Topic: Snapshot of the week - Part Two

UiUiUi, I have been pretty lazy that last couple of days and didn't write too much. Have been quite busy though. Not really with going out, but more having loooong working hours. But that should calm down. And as snapshot of the week, a "homage" to my current project manager. It's Ramadan time... Welcome to multicultural London. Not everyone seems to take the stuff serious though - and regarding "multikulti": another colleague did not come to work for two days two weeks ago as it was Jewish New Year. And yes, they can work together...:-))

Any news from my side? Not too much. Spend a very short "long" weekend back home. Didn't manage to see as many folks as I wanted, but had a lovely evening/night/early morning at the wedding of a good friend of mine. Dear Wedding-Couple if you happen to read this: Again all the best!!!

Oh, and yepp, discovered again, that I HATE Oxford Street on a Saturday and Sunday. Had a huge shopping list, as my flat could still, uhmmm, need some decoration. Great plans, zero outcome. Bought absolutely nothing, zero, niente, nada, rien! Simply too crowded the whole thing. Well then, saved some money and while writing this, doing some active Home-Shopping...And for any visitors to come, good news. The Christmas Shop at Selfridges has already open. I am waiting for the day, they start selling Easter Eggs before Christmas...

And as always, when I write something in here, the lyrics of the day. This time in remembrance of Oxford Street:

If you were there, beware
The serpent soul pinchers
Three hundred and fifty no thank yous and nobody flinches
Go on girl go on, give us something gruesome
We require your grief, the thugs help the thieves
As they're trying to rob the words from her gob and
Take the source of the innocents

Arctic Monkeys - If You Were There, Beware

Topic: Snapshot of the week - Part One

Think, this cinema has seen better days - kind of remined me of "Cinema Paradiso".

Hoxton Road - Hoxton, London E2

Topic: Discovering London - London??

"These little town blues, are melting away -
I'll make a brand new start of it - in old new york
If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere
Its up to you - new york, neeeeew yoooooooork
I want to wake up in a city, that never sleeps - And find I'm a number one - TATA - top of the list - YEA - king of the hill - YAY - A NUMBER ONE!
new york neeeeeeew yoooooork

Frankieboy "I swing the world" Sinatra

Yay - this time not discovering London but good old New Amsterdam. Couple of days ago already. But anyway. Taking the opportunity of a super cheap flight (Amercian Airlines - although you get what you pay for...) managed to get x-rayed, examinated, enquired and so on by a - actually quite friendly - US customs girl (Mexican I assumed). And off we go. Visiting some fantastic friends, one of whom I haven't seen for two years, and spending some great days.

The three monkeys - see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing...







It's definitively cooler to cruise around Manhattan in a BMW convert than a tourist bus. Thanks Maged for driving us around! At least besides all this shopping and loads of food I had a little bit of sightseeing...just a little...

Basically the days consisted of shopping, shopping, taking the NY subway which is kind of cool but definitively not modern (every Londoner that complains about the tube should spend a weekend in NY...the Londoner tube seems to be a superhypertechnological onehundred percent reliable transport system of the 23rd century...)

But I have to admit, the NY sub does have it's nice sides too...:-)))

Oh, And had quite some booze too. Saturday evening somewhere in Brooklyn. Karaote-Bar. Couple of beers and you suddenly hear Christine and Thomas singing...well, kind of...hehe, sorry you both. And met this nice little chap. Not really my type, but he was kind of cute and fulfilled absolutely my prejudice on how a real american has to look like...
And eating. Portions so huge, I somehow can understand my ridiculously high BMI (see previous blog entry...). And definitively understand, why you are shivering, when you are sitting in your economy class seat on the way back and 175 kilos roll towards you... Some spanish food (that didn't exist anymore when we arrived...) a sunday brunch (well, I would call it lunch - but here we go: american style if it's on a sunday it's a brunch), excellent northafrican/middle eastern (??) in a place freezing cold (definitively not like in northafrica), once (and only once!!!) McDonalds and one of the best ice cream I ever had. Oh, and did I mention already? Shopping. Went there with an empty suitcase (literally) and came back with a full one (Don't tell the customs. Thanks...). Actually wanted to buy some cheap Levis 501 but ended with buying the most fucking expensive jeans I ever bought in my life...

Short: some amazing days with Christine, Michael, Thomas and Maged. Thanks again folks:-)))










And at the end: "It's so fucking political" (Miss "shaved head" Skunk Anansie)

Thanks to this nice little bar in New York - more precise - Christopher Street, we do have some nice parties around the world nowadays. But as I said it's actually quite political. The CSD is held in memory of the first big uprising of homosexuals and other minorites against police assaults that took place in New York's Christopher Street in Greenwich Village on June 27, 1969. The so-called Stonewall Riots took place in the bar Stonewall Inn. Since then we're partying. Thanks NYPD....


And - not to miss - for today's lyrics (which have absolutely nothing to to with New York):

Do you sometimes feel like you've been used and abused
Your not visibly black and blue but on the inside bruised
And does your love life leave you feeling kinda bemused
You've played all the games And you're no longer amused

Do you count the flakes
When it snows
And can you feel the heat
Or only the afterglows
Do you count the flakes
When it snows

Snowflakes - Just Jack

Topic: World famous - Part One (again)

Nope, Nope, Nope! The first world famous topic is not bringing you some boring stories about Westminster, St. Paul's or whatever. It's about the world famous, unreachable and simply fantastic National Health System (sarcasm involved here...). Short NHS. Yay, I am finally a complete resident of the UK - two legs, two arms, a di..., head, eyes AND NHS Number. I'm registered. Finally. Went to my local GP (der Allgemeinartzt auf deutsch...) left my passport number, my phone number, some other details, and off we go. Waiting 45 minutes to speak 5 minutes to a nurse who took my weight, asked me about my drinking habits (5 pints per evening or so...), reminded me to eat healthy (loads of crisp... that still confuses me: chips are called "crisps" and freedom fries "chips"...no Pommes chips then...), calculated a ridiculously high BMI (I'm overweight....please, hello. I mean, I know, i don't have a six-pack, but overweight?), gave me a "Diet plan for men" (fruits = good, sugar = bad, wowww!) and said good bye. That's it. And here we go with the amateur transplant:



But for today's lyrics one of my favourite songs from one of my favourite bands:

You are one of God's mistakes,
You crying, tragic waste of skin,
I'm well aware of how it aches ,
And you still won't let me in.
Now I'm breaking down your door,
To try and save your swollen face ,
Though I don't like you anymore,
You lying, trying waste of space..

Placebo - Song to Say Goodbye

Topic: Discovering London - Part One

"And only footsteps in a lane,
and birdsong broke the silence sound
and chuffs of the Great Northern train
for Alexandra Palace bound"

Diary of a Nobody" - John Betjeman

Some of you might know, that I have once been a hardcore railway fanatic. So it should not come as a big surprise that already a couple of years ago, I discovered this lovely little walk in Northern London. And which I did again last Sunday to greet this nice little fellow. More about him/her/IT, later on.

The Parkland Walk is a 4.5 mile surprisingly green walk which follows the course of the railway which used to run between Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace. This path was once part of the "London and North Eastern Railway's (LNER) network.


Plans were published by London Underground in the 1930s for its incorporation as part of the Northern Line but the outbreak of World War II stoped the work. So it's basically Adolf's fault...
Passenger trains continued to run on this line until 1954 and there is the myth that trains could still be heard rumbling along the route... I wonder what England would be without it's ghost stories (...i'm still waiting for any shadows appearing in my flat. It wouldn's surprise me...)


Now back to this nice little chap... " The most mercyful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents." (H.P. Lovecraft). The essence of the Cthulhu Mythos is that the human world and our role in it are an illusion. Humanity is simply living in a fragile bubble and now and then, individuals can, by accident or carelessness, catch a glimpse of, or even confront the ancient extraterrestrial entities, which the mythology centres around.

What the heck is Andres blurbing around. Simple! It is said that this nice little fellow (actually this piece of art created by a lady called Marilyn Collins) has inspired one of the Kings in Horror literature or, to be more precise, Stephen King to one of his short stories which are based on H.P. Lovecrafts Cthulhu Mythos. And this chap here might be well alive an kicking, showing you a glimpse what happens outside of the bubble we live in, if you pass IT in the dark. Btw: the story's called "Crouch End" - after the area, where you find the sculpture and where the story takes place. You find the short story in the book called "Nightmares and Dreamscapes".


Old platforms at Crouch End station.

But back to the railway line. Or not really. I managed to walk until the tunnels below Muswell Hill, when I got....not really tired....but kind of hungry and fancied a pint of London Pride. So off we go the railway line straight into a pub. And have a Sunday roast. There are not many traditional AND eatable dishes in the UK. But a Sunday roast in a local Pub between Crouch End and Finsbury Park together with a perfectly draft Ale... Yummy :-)
So here we go with the last picture. The tunnels. A fantastic place for a nice rendez-vous...


For today's lyrics:

Under the arc of a weather stain boards,
Ancient goblins, and warlords,
Come out of the ground, not making a sound,
The smell of death is all around,
And the night when the cold wind blows, No one cares, nobody knows.

I don't want to be buried in a Pet Sematary,
I don't want to live my life again.
I don't want to be buried in a Pet Sematary,
I don't want to live my life again.

The Ramones - "Pet Cemetery"

Topic: The UK view...

Not really good advertisement... slightly different than the "Chueglogge und Schoggi" view...

Switzerland: Europe's heart of darkness?
Switzerland is known as a haven of peace and neutrality. But today it is home to a new extremism that has alarmed the United Nations. Proposals for draconian new laws that target the country's immigrants have been condemned as unjust and racist. A poster campaign, the work of its leading political party, is decried as xenophobic. Has Switzerland become Europe's heart of darkness? By Paul Vallely
Published: 07 September 2007
At first sight, the poster looks like an innocent children's cartoon. Three white sheep stand beside a black sheep. The drawing makes it looks as though the animals are smiling. But then you notice that the three white beasts are standing on the Swiss flag. One of the white sheep is kicking the black one off the flag, with a crafty flick of its back legs.
The poster is, according to the United Nations, the sinister symbol of the rise of a new racism and xenophobia in the heart of one of the world's oldest independent democracies.
A worrying new extremism is on the rise. For the poster – which bears the slogan "For More Security" – is not the work of a fringe neo-Nazi group. It has been conceived – and plastered on to billboards, into newspapers and posted to every home in a direct mailshot – by the Swiss People's Party (the Schweizerische Volkspartei or SVP) which has the largest number of seats in the Swiss parliament and is a member of the country's coalition government.

The full article here

Topic: Slightly confused

For our non-german speaking folks: This nice litte green thing is indeed called "piss off". Not sure, if it became a bestseller.

It’s actually quite nice to get drunk on company expenses as tonight… but I just start becoming philosophical and think I should give up right now, as I wrote in the first post, it’s not going to be a philosophical blog. Nevertheless some thoughts, that just came to my mind while sitting in the bus: I really start enjoying living in a city where people ask as a first question, “where do you live” and not “where do you come from”? Where it is normal to work in a team (as me right now) where people come from India, South Africa, Malaysia, the UK and Switzerland and no one cares. And where over 300 languages are spoken. I’m not saying, that all these nationalities live perfectly together. And it’s far from being perfect (coincidence that yesterday all cashiers at Tesco were black…?). But they live more or less perfectly next to each other. To be honest, it drives me mad each time I read all that bullshit news from the “we’re the only ones that save Switzerland from the world” party called SVP. The party that manages to produce such crap like the “Zottel rettet die Schweiz” game on their website.
Don’t get me wrong: I love Switzerland, and I miss you, my friends… or like Bilbo said: I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve”… aaaaargh, I still didn’t get it…:-). But I’m glad I took that step and moved to this amazing city where I didn’t know anyone (Rene and Ina, that doesn't count for you...thanks for helping me to settle in and your biiiiiig help regarding the estate agent saga...) and where you can go out the evenings alone and spend the most fantastic night. Stoooooooooooop, this is getting to philosophical now so first for today’s lyrics:

“What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away?
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?”

P!nk - Dear Mr. President

And now to something completely different: Mister “I want to be president" Schwarzenegger’s travel journal… His favourite body part: The ass! The female one - unfortunately...*g*

Topic: Strike, Strike, Strike...the road goes ever on and on

You better not going out tonight:

Bakerloo Suspended
Central Suspended
Circle Suspended
District Suspended
East London Suspended
Hammersmith & City Suspended
Jubilee Severe delays
Metropolitan Suspended
Northern Good service
Piccadilly Part suspended
Victoria Suspended
Waterloo & City Suspended

For live updates: www.amIbeinglatearrivingatallandwhatisitallabout.com

Topic: Paaaatience

A typical, everyday conversation with a United Kingdom First World Utility Provider:

The Provider (following just short The P.) or actually a nice angel-like female electronic voice: "Welcome and thank you for calling Thames Water"
The Stupid (me) thinking: Did I have a choice?
The P: Please choose CAREFULLY from the following options. If you call for your bill, press 1, if you call because you moved home or are about to move, press 2, if you call due to a water leak or other technical problems, press 3
The Stupid (me): I press 2
The P: Thank you. Please choose CAREFULLY from the following options:
The Stupid: What the f***
The P: If you already moved home, please press 1, if you are about to move, press 2
The Stupid (that's again me...): I press 1
The P: To provide you with a better service, please enter your customer number
The Stupid (you know who): I don't press anything, as I am a new customer...

Loooooong pause

The P: We are sorry, we could not recognize your entry. You find your customer number on the top right of your lates bill. Please enter your customer number.
The St...never mind: I don't press anything, as I am still a new customer
The P: We could not recognize your entry. You will be transfered to one of our customer service representatives
Me: Wieso nicht gleich???
The P: Sorry we are currently experiencing a high number of calls. Your expected waiting time is 75 minutes
The Stupid: go figure....

Topic: Strike, Strike, Strike....what do we bother Fawlty!?

Welcome to London... In my Inbox today a nice e-mail from TfL (stands for Those f***ing Lazy Bastards):



Dear Mr Lanz,

Metronet strike affecting Tube services from this afternoon until end of Thursday 6 September

We continue to work to avoid the strike by Metronet staff.

If the strike goes ahead, it will affect services from this afternoon's peak period. If possible, please complete your journey by 1700 this evening or use alternative routes, including DLR, National Rail and bus services.

The Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines are the only lines expected to operate normally. We anticipate that they will be very crowded.

Services may not return to normal until Friday morning, unless the strike is resolved.

Please check local news, travel reports or visit tfl.gov.uk for the latest information.

Yours sincerely,
Tim O'Toole
Managing Director, London Underground

Topic: Let's get it started

Well, well, well.... I finally managed. Here it is. My own Blog. No MySpace, no Facebook with 487 Friends linked (sometimes I wonder how they manage to keep in touch with all those friends...) With loads of short sentences. Such that those, that only read 20 minuten, LondonLite or the LondonPaper can follow.

As I just moved to London, I thought of giving you some impressions, on how I see the city. Through the eyes of a complete stranger so to say. Don't expect a highly philosophical thing. And don't expect to get any bedtime stories. You won't get them here. Although I might from time to time add some nice pictures *g* (Those how need them now, here are two links: for him/her www.surprise.com and for him/her www.surprise2.com.

And please be kind. It's my first time, I dare to enter the wild world of blogging, publishing, creating and I hope, this blog will improve from day to day.

So here we go with today's lyrics:

People in a show,
All lined in a row.
We just push on by,
Its funny,
How hard we try.

Bit City Life - Mattafix