YouTube time

I've managed to waste countless hours on this recently, just browsing from (mainly) music video to music video. This song and this song are my two current favourites.

Excursion to Rheinfelden

I'm currently having a long weekend at home, taking Friday and Monday off. Yesterday (Friday), I decided to have a wander round Rheinfelden - i.e. both the Swiss and German towns of the same name, separated by the Rhine. Situated just 15km from Basle, Swiss Rheinfelden is the much prettier of the two towns, while Badisch Rheinfelden has a nondescript pedestrian precinct but nothing much else. On the other hand, the German town has "Eiscafes" galore, something you simply never come across in Swiss towns. For the unacquainted, an Eiscafe is a cross between a cafe and an ice cream parlour and is usually run by the families of Italian immigrants. What with the weather befitting an Indian summer, I thought, what better way to finish off the afternoon than to sit outside Eiscafe Dolomiti with a small bowl of Stracciatella plus a Hefeweizen to wash it down? I don't normally frequent Eiscafes, but at that particular moment, I remembered what exceedingly good fortune it is to live in a country where they exist.

This is my song of the day, after listening to it on the radio at the barber's this morning. Couldn't get it out my head all day.

Wiiwegli in reverse

Despite my dodgy left knee, I decided to go on a fairly substantial walk today. I had the day off so I wanted to relax a bit in the sun. Took the train for free to Eimeldingen (which is two stops north of Weil) using my Regiolight-Jahreskarte. Then walked through the village and into the flat expanse of fields beyond in the direction of Fischingen. I passed through maize fields before reaching a field full of horses. I think they are competition horses (show jumping, maybe), judging from what I've seen when I've cycled past the owner's "ranch" on a number of occasions. Other than these equine specimens, there was hardly a soul to be seen - though not surprisingly, it being a working day.

Fischingen is a lovely village and probably the place I'd choose to live if I ever wanted to settle down in the countryside here.

Anyway, I ventured on through and then up into the vineyards where I joined the official Markgräfler Wiiwegli which I'd negotiated successfully 11 months ago. I decided to go in the reverse direction back to Weil, via Binzen, Ötlingen and the Tüllinger Höhe. It took three and a half hours in all, and I was rather knackered and hot when I got back, but it was thoroughly enjoyable. Here are the photos, including one of some new and notoriously colourful blots on the landscape, sorry, houses, in Binzen.

Went to the Altwiler Stroßefescht last weekend after all. First of all with KH, a colleague of mine, after work on Friday, and then on Sunday when I met up with Adrian, Sumudhu and their three-month old baby boy Nathaniel. The atmosphere at the fest was quite friendly and relaxed.

In other news, the vineyards above Weil are closed to the public now because of the harvest. Incidentally, I've been browsing recently through a lot of wine tasting notes and blogs written by journalists who write about wine for a living. I've always loved to do something similar, though doing so would mean a total career change - and potentially earning tuppence during the early stages. I've been considering it seriously on and off for the past few years, and I even did a WSET intermediate wine certificate in German almost two years ago. However, I would first have to be more proactive in my free time before I could even start seriously considering such a change of course.

I've always thought of writing a book about wine. Maybe I could write one in my free time?!

Mediocrity

Thanks to modern technology, I can now receive all the BBC and ITV channels from the UK here on my telly. This is a godsend, as I can now settle down to Football Focus presented by the amiable but bland Manish "Maniche" Bhasin on late-Saturday lunchtimes, and then get bored senseless by Alan Shearer's incisive brand of football punditry on Match of the Day later on that day. What more can you ask for?

Aside from the fact that BBC football commentary and punditry is a joke, why do all the pundits wear the same attire?! Research has shown that friends tend to wear the same type of clothes as each other, and this theory is emphatically proven on the BBC, with Lineker, Hansen, Wright, Lawrensen, Peacock, Dixon, Keown etc. all wearing a suit and an open shirt. MotD is definitely a tie-free zone. Thanks to these clowns (sartorially misguided northern Europeans trying look like Gianluca Vialli), everyone on BBC Sport and throughout UK television tries to look the same. It's the same on Sky at the cricket. Why?! Did they all lose their cravattes? Call me old-fashioned, but....

Grr.

Another bugbear of mine is the style of news presentation in the UK. All the main news programmes on both BBC and ITV have two presenters doing what Moira Stuart and Michael Buerk used to do quite proficiently on their own. Not only that, but every other news piece starts roughly like this: "The Prime Minster was wrong in sending troops to Iraq - that's the view of a confidential report by....." Then the BBC or ITV "analyst" is invited on the programme to "explain" what's going on for the benefit of all the brain-dead out there. It's just wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG!!

Quite an autumnal nip in the air today: the temperature only got as high as 15C.

Was a fairly quiet day. Not sure whether things will work out for the fest next weekend. To borrow a well-known idiom, I need to start pulling my finger out.

2007 vintage

The harvest has already commenced. Went on a walk in the sun yesterday afternoon to the vineyards and back. Despite the wet summer, the grapes seem to be doing relatively well, with some of the early ripeners already looking ready to pick. The extremely sunny April we had caused the grape buds to flower early, meaning that the vegetation period, in turn, began unusually early. However, it would be premature to make any hard and fast predictions as regards the vintage, as a wash-out over the coming weeks could cause rot to set in. Nevertheless, the vintage is already looking like one of the earliest on record. Harvests starting in August - another symptom of climate change? The grapes in the picture opposite are "Roter Gutedel", a local speciality which, despite the name, is the source of simple white wines for everyday consumption. My Swiss uncle ordered this at the Römischer Hof in Blansingen at Easter 2004 mistakenly thinking it was a red wine.

Zämme luschtig sii

Which is not easy to translate but, given the context, roughly means something like "Make merry together". The road signs have gone up again for the annual fest on Hinterdorfstraße next weekend. Frankly, it looks like an invitation to get hammered on cheap fizz.
Be that as it may, it's worth spending an evening there with friends. We (myself and two friends from Weil - Adrian and Sumudhu) normally go and sit outside the bar run by the people from Weil's twin town Trebbin, as the service is friendly and it's a bit more quiet. However, my friends became parents a couple of months ago and probably won't be that keen this time round. If I knew more people in Weil, this wouldn't be a problem.

I wasn't going to post this

but nah, I've changed my mind. Just watched this on youtube. It's a song (if you can call it that) that reminds me of a great year I spent when was aged 20/21 in Germersheim, Germany in 1996/97. Apologies to some people who may find that the style of music isn't quite their cup of tea. The video is also stupid but, hey, this is my blog.

[Edit: here's another one, another one, plus another one, and a fourth one that remind me of that era.]

Bofferding

So, I'm back after the summer recess. Well, if truth be told, it wasn't a recess, but just a conscious time-out from writing my blog.

Anyway, time for some more of the usual - this time a synopsis of Basel Cricket Club's trip to Luxembourg to play the Optimists CC in two matches on Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th August respectively.

Owing to "visa issues" preventing the Indians in our side from crossing the border into the EU, the party that left on a mini-bus hired at the airport on Friday late afternoon was severely depleted. We comprised four English (Simon, Richard, John and myself), two South Africans (Jacques and Anthony) and a Trinidadian (Mike). Nelson, a Dutchman and friend of Mike's and the South Africans, would later join us in Luxembourg. The arrangement was for the eight of us to be complemented on the field of play by some of the Luxembourgois. Poor old Nelson hadn't ever seen a cricket ball up close in his life so any role he would play would be fishing back leg-side wides and dabbles at deep fine leg with a combination of his baseball knowledge and improvisation. However, this didn't stop us from nicknaming him "Deepak Chanderpaul" so as to strike fear into the opposition.

After a rather heavy Friday night in Luxembourg City, we all got lifts to the ground late on Saturday morning in three cars owned by the Optimists players. The pitch was situated in a lovely area on the edge of the wealthy-looking village of Walferdange, around 6 km north of the city. Play started at 1pm, with Basel put into bat. After a top-order collapse, Jacques the South African steered the ship with a decent knock. Before losing his wicket for 48, he was joined at the crease by yours truly, batting at no. 7. I proceeded to make 18 - my best ever innings! During my time out in the middle, I was accompanied by three batsmen: Jacques, an Optimist player whose name escapes me, plus another Optimist player called Chris (though Jacques christened him "Christelle" because of his ample blond locks). Christelle went on to make a big score, while I contented myself with ones and twos and playing the support role with some brisk running between the wickets. After what felt like a good hour at the crease, I was knackered and eventually played a tired shot straight into the hands of cover. Oh well.

Basel were bowled out for 165 some time before the end of the allotted 35 overs.

Optimists began confidently and made a much better fist of batting steadily than we had. They reached our total with some overs to spare for the loss of around 7. I didn't bowl.

After showering and changing in the "pavillion" - a plush clubhouse catering for tennis, football and cricket - we were invited by the Optimists team to join them for curry served outside in the clubhouse garden. Made by some of the club's Indians, it must have been one of the best curries we'd all had for a long time.

That evening when we got back to the city, we decided to venture out to the annual Schueberfouer, one of the largest fun fairs in the whole of Benelux. The following is a scan of the front of the official flyer:


With the fair not closing until 3am on the Saturday, we still had plenty of time to kill despite arriving at the fair grounds at around 11.30. We went on a couple of rides, and more sturdy of bowel even went on the most terrifying ride: like a giant mallet swaying up and down and over...

We stayed at the fair till around 2am and then decided to head off elsewhere in search of night life. We ended up in "The Tube", a bar room like a small cellar shaped like - you've guessed it - the London Tube. There was a DJ there spinning the tunes (or whatever you say nowadays) . "Der DJ hat gut aufgelegt", as you'd say in Germany. At some time after 3, we were thrown out as it was closing time. We subsequently tried to get into two night clubs after two taxi rides round the city, but with John aged 17 it was always going to be a losing battle. At 4am most of us (but not all of us) called it a day.

For the Sunday game we'd arranged that the match would begin at 12 noon so as to give us time get back to Basle at the end of the day. I must have got 5 hours of sleep in the end, which wasn't a bad effort. Had breakfast just before 10 and we all set off for Walferdange just after 11 - this time in the mini-bus.

To summarise a day's cricket in a few lines, Basel won this time by 6 runs in a real cliffhanger of a finish. Optimists were seemingly coasting to our total of 195 in 35 overs, but we managed to skittle them out just before the finishing line.

After all taking what can be termed a "shower in a can" (good old deodorant), we boarded the mini-bus and headed home. Overall, it had been a great weekend, and we were really grateful to the Optimists team who had been the perfect hosts. We'd also acquainted ourselves thoroughly with Bofferding.

The Tour de France is an event that has always fascinated me. Some of my friends are incredulous as to how I can be interesting in a sport that has arguably been rendered null and void by doping. It's an event for the continentals after all, and no one in the UK gives a monkey's about who's wearing the yellow jersey by the end of July... After all, apart from a couple of Scots called Millar - Robert, a King of the Mountains winner in the 1980s, and David, who was banned for two years and stripped of his 2003 World Championship time trial rainbow jersey, but has since been prominent in the fight against doping - British riders have hardly set the Tour de France alight. And then there is the tragedy of Tom Simpson who died 40 years ago on Mont Ventoux.

However, the crowds that turned up to watch the Tour prologue and first stage in London and Kent are proof that it's not just me, one man and his dog who are still interested in the event.

I say "event" and not "cycling" for a good reason. Like many others, I'm not overly bothered about who'll win the next ProTour road race, but thanks to Channel Four's coverage in the early Nineties, I was hooked on the Tour de France from an early age. Presented by Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin, the half-hour daily programme had the coolest of Kraftwerk-inspired theme tunes. Not only that, but you had freaks of nature like Miguel Indurain crushing the oppposition on both the mountain slopes and time trial routes, as well as mad sprinters such as Djamolidine Abdoujaparov involved in crashes like this. It was a spectacle.

It takes a lot to cycle up Alpe d'Huez - some say it takes more than just energy bars and good legs. Indeed, some of the past winners of what is the Blue Riband stage of Le Tour were later caught doping or suspected to have doped. Marco Pantani was one those cyclists. He would career up a mountain as if his life depended on it. Another rider, Jan Ullrich, the German winner in 1997, is suspected to have used EPO owing to his alleged involvement in the Puerto doping case. Of all the riders I've seen on television, Ullrich was something else - the Roger Black of cycling. There was something about his style - treading an improbably high gear, so unlike the typical waif-like specialist climbers, yet leaving everyone for dead bar Lance Armstrong - that made me warm to him. The eternal runner-up to Armstrong, you get the feeling that he never did fulfil his potential.

Now that it seems that Ullrich's exploits were allegedly the result of red blood cell transfusions for most of his career. Ullrich continues to deny any wrong-doing, but after the meltdown at year's event, you would think he'd be man enough to own up now.

As for cycling in general, things may have to get even worse for it to get better. In the meantime, I suggest you read some of these articles. They're compelling.

Chasslie

My wine of the month for July. A 2005 Gutedel from the Ehrenstetter Oelberg site situated about 15 km south of Freiburg. Very yeasty on the nose owing to the fact that the wine was left on the lees for a prolonged period after fermentation. Hence the name Chasslie - a play on the Swiss name for Gutedel ("Chasselas") and the French term sur lie, meaning "on the lees". Clever, eh?

I went on my bike this afternoon for a brisk ride to nowhere in particular. Lately I've just been following my nose, and today's excursion was no exception.

This time, I rode along the spur of the Tüllinger hill round into Switzerland and then back into Germany a few hundred metres further along the path. It's an interesting corner to explore because sometimes you can flit through from one country to the other several times.

The weather for cycling was very pleasant. Although the sun wasn't shining, it still felt pleasantly warm but nice and fresh, what with the breeze that was blowing. I stopped for a while on a bench in the middle of the vineyards situated literally on the border. The view looking down was interesting as the vines to my right were in Switzerland and the vines to my left and behind me were in Germany. An old border stone dating back to the 15th century also marked the spot. As you'll see in the photos below, one side is painted in the black and white episcopal emblem of Basle while the other is covered in the yellow and red that denotes the territory of the "Markgraf of Baden".


















Achtung halt! After 50 metres or so in D, the path takes me back into CH. This is the view back to Germany with Lörrach in the distance. The sign in German is situated on the Tüllinger Weinweg.















1. View up from the border to the top of the Tüllinger hill
2. View from another border crossing looking back into Weil.

Panorama*

*With thanks to Paul for stitching the photos together for me.

Panorama

I need to ask someone how to do this so that I can merge all four of these photos into one.




























Do you notice how green the grass is? No danger of drought this summer.

Sunset

Hottest day of the year so far today with temperatures up to 35C. I didn't do much on what was a lazy Sunday, but I managed to get out later on in the evening and take some photos. Thankfully, it wasn't hazy and the view to the Vosges was very clear. You may be able to make out the Rhine in a couple of them: a small slither of light on the valley floor.




























Take-off..

Hello...

...is it me you're looking for?

Tonight, right at this very moment, the one and only LIONEL RICHIE is playing a gig here in Weil am Rhein!!!

As many as 6,000 people from far and wide have flocked to the "Dreiländergarten" (i.e. the old Grün 99 garden show grounds) to witness this true veteran of soul and R&B trip the light fantastic again. (May I just mention to you that he is still in the early part of his set and is currently singing a cover of "Lazy on a Sunday morning". I can hear it loud and fairly clear from my balcony.)

Thanks in no small part to the amazing capacity of the German public to embrace past greats of the 1980s with open arms as they embark on their twentieth "world tour", our Lionel has enjoyed somewhat of a renaissance in popularity on the European continent. Germany, the country that spawned The Scorpions - who sang about the winds of change, going down to Gorki Park and following the Moskva, etc. - is the last bastion of the aging rock/pop star. For example, Phil Collins is still HUGE here, and even Phil Collins tribute bands pull in the mulleted, denim-jacket-clad crowds, as I witnessed a few years ago at the Spargelfest in Walldorf.

Anyway, as you can probably gather, I'm not attending tonight's concert. However, given a choice between watching James Blunt - who played the same venue last year - and our Lionel, I think I would be dancing all night long instead of crooning about someone being beautiful.

Freiburger Weinfest

Went to Freiburg to attend the Freiburger Weinfest last Saturday for the first ever time. Set on the Münsterplatz underneath the towering cathedral, all the movers and shakers of the local wine scene were present showcasing their wines in little pavillions and at circular, open-air bars. To the best of my knowledge, the wines I tried were as follows:
Weingut Stigler, Ihringen, Riesling Kabinett trocken 2006;
Weingut Schlumberger, Laufen, Sauvignon Blanc trocken 2006;
Weingut Fritz Waßmer, Bad Krozingen-Schlatt, Spätburgunder Barrique trocken, 2005;
a 2003 Pinot Noir from a winery whose name escapes me (didn't like it at all as it let off pungent beetroot on the nose - either another wine suffering from that legendary 2003 flab or simply a faulty wine);
then the same Fritz Waßmer wine later to round off the evening. That was all I had, honest [hic].

I also ended the evening taking home one of these glasses (NB: the photo isn't mine).

vis à vis 2007

A big fest has been taking place these past two days to celebrate the inauguration of what is the world's longest pedestrian bridge of its kind across the Rhine from Weil to Huningue (see my Schwingungsmessung post last January). With attractions and entertainment on both sides of the river, it's probably the biggest combined fest ever in this neck of the woods.

I ventured over at midday today to have a look, and I liked what I saw. The fact that it's now possible to walk or cycle over to France is something that will probably be taken for granted in future, but building such a bridge in the first place took many years of planning, and such a celebration is more than justified. Don't worry, I'm not going to get all eurofriendly now and start gushing tripe about common borders, blah blah blah, but it is a pretty momentous event for Weil. I, for one, will continue to use the bridge in future as a means of cycling to the cricket pitch in Allschwil on the outskirts of Basel by the French border. The bridge itself is also very elegant, and I doff my proverbial cap to the architects who designed it. And to the people who designed this poster, for that matter.

































The photo on the right is of the Place Abbatucci in Huningue at noon today.