The pictures from Hamburg. Some of them are a little dark, blame a mixture of me and the weather. There are none from the red light district I'm afraid, I decided not to take my camera on that gig. It was probably the right decision...

Beer of the week is certainly Jever, specifically their pilsner which is dry and contains a little more hops that most German beer. Very nice. It's Friesian, like the cow, i.e. it comes from the north part of Germany close to Denmark. I tried it first on Sunday night in Hamburg, but they also sell it in the best supermarket in Germany, which is conveniently situated about 5 minutes by bike from my flat.

In German, you can use the same word (gelegen) for 'convenient' and 'situated'. So the Supermarkt ist gelegen gelegen.

Litigious society In Germany, the Krankenkasse (health insurance) companies are generally facing a cash crisis, so one thing they are very keen on is suing other people to claim money for treatment. I had to fill in a form explaining to them how I broke my nose, and then they've been trying to reach me here at the office to speak to me about it. Today I was in when they called, and I had to explain that I hadn't taken the guy's name who had bumped into me, principally because although he was being a bit daft I didn't really think it was his fault. It also didn't occur to me, I certainly wouldn't think about doing it in Britain. Anyway, she accepted my explanation in the end, though I could tell she was a bit disappointed. I'm quite relieved, I didn't fancy having to foot the bill myself or go through a court hearing or something.