Wuppertal compound

Above are some pictures of my top secret compound in Wuppertal. I have got a great view. I am on the 8th floor. Trouble is I am getting obssesed with the forest. The spirits in the ancient woods seem to call out to me. I want to strip of naked to dance to the swirling leaves. To get payed I had to state that I would observe German law (whatever that is). I am not sure whether dancing naked on a secluded balcony is against German law.

I hate steps

Don't get me wrong I like living in Wuppertal. I had been here before for a pleasent workshop, so I knew I could live here. What I hadn't realized was when people describedWuppertal as the San Francisco of Germany. I had a nice holiday in San Francisco maybe 10 years ago. I stayed in a cheap hostel above a strip joint. I drank some beer, read lots of books, and ate lots of Chinese food.

However, when people (as in the tourist office) describe Wuppertal as the San Fransico of Germany what thay mean is that it is hilly. I seem to spend all my time either walking up a hill or coming down a hill. Given how superunfit I am these days this is a pain. You might think I would be happy walking down a hill, but no I just think "I have to walk up on the way back." Why isn't it flat I whine.

Now that I think about I mostly stayed at the bottom of the valley when I was first visited here, for the very good reason: that was where all the bars were.

Anyway I can't complain if I decided to live at the top of a hill for the view. I am getting fitter from all the hill walking. Perhaps at the end of this I will feel that I could live in the South of England,where it at least flat. Or maybe not.

Tea in Deutschland

To celibrate getting online (although with a slow internet dongle) let me make a few observatins about living in Germany. Although there is a big shelf of boxes of tea in the supermarket, there is one crucial difference to what I would expect in a British supermarket. The standard box of tea in Germany contains 25 tea bags. The English translation of 25 tea bags is two days supply. In Glasgow I would normally buy 300 teas bags in a huge box. If I go to the supermarket at the centre of Wuppertal I can get a box of 100 tea bags. It is not as though I am an addict or anything, but I do need reasonable supplies of tea. I feel like a total freak clutching the only box of tea that has 100 tea bags in at at te register. Also at 6 Euros for 100 tea bags, it is not cheap. Perhaps ironically, my favourite brand of German tea is Teefix.