Higher or Lower?

A story from the Manchester Evening News cheered me up during this miserable Berlin weather:

A LOTTERY scratchcard has been withdrawn from sale by Camelot - because players couldn’t understand it.

The Cool Cash game - launched on Monday - was taken out of shops yesterday after some players failed to grasp whether or not they had won.

To qualify for a prize, users had to scratch away a window to reveal a temperature lower than the figure displayed on each card. As the game had a winter theme, the temperature was usually below freezing.

But the concept of comparing negative numbers proved too difficult for some Camelot received dozens of complaints on the first day from players who could not understand how, for example, -5 is higher than -6.

Tina Farrell, from Levenshulme, called Camelot after failing to win with several cards.

The 23-year-old, who said she had left school without a maths GCSE, said: “On one of my cards it said I had to find temperatures lower than -8. The numbers I uncovered were -6 and -7 so I thought I had won, and so did the woman in the shop. But when she scanned the card the machine said I hadn’t.

“I phoned Camelot and they fobbed me off with some story that -6 is higher - not lower - than -8 but I’m not having it.

On the Atari DJ Tapedeck:  ‘Baby its cold outside’.

Hanging on the Djemaa El Fna and other Moroccan stories

(above: street scene in the Marrakesh Medina)

There have been a number of reasons why the Berlin Diary has been neglected recently, not least the small matter of getting married…after the excitement of the big day it was back to reality, and then another escape, this time to Morocco and the tangled streets of Marrakesh. My good buddy Andreas and I hired motorbikes for the first two days and took the Tizi n’Tichka road over the High Atlas mountains to Ait Benhaddou, home to a stunning Kasbah on the hillside and location for a number of Hollywood films. We got caught in an almighty downpour that delivered huge rocks that would need to be dodged, plus rivers running across the street that we would have to inch our way through, the water almost up to our boots. The rain mixed with the red rocks and sent scarlet streams across the road, as if the rocks were bleeding. It was quite spectacular.

(above: during the worst of the storm we sheltered underneath the straw roof of a village kiosk, dripping all over the owners boxes of potatoes and tomatoes. He didn’t seem to mind)

(above: the Kasbah at Ait Benhaddou)

The next day we road through Ouzazarte and the Oasis route to Skoura, before turning back and making our way across the mountains to Marrakesh. It was all going fine until a misjudged parking manoeuvre left me in a heap on the rubble, the motorbike bent, and Andreas and the cafe owner looking down at me with concern written all over their faces.

(above: deep in concentration, twenty-four hours before my unintended flight from the Transalp seat)

I was fine, just a few bruises, but the bike had been bashed up. Somehow Andreas managed to nurse it back down the final 70km to Marrakesh, whilst I rode his perfectly fine bike instead. After all that excitement we spent the next few days hanging in the beautiful calm of our riad, wandering the market stalls of the Medina, and hanging on the Djemaa El Fna, arguably the worlds finest city square and one of the most riotous, chaotic scenes I have ever seen…day or night, the square is an utterly fascinating collection of food stalls, musicians, dancers, snake-charmers, story-tellers, hustlers, tourists, donkeys, mopeds, spice-sellers, lazy-eyed policemen and many, many others just there to be part of the fun.

(above: A typical Medina scene. If there’s space, they’ll drive through it…)

(above: Andreas relaxing at the Riad Enija, an oasis of calm in the heart of the hustle and bustle of the Medina)

In general Morocco was wonderful, but it was the first time I had ever been to a place where poverty was so obvious…particularly in the rural villages, and the contrast between the Mercedes-driving haves and the donkey-riding have-nots is so stark. According to a newspaper article I just read, Morocco is lower on the UN’s Human Poverty index than both Ghana and Namibia, so although it seemed to me like the country is developing at quite a pace - Andreas told me that it was almost unrecognisable from the first time he visited 17 years ago - there is still a lot to be done. For many the pace of change from the (relatively) new King is too slow, for others he is going to far…the government argue that changes must be carefully managed because of the Islamist threat.

(above: another Marrakesh street scene. The mint the guy is preparing was vital to prevent overwhelming nausea when we visited the leather tanneries)

(above: the problem with photography is that it is impossible to capture the sensory explosion that comes with a wander through the Marrakesh streets, from the smells - sweet fruit, mint, spices, plus fish and meat stalls that have never seen a refrigerator - to the sounds of mopeds, conversation, Arabic and Berber music and, of course, the call to prayer from the mosques five times a day.)

Five days was nowhere near enough time to get a grip on a country, its problems or its issues, but I got a taster. I would definately like to go back, to explore the fertile coast, the other ancient cities, and the fringes of the Sahara. I’ll just make sure next time so be careful how I pull off the road when I fancy a cup of coffee…

On the Atari DJ Tapedeck: ‘Rock the Kasbah’, The Clash
(On the last day I returned to the Riad and was reading a magazine before bed. Just before I turned in for the night someone in the neighbourhood turned their stereo up loud and it was the Clash. As soon as ‘Rock the Casbah’ ended they turned it down again. I guess whoever it was did it for the tourists…)

Fighting Right Wing Extremism in Germany

The issue of the far-right, attacks on foreigners, and a potential ban on the NPD have been all over the German media in the last few weeks. The latest round of debate over the issue came with the story from a Saxon town called Mügeln, where a group of eight Indian men were chased and attacked by a group of people allegedly shouting “Foreigners Out” before setting upon them in a pizzeria with fists, bottles and broken glasses. On the same night, in the village of Guntersblum in the west of the country, a Sudanese and an Egyptian were assaulted following a wine festival - two “right-wing extremists” confessed to local police that they carried out the attack.

According to an interview in the Spiegel with Nicole Bosch from the European Forum for Migration Studies, the number of politically motivated right-wing crimes in 2006 was at its highest level since 2001 (although appears to be falling again in 2007). The far-right nationalist party, the NPD is the focus of the political response to these events, as the SPD (member of the governing coalition) have called once more for a ban on the party. This will be difficult, as a constitutional ban can only be approved if there is proof that the NPD is actively attempting to overthrow the German constitution. Most commentators seem to believe that any attempt to ban the party will fail on these grounds, and not only that, will undermine the efforts of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (OPC) whose agents have infiltrated the the party.

It was the presence of agents and informers working for the OPC in the higher reaches of the NPD that caused the last attempt to ban the party in 2003 to fail, as “the court decided that it couldn’t ban a party whose policies may have been shaped in part by government agents.” (Source). In order for any attempt to ban the party to succeed, the OPC would have to remove their agents and informers beforehand so that the same thing does not happen again, and thus the state would lose a valuable intelligence source as to the activites of the extremist movement.

But it is questionable whether or not a ban on the NPD is the most effective means of fighting the far-right. Yes it may send a message that German society does not tolerate xenophobia and racism, but the people involved are not going to go away just because the courts declare their party unconstitutional. Both the CDU (the other member of the governing coalition) and the Greens are sceptical, with the parliamentary spokesman of the latter arguing: “their members would still be there and would look for new organizational structures. Much more important are initiatives in civil society against the dissemination of rightwing ideology.” (Volker Beck on DW).

Banning things and hoping they go away is rarely a successful strategy, and even in Germany - which is understandably sensitive to this issue because of history - it seems extremely doubtful whether such a ban would be a sensible measure to reduce racism and violence in the troubled margins of society.

On the Atari DJ Tapedeck: ‘Schrei nach Liebe’, Die Ärtze

The Sound of Music

Or should that be “moo-sic”. I was in Salzburg this last weekend for a meeting of all of us - publisher, editorial, sales - that are involved with packed magazine. The publisher, being Austrian, decided to hold our annual meeting at a mountain hut on top of a hill, which involved an hour and a half hike up and a hours trot back down again. It was certainly the most picturesque spot I have ever attended a business meeting, and the various Austrian goodies to eat and drink up there complemented the view perfectly.

It was a quick trip in all, Friday to Sunday, so there was not much time to do any exploring…although this is now the third time I have visited Salzburg, and despite the crowds of tourists and city-wide obsession with a certain composer, I am finding myself warming to the place. It is a city of very human dimensions, and the landscape around is spectacular. Apparently the Viennese believe the Salzburgers to be snobbish, but my experience of Vienna means that the words “pot”, “black” and “kettle” come to mind when I hear this.

There was certainly nothing snobby and high-class about the dorf-fest we found ourselves at in the wee hours of Saturday morning, at the recycling centre in Koppl which is about 10km outside the city. The huge warehouse was filled with drunken teenagers dancing to bad German-Austrian schlager, drinking themselves silly from half-litre glasses of sweet, early wine called “Sturm” that was as potent as the smells coming from the well-used portaloos. How we ended up there, via the monks beergarten in Salzburg proper and an Irish pub is a long story, but the experience in Koppl certainly offered up a view of Austria and Salzburg that the tourists searching for marzipan balls don’t get to see.

Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me, so you’ll just have to try to image the sight of 800 rural kids plastered off their tiny trees, waving their hands to DJ Ötzi before passing out on the benches in the corner, but I did capture some images over the weekend, from the walk on Saturday to Sunday morning in the city…

(above: the walk was from a valley - see pic - up to a plataeu where the mountain hut was located, approx 20-25km from Salzburg.)

(above: the view from my seat at the packed magazine business meeting.)

(above: the Salzburg city skyline.)

(above: some of Salzburg’s posher hotels…however, we had coffee on the roof terrace of the one on the right, with a wonderful view over the city centre and the castle, and it was surprisingly good value…the lederhosen count up there was pretty high as well…)

On the Atari DJ Tapedeck: ‘Do-Re-Mi’, Julie Andrews.

Two World Wars and One World Cup…

…Never mind that Germany have won the thing three times, that they have been to the final on a number of other occasions, and that they still never proved conclusively the ball crossed the line…tonight sees a football match at a spruced-up version of the stadium that witnessed England’s greatest triumph, a 4-2 (aet) victory against the Germans, an event that the more moronic members of the English support will no doubt remind their German counterparts of this evening. It does not matter that both sides will be playing severely weakened/experimental teams, or that this is a completely ludicrous time to host an international friendly, England against Germany is always a big deal, usually because if it matters the Germans win. On penalties.

At least in England it is a big deal. One of the things that surprised me the most when I moved to Germany was that the rivalry between England and Germany on the football field is much more important to the English than the Germans, and is distinctly one-sided. My footballing supporting friends here in Berlin even quite like the English - their bombastic style of play - and their comical inability to transfer raw talent into an effective football team. Instead, they save their true antipathy for the Dutch, who are also not as successful as the Germans, but at times have played football that their larger neighbour can only dream about and are the real footballing enemy. The gloating during the World Cup advertisements in 2002, when the Netherlands failed to qualify, was something else indeed.

Anyway, last time around England won 5-1 thanks to goals from three Liverpool players (ahem), but then Germany went on to reach the final of the World Cup whilst the English fell apart against ten-men Brazil. So whatever happens tonight will have no bearing on next years European Championships (if, indeed, England even makes it), but will give the fans the chance to remember glorious games between these two teams in the past, sing a few non-PC WWII-related tunes, and that one by Skinner and Baddiel that the Germans have adopted as their own.

England vs Germany at the new Wembley Stadium, on ARD at 20.15

On the Atari DJ Tapedeck: ‘Vindaloo’, Fat Les.

A Long, Long Time Ago…

It is A Level Results Day back in the UK, and an astonishing personal anniversary (at least to me): 10 years since I headed from my parents’ house in Burscough to Runshaw College in Leyland to find out how I had done. And it was all very good, for me and my friends, and we all got to go where we wanted and had a great time and learned some things and that but still…ten years? Anyway, here’s a personal musical flashback to “A Berlin Burscough Diary: Turning Eighteen”:

Mad mancs entertaining…great show at Glastonbury in 1995…inspired a thousand Leyland hairstyles…

Ripped off, but nevertheless the soundtrack of lunchtime pub trips between classes, and drowsy afternoons trying not to fall asleep…

Sitting on a coach to Florence with a bunch of art students, waiting in the rain at the Swiss border…

The song that brings back memories of First Love. Nuff said…

And then I got to University…

I hope you enjoyed this musical blast from a personal past…

On the Atari DJ Tapedeck:  The Karrera Klub, probably.

Stories from the Berlin Wall

(above: photo of the former “death strip” between the Berlin Walls along Bernauer Strasse.)

Today is the anniversary of the building of the first barrades along the sector boundary in the city of Berlin that would become the Berlin Wall some 46 years ago, on the 13th August 1961. The anniversary brings news of documents found in a regional archive that there was a clear “shoot to kill” order to guards along the Berlin Wall and the longer West-East German border for those caught fleeing from the communist regime in the DDR. Although many historians have long believed such an order to have been in place, this is the first time that documentary evidence has come to light. The order issued by the Ministry of State Security (the Stasi) included the phrase:

“Don’t hesitate to use your weapon even when border breaches happen with women and children, which traitors have often exploited in the past.”

The story is covered by Der Spiegel, Deutsche Welle and the Times.

The Berlin Wall is understandably on people’s minds this week, and my copy of the Guardian Weekly included a review from the Washington Post of Frederick Taylor’s ‘The Berlin Wall: A World Divided‘. It is an excellent book, full of details about the Berlin Wall, its construction and lifespan, from those living with its presence on the streets to the politicians that ordered its building, and the reactions of the diplomats and politicians to this physical representation of the Cold War divide. If you want to get to grips with the story of the Berlin Wall you could do a lot worse that Mr Taylor’s book. If you happen to be in Berlin, you should also check out the Documentation Centre on Bernauer Strasse. It is an extremely interesting and thought-provoking place, with fascinating exhibitions…it is a shame that it seems to be much less visited than the more well known museum at Checkpoint Charlie.

Other Berlin Wall links in English: An overview of the Wall, overhead sights and memorial sites on Berlin.de. A brief overview of the history of the Wall from BerlinLife.com. A previous post here on the Berlin Diary about Peter Schneider’s book, the Wall Jumper. And of course, the Wikipedia Page.

On the Atari DJ Tapedeck: ‘Step On,’ the Happy Mondays.

Pub crawls give Berliners something to moan about

An article on the international section of Der Spiegel tells the tale of the rise of the Berlin pub crawl, organised boozeathons that can be seen shuffling down Oranienburger Strasse most nights of the week. Generally populated by Americans, Brits and others from English-speaking nations, the travellers combine cheap shots and other drinks promotions with the handy help of a guide - often as drunk as they are - who show them from bar to bar and point them in the right direction at the end of the night to help them find their hostel bed. According to the article these pub crawls, run by a number of different companies in the city, have been the cause of a number of complaints to police by patience-stretched residents involving alcohol-fuelled bar fights, random public urination and other pleasant things like that.

My experience with the pub crawls is limited, although I have friends who have been guides on these things in the past, and I did walk into Dr Pong the other week to find myself in what I always imagined a college frat party was like. It was quite a sight to see when the guide decided they’d played enough ping-pong and forty people disappeared in a matter of seconds. And you may know us by the trail of empty Beck’s bottles. They also sometimes come through the Goldman’s Bar at the Circus, where my brother works. That is usually early in the evening, so the real fun hasn’t yet started…but judging by how some of their number stumbled up the steps towards the street at the end of their visit, it is unsurprising that these things can get out of hand.

Anyway, the thing I don’t really get about the whole idea of the pub crawl is this: many of those who sign up to follow the leader to the few bars who will actually allow a group of 30 tourists to arrive at once are the same folks who stay in hostels, make all their travel arrangements themselves, swear on the Lonely Planet or Rough Guides, and like to distinguish themselves as real “travellers” as opposed to “tourists”. But a pub crawl seems to me to be a vodka-loaded version of the a coachload of old folks being shown the city from the comfort of their air-conditioned bus or deposited in front of the steps of the Pergemon museum. Berlin may have a reputation for hedonism, but I’m not sure a pub crawl is the best way to discover what the nightlife scene is all about and it is certainly a long way from an “authentic travel experience”.

I imagine that any bar or club with any sense would not let one of these things even cross the doorstep, which suggests that the idea of Berlin nightlife that the tours offer is less than representative…but then again, talking to those friends who run these tours or have guided them in the past, the participants don’t really care all that much…it’s all about the free shots 2 for 1 special offers. Considering many of them wouldn’t be seen dead on a Club Med package holiday, they seem to want similar things as part of their eurail dash across Europe or budget-airlined city break.

But there is one organised pub crawl that everyone I know who as done it raves about. Unfortunately, the Literary Pub Crawl takes place in Dublin and not Berlin, features a number of pubs in the Irish capital, and is led by a pair of actors who tell tales from the city’s literary history and perform scenes from the likes of Joyce and Beckett (amongst others) along the way. Maybe someone will bring the idea to Berlin, and offer the backpackers and other travellers the chance to experience scenes from Erich Kästner’s Fabian or Döblin’s Alexanderplatz…now that might be something worth joining a group for.

On the Atari DJ Tapedeck: ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’, Oasis.

Fading Pictures on the Berlin Wall

(above: A stretch of the Berlin Wall by the East Side Gallery)

What price preservation? According to an article on Deutsche Welle, the cost of renovating the East Side Gallery, that most famous stretch of the Berlin Wall, stands at approximately €3 million. The city, being as broke as it is, are not all that interested in footing the bill, and it seems as if their citizens agree: a Tagesspiegel poll has approval for the renovation standing at a paltry 27%.

A stretch of the East Side Gallery was last renovated back in 2001, again without much help from the local authorities, as the folks behind the project - Artists’ Initiative East Side Gallery - got the half a million euros needed back then from private donations. But now they need four times as much, and although the artists themselves are ready and willing, there is a concern that the longer they wait the less chance there is of it ever being restored.

It is understandable that many in the city, and especially those who lived through the division, would like to see all traces of the hated structure removed. But it would be a crying shame if it was to disappear entirely, which is the fear of the Artists’ Initiative and others.

When I first came to Berlin, back in the autumn of 2001, the East Side Gallery was one of the first things on my list to see, and I imagine the same is true for many tourists today. The Lonely Planet bluelist puts the East Side Gallery number one in the world in the category of “Best Public Art”, but anyone who wanders down the kilometre or so stretch of the wall would find it hard to agree anymore, as most of the original works are faded almost beyond recognition, and even those that were renovated seven years ago are struggling against the impact of the weather, hammer-wielding souvenir hunters, and the scribbles of tourist pens.

To my mind, the stretch of the Berlin Wall at the East Side Gallery, or the smaller - clean - example at Bernauer Strasse by the documentation centre are the best memorials there can be to that period in German history. All the maps and books, even photographs, are not always as effective at telling the story of the division of Berlin as standing face to face with the structure itself. Does this mean, though, that there is any need to touch up the paintings that made up the East Side Gallery?

My feeling is that the more reasons people have to go and take a look the better.

On the Atari DJ Tapedeck: ‘Emergency Surgery’, Gomez

Museum für Naturkunde Berlin

On Saturday we went walking with dinosaurs, or at least amongst them, at Berlin’s Museum für Naturkunde. It is a fascinating place, and the exhibits that cover everything from dinosaurs and fossils to planets and the solar system, via evolution and a wide variety of stuffed animals, took me right back to childhood days reading various Usbourne books about the world and the universe we live in.

For the kids it is the dino-bones that are the main attraction, and they are the first thing you see once you have paid your entrance money and listened to a mini-lecture from the security guard about not eating or drinking the exhibition rooms. Underneath the looming skeletens are a number of information stands and a funky binocular-type thingy that brings the dinosaurs back to life.

The other great feature in the museum was the solar system exhibit, with info on the sun and all the planets (minus the now-relegated Pluto) and a film that is broadcast overhead on a screen in the stairwall that takes you on a trip around the planets and back again. We also enjoyed Evolution in Action room, which tells the story of the “why”, as in why peacocks developed their dramatic tail feathers, or why zebras have stripes, and the section on human development.

Altogether it was a fascinating way to spend a couple of hours, and in general the people behind the musuem have done a great job in packing a lot of really interesting things into the space without it being too overwhelming. Our daughter was perhaps a little too young to really appreciate it, although she did seem rather taken with the models of bugs, fifty times the size of real thing, and genuinely quite scary.

The only downside for out-of-towners or the linguistically challenged is that not all of the exhibits have been translated into English, although most of the newer stuff is, and if you take with you a collection of post-doctoral scientists, as we did, then they can fill in any gaps that you don’t understand.

A wonderful exploration through the world we live in, natural history, and with dinosaurs to boot…what’s not to like?

On the Atari DJ Tapedeck: ‘Dem Bones’.