🍫Wanna bite? お腹がすいた

Nigel
1 day ago
4 min read

15th June 2025 年6月15日

My workshop's latest offers........

👉 Stage fright? Try our special therapy mat........( price does not include transport from the stage )

👉 Do you suffer from chocolate fantasies? Indulge here 'til you drop........

あなたはチョコレート妄想に悩まされていませんか?
👉 Getting old and having trouble with your laptop? : The new Apple keyboard with integrated delayed action keys.....
そうですね、古い IKEA のマットレスをどうにかしないといけないですよね？

Well you've got to do something with a retired IKEA mattress haven't you?

So, I've done my shopping now for the weekend. But before I reach my house I notice an odd site. An Italian police car parked outside my window. Did I not bribe them enough the last time I was in Italy? Maybe my neighbour looking out of the window opposite is thinking the same. After depositing my shopping in my flat I don my newly aquired Japanese sun hat and wander over to investigate.

First of all I greet the guy who works in the tattoo parlour. He doesn't speak German, so is always happy to chat in English. We discuss air-conditioning, (or as they say here Klimaanlage). After all, the weather forecast today predicts 35°c.

A smiling, but rather imperious lady in floral prints and a hat 👒 (much bigger than mine) is floating around clutching a clipboard. She's not selling the car (or any of the others - see on), for on her clipboard is a wine list......For this is a celebration of 6 months of business for Jaques Wine Depot. Well if I had known, I proclaimed, I would have parked my roller* here. There is something about vintage cars and wine (and floral prints) that seems to go together. Middle aged men, clutching their Grauburgunders and Pinot Grigios, peer under bonnets and discuss pistons. Cameras are clicking. From the back of a 3-wheeled Piaggio van cover songs from the 60's boom out. Very retro.

(Tip for my youthful readers: "Roller" : When I was a teenager a "Roller" was a Rolls Royce)

I pass by one of Germany's famous post-war models......

.......a Ford Taunus....

This was the era when cars were fun.....

Notice the H in the number plate. That stands for Historisches Auto.

And there is even a car from the era when Britain actually built them.....

.....complete with walnut dashboard......

An unimpressed Langener sails by with his labrador....

It's not long before the Ordungsamt (The Department of Public Order) turn up to put a damper on the fun. ".....Sorry madam, but you can't park here. Your vehicle is not registered as vintage......"

Indeed, it lacks the H on the registration plate. Ach so.

Meanwhile, as the mercury rises into the 30s, I decide to try out my mini fan - brought all the way from Aeon department store in Yokohama.....For the girls out shopping there these things have become a must-have fashion accessory......I have rather more practical needs....

Whilst in the workshop I bemoan the price of horse hair - imports from China have soared in price recently. I take a look at my local horses. No. Lovely though they are, the Egelsbach breed just haven't got the right sort of hair.

バイオリンの弓には馬の毛が必要です。でも、この馬の毛は違います！

Car shows with retro music is one thing, but what with a new water main on one side of the house and a construction site on the other, The Towers is hardly a peaceful haven at the moment. Shall I show you my new water main? I am sure you would be most interested. It's blue and very big.....

家の前の通りがすごく騒がしいんです。新しい水道管、建設現場、そしてカーショーのせいで！

As the traffic negotiates the metal covering of the road the coffee cups tremble on my table....

Then there's the crane on the other side of the house. My landlady is concerned about our tower.

".....Was meinen Sie Herr Ruddock?...." ( What do you think Herr Ruddock? ). I can see her point. From down in the street it looks as if the newly arrived crane could easily swing around and lop off our windvane at the least. I go up into the attic to investigate. Scary place this - the ghosts of former residents appear out of the gloom....

Poking my head out of the skylight window I see that our fears are ungrounded. The crane swings around in the wind, yes, but above our tower.....

大丈夫です

I'm most unimpressed by this building site. One day the crane arrived, and with much ado was erected - right in front of one of my windows.

ある日、クレーンが私の窓の外にやって来た

I now have a nice view......but at the building site nothing is happening!

Last but not least....I'm singing with the International Choir Frankfurt on June 29th in the Dreikönigskirche in Frankfurt, 17.00 Uhr. If you can come it would be great to see you there. Rossini's Messe Solennelle is a crazy piece. Scored for Choir and Soloists with Harmonium and piano, it is neither Solemn nor deeply religious. It's opera really. Here's where to order tickets....

https://eveeno.com/icf-rossini-messe#