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'Denglish' on steroids
What got me started on 'Denglish' was the writing on a car belonging to a carshare business in my hometown in Germany. It shows two sheep and the word 'sheep' as part of its signage, but what it...
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25th Anniversary
Padma asked me to access some of her computer files which were password-protected. "What's the password?" I asked her. "It's our wedding date", she replied. That's bloody helpful! How would I...
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"What would Noel have done?"
Rest in Peace, Noel! Your memory lives on at "Riverbend" Almost no day goes by when I haven't pondered something or faced some decision and asked myself, "What would Noel have made of this?" or...
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Glücklich ist, wer vergisst
Da gibt es Tage (und Nächte) wenn die Erinnerungen zurücklommen, besonders jetzt wenn der größte Teil meines Lebens schon in der Vergangenheit liegt und die Zukunft immer kürzer wird. Wie gerne...
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Go straight to page 105
For the full-length movie, click here After Monday and Tuesday, even the calendar says WTF, and so I'm staying in bed this morning to read Julian Barnes' slim book "The Sense of an Ending" again. It...
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Kinder haben Sternchen gern, denn Sternchen ist das Kind vom Stern
Der Späher" war eine Serie von Heftchen für Kinder, die ab 1953 als "Sternchen", der 1948 gegründeten Illustrierten "Stern" herausgegeben wurden. Die Hefte erschienen ab Mitte der 50er Jahre. Die...
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What is the world coming to?
lettersafar.com In our increasingly digital world, Letters From Afar brings back the charm of receiving a real letter ... Each month, open your mailbox to find an envelope filled with a vibrantly...
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There's no other store like David Jones'
Some commercials stay with you forever, don't they? "Football, meat pies, kangaroos, and HOLDEN cars" is one of them; "I like Aeroplane Jelly" is another. So why did our department store David...
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Whatever keeps me awake at night ...
There are lots of things that keep me awake at night - insomnia for one thing! - but tonight, after a lot of stomping across the ceiling - to say nothing of the pooping and pissing - just as the...
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Seitdem ich Rentner bin, da hab' ich keine Zeit
Aber noch genug Zeit um von den Braunschweiger Originalen zu lesen. Was sind aber überhaupt "Originale"? Die Harfen-Agnes war ein Original, und so war der Rechen-August, der Deutsche Hermann und...
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What's in a name?
A certain Nelligen butcher had a wife by the name of Nell. Apparently, he did away with her and threw the body in the river. From time to time it would float to the surface prompting locals to...
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"All the best to you, Peter, for keeping the memories alive."
Yours truly on Loloho Beach on Bougainville Island in 1970 I've worked in scores of different places and more than a dozen different countries, but there've been only two places that were absolutely...
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"Old age, after all, is merely the punishment for having lived" - Emil Cioran
What saved me is the idea of suicide Without the idea of suicide I would have surely killed myself What allowed me to keep on living was knowing I had this option always in sight But really, without...
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False advertising!
From this ... If ever there was a case for the ACCC, the way they label frozen take-aways would be one! I mean, this "Pub Fav Beef Meatloaf" could have come straight out of one of those new 3D...
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I was a Fifty Pound Kraut
In den 1950s bicycles were still a common mode of transport;my "Abteilungsleiter" still came to work on his bicycle."Briefmarkenhandlung Richard Bartels" was opposite the entrance to HERTIE. I...
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Carl Sagan talks about books
What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of...
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If it's the garbage truck, it must be Friday
Garbage collection in the 1960s in Germany Tucked away in my warm bedroom, I hear nothing of the world outside except for the occasional possum on the roof. This morning I was already in the kitchen...
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A quiet morning at "Riverbend" is Hermann Hesse time
Only two more weeks of peace and quiet. Time to read Hermann Hesse who was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include "Steppenwolf", "Siddhartha", and "The Glass Bead...
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BBC's The Read
There’s nothing more engaging that having a story read to you, and "The Read" brilliantly carries on this tradition, creating an emotional connection between narrator and the viewer. It's a...
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The week that was
Padma keeps calling me from Indonesia on WhatsApp thinking that I might feel lonely on my Pat Malone. Tell that to Kookie who keeps following me around wherever I go! Despite his constant company,...
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“Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.”
So wrote Mark Twain in "The Mysterious Stranger", which brings me to Trump's recent War on Laughter: the cancellation of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the most-watched late-night program on...
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Everyone is normal till you get to know them
In some stores you find a section of merchandise at greatly reduced prices. Each price tag carries the same words: as is. This is a euphemistic way of saying, "These are damaged goods.""You're...
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Whatever gets you through the night
"My" corner in my room at the Al-Harithy Hotel The story of my life reads like a fairy tale - GRIMM! And there was no grimmer time than my years in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia! Being paid extremely...
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The best advice I ever got from my father was to never run away from my problems
To this day, I still have that postcard, as well as this very beautiful "Ansichtskarte" of the "Kohlmarkt" in my (c)old hometown Braunschweig which must've been taken around the time I left...
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Let's get covfefe about covfefe
At 12.06 a.m. on May 31, 2017, Donald J. Trump, 45th president of the United States, tweeted a word that would change history. Well, maybe not History with a capital H, but certainly the chaotic...
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