It's finally over...

Who would have thought seven minutes of video could be so taxing? Especially, unscripted video. But, I have to admit: it has been tough.

Not that Bonn has been an issue. She's been a perfect lady about all this. Every day a venue or story seemed to just be staring me in the face. And, I'm even prepared to say that I feel a closer bond to the city - who wouldn't, after a week of intimate videos together?

Looking at the commercial side of things: on average we've had 17 viewers a video. Not quite the numbers we or our sponsors were hoping for. Clearly, the project still needs time to achieve full acceptance with the audience. Still, I think this is going to take the world by storm. Payment for the series can be done by direct cash transfer to our office account.

So far, I've had one reader request to keep going with the videos - but that was "for the rest of my life" (no, it wasn't my girlfriend!). Otherwise, the overwhelming majority of just so euro readers have insisted that I stop the project immediately. Mainly because Youtube videos from the streets of Bonn just don't seem dramatic or newsy enough.

So, it's finally over. Or is it? One thing is for sure: we've done an outtakes video - c'mon you know you want to.

The "just so euro" Video Week

We promised it - here it is. The "just so euro" Video Week has begun.
Fun for all the family in 4:3 format for all our American fans.

Here's what's it's all about:



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Behind closed doors...

There seems to be a disproportionately high number of sensibly-dressed, well-groomed chaps wandering round the streets of Bonn's Südstadt district. Ever since I got here, I have been wondering what it's all about. I haven't seen men dress like this since "Beverly Hills 90210" went off air.

It seems that many of them are residents of the borough's frat houses. In my local area, they are mainly Catholic set-ups for the male university students of Bonn. Some of these fraternities are schlagende, that means that they like to do a spot of fencing. Often people get injured pretty badly on the face during the Mensur bouts, the injury is called a smite. These injuries are traditionally seen as a badge of honour. Not all colleges are like this - increasingly they are in the minority.

The fraternities have been a bit of a target for bad press over the years. Some are accused of having over-zealous nationalistic leanings, others of being misogynistic (anti-female). It's widely thought that members receive favourable treatment in industry and academic circles, after they leave university. Vandalism to the colleges occurs every now and then.

The fraternities say that their traditions teach character - and that they also make positive contributions to the local community. I think they could make a really strong contribution to the community by discontinuing their wearing of boat shoes. Where have you guys been for the last 15 years!?!?!?!

After you sir!

Some enterprising young man has gone around my local area writing messages to the locals. The one above means "Yuppies out".

This sort of thing has quite a history in Berlin. I don't think there is any other place in the world where the locals dislike the people who've moved in to the city SO much and make a point of telling them about it SO regularly. From what I can tell it's nothing racial or personal. They just really don't want their local area to be infiltrated by people from outside. They are concerned that it changes the fabric of their "kiez", that it turns it into a ...


It's all a bit of a shame really. I always thought that all the different people in this city was the best thing about the place. Tolerance and acceptance of others - not really liking anyone, sure - but letting everyone do their thing. I'm from a long way away... and I'm not going anywhere. Not for the moment at least.

Street art

Even my dad's into Berlin's street art. And he's "no supporter of vandalism". In fact, "he won't stand for it". But the thing is, street art in Berlin is just so crazy, that everyone just gets into it eventually.

At the moment, there's a new street art bandit in town who seems to have a real thing about drawing birds. For weeks now I've been spotting pictures of flying fauna of all shapes and sizes on walls in the east. Credit to the guy (or girl), he or she doesn't seem to have one particular bird. Each bird gets a look-in - keeping things very politically correct.

But I am struggling to find the meaning of this recurring badge to be honest. The classic, the yellow fist, always had a sense of rebellion about it. This street artist just seems to really like birds though. I feel like Jake in Eureka Street - wondering about the meaning of a street message, which maybe isn't meant to be understood.

But for me, you still can't go past this massive mural from Blu on the south side of the river, right where the old border between east and west used to run. It's political, historical AND a logistical masterpiece. It's a once off though - that's probably for the best because if he started doing this on every apartment building wall in Berlin he'd probably get into a spot of bother.

Hanging tough

The East Side Gallery down near Ostbahnhof has been back in full swing now for a while. It's renovation was part of the city's "20 years since the Berlin Wall" celebrations. I drove past there yesterday and couldn't help but notice - while photographing it at 50km/h - that the murals on the wall are almost devoid of graffiti.

Six months into it's new life, and no vandalism? That's almost unberlinian. Is this a new demonstration of respect from the Berlin street art community? Has the city run out of spray cans and marker pens? Normally something like this would be destroyed within weeks. Tags, stencils, stickers - you name it, they'll beat it.

Anyway, I'm impressed people - resist the urge.