Why snow is sometimes quite nice.

Most of the time, I don't really like snow. It gets stuck in the soles of my shoes and then whenever I go inside, I leave dirty, wet footprints everywhere as I melt all over the floor. This can be really embarrassing, and sometimes, very hip-looking Germans point and laugh (true story).

But, snow is lovely when it's clean, fresh and nowhere near my boots.

Berlin, the gay-friendliest capital.

In the treats aisle of your local supermarket:

Super Dickmann's are super big with crispy chocolate

Not just any kind of Dickmann's, mind. Super Dickmann's.


Also, I shit you not, 'Prall' translates to 'firm', 'bulging', 'swollen' or 'chubby'. Who says Germans don't have a sense of humour?

NUTELLAAAAAA!

When I saw this at the supermarket, I just had to have it. 

1.4 kg of Nutella for €5.99. The jar is as big as my face.

Children's booze!

These Germans have a range of beers for children:

Berliner Child-le White Beer

And it's alcoholic:

Only lightly alcoholic at 3.0%, sure, but that's fair enough. They're only small.

I bought a sixpack of the stuff in Prenzlauer Berg, which is the awesome suburb in which we live. It's also referred to as "pregnancy hill" due to the high proportion of little-uns waddling around everywhere. Truly, it is a parents' paradise.

In case you're wondering: it tastes rubbish. Of course.

World's Greatest Branding

It works on so very many levels.

Soft AND reliable. Ladies, your search is over.

Things you wouldn't necessarily think of but are dead obvious once you realise.

The internet is a list maker's paradise. Sure, most of the internet is pretty much just a massive collection of useless, interrelated horrible opinions, but it's also a convenient medium for cataloging a number of similar topics and then sharing that collection with strangers. I swear I've never seen so many lists in my life than inadvertently on the internet, and I'm an organised chap. So, to participate fully in this e-sperience, I have made my own list, very rapidly, of some stuff I have observed in a month in Berlin. I call it:

Things you wouldn't necessarily think of about Germany but are dead obvious once you realise.

• Water from the tap is really, really cold.
• Hot food gets cold really quickly. By the time you've buttered your toast and walked into the next room, you're just having cold, crispy bread for breakfast. 
• The Berlin Underground is a box, not a tube. 
• (For my nerd friends: the Berlin Underground is a rectangular prism, not a cylinder.)
• Splashed/spilled water does not dry up quickly, or at all. 
• Your salary sounds much more generous when it's cited in monthly payments instead of fortnightly but, on a closer look, they're probably ripping you off. 
• Beer is cheap (and plentiful). I mean SE Asian level cheap. 
• Cider is elusive. 
• Boogies freeze in your nose, then thaw and drip out of your nostrils when you're aboard a warm train.
• Berliners still have early Perth-morning frost breath at midday.
• Tomato sauce bottles do not specify that they should be refrigerated after opening -- but it is recommended to keep them cold. 
• Water takes yonks to boil.
• Shrinkage is rampant. My fingers are much smaller and my wedding ring is quite loose.
• When Vicky's shopping list contains "100 paper", she means "loo paper".
• Vicky will laugh at you if you ask, "what's hundred paper?"

POMERANZA.

Both Matt and I love Mr Sparrow in Subiaco (but I think I love it just a little bit more). For several months, it was part of our Saturday morning routine to finish a trip to the Subi Farmers’ Market with a visit to our favourite little shop. Despite regular visits, during which we would touch everything on display and spend about 15 minutes staring longingly at all the stock, we really only ever bought greeting cards.


The owner is probably quite glad we’re gone.


Luckily, a few days after moving to our new flat in Prenzlauer Berg, we found our replacement for Mr Sparrow. It’s called POMERANZA design ranch.