i ♥ hamlet

the english countryside

first impressions – dandelions sneezed onto the fields like showers of yellowness – sighted from the plane, while landing in london-stansted – london underground: where’s “mind the gap”, no “mind the gap” – miss you “mind the gap” – also, no vampire-boy (sorry, steffi) – then, picture the scene – paddington station: bathroom and me paying 30 pence to go through the barrier but sadly only succeeding in pushing my bag through and then having to climb underneath it myself, looking suspiciously as if i had not paid at all

train to bath: lovely english countryside, very romantic and picturesque, but is it really or is it just because i am in the “romantic south” and expect it to be? – fields divided by hedgerows, boats on canals, small idyllic train stations and bridges

bath itself is beautiful – morning had broken all foggy and gray – just one hour later, sun is bright and pretty, bells are ringing in honour of st. george and bath is awake and alive, looking every bit like one stepped back in time to the 18th century – i managed the whole touristy load and still felt perfectly cool – it’s really as if i was in jane austen’s time, going to the pump room to take the waters, chatting at the assembly rooms, walking on the gravel walk – touristy, but just what you ought to do in bath – and i did see many handsome men – one slightly looked like vampire-boy from the distance – i was not able to get a good shot, so i brought something else

a party i attended was quite entertaining – had a discussion of literary themes with some very nice boys – might have been flirting, while quizzing them – but took my leave as soon as their talk turned to economy, politics and disease – men, what frightful creatures they are – never but spending just a moment in fruitful conversation with us poor women, before returning to their ceaseless worrying about the world’s turning to their desires

moving on to stratford-upon-avon – thou should’st be amused – thy eternal verses are used in ev’ry shop and ev’ry tavern throughout this town – quoted by actors, vicars, children, teachers thy words shall live for evermore and thus give life to thee! – shakespeare, if indeed he really was shakespeare, would be dearly amused by the cult that’s made of him in stratford – you can see the place where he wooed his wife (more like got her pregnant and then disappeared off to london to pursue the stage – not quite so romantic, but still …), visit his grave in holy trinity, the only place that’s truly shakesperean here, as he’s really there (dead and all) and see where he was born (or not!) – and it seems like people are inspired by this environment to spout out their own frightful verses and pretend literary greatness – indeed, i also felt the place’s magic in the very marrow of my bones, but indeed, i am amused, like shakespeare would have been – but then shakespeare was never really shakespeare, was he? – i am entranced by the whole mystery that surrounds him and he is still and will be for evermore my hero

best of all – the life, love & legacy exhibition at shakespeare’s birthplace with short films about him and with the very best scenes of one of my all-time favourite dr who episode

manchester – horrible, smelly, dirty, loud city and a hostel room full of disgusting, smelly, moaning, grunting, snoring men – the only good thing about the rain is my new pussy cat umbrella, which i proudly walked around the dirty, smelly, wet city – good shopping, though and i spent some happy pounds on useless and usefull nonsense – unfortunately, no manchester united fanstore to be found and no man united fan memorabilia to be seen anywhere – running up and down streets and round and round in circles in shopping centres did not help – no ronnie badge, key chain or anything whatsoever – like he doesn’t exist

liverpool, on the other hand is rather pretty and boasts two liverpool fc fanshops right in the middle of the city – me likey a lot and me buyey some nice presents – overall a good day there, but still no comparison to lovely south england and the romantic, historic haunts of bath and stratford

heidi wraps

looking forward to tonight, girls!

happy birthday, lena

happy, happy birthday, dear lena – and greetings from the uk, darling shakespeare, whose birthday you share, and me

stratford and shakespeare

on to stratford this afternoon and goodbye to internet for a while – but imagine me in this quaint little hotel for the next nights and happy to be where dear old will spent his latter days

bath

weather not quite so pretty – bath every bit as pretty – roman baths, city tour, pump room, jane austen center and botanical gardens up for the day

amused or not amused

i bid you all farewell and start out on my way to england – i shall be back one week from tomorrow – i will have presents and photos and stories – i won’t have met queen victoria, but i will have met jane austen and william shakespeare and loads of modern day british citizens – so, have fun without me and decide for yourselves whether you’d rather be amused or not so much

mine at last

the shakespeare sonnets are mine at last – i might be a hopeless romantic, but i’m a romantic with style – spending a friday night at home, with shakespeare sonnets and hot chocolate – what more can a girl want? – the velvety voice of david tennant makes up for all the stupdity of real life men and príncipes

happy birthday, david

dear girls

i miss watching top model with you tonight, but here goes for laughs

hello, i’m the doctor – happy easter

bjbjkbjkb

why, oh why can’t i sit on a bus and have the doctor come, sit next to me and offer me chocolate – what a bliss that would be – what else to say about “planet of the dead” ?- lady christina – oh my, she’s got spunk, she’s exciting and very entertaining and a match for the doctor, buy why do they have to snog? – it seems a little out of place – okay, he’s cute and i’d totally want to be her, but it’s just … it doesn’t feel right – still her puns and play with words are simply delicious – add the doctor and you get an hour full of excitement and laughs

lady christina: you’re an alien?

doctor: yea, you don’t have to kiss me either (refering to the insect-people, lady c. would rather not kiss)

lady c.: you look human!

doctor: you look timelord!

next – the scientist – malcom – he’s hilarious, he loves the doctor and adores his talent, bus still isn’t intimidated or awed not to name a new entity after himself – thus we get malcoms and bernhards – i am very much amused -  “we’ve gone way beyond 100 bernhards and i haven’t invented a name for that” – i love it – more of him in the future please – i’m voting for malcom as the next doctor’s companion!

the aliens – two new aliens, instead of cyberman and daleks, who started to get on my nerves just a bit – especially the cyberman – they’re boring and christmas special’s cyberlord-story … come on, boooring! – the tritovores are funky looking insect-people and i wouldn’t wanna kiss one either, but their language and the doctor’s imitation of it – well, i couldn’t stop giggling – the joke on the coldness of their spaceship, added by russell t. davies to commemorate the great february snowfalls and the adverse conditions cast and crew had to brave during filming – then, the manta-ray creatures – urgh, not scary looking, but deeply dangerous and thus again showing the brilliance of doctor who – the weird looking tritovores are the good guys, meanwhile the sleek and fancy looking ray-swarm is a deadly enemy

all in all, this is one of my favourite specials and i can hardly wait for the next ones, especially, since there was quite some for-shadowing as to the doctor’s end -*sniff* – but there’s more to come and anticipation is the best kind of thrill

chocolate delight

larissa likes to snog

ahhh, home sweet home – how glad i am to be here – it took seemingly for ages to come back on an overly crowded train with only crazy people on board – maybe the result of a major breakout from an asylum? – i don’t know, but i do know that larissa likes to snog random people, imke’s at burger king (hope she isn’t still, poor girl) and the girl who told a friend all this on her cell in a rather distinguished drawly voice, has an accoustic, no a hearing, problem, making her talk real loud on the phone – she might also have mentioned that to her cell phone buddy

meanwhile a baby started yelling, the old couple, occupying four seats between themselves and their two small bags, started complaining and imke was still at – the minutes went by slowly, not even robbie’s voice could drown out the noise of loads of people, pent-up into the coach like cows into a truck on the way to the slaughter house – oh, and imke’s still at

while i am finally home with a cup of home-sweet-home tea and a pack of dried montmorency cherries – my favourites, not usually available in germany, but – like a small wonder – appearing in a delightful easterbasket, alongside the tea and a cranberry body scrub

as time goes by

1983

1993

2003

2007 – just because i really like the song and i couldn’t find a 2009 video nearly as cool

wanted

ah well, caught in style-stealing – now i want yellow shoes as well – these yellow shoes

champagne charades

afternoon sunshine, a picnic with friends by the riverside, well-chosen food and a couple of bottles of champagne – it all lead to an evening of happiness – i saw my príncipe flagrante and couldn’t stop thinking, how beautiful he really is – his hands …  ahh, delightful – i thought, that episode of my life belonged to the past, but in my tipsy state, he seemed the most reasonable diversion from unpleasant thoughts about príncipe barbaro, whom i really, really, really need to get out of my mind for good – luckily, for me and flagrante (who can be quite cute and all that jazz, but who really is just a miniature barbaro), the champagne took it’s final point and me to sleep quite alone and quite peacefully

the next day brought work and a sweet and cuddly barbaro, who definitely refuses to let me and my mind move on in peace – neither forward nor backward – still, the night brought fun and friendly faces and a long lost friend, visiting from a far away place – i nearly all forgot about barbaro troubles, decided that flagrante, while cute, wasn’t worth any trouble and enjoyed simply being exactly where and who and how i was

finally, tonight príncipe aficionado – the wanna-be prince, got on my nerves again – really, there’s someone, who just doesn’t know when to stop – hmpf, there’s nothing more to add and no, i’m not taking anything personal

sunshine …

… and no worries – not even a nasty pushpin in my bike’s backtube and a resulting flat tire could bring me down today – it’s springtime and it’s lovely and the sun shines and i am happsy happy happsy

wanna see – right now – please

david goes LA

if he can do it – i can do it – big city, here i come

little girl goes big city

three months berlin – sounds exciting – actually scares the living daylights out of me – little girl working with politicians? – me? – haha, almost sounds like a delightful april fool’s joke to me – it’s not – it’s quite true – i guess it is exciting and berlin in the summer … – that really is summer in the city – adventures, adventures and i ought to feel happy and proud, but i’m plain scared – i hope it’s just the usual anticipation – the weird wobbly knees and sweaty palms and mannerly qualms, we all get right before we start something new – being used to my life is nice – i love my life and feel horrible at the thought of giving it up – but this is a chance of a break, a time away, a little time-out – berlin will not be home – berlin will be the adventure