2011/04 – Dog Days In April

26 Apr

Nino & Nemo

Smoking in the shade

April 2011

Everybody is amazed – Germany and summer in April ??

Normally I’d be still using snow tires this time of the year, or cursing the dammed cold, windy and rainy weather.

Not so this year, we have been enjoying blue skies, warm and even positively hot temperatures for the last four weeks and no end is in sight.

The asparagus season was one of the earliest in memory, delicious and fresh, and farmers are complaining about a lack of rain …

I’ve been smoking out on the terrace for the last weeks, clad in shorts and below a sun umbrella.

Great, absolutely fantastic, don’t mind the draught, finally a long spell of hot weather, winter was harsh enough..

Relaxing with coffee and a cigar after the gym, catching up on books, finishing an almost 1000 pages epic tome of Norman Mailer spanning the last 50 years, re-reading classics like Eric Newby’s great travelogues or Joseph Conrad’s “Lord Jim”.

Also reading good new stuff, like that a certain merchant withDrew claims he was selling stuff that was, uh, err, … mis-represented naked & utter BS.

Other than that – not much.

Having pharmacy smokes in the patio, smoking good old Cubans, good young Nicaraguan Tatuajes courtesy of Jorge, Pepin Garcia’s German importer, having the best Paella and home made Flan made by Inge for Easter Sunday lunch or just plain BBQ’s with delicacies like original Thüringer sausages. Smoking with dogs on my lap, eating the softest, creamiest pork fat from the Ukraine, courtesy of Vitaly fresh in from Kiev and having a great Cuban roller in town for some fresh pleasures.

Life’s sweet and hot. No complains.

Nino