An awful quick post just to say that I’m currently in Berlin and heading to Italy next week, hence the lack of posting! My computer was also totally kaputt, but I have tonnes to post about so check back soon!
Archive for March 2010
German Wednesday – An Ode To Kev
Oh Kev. How can I begin to describe Kev?
Kev is one of the fitness instructors at our gym and has quickly become mine and Gray’s favourite. In fact I think I might go as far as saying that Kev is my life. Oh how I look forward to Tuesdays so I can punch and kick in coordination with Kev’s electro-mix of music! Not only that, but Kev provides endless inspiration for moves to bust on the dancefloor.
Not to mention the people that Kev attracts to his classes – blue shorts boy, girl-who-fell-over-once-but-is-really-into-it and her pal that-bloke-who-thinks-he’s-Rocky, and the girl who I copy in front because I couldn’t see Kev from behind the pillar. So many characters, so little time.
And did I mention that Kev is a hero for a cause? At our gym, ‘muscle shirts’ (tanktops) for blokes are banned, but despite this, Kev would turn up without fail with his own muscle top, showing off his biceps and that. So, last week he announced that men are now allowed to wear them. I like to imagine that it took many weeks of campaigning from Kev, and that he wore all those muscle shirts in protest of the oppression that his guns were facing. You go Kev! Fight the man!
Every week, about quarter of an hour before the class ends, he makes us run around the hall AND HIGH FIVES EVERYONE. Oh Kev, you legend!
It’s a Feckin’ Fairytale
BRUGES.
Oh my. What to say? Just a little bit epic. First things first : Bruges is not really a dump, it really is a feckin’ fairytale. I couldn’t quite believe how pretty Bruges was; cobbled streets, cute chocolate shops and a picturesque square… Colin Farrell, you lied to me!
Ciaran chose to go to Bruges for his 21st, and what a brilliant choice it was. Naturally he pretty much chose Bruges because of the film In Bruges, and it was fairly clear that we weren’t the only ones. Tourism took a surge upwards after the film was released by all accounts, and I imagine the locals get a little tired of silly Brits running around quoting the film word for word. By the way, if you haven’t seen In Bruges, then you should.
The highlight of the trip was giving Ciaran his long-awaited present. There’s an in-joke stemming from when we had a messy weekend in Amsterdam that Ciaran has a thing for waistcoats – I joked a while ago that I would make him a waistcoat for his birthday… and I did! (This is also the reason I didn’t post at all last week – time consuumiiiing!)
Look how happy he is! Unfortunately don’t have any pictures from the back, I was an idiot and forgot my memory card for my camera so didn’t get any proper pictures. Now, as Ciaran was semi expecting this, I tried to keep details such as fabric as secret as possible, meaning no posting on the blog about it. Now, due to a silly mistake on my part I ended up with about, oooooh, an extra 4 metres more than I needed… so I decided that matching skirts needed to be made.
These are the quickest damn skirts I’ve ever made!! Sadly they were a size too big, major fiddling had to be done to hide that, but it was OH SO FUNNY to see Ciaran’s face when we walked out wearing matching skirts. Now if that ain’t stashbustin’, I don’t know what is!
Here are some pictures courtesy of Beefagio’s camera of Bruges – such a feckin’ fairytale!
We were tourists and climbed up the tower, which was ridiculously narrow, but it had an amazing view from the belltower, and also a quote from In Bruges (albeit misquoted as I found when I went on IMDB…), pretty standard I’d say! If you were wondering why Birthday Boy is green, that would be because it was Wales vs Ireland that day… and Ireland won. Nothing more humiliating than being the only Welshies in an Irish pub full of students from Dublin when Wales loses.
All in all, amazing weekend. I rather liked Bruges, certainly was my cup of tea.
German Wednesday : Ampelmann, oh Ampelmann
So. I’m late for work. Running for the U-Bahn (even though it goes every five minutes) – get to the crossing, which is red.
Now in the UK I would just go if there weren’t any cars. Here in Germany however? I wait, just like the locals do. What is happening?? I’m late for school and I’m WAITING WHEN THERE ARE NO CARS.
I think I’m becoming German guys.
It has begun!
I, Len, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings! Signed Len.
DAMMIT WALES
I got all dressed up for you and you didn’t beat the Frenchies!! I’m beginning to think that Wales has better luck when I’m not paying attention to the game, as they scored twice when I wasn’t watching, and won in Cologne when I was too busy being a Mime to really pay that much attention. So perhaps I should apologise? Last minute try was EPIC though, fair play! If only they could have played as well in both halves…
The Irish pub in Duesseldorf is far better than Dortmund’s – even if the cider still costs an arm and a leg! Should have stuck to the Pils really, but when you want a taste of home, you’ll pay almost anything to get it!
In other news, I went to Oberhausen and it was RUBBISH. Don’t go there. If anyone ever calls Dortmund a dump again, I’ll be sure to direct them to Oberhausen.
Happy St. David’s Day guys!
