Ich Bin Ein Hamburger

When will I learn?  This is the third time I've been to Germany in wintertime and each time it has been mighty mighty cold.  Almost like the Ryanair flights are cheap because no one wants to go there then...

Hamburg has been one of those cities that I've been wanting to go to for years and I'm not certain how it's taken me so long to get there.  It seemed to be a town that was buzzing with energy, but it didn't make it easy for you to find where the actual buzz was coming from.  Except at half seven on a Sunday morning when the buzz was very much coming from Altona Fish Market. Bearing in mind absolutely nothing in Germany is open on a Sunday, the sheer volume of people that were up with the proverbial lark for breakfast (or still up for a late supper - given Hamburg's reputation, I probably shouldn't assume everyone loves sleep as much as I do) was fairly ridiculous. Beer, fish sandwich and live music to kickstart a Sunday.


I double-billed Hamburg with Bremen. Now Bremen is a place with a very pretty town square. It's also a place that loves a donkey, so it can't be too bad.

Didn't manage to eat pork knuckle, which was one of the main reasons I went to Germany. Did manage to eat a hamburger hamburger, so I ticked that box. Also ate Labskaus, which is a glow-in-the-dark corned-beef hash served with fried eggs and herring. Tastes just as you expect it to.

Hmmm, What Tasty Words?

Munch munch munch.  That is the sound of me eating my words.It's happened before and I'm sure it will happen again. It's just I can't think of a time when I have had to - wanted to - recant on a printed opinion so very quickly.

What is somewhat galling is that the catalyst for this volte face has been the catalyst for a previous subversion of my strongly held belief.  Namely that farces are all rubbish.

I saw that NT production of One Man Two Guvnors, barely even raised a smile.  I saw Noises Off at the Old Vic - that's as clever as a farce gets, right? I thought it was alright. So I'd sampled what was supposed to be the best fair around, and found it somewhat mediocre. Farces - m'eh. And then I stumbled into a tiny theatre in industrial north London and saw the Mischief Theatre Company do their thing and I was a convert.  So much so I saw their other farce and, most surprisingly of all given my base level cynicism, wasn't disappointed.

Which brings us to the point that I was originally making, just over a month ago I went to see some improv comedy - that Paul Merton fellow and his Improv Chums, who are apparently relatively good at the improvised comedy thing and to quote someone misquoting me, it was like watching other people have a really fun time with their mates. Improv m'eh. Yesterday I stumbled into a spin-off show and saw the Mischief Theatre Company do their thing and I laughed my proverbial socks right off.  Most I laughed since the last time I saw the Mischief Theatre Company. So yeah.  I'm going again next month. Hashtag converted.

In other news I have visited the White Cube to see the new Christian Marclay installation.  Somehow The Clock ("A masterpiece of our times", apparently) completely passed me by, almost like I was living in a desert when it was big news here. I made sure that didn't happen with the follow up, hell yeah.