To all those, especially in the media, who are getting their knickers in a twist over the fact that Ahmed al-Sharaa “refused to shake hands” with Annalena Baerbock and calling it a scandal: get over yourselves and don’t be so melodramatic.

The only scandal is that apparently, Germany’s foreign minister was too ignorant to have predicted this AND her entire protocol department as well, since they obviously failed to brief her to make sure she did not look like a fool during “the incident”.

Makes one wonder if international relations in general are in good hands in Germany.

… especially for the planet, and for Ukaine (both now about to be thrown under the bus) – not to mention Gaza, is that who knows what might have been if stubborn Joe Biden had given his party enough time to find a suitable candidate ……

Killing each other off may not be as idiotic as it sounds.

Cursing myself for having been careless enough to contract the Scheißvirus and therefore being too tired to go on a any of my usual real walks (and once it is finally gone it will take me months to get back in shape), I went on the by now usual walk around Urbanhafen.

Idyllic looking at first sight but a closer look confirms the fact that we humans really are the worst thing that ever happened to this planet.

Right at the bottom – an attempt to be arty-farty.

https://www.facebook.com/visitberlin/posts/pfbid02GUWx9DxVmxtzf98kkqdhw964G3YqZqFzyVZU72s5Ys6wYw9xy5Ytr6Ddx3Y3RPqFl

Artificial lawns are not only even uglier than non-native, meticulously groomed and fertilised lawns which are then cut every five minutes using fossil fuels – they are possibly also even more detrimental to the environment.

Which bunch of morons made that decision?

Germany, can you PLEASE make up your mind – du or Sie? I offend people on a daily basis because I never get it right. One walking group uses one, another the other. From one photography course to the next – likewise. Even between Volkshochschule courses there is no consensus. I don’t know if the fitness centres still do not have a “policy” but pre-pandemic, they did not, and it was up to each teacher, and even then, half the attendees would use the opposite of what the teacher was using. That would be OK, if it were not for some people getting offended no matter what you do. Half the time I have to talk like in the 1960s Denmark (or current royalty) and half the time spring forward to the present. It is confusing. Get it sorted and update the grammar books accordingly.

I have always refused to take sides in the Arab-Israeli conflict (not least because I don’t know enough about it – does anyone?), and I have found both sides equally intransigent, vengeful, and unwilling to resolve it.

As someone who does not understand religion myself, and finds that it, paired with nationalism, is the root cause of most problems in the world, I never have and never will pick my friends (nor my enemies, for that matter :-)) according to their religion.

Currently, it seems to me that the Israelis are using Hamas as an excuse and what they really want is to eliminate all non-Jews from Gaza. That is called ethnic cleansing.

But in Germany, any attempt at impartiality brands you as anti-semitic, and expressing one little pip-squeak critical of the Israeli government is perceived as support to Hamas.

I actually find that offensive and, quite frankly, absurd. Most people should know me better than that.

I wonder whether Stephen Fry knew how prophetic he was going to turn out to be when about seven-eight years ago, he talked about “the age of infantilism”. Grown men wearing baseball caps back to front, and indoors. Silly socks. And later stupid icons with puppies jumping up and down, probably designed with the age bracket five to ten in mind, but now used by supposedly grown people.

And now, in this country, greetings such as “halli hallo” and “hallöschen”. Which of those is more annoying?

Yesterday, I received a phone call (and this was one of those occasions where I was reminded why I usually keep my phone on silent – I don’t like it when it rings, and only answer when I know it is family calling from Denmark) by a person whom I am sure would categorise herself as an adult and who started out with “halli hallo”, loudly and clearly, and proceeded to rattle off name, company and reason for calling so quickly that I did not have a hope in hell of catching any of it, and then, to add insult to injury, an overly enthusiastic “hallööööööööhschen!”.

I am very sorry but I don’t like being spoken to like a five-year-old, so all I could do was hang up in disgust.

1. Running a cinema without any kind of ventilation or temperature control (I actually thought the pandemic had made ventilation of confined spaces a requirement. Silly cow me.)
2. Ruining a feast-for-the-eyes Wes Anderson film (in this case Asteroid City but all his films are like eye candy) by behaving as if you are in your own home, Netflixing. In fact, why go to the cinema at all if you can’t sit still, stop yacking, stop stuffing your face with junk, and stop smartphoning non-stop for the duration of a standard-length feature film? Oh, and refrain from kicking the back of the seat in front of you, and from stretching your arms straight up and stretching while yawning loudly (what’s next – burping and farting as loudly as you can in public?).

By the way, that was my first visit to a cinema for close to four years. And the last.