Monthly Archives: April 2017

An average station bar

We’re a little early for our train, so sought out the bar in Nuremberg station. This bar isn’t anything like the average UK station bar. 

We’re currently sitting outside the bar, with ice cold Landwehr-brau in the sunshine. 



A few minutes ago, I had a conversation with a local bloke about fussball. He said hello and asked where I’m from. When I told him I’m from, he asked if I was from Sunderland or Newcastle (in that order). Apparently, he follows the premier league (I think that’s something to do with football). I was impressed that he was aware of geography in the UK. He also mentioned Middlesbrough. I worked there for a little while when I was 16.

Nurnburg

We’ve made a discovery of great importance today. 

Several years ago, I came across Tucher, a delicious weissbier, in (of all places) Peterborough. Wetherspoons were selling it for £1.50 a bottle, I’d assumed it was something of an experiment since it disappeared after a couple of months and wasn’t available in other towns. At least none I’d frequented. 

It made a reappearance a couple of years ago though, across the chain. While the price has substantially increased, it’s still a preferred choice. 

And, today, while wandering the streets of Nuremburg, My second in command pointed out the numerous pieces of Tucher artwork adorning the exteriors of various establishments. 

On closer inspection, I found that the stuff is actually brewed here. How didn’t I know that?


One could have attempted a brewery tour. I wonder where said brewery is located. 

We enjoyed some other beer here too. 

Bi Nuu

I have to say that I was very impressed with Bi Nuu, a really cool music venue pretty much underneath Schlesisches Tor metro station. 

We were there, of course, to see Mr William McCarthy. Despite some major technical issues, he put on a great show, with lots of Augustines’ stuff, some new material and a couple of covers. 

As always, he showed himself to be a true artist – and a gentleman. 

Before the gig, we briefly explored the area, finding a nice Indian restaurant with a pretty extensive vegan menu (and a huge vegetarian one). There was a vegetarian/vegan cafe opposite too. The whole area was packed with bars and cafes, and had a good atmosphere. We plan to return when next in Berlin. 

During and after the gig, we met a bunch of nice people, with whom we enjoyed some decent beer. 

A couple of short video clips from the evening. 

Rathaus Spandau

I believe that Spandau metro station is the most beautiful of all metro stations. I still recall being taken with it at first sight several years ago. 



However, all of this metro travel is tiring, so we’re having a sit down with a nice beer.

Ich bin Berliner

Apparently, the ein is overkill. A couple of years ago, shortly before heading off to the airport (and home), we stumbled upon a cool bar near Bismarckestrasse. I made a mental note of its approximate location, but recognised that finding the place again would be a pretty remote possibility. 

However, by pure chance, on this very evening, our hotel is just around the corner to the bar. 

Convergence

I parted company with my (second) Ubuntu phone last year, after Canonical announced that that particular phone, or its predecessor, wouldn’t support true convergence. Yes, I could connect it to a keyboard and mouse and it would be transformed from a phone to a linux computer. Well, sort of. The desktop applications, so needed to avhieve a truly converged device, weren’t available. Phone development recently lost momentum and, while a tablet was released, the OS remained a niche product.

And now the nail in the convergence coffin. Yesterday, Canonical announced that it plans to drop its proprietry unity to return to gnome within the next two LTS releases. Since mobile devices are unity based, they clearly now have no future. 

In one respect, I do miss my ubuntu phone. The OS was a joy to use, extremely intuitive, using only thumb gestures. And it was pretty too. But we parted company because a year without even the most basic of applications was too much. Yes, there were some native apps (very few), but many were crude webapps which didn’t work very well. 

One good thing that came out of the experience was my discovery of meizu phones. My second ubuntu phone was a Meizu MX4 and it was great. My second in command has one, although it runs Android. I’m now using a Meizu M3, the mini variant, which isn’t mini at all. 

I’ll continue to run Ubuntu on desktop PCs, I couldn’t imagine using anything else. But it’s a shame that the mobile version no longer has a future. 

Still, there are a couple of other approaches aiming to establish Linux on mobile devices, so I’ll keep an eye on these. And, I guess, Android is Linux-based.

Zwei Bier bitte

And, so, I’ve learned enough German to:

– order two beers (or one, or three, or five)

– say I’m doing ok/good

– ask for directions to the toilet/station/bar

– excuse myself if I couldn’t find the toilet

– explain that I don’t understand a lot of German

– explain that I don’t actually understand any German. 

My hero

For many years I’ve been frustrated by the improper use (or lack) of the apostrophe. I’ve posted examples of serious apostrophe crimes here on occasion, but haven’t taken any other action. 

However, a superhero of the apostrophe has now emerged. 

While I didn’t see the article on breakfast news this morning, my second in command and, later, a couple of people at work told me about the Apostrophiser. He’s something of an apostrophe vigilante who takes direct action to add missing, or remove inappropriate, punctuation. 

I find this most liberating. 

Spare bedroom(s)

While I’m some time away from completing the conversion of two bedrooms into one, the huge gap between the two ceilings is no more. After delaying for too long, I finally got around to a first full coast of plaster yesterday. 

It looks a little rough, mainly because I’d grossly underestimated the time I’d need to cover the whole ceiling, but I’d always anticipated a second coat. 

It’ll be another couple of weeks before I can do that (one has a life outside the spare bedroom), but I’ve decided on dividing the whole into managable chunks to make sure I’ve time to work with the plaster before it goes off (the tartar sauce tip proved to be an ineffective method of slowing down the hardening process). 

TNG

many years ago, my eldest grandchild believed that I was Patrick Stewart. There’s a family thing round my mother’s most Saturdays and, years ago, there would be old episodes of Star Trek, the Next Generation on TV while people were there. 

Nowadays, it tends to be 60 minute makeover, but at the time there was a lot if TNG stuff. Anyway, my eldest grandchild used to point at the TV and exclaim  grandad whenever she saw Captain Picard. 

A drawing appeared. I may have mentioned this previously. Me in my Captain’s uniform. 

Yes, that’s me, although the picture was cropped a long time ago, so you can’t see my uniform. 

The original drawing included my second in command, so for completeness I shall show her picture too. I think she’s quite beautiful both in this portrait and in real life. 

Her picture’s nicer because it’s a straight copy from the original, with no attempt at editing (well, she didn’t need any airbrushed hair). 

So, this evening, in town, in the Box Social, I became engaged in conversation with a gentleman while my second in command went to have her nails done. 

Said gentleman mentioned that he lived in Heworth, so I told him that I live in Sheriff Hill. On hearing this, he questioned whether my name was Gary and, if so, I look like my picture on Twitter. 

It turned out we’d been exchanging messages fot a while on Twitter. And he turned out to be a nice bloke. We parted company after a couple of beers, but I’m sure we’ll keep in touch. 

Apparently my eldest grandchild is pleased that her drawing so accurately depicts her grandfather.