quote of the day so far …
“we have a leg of knowledge”
September 2003
one man and his dog
i love people’s attitude to dogs on the continent. i especially like how it’s acceptable for people to take their small dogs with them wherever they go.
this chap has bought his dog along to the conference. he’s german, but i think i’ve seen him at the conference with his dog in previous years.
it’s nice to see it nipping about when we are all having our lunch / coffee breaks.
here they are both looking slightly drunk late last night.
additional conference note: there are 90 delegates here from Greece. 40 actually attending the conference and another 50 on the ‘partners program’ for wives, secretaries etc etc.
goth
i used to be a goth so i liked this sign. should appeal to latter period stone roses fans too
reception
we had a drinks reception in the telecoms museum which was good. they weren’t very good at pouring beer though.
i asked this guy for a beer in my bestest clearest english. he then proceeded to very slowly fill a glass with 40% beer, 60% head. he didn’t look impressed by that so he tried again with another glass. and another. and another until he had 8 mostly frothy glasses in front of him.
I said “i should give up, you’re not going to get the hang of that”. either he agreed or didn’t understand as he smiled and passed me a half full glass of froth.
this bird thing
i saw this sign in a museum. i’ve never looked at it close up before. the brid looks like it is absolutely petrified ! it’s mad tongue and flailing legs make it appear very concerned about something
more bears
i found a few more of those funny bear things scattered around the town.
by accident i stumbled on to hundreds of them:
the british one was an embarrasement
arty photo
20 pence cash to the first person who guesses what this is correctly.
first ever traffic lights
i thought the first traffic lights ever came from leicester in england. berlin claims that they had the first traffic lights. interesting hey ?
glove
my first (known) international glove
more sites of berlin
there was time for a quick look round after the conference and before the reception last night:
checkpoint charlie (replica)
old wall:
an old watch tower had been overtaken by hippies paying “jigger jigger” music
eat me
this sign reminded me of my youngest daughter kezia. she likes to involve herself in her meals in the same way as this little chap.
grey suit brown shoes
conference fashion. even i know brown shoes are a bad plan
get stuffed arjan
arjan left last week as you know blog-watchers. he has been replaced by something altogether more lovely. he had a pair of scissors last time i saw him, but it now looks like he’s got a pen and paper. which is much safer.
it also appears the office blew up yesterday and there were multiple casualties. glad i’m in another country
the conference
i AM actually at the conference which is actually very good. everyone i have spoken to has an agenda. a book to sell, a product concept to promote. fibre network, quality of service etc for sale.
content of rest of days looks good.
best quotes so far from the international speakers:
“I disagree, i think we can agree”
” we are firmly in the twenteenth century”
“execute – ive staff” (rather than executive staff – hachett man?)
“we will all be satisfied professionally during the conference”
wifi in the luncheon area. just my luck my work remote email access is down 🙁
submarine
my german isn’t very good but i think this street might be wet
concrete teddy bear (upsway down)
concrete giant teddy
more berlin sites
more things seen:
church against eery sky
famous things
peeping tower
easy to use bins
i suspect his is actually advertising but i like the idea of easy to use bins
good start to the day
i’m getting a good feel for german culture. or maybe hilton culture.
facial expression of the day must go to the waiter who responded to my request for ‘hot water’ with a mixture of shock/horror/disdain/pity.
he went away with his tail (and coffee pot) between his legs. not sure what that saying means