Deranged Penguins and Women on Bikes

Yesterday, something happened that would previously have been inconceivable: I went outside without a coat. Without a light jacket, even.

Today it's back to off-and-on blustery rain, but just the realization that spring might still exist is a heady thing.

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Usually, Germans don't talk to strangers unless they absolutely have to. (It's something I dislike here, the mutual coldness in public life.)

Today, though, I was walking around the neighborhood, doing some errands, when an older woman on a bicycle passed me. (Which, incidentally, is something I like here: You see absolutely everyone on bikes - old ladies! business men in suits!) The lady on the bike looked straight at me and told me, with absolutely no preamble, "See, that's what I forgot this morning! My gloves!"

And I smiled at her and blinked in surprise and then laughed delightedly to myself as she rode off. Because, well, that was unexpected.

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And because I just saw this (via friends on Facebook) and found it so marvelously strange and strangely marvelous. And the German accent just makes it that much better:



I know next to nothing about Werner Herzog's work, but this makes it clear that I ought to...