried knocking on the door a few times, trying to get some attention. There were a few girls inside who tried (/pretended?) to open the door unsuccessfully. At that point I'm starting to get worried, but luckily think to call my boss who's staying across town. Thankfully he offered me a spare bed - otherwise I'd have been out on the street. (Or, erm, trying to find a random stranger with a bed to spare.)

I was feeling a little rough the next morning, though not too bad, more a lack of sleep than anything. It definately didn't help that I'd forgotten to take a towel and shampoo with me! There's nothing like a shower in the morning to wake you up.

(updated Sunday, now I'm back)

Downgraded

2006-02-20T22:20:00.000Z

I went to register for my German course today, but like the last time I tried, they insisted I went upstairs to meet with one of the teachers to discuss which level I should be taking. When I say discuss, I mean, talk broken German to them and then wait for them to tell me I need to take a test to see which level suits me best.

The courses all started last week, and I chose one to go to on Tuesday that sounded like it'd be ok. It turned out to be a little out of my league, so then I downgraded myself to the level below that. Feeling a little more comfortable, I thought I'd stick it out in that class. Then I come to register (I know, I know, I should have done that before going to lessons, but my plans for doing that didn't work out so well) only to find that they suggest I start in the second class (I've gone down from 5th to 4th to 2nd). It's probably no bad thing, as I know I'm lacking in lots of areas - speaking being a big one - but I felt I could have struggled through at a slightly higher level and probably learnt a lot along the way.

I can only see how it goes, and hope I'm not feeling like I know everything there already. I'm pretty sure I won't feel like that, and I'll be happy as long as I'm learning something and feeling comfortable. Of course, because I'd tried out different courses, I'll now be starting on the 4th class of 15 so will have missed all the introductions and things at the start of the course.

Danke, Deutsches Rotes Kreuz!

2006-02-19T22:44:00.000Z

Each time I use the public transport here I'm greeted by adverts.

Often the posters are dull or not interesting to me but the German Red Cross has the right idea, that is to make them more appealing to passers-by. I mean, who isn't going to stop and take a look at two topless guys in a sauna. And it's all in the name of a good cause, so even better.

1,001 photos

2006-02-10T07:28:00.000Z

Tonight I uploaded my thousandth photo - and my 1,001st - to Flickr, not too much more than a year after I first started using the service.

One years worth of photos in a single place, organised and available to anybody who wants to see them. And all with just a few clicks of a mouse. Thanks Flickr!

Early night... I think not

2006-02-08T09:29:00.000Z

I think I was hoping for a relatively early night tonight, but I guess it wasn't realistically going to happen. After the sessions today there was a 'meeting' whereby we all got to sample 'open source beer' (i.e. beer whose recipe has been shared amongst others who can in turn amend and use it as they wish). I had a few glasses, but was one of the last people left, after some interesting (work-related) talks. I'm still so very tired, and still hoping I'll be able to get in to the centre by 8.30am tomorrow...

Unheard of hours

2006-02-07T06:04:00.000Z

It's going to look like I posted this at some nasty hour of the morning. Actually, it's telling the truth, but I'm in Vancouver for a week to attend a conference type thing, and it's 10pm here. I've been up since 7.30 this morning (German time) and had a few hours kip on the plane, but basically today has been a horrendously long day. To top it off, I've gotta be out and about from about 7.30 tomorrow (Canadian time), hopefully not feeling too jet-lagged. Yeah, right.

I have a friend here as well who I was looking forward to seeing, but tonight I got an even bigger suprise: another of my friends, from the other side of Canada, is also here for a week or so, so I get to spend time with both of them. Obviously the work has to come first - as that's the reason I'm here - although I think it will be less formal work and more networking with people, making contacts and doing some ad-hoc work along the way.

All in all it should be a really interesting week work-wise and fun week friends-wise.

Cute German guy

2006-02-05T02:11:00.000Z

I went down to the Irish bar tonight, because I had nothing solid left to eat. What I didn't expect to find was a really cute guy who looked just like someone I used to fancy. Argh. He was lovely though, and didn't speak much English, so just the kind of guy I'd go for.

By the end of the night, I had been charged for more than I thought I should have been, so I argued for a little - though it's not easy whith people you like and with facts you can't remember!

Anyway, I payed what the bill said (or actually, I already had aparently) and then left. I'd forgotten, I'd given my details to the vute new barman. God knows what tip I gave him!

Now I need sleep, but it does seem my cold is not quite so bad as it was originally. Perhaps I am invincable. I doubt it. Though a randon man coming to my room would surely help :)

Ok, I'm clearly drunk!

Somewhere to live

2006-02-01T21:41:00.000Z

Today was the first day of me officially being able to move into my own place here (out of the accomodation provided temporarily by my employer). It's a shared apartment with two other people - a guy and a girl - not too far from the centre of the city. I found it on the internet about two weeks ago, went to see it last week and then picked up the keys at the weekend.

I've not actually moved yet, as I've got to sort out some furniture to fill the room. I've picked out some things from Ikea's website but when I went to order them last night (and when I tried again today also) I'm greeted by an ugly Javascript message that makes no sense and doesn't let me create an account. Damn that faulty validation coding! I'm hoping it'll be working again by tomorrow so I can order, at the very least, a bed and a matress for me to sleep on. Then hopefully (and I say that in a semi sarcastic way) I'll be able to spend the weekend building flat-pack furniture.

I've got a few weeks to sort it out before I have to be out of this place, but the sooner I can get it all sorted and move in, the better.

Charlie and the Information Factory

2006-02-01T21:17:00.000Z

Ok, so is it just me, or does anyone else find themselves thinking about the Wonka factory when reading this BBC News story about 'Google's communication breakdown' today? I may just be going crazy, but I can just picture that guy that comes up to Charlie in the movie and tells him that nobody ever goes in and nobody ever comes out.

Erm, anyway. It could have been the deliberate overdose of Vitamin C today to try and shake a burgeoning cold.

Brokeback Mountain

2006-01-28T14:56:00.000Z

Argh, I'm jealous of everyone who's already seen "Heath Ledger pound[ing] frantically away at Jake Gyllenhall's filets of topside" (thanks, Any) in Brokeback Mountain. Apparently we're not going to get it here in Germany until 9th March, and even then it'll be in German only.

On a positive note, I've just looked up English cinemas here and found out that Jarhead, also staring Jake Gyllenhaal, is playing at the moment, so perhaps I'll just have to go and see that for now instead.

I got a Distinction!

2006-01-28T00:44:00.000Z

It's been a number of months now since I finished my masters course in London, and since I was told of my unofficial results, but today my official degree certificate arrived at home. I didn't think I'd actually get it until the graduation in September this year, so it was a nice surprise when my parents sent a copy to me by email today. What was even better was that I'd been awarded the highest classification possible - a Distinction - which was up from the Pass that the unofficial results suggested I'd get.

Fantastisch!

A few (mostly gay) films

2006-01-25T23:37:00.000Z

When I was coming back to Germany after Christmas, I had a few hours to spare in Manchester, so I popped into HMV to see if they had any bargains on DVDs that might just tempt me. I'm not quite sure why I thought I'd buy anything, considering I had absolutely no room left in my bags, and was probably already overweight. (The bags, that is, not me). I blame my brother for very thoughtfully buying me a toaster at Christmas without thinking about how I'd get it back.

In the shop, I ended up browsing the World Cinema section, and spotted A Very Long Engagement. Directed by the same guy that directed Amelie, it's a movie my boss recommended, knowing that I loved that movie.

Somehow then, I ended up looking at the edge of the Gay Interest section without realising. In fact, I'm sure there was some overlap, as I spotted a foreign movie in the middle somewhere - Krampack (aka Nico and Dani) - that looked kind of like a Spanish version of Beautiful Thing.

Then, out of the corner of my eye caught another DVD - Campfire.

As always seems to happen in the high street stores though, I looked at the prices and felt certain I could buy them cheaper with a little searching online. So one night a few weeks back I ordered these DVDs through play.com after realising that they posted to Germany for free, just as they do within the UK. It took a while for them to arrive, and despite ordering them at the same time, I don't think any of them arrived on the same day. I had visions of the German customs people stopping them because I'd bought them from outside the country.

When I was shopping online for them, I was recommended another that Amazon thought I may like. I read it was Wrestler, and when I noticed it was a gay German movie, I thought I ought to check it out. I realised after I bought it that it was actually called Westler, not Wrestler, but still it sounded good.

So, what were they like, I hear you ask. Well, A Very Long Engagement was a great movie, set in the war, telling a very moving story. If you like Amelie, I think you'll enjoy this, but don't expect the beloved Amelie-style humour in this drama. Krampack was a nice coming of age film about two lads growing up and exploring their sexuality. Campfire, a collection of short films, was frankly a little weird. Westler was much less weird, and definitely worth watching.

Then this evening I was just flicking through some channels when, par chance there just happened to be two guys wrestling in a river. It was all in French, but I could understand parts of it, and just about work out what was happening. As it went on it became apparent that it was a movie about forbidden love in a Nazi-occupied France. Un amour à taire kept me engrossed throughout, partly because I was trying to translate, but also because it told a horribly moving story that just kept drawing me in further.

I think I picked the wrong day to stop drinking

2006-01-23T21:15:00.000Z

(I think back to Airplane when I say this quote to myself - oh how I love that movie)

Anyway, from feeling better about myself yesterday having done so much walking, and being in a good mood this morning and raring to get to work on time and get stuff done, I got in only to find an email waiting for me that wiped all that goodness away. Looking back it perhaps wasn't so bad, but this morning I was fuming over it. I had to leave the office for some fresh air. A hasty reply in those situations isn't always the best thing, but I couldn't just ignore it. A chat with someone higher up settled my nerves a little bit later on but didn't exactly put me back into the mood I'd started the day in.

Ah well. The day has passed, and today is a new day. This evening I luckily resisted the temptation to go and sit in the bar, thinking myself into a worse situation. Instead I watched a DVD at home, and tried to forget about it all. Roll on a new day!

A bit of a walk

2006-01-22T16:17:00.000Z

Feeling a little guilty for not making it to the swimming pool this week, I decided today to go for a bit of a walk. Last weekend I'd walked to the oldest Television Tower (Fernsehturm) in the world - which has recently reopened after renovation. By the time I'd got there however, I realised I didn't have enough money to get to the top and to get the train home as well. Plus, it was dark and I was cold by then, so I made my way home again.

Today, I set out walking much earlier. I didn't have a plan and hadn't particularly planned to go back there again, but ended up there anyway after walking through one of the nearby towns that lies between me and the city. This time though, it was a little too misty to get a good view from the top, so again I didn't go up. I was impressed with myself though, I'd walked over 6km in just over an hour, and still wanted to walk some more. By the end of the day, I'd walked almost 15km - just over 9 miles. That's surely better for me than my normal 45 (or as little as 30 sometimes) minute swimming session.

On the way back, I stopped for a kebab, something which over the past few weeks seems to have been turning into my Sunday meal. Admittedly, that's not quite so healthy.

I did it again

2006-01-21T20:59:00.000Z

I was at work until gone 8 on Thursday and didn't have anything in at home to eat, so I went to have a quick meal at the Irish bar. I was doing well, and pacing my drinks very well, until I started getting into the music a bit more (the guy that's playing at the moment is the guy that was playing when I first came here). I then spotted that one of the people I'd met last week was at the bar, so I went over and had a few drinks with him. Again, it was late when I got home after staying till closing time, then watching an episode of The Office. Thankfully it was nowhere near as late as the last time, but still much later than I should have been up on a work night.

Argh. I can't do this kinda thing any more. It's not too bad until it starts affecting my work, but that's the point at which it has to stop. I'm going to avoid drinking this week. Let's see if I can stick to it!

A long week

2006-01-14T19:48:00.000Z

It's been a long, busy week. With lots of work to do, we've been in the office long hours to make sure things have been finished on time. Working until 8.30 both Monday and Tuesday, I felt like I wanted to unwind a little and went to a friendly little Irish bar I know (a little too well). I was pretty tired so I didn't plan to stay long - perhaps just for one or two, or until I'd finished the copy of Focus Magazine that I'd taken to read. (It's been about two years since I last read it, and sadly it seems to have been dumbed down a little since I first discovered that I enjoyed reading it - but I'll give it another chance because it's still an interesting read).

When I went for my usual two drink toilet break, I had to squeeze through two tables, and managed to knock the menu on the table next to me, which in turn knocked the salt shaker and spilled salt everywhere. I apologised, and continued on my way. When I came back, I paid much better attention to what was around me, and made sure I held the menu, grinning at the lady who'd cleaned up the salt last time. As I had successfully made my way through the two tables, I turned to sit back down. Little did I realise that there was a Focus mag sitting slightly over the edge of the table. Of course it fell, and I just got laughed at, both by the salt-pot people and by the people on my table who had noticed what was going to happen, and who tried to stop it, unsuccessfully. Anyway, embarrassed, I decided to have another drink.

It got late, I'd finished the magazine and I was getting bored, so I went over to sit at the bar for one last drink and a chat to the barman, before going to bed. Of course I had to choose the seat next to an English guy who's working in one of the musicals here and a woman who told me she was from Brighton originally, but who had a thick German accent. Confused, I stayed chatting for a while, until they kicked us out of the bar at closing time. I was taken along to another bar that seemed to stay open even longer and had a drink bought for me, before they kicked us out too.

I ended up trying to argue the odds of a lottery (don't remember why!) with the musician and got back to my room at 6am, having had far too many drinks and having swapped my Focus magazine for a New Scientist and a Scientific American that this guy had.

By this point I realised I wasn't going to make it into work on time, so decided I'd go in a little later. I didn't get in until 1pm on Wednesday, feeling slightly sorry for myself and not sure whether or not I was going to get into trouble. At least I'd worked enough hours in the two days previous to mean that I didn't miss any time, but it was still naughty of me to just not turn up until after noon.

Must be careful not to do that again. It was good to meet people though. I was meant to go and meet them in town last night as well, but having had an evening swim I felt shattered and so had an early night instead.

Ritter Sport photos

2006-01-08T12:48:00.000Z

So, after that post I went onto Flickr to see if anyone had any interesting shots of Ritter Sport. It turns out there are some lovely shots on there that are worth checking out... especially Southeast Star's photos. Mmm.

A weekend treat

2006-01-08T12:27:00.000Z

I wanted to get out of the city yesterday to visit somewhere not too far away. I had thought originally that I would visit Warstein - where Warsteiner beer comes from - thinking that it wasn't too far away. When I realised it was actually about a 4 hour drive, I gave that idea up in favour of a shorter, sweeter trip.

Instead, I made the 20 minute drive to Waldenbuch, the home of Ritter Sport, the chocolate bar famous for being square. I parked up in the first parking that I saw, not wanting to have to pay for parking in a car park (which I did before Christmas when I visited Tübingen [my photos] with my parents) when parking on the streets is free for most of the weekend. Wandering up into the town, everything was pretty much closed and the centre deserted. Walking up the hill to the Schloss at the top - which turned out to be a museum of the region's folk history - I couldn't see the Ritter Museum, which was the main point of my visit. I considered going into the folk museum as it sounded quite interesting, but first on my priority list was finding the chocolate maker. Luckily the Schloss was at the top of the hill so had a good view over the surrounding area, meaning I could easily spot the steam rising from the chocolate factory.

With some Chocolate Factory songs in my head, I walked back down the hill and over towards the source of sweetness. I was impressed to find, when I got there, that the exhibition was free and open to everyone. It talked about the origins of cacao, through to the origins of Ritter Sport (the practical, square chocolate bar that fits in your pocket), the processes they use to make their chocolates and the changes in branding over the years.

I never understood, until yesterday, how they filled chocolate with other fillings. I didn't know that they froze the trays, let the outer layers of chocolate stick to the tray and then pour the excess out before pouring the other filling in. That works with bar type chocolates, but how do other manufacturers do it with less regularly shaped things like Maltesers that presumably aren't made in trays?

Of course you can't visit a chocolate factory and not come away with some merchandise, can you? One of the last parts of the exhibition is a little chocolate dispenser that consists of a truck that drives through a factory, picks up a randomly flavoured chocolate bar and then drives round to dump it into the dispensing chute. The queue was full of kids, but I wasn't ashamed to join. After all, I can't turn down free chocolate. One woman was grinning at the fact that I was the only 'grownup' in the line, but what did I care. After enjoying my rum and raisin miniature, I left to visit the shop and pick up some more. I didn't come away with too many, but bought a few bags of little choccies and a pile of the normal Ritter Sport bars - they were cheaper than the supermarket so that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Back to work, and starting swimming again

2006-01-04T22:20:00.000Z

This morning I actually made it back into work, to what has been quite a quiet day in the office as I attempted to catch up on what I'd missed over the past few weeks, working out what needs to be done for when, and then actually starting on it all.

I spent my lunchtime picking at half a chicken and trying to find somewhere to live come the end of January, at which time I should be moving out of the accommodation that's been provided for my first three months here. I've left it later than I should have done to try and find somewhere, but I'm told I can extend my stay here if necessary, until I find a place of my own. I want to be into my own place as soon as possible though.

Preferably I'd want to move into a flat share somewhere not too far from where I am now (or at least somewhere south of the city) that's close to the U-bahn. I'd like to move in to a place where I can more easily meet people, with someone who I can learn some German from, and even help them practise their English. I haven't yet found anywhere that fitted what I was after, so I posted an accommodation wanted advert in both (broken) German and then in English, just to be sure:

Ich komme aus Grossbritannien nach Stuttgart zum arbeite. Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsche aber Ich will zu lernen mehr. Ich bin 23 Jahre alt und Nichtraucher.

Ich suche ein Zimmer in Stuttgart nahe zu Moehringen, Degerloch, Stuttgart-Sud oder Vaihingen baldmöglichst (Januar/Februar 2006).

==

I recently moved from Britain to Stuttgart to start my job here. I am 23 years old and speak English but I also speak a little German and want to learn a lot more. I am not a smoker.

I'd like to find somewhere to live by the end of January or February, preferably near to Moehringen, Degerloch, Stuttgart-Sud or Vaihingen.

Hopefully I'll hear from someone, but I'll keep looking anyway. Ooh, in fact I've just heard from a lady offering a room near the centre of town, though it'd be a place by myself. Still, I'll have to look into that tomorrow I think.

Anyway, I've been telling myself all day today that I was going to go swimming after work, trying to get back into a routine like I was in London for some time. I even went out yesterday to get a new pair of swimming trunks after my last pair disappeared at some point over the past few weeks. (Exactly how do they size swimming trunks over here anyway? It confused me in the shop yesterday and I think I probably bought a pair that was a size too small). To try and encourage me to keep going back to the pool relatively regularly, I bought a ten-entry token which even saves me 35¢ for each visit. I've almost lost it twice now already, so I'll just have to see how long that lasts. Swimming is a nice way to end a day, though I know I'll feel it tomorrow on top of the aches and pains I got from travelling yesterday. I'm such an old man.

I was a little naughty on the way back from the pool, and stopped off to buy a couple of bars of chocolate and a few beers, but at least I stayed away from the Irish bar, which I was also tempted by.

I'm back now, and kinda tired

2006-01-03T23:32:00.000Z

I'm now back in Germany after a nice lazy break back at home - I didn't even get around to posting anything other than the Happy New Year message the other day. I got back late last night, about two hours later than I'd originally thought I'd be back, thereby missing the last trains from the airport as well. Despite a rather confusing situation at the taxi rank I soon left the airport (and a cute Mancunian) for the short trip back to my apartment.

The day started just before 8 so I could catch the boat in time. It turned out that one of my friends and her boyfriend were heading back on the same boat, so at least there would be someone to talk to (if only I wasn't so tired from New Year still). We ended up sitting on the same table as a guy we both went to primary school with, who I hadn't seen for a few years. Last time I saw him I was out at home with my friends, very drunk. It was also the night I came out to them, and I'm sure (for some reason) touched this guy's chest, I've no idea why.

Unsure if it was infact him on our table, I leant over to my friend, hid behind a menu, and asked her if it was him. She didn't quite hear me the first time, but second time she did (as, I would have thought, did he). She took a quick peek and thought it was him too, so I asked him if it was. It was. Whilst trying to find out what he was doing nowadays, I found out he had a girlfriend. Which just me wonder even more about what it was that happened on that night out. Oh well.

I got into Liverpool on time then headed over to Manchester to spend a few hours in the city before I flew. I'd hoped to catch up with friends bit didn't manage to, mostly because I'd left it far too late to try and get in touch with anyone. Anyway, I did manage to grab a pint of Carling and some scampi and chips in the train station as my last British meal for a while. Bored, and without a working English phone whilst I waited a day for my new Orange Pay-as-you-go SIM card to take over from my old contract, I took the train down to the airport.

I was early and the check-in desks for my flight hadn't opened yet, though the ones next to them had, and showed that I could check in for my flight there too. With huge queues, I thought I might as well start queuing. Half an hour later, and about 3 places from the front of the queue, they changed the sign and told us that people on the Stuttgart flight had to check in at the desks that hadn't opened when I started queuing. I suspect I should have just stayed in that one and kicked up a fuss, but instead I just did as they said. I was mightily pissed, but duly went to join the end of the other queue.

I didn't want to push my luck at the front of this queue either, as it turned out my bag was 4 kilos over the 20kg limit. If I'd have been arsey instead of smiling at the nice check-in guy, he'd probably have made me pay for the excess. He put me back into a good mood thankfully - despite knowing as well that the flight was now 40 minutes behind schedule. After the security check, and yet another huge queue, I discovered there wasn't much to do, with shops starting to close and very little else there. I was happy that I found a copy of the New Scientist though, as other shops I'd looked in didn't have any left.

The best thing to do in a closing down airport is to sit in the bar and read your New Scientist until they announce your flight (which by this point is now 1h10 late). A few pints later, the plane came in and stopped slightly shy of where it was meant to on the stand. More delay ensued whilst they got a tug over to move the plane into its proper place.

I was so happy to get onto the plane and into a window seat, though sadly not by the guy I was eyeing up from the bar. I'd hoped to sit next to him and strike up a conversation, and perhaps meet someone who actually lives here, but I didn't see him when I boarded so I just resorted to taking a free row to myself. At least I had a nice view of lights out of the window, even if I didn't see most cities due to them being on the other side of the plane to me.

As for this morning, I was meant to start back at work but I was so tired there was no chance of me getting up and getting in to work, so I called in and extended my holiday by a day. I hope they don't mind tomorrow, when I finally show my face.

Happy New Year!

2006-01-01T13:00:00.000Z

I'm sitting with Hedwig, squinting at her screen, recovering from a fun night in with friends last night.

Happy New Year everybody, and I hope it brings all that you wish for!

I successfully stuck with my new years resolution last year and so this year I have high hopes too. Last year's one was keeping a diary (which soon merged into blogging), this years resolution is to find a boyfriend (preferably one who won't mess me up too much). It'll be a challenge, but hey, I've a year to do it :)

Another resolution I have set myself is to try and be better at staying in touch with friends, especially important considering I'm living nowhere near any of them.

Sent to Coventry

2005-12-07T22:01:00.000Z

Amazingly (though I'm not fully sure I believe it yet), the parcel that was sent to me about 5 weeks ago now - on 48 Hour special delivery through Parcel Force - has just surfaced in Coventry. A week ago I noted that it had basically disappeared somewhere between Germany and the UK but now it seems that it is on its way back to me in Germany.

It's fantastic that there is hope the parcel will finally arrive. At the same time though, it is truly disgusting on the part of Parcel Force that it has magically appeared again from the pile of missing boxes in Coventry, seemingly prompted by the claim for insurance that went in over the weekend. Is it the tought that they may have to pay money out that actually makes them look for a parcel that's gone missing within their system?

Will it arrive? Fingers crossed, it should be here by Friday apparently. At least the DVDs arrived, admittedly very late, but they arrived none the less. This evening, and for the past few days, I've been enjoying the second series of Little Britain, which despite my early dislike of the first series has been hugely entertaining. I'm not sure why I didn't take to it originally, perhaps it was just my lack of BBC 3 whilst in my final year of university in Manchester (and complete lack of TV in London last year).

Stuttgart 21

2005-12-05T22:29:00.000Z

When I was in town on Saturday, I went to visit the Stuttgart 21 exhibition about how they plan to develop a huge area around the main station - the Hauptbahnhof. Spread over a number of floors of a tower, the exhibition was fascinating in seeing what they plan to do and exactly how fundamentally they want to change the area.

The main point of the change is to allow high speed trains to better service the city and shorten the travelling times both to everywhere in Europe and also within the region. At the same time, there will be a vast area of railway land which is freed up and can be used to create what developers hope to be a new city hub, built from scratch in an area which is currently a mix of scrubland and sidings.

Stuttgart's train station is being chopped in half, twisted round and located underground in this massive project. These futuristic-looking pods will allow light into the station beneath and help with the 100% natural heating and cooling system.

The station entrances remind me ever so slightly of Canary Wharf tube station in London.

Whilst the overall plan seems like a good idea, there are things that didn't look good about the project and questions that spring into my mind. Much focus was made on the new train station and what benefits it will bring but a considerable amount less was given to the other new developments and how feasible they actually are. Is the German economy ready for a new city within a city? Hopefully it will be by the time work is finished in 2013.