Thursday 22 September 2011

Noch Ein Mass Bitte!

There's a little round tent with a colourful, childlike till at the front. A smiling middle-aged lady in a dirndl gives away tiny tickets and before you know it you've entered a place of fairy-tales. With a twist. The round, spinning stage is where men box out of balance, girls try to dodge lassos and swinging mothballs and couples cling onto each other as they flee towards the barriers. The crowd is rowdy and the MC drunk beyond tact.

This is the theme park with the traditional Bavarian games and more modern roller-coasters of Oktoberfest. The big party of course is in the "tents", huge structures of distinct breweries where bands play intermittently and songs ring out constantly, all to the rhythm of an endless flow of beer and roast chickens. Smiling and blushed face all round, smalltalk, dance and singalong, passionate kisses and endless toasts to "Gemütlichkeit" and your head is spinning! You have to wear your lederhosen or your dirndl to feel comfy but other than that it feels like the party of the year without an effort. Ein prosit once more!

Wednesday 7 September 2011

Road Kill.

Driving in Greece is always an experience.
It's not that the drivers are just exceptionally bad; they are, but I've seen worse. It's not even the shot and painted over with love scribbles road signs; at least they exist. Loads of them. And the road culture is appalling, full of testosterone and mindlessness.

What breaks my heart is the blindness. The blindness to the army of statuettes, murals, miniature churches and commemorating stands, some eerily sparkling new and some forgotten, bent and rusty that fill the sides of all roads. Each one stands for a death and each one tells a story. Hundreds upon hundreds of them. And somehow they are a mirage, ghosts that most people pass by without ever noticing.

*UPDATE: This little story has been expanded photographically and is still in growth. Since there are so many of these roadside murals it will keep getting renewed and refined for quite a while I believe. You can visit the current version here.

Tuesday 6 September 2011

Postcards Of The Month.

Now I only need to muster the strength to write something on their back and buy some stamps.Not sure I can do that to be frank. You could make up your own stories if you like and even post them yourselves.