by PapaScott on 19 November 2011
Lately I’ve gotten back to one of my favorite pleasures… reading mystery novels. When we moved to Germany we shipped several boxes full of used paperbacks. These days with a Kindle, collecting novels is much easier. In case you’re wondering, I’ve got Raymond Chandler complete ready to re-read, and lately re-read Blue City, an early Ross MacDonald. Right now I’m reading the delightful books by Colin Cotterill featuring Dr. Siri, the reluctant elderly coroner in post-war Laos (think CSI-Vientiane).
It’s a love my wife and I both share (and judging form how he likes CSI-type shows, our son will as well). There’s something about the combination of the extreme and banal, the murder and the police work, that a good author can use to make astute observations about society.
Right now in Germany a real-life criminal case is giving ample opportunity for astute observations. A band of 3 neo-Nazis went underground 13 years ago and committed at least 14 bank robberies, 10 murders and 2 nailbombings. The facts have come out not through brilliant police work, but purely by chance. The last bank robbery 2 weeks ago was botched and 2 of the gang members shots themselves rather than be captured. The third tried to burn their apartment but turned herself in a couple of days later. You can read about it at the Guardian or the NY Times, or follow the sensationalist coverage at Spiegel Online International.
This is particularly interesting because 1) the murders of foreign-born shopkeepers and the policewoman as well as the nailbombing in Cologne were high-profile crimes widely reported in the German media, and 2) German police and domestic intelligence have been particularly successful in infiltrating and stopping Islamist terror cells. Is German law enforcement blind to the right eye?
I’ll let others answer that. I wouldn’t necessarily call a conspiracy what could be sufficiently explained by incompetence. Noone is more paranoid of Germans being latent Nazis than Germans themselves. But if you read Bruce Schneier, you’ll know he thinks security forces concentrate too much on acts that have already occurred. They couldn’t imagine terrorists that don’t take credit for their acts, so they didn’t consider the possibility.
Hopefully the result of all the political calls for action will be that right-wing violence in Germany will finally be taken somewhat seriously.
by PapaScott on 13 November 2011
I was impressed by the view from our back window this morning. The lawn was frozen and the fog was thick and this leafless tree seemed to be spiting it all. It’s November, and the damp cold should come as no surprise. The heat is on and we’ve started lighting the wood stove in the evening. The holidays will be here before we know it, and we’re talking about next year like it’s just around the corner instead of the distant future.
The fog is frozen and this tree is spiting it all.
by PapaScott on 02 October 2011
Through soft living and not sticking to my gym schedule, I’m carrying 5 kilos more than 3 years ago and the suit I bought then is too tight around the belly. And the suit before that hangs like a tent. Why is fashion so unforgiving? But we have a gala event in Berlin to attend, and Christopher also needs the appropriate attire, so yesterday we were off to Hamburg to visit Policke.
I blogged about Policke 11 years ago when I got the suit before that. It hasn’t changed much since then…
Mama was convinced that I needed a new suit for her company Christmas party next weekend (her first formal appearance after maternity leave, although she officially starts on January 2). My main criteria in choosing a profession was to avoid wearing suits. I hate buying clothes, but it’s even worse to discuss or even argue about buying clothes, so I kept my mouth shut (well, nearly shut) and went along with Mama and Christopher to Hamburg early on Saturday.
We went to Policke, an old-fashioned men’s clothier in Hamburg… not chic downtown Hamburg, but the nitty, gritty inner-city neighborhood of St. Georg, located across from a Turkish bank and some porno shops, between a mosque[*] and a Good Templar’s Club. The shop looks like it hasn’t been remodeled since the 1920s, and maybe the staff hasn’t changed since then either. There’s hardly room to move… the tiny rooms are stuffed with suits.
It’s impossible to browse. You are met at the door by the chief salesman, who measures your exact size by eye alone, and are sent to the appropriate room. I told the salesman there I need a dark colored suit for a Christmas party, he picked two out that both fit perfectly and met Mama’s approval. I picked one, and we were out in 15 minutes, paying a least a third less than we would have downtown, and were home before the crowds arrived in the city.
This time the service was even quicker. The first suit tried on fit and was right, so I was done in 10 minutes, and I paid half of what I expected.. Same thing for Christopher: 10 minutes in and out, much cheaper than we expected.
Even more amazing… before we shopped, Christopher insisted he didn’t need a suit and didn’t want to go to any gala in any case. Today he spent 45 minutes trying his new suit on and admiring the look.
[*]At first I was afraid the mosque was the infamous Al-Quds mosque where the 9/11 plotters met, but that was around the corner on Steindamm, a couple of blocks away. The mosque on the same street as Policke is the Centrum Mosque, and tomorrow they happen to be holding an open house.
