Melodic ambience

A longer while ago I mentioned the initiative of a Berlin politician, Felicitas Kubala, Green Party,  who demanded that only light beer is being sold at the Soccer World Cup - in the stadiums and at the fan parties. A recent poll of a big newspaper in Berlin, “Der Tagesspiegel”, shows, that she is obviously not alone with that view. About 84 percent of the callers were of the opinion that there should be even a ban of alcohol at Berlin’s biggest fan party, the “fan mile” at the Brandenburg Gate. Obviously watching soccer or celebrating it does not automatically mean being drunk or drinking alcohol in the view of a lot of people.

Dear visitors of Berlin,

Almost the whole year through up to now we we freezing our lower backs off. The weather was constantly yucky and even late may or beginning of june there were some regions in Germany where it almost started to snow again. This was unacceptable for the World Cup so we ordered some good and warmer weather. And what can we say? It is being delivered punctually. You guys can leave your thick clothes at home. So, enjoy your stay here.

While almost every day a giant amount of news about the upcoming soccer world cup in Germany floods our daily newspapers - it’s editor’s paradise at the moment because they don’t even need to think hard about new topics - these particular news caught my eyes: While a green politician, Felicitas Kubala from Berlin, demands that only light beer is being sold at the world cup games she is confronted with a big opposition of almost every other party obviously thinking that she is a party pooper from outer space - how can she demand such a impractality?

Looking at what they are saying you might get the idea that they think only someone who is totally wasted is able to enjoy a soccer game. While there might be some truth in it when I watched the last games of the german national team this can not be generalized. Picking light beers - or non alcoholic beer even - not only in soccer stadium but at other sports, proved to be a success before so the only rational decision this time can be only light beer again.

Yes, it has been a while….

So, trivia: What is this ->
- Ten thousands of ppl of all age groups walking around in all parts of the city
- many of them having some kind of ID card hanging around their belly
- almost all of them wearing sportive jackets, many of them mentioning towns you probably never heard of
- a whole industry sells them teddy bears that wear t-shirts that have the name of the event the vistors joined on them and lots of other gimmicks and souvenirs
?
????
Well, its the “Deutsche Turnfest” , so the “German gymnastic festival” which is currently happening in Berlin.
What this is all about I kinda don’t get, yes I somehow have a clue, but why they are celebrating and what kind of competition and events are taking place - who knows.
But they seem to have fun here and if this event effects, that Berlin as a tourist city gets a bonus from this and people enjoy their stay here - good for us

It’s interesting to see how many people suddenly care about a result from a soccer game once they see someone coming along with something that identifies him as a visitor driving home from a game. You get out from a subway walking around to maybe get some food and of course something that you wear or have with you like a flag, the stadium magazine etc. reveals that you actually were at the game. So, you won’t get far before some people you dont know at all grin at you, then there comes this moment of doubt where they might ask themselves “Is he ok, can I ask him without being yelled at?” and then they do ask you “eh, hm, hehe, how did they play, hehe?” Obviously those people didnt care that much how our local team played before or they a) would have attended the game or b) watched it on pay tv at home or at least c) listened to the radio but somehow it is important enough to them to ask other people for the result although they could find out right away when they come home.

Oh, and by the way: They tied 1:1
Just in case you care.