berlintramp

Nice collection, Shaun! I will come back to it if times ever get worse - just to remind me. (As for the fans in the street: There are football louts everywhere, unfortunately).

Seeing Liverpool win was a very emotional thing for me - in a sort of secondhand way (no cuddly toys involved). The grandfather of my ex-husband was a boilermaker who lived with his family literally only an few hundred feet from Anfield Road stadium - in a terraced house, two up, two down, flush (!) toilet in the garden, if you could call the small strip behind the dwelling a garden. His work of 50 years had left him almost deaf. The family was hard up, but there was always money for a season pass to Liverpool games. Granddad lived and breathed football, and going to matches and having a pint or two after was the highlight of his life. In those days - the seventies - Liverpool was still a big factor of British football. The pride he and his mates took in their side was something to behold. Because of Corona I was afraid for those fans who celebrated last night in front of the Kop gates, but I could very well understand the exhilaration that had to be demonstrated. I think Jürgen Klopp understood some of these connections to the people of the city and what it meant to them to win after such a long time. Because their lives are as hard as ever, but football lifts them up to another plane. They're flying high, right now.

The champagne was nice! !!! And I sure hope the scousers will not spread infection instead of joy.

Lizzie looks foreshortened. But she is curious what's up today. So sorry she is the sideways cat.

I watched with rising furor as Dortmund got beaten by Mainz. By Mainz! Not only do I have to endure those stupid ghost matches without public, but the Dortmund players obviously weren't motivated. No chance of winning the title anymore, Champions League participation guaranteed, they thought they would just go through the motions. Disgusting.

The biggest loss this pandemic has been for us is not going to concerts and theater. We had tickets for summer concerts in a partially restored monastery where you sit under a vaulted roof and one side is open to a great expanse of grass where you can picknick during the concert, if you wish. There are well-known orchestras and choirs that usually come there. Sadly, it has all been cancelled this year. We had four concerts booked. Now they are offering refunds, but hinting very broadly that you could donate the sum (about €300) because they are always just scraping by in spite of this being a very well-known concert series. As for theater - alas, we are hoping for winter.

You mean there is newer technology around? My car still runs with this...

I like very much that he wore an E-Street Fans shirt, but the Light-of-Day people apparently didn't explain to him where it comes from and what history it has.

While I was somewhat disappointed that the Berlin concert of the "River" tour did not include the whole album, it was still a very impressive show with some very fine moments. However, I had the feeling the whole evening that the concert was rushed for some reason. Maybe an individual impression, but compared to other Bruce concerts I felt he hurried through the (extensive) setlist. Now I'm afraid it might have been the last concert I I ever saw live of Bruce and the band. Who knows how long Corona will make those kind of experiences impossible? Who knows if Bruce will be willing to tour extensively at his age after the virus is somehow under control?

The fans of Union Berlin provided intelligent support last night: about 40 men with a lot of lung power stood outside the stadium singing fan songs and shouting support. They were correctly at least six feet apart. They could be heard by the players quite well.

I give up.

One more try.

I'm still trying to find a way of posting pics right side up. Lizzie in a favourite resting place under the dining room table. Still no success.

How do you know what exactly would help someone out of a deep depression? Bruce wrote that he could function when performing and not in any other way. Desperation takes different shapes.

Emma and Lizzie came out of the shelter after a disasterous childhood and would eat anything put in front of them and ALL of it. Fast. Much too fast. It took maybe a year until they realized that they would get fed at certain times and that there would always be enough food for them not to go hungry. After Emma has died, Lizzie has become much more choosy about what she eats, but for some reason she likes the catfood with tomato or spinach mixed in. And she insists on having a sprinkle of kibbles on top.