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Even before the first Mini (the car, that is) appeared on the scene in the UK, the Italians already had their first ‘micro car” out and running: the Fiat 500.

Fiat started building the Fiat 500 in 1957 and continued this model until 1975. Minor modifications were made, but basically the Fiat 500 stayed what it was planned to be: a cheap, tiny car with a 2-cylinder air-cooled motor with a maximum speed of about 70 miles per hours. In short – and that can be taken literally with a length of less than 3 meter (116.9 in) – it was the perfect city car.

And not only that, people traveled in these little cars. Not the distances one is used from the US, but I remember that an aunt of mine came up to the North of Germany from near Munich with one of these tiny little things; and that would have been a distance of roughly 500 miles.

So imagine my delight when I saw this cutie today in front of a Trader Joe’s:

Somehow it gave the expression “mint condition” a totally new meaning; and reminded me of those days of my youth when a Fiat 500 was not a rare exotic vehicle, but an everyday car you saw at every corner.

While finally getting around to taking a photo of the lovely  Phalaenopsis currently gracing our home, I remembered a piece I had read a few days ago about Germans and their strictness when it comes to obeying rules, written and unwritten ones. The author of that article praised the punctuality of German trains and buses, but was horrified by the habit of Germans to arrive on time for a dinner party.

Ouch. Yes. That is indeed a nasty habit: to arrive on time, when one is invited for a sit-down dinner somebody has probably spent a lot of time planning and cooking for. Those Germans. How dare they!

There are cultural differences in the degrees of politeness. In my opinion somebody arriving 20, 30 (or even more) minutes late when the invitation was explicitly for dinner would be extremely impolite. That same person would probably consider me a rude German, because I would then usher all guests immediately to the table, before the food is overcooked/cold/tough; you name it.

And then I stopped my musings. All our friends know that I am German. They all turn up punctually for dinner invitations. They all must either know how Germans cherish punctuality – or they are simply afraid of my wrath.

In any case, I wave my orchid of peace like an olive branch (after all, it is nearly Easter) and vow not to slip into prejudices about Americans and punctuality.

Three 500 GIG external hard drives and one keyboard. Offices are not boring places.

It all depends on the point of view.

November 4th 2008 will forever stay in the history books as the day when the people of the US said “enough.” They went and voted for a change and won.

Yesterday was still too filled with emotions, with letting sink in this feeling that all will be well. No, there will be no manna raining from heaven, the cows won’t shit dollar bills and there will be no wine flowing in the rivers. Times ahead will be hard, even harder than they already are – but it will be worth it.

The country is on its way to new shores. Proud and willing to do what it takes. It is wonderful to be part of this effort.

After the nastiest election campaign imaginable, many souls will be filled with inner peace again, unfolding like a serene lotus flower.

In 1959 the craze for fins on cars reached its pinnacle. None other than the car maker Cadillac, famous for the most elegant and glamorous cars, set the record: with fins a breathtaking 42 inches (107 centimeters) high, crowning the rear end of the Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz.

To call this Cadillac a car is actually a bit of an understatement; land-yacht would be more appropriate. All models seated six and came with the famous 6.3-litre V-eight engine; the convertible had a whopping 345 bhp.

Fuel consumption was somewhere in the 8mpg range. With gas being slightly cheaper in the days of the glorious finned automobiles, nobody really cared.

And here is a Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz fin in all it’s shiny and chrome-glossy glory. Start drooling. I did. Plenty.

“Der Schimmelreiter” (The Dykemaster) by Theodor Storm paints a very good (and well researched) picture about life in the coastal regions of Northern Germany, which has been threatened by storm surges for thousands of years.

For the more Google-inclined some good links to check out are:

Maeslantkering
Oosterscheldekering

These are projects in the Netherlands, even more endangered by floods and storms.

Of course these storm barriers/levees are expensive to build and keep in running order. But they bring safety to the people living there, something they are very well aware of. Nobody complains about money spent on these structures. They are indispensable.