Was soll man da noch sagen?

Lange geschwiegen und meine Arbeit gemacht und nichts zu sagen gehabt. Aber jetzt kann ich nicht länger auf dem Mund sitzen. Ich schäme mich für meine alte Heimat, die gerade drauf und dran ist, sich selbst ins Ausland zu schießen. Am kommende Wochenende kann sie es verhindern. Ich [more]

Just a few more days to go. But wait! Have we written all the cards, thought of all our friends, wished everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, have we bought all the presents, ingredients, decorations, and, most importantly, baked all the cookies? I have managed [more]

It was good to meet a friend and sit in a warm and crowded place surrounded by strangers who seemed happy and relaxed, and it was good to talk and drink Saxonian beer and forget the outside world for a moment. My friend had come to town on [more]

This morning I sat down with a coffee thinking over the day and went through the list of things to be done. There were insurance policies to be understood, a beef with the landlord to be settled and one with the health insurance company, the tax declaration to [more]

As I was driving through the cold, dark streets, I thought it’d actually be nice to be someplace else, someplace warm, and then I thought, but I would miss my city and its dire winter and its short gray days, and then it occurred to me that I [more]

When we’re both at home, we usually have a cup of hot tea before going to bed. In recent years, I’ve taken to lemon verbena. I buy the elegantly pointed leaves sun-dried and whole, and the light-green infusion, almost translucent, tastes immaculate and innocent, and there’s only a [more]

Apparently, the Swiss don’t like their national anthem anymore. Pointing to the verse “Betet, freie Schweizer, betet!”, they dub it “too religious, over-ornate and antiquated”. They say it is “stylistically unwieldy” and they emphasize the argument by quoting words such as “Alpenfirn”, “Strahlenmeer”, “Sternenheer”, “Nebelflor” and “Abendglühn”. They [more]

Friday evening, seven o’clock, hectic times in one of Germany’s biggest organic food stores. I had just won a fight with a preppy couple in quilted jackets over the last hulled wheat bread with sesame seeds. Triumphantly, I walked on and steered my way through tons of trolleys [more]

It’s been a long day, it started out with a guy coming to read the meter at the crack of dawn, he seemed tense and nervous, and I felt sorry and thus wanted to give him a hand, when he, like, climbed onto the bathtub and then onto [more]

Our granddad was a quiet man. He loved to smoke his pipe after lunch on long, lazy Sunday afternoons, and we liked the sweet smell of the puffs in the air, it had something very relaxing about it, and it smelled much better than the acrid fumes from [more]

It’s still very small and frail, kindly supported by two sturdy wooden posts and strong ropes. You almost overlook it on your way when passing by. Only a miniature memorial stone embedded by low concrete kerbs in the form of an arrow points to it. In fact, I [more]

Lately, I never seem to find enough time to read DIE ZEIT. There are somewhat high and frightening stacks of past editions loafing about in a dark corner of the apartment. Heaps of time reminding me of the absence of time in our time.

We’d already had a few, even one with the girl behind the bar who was mixing the drinks, she was in such a bad mood we felt we had to invite her, but she said that she wasn’t allowed to, so we said, c’mon and learned she was [more]

There’s a Christmas tree in the foyer of the big square building where I go to work. It’s been there since last Monday, I think. I don’t remember exactly, just that it was there some morning. Bang, it popped up from nowhere and seemingly out of the blue, [more]

She was a southern girl, she was beautiful and wild. She fled her home in the poor and mountainous canton of Ticino close to the Italian border, and she moved north. Moved to where the people spoke in harsh tongues and looked pale and worked hard. She liked [more]

Always great fun to have dinner at the Kater. Tonight, we were sitting beneath a tiny clock that looked like a cat – it was ever so sweet – and we saw the U-Bahn rushing by and we counted the time. The Kater is deemed to vanish, and [more]

It just so happens I was obliged to take a few cabs today. The rides were quite unspectacular. Just an unknown guy driving his Mercedes Benz while listening to some silly station’s speedy shit. But one ride was different. The taxi driver was listening to some silly station’s [more]

This morning I sat down with a coffee thinking over the day and went through the list of things to be done. There were insurance policies to be understood, a beef with the landlord to be settled and one with the health insurance company, the tax declaration to [more]

The executioner at the reception looked at me with a deadpan face. “What’s this weather you brought with you? Quite unexpected.” – „Agreed“, I said. “I usually bring tons of sunshine.” He handed me the padlock. “Happy workout”, he said. I thanked him and took the padlock and [more]

I’m not gloomy, mind you. I love the ocean breeze from the tracks high above, wave after wave, swoosh and swoosh and swoosh, and the glittering sunlight reflecting on the street. I’m holding a drink in one hand and a good read in the other, sunglasses, t-shirt, naked [more]

Again, Alexanderplatz. I’m going up, up, up on the escalator from the third to the fourth floor in one of the big classy buildings overlooking the square. I’m in a rush, and there are a lot of people. Next Sunday is the first Sunday in Advent, and we [more]

The sky looked crisp and blue and the houses outside our window were gleaming in sunlight. You could almost think they were rejoicing. The beginning of the day was promising. It’s been a while since we had been blessed with such a light, bright and clear and simply [more]

Last night, after a wonderful evening with lovely friends, we were sitting in the U2 recapturing the topics we had discussed over dinner. We found that we agreed with our friends’ standpoints and that we loved their company and their wine, too. It was late, and we were [more]

It was cold and wet, cars swooshed by splashing rainwater up my legs, and I was drenched to the skin. As I was pedaling down one of the most unpleasant streets in Berlin, the city seemed to exist of nothing else but big nasty SUVs fighting me in [more]

The cabdriver had a moustache and looked friendly. He wore a brown leather jacket and a neat white shirt underneath. I like friendly cabdrivers, and so we talked, and his accent was soft and lyrical and full of warmth. It sounded familiar, and I asked him where he [more]