Statues of people with disabilities

Changing trains recently at Šiauliai in Lithuania, I noticed something that I don't think I've seen a lot before.

On the platform, there is a statue of Stasys Nosys on a plinth, depicting his visible disability.

Stasys Nosys statue, Šiauliai 

Stasys Nosys (1905-1976) was a strongman and bodybuilder. In 1926, he lost both of his legs in an accident. He continued his training and performed in circuses with feats of strength, like breaking stones apart with his fist or lifting up a truck. 

There was false propaganda in the Soviet Union that there were no people with disabilities, and thus  Stasys Nosys was prohibited from his circus work.

I then started thinking whether I had seen statues depicting people with disabilities.

Alison Lapper sculpture, Abxbay, Wikimedia Commons

I remembered the sculpture of Alison Lapper that was displayed on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square between 2005 and 2007 (and is in Venice in this photograph). Somehow, I didn't think of this as a 'commemorative' statue, as Alison Lapper is still alive.

Beethovenhaus, Bonn

I also thought of this statue of Beethoven, at the museum which now occupies his home in Bonn. His disability is not visible, but perhaps it is still present in the sculpture?

What other examples do you know of statues depicting people with disabilities?

Overheard: Germany

I was recently in Germany for a few weeks, travelling from town to town and city to city with a DeutschlandTicket. Along the way, I heard a few choice phrases in English. And here they are.

• It's certainly different here, isn't it? A different feel... still friendly!
  
  
• And what about the client change request? What about that?!
  
  
• There was a woman going from here to Hamburg, that's two hundred euro!
  
  
• They gave me the freedom to do whatever I want, so that's what I did.
  
  
• I do not have a print-out but you can have a screenshot.
  
  
• We can actually go straight, cos it's really pretty with the flowers
  
  
• You want to go to Five Men or should I say Five Guys?
  
  
• It's a big no no yo!

Circle Lines | Berlin

One day, while in Berlin, I rode the S-Bahn that loops around the city. There are two lines: the S41 goes clockwise, the S42 goes counter-clockwise. As Berlin is a city filled with history, I went back in time on the S42. 

The most striking quality for me was the silence. The carriages were quiet, and not especially busy. The people that were there were not speaking - maybe the silence begets more silence.

During the ride, which lasted around an hour, here's who I saw.

- A woman carrying a bag with bright blue straps

- Three adults getting on with three children, saying auf auf auf

- A young Asian man intently reading one page of a book

- A woman holding a stack of small yellow and orange pieces of paper.

- A woman striding purposefully wearing a t-shirt with the slogan Rights and Wrongs

- A very chill ticket inspector wearing a hoodie

- A man wearing a beige woolly hat turning his face to the spring sunshine

- A woman wearing a mint green coat and large gold headphones

- A man dropping two €20 notes from a wodge of cash. Cash is king in Germany!

Overheard: Berlin

I recently spent a few weeks staying in Berlin. As I walked around the city, I overheard these snatches of conversations:

• Shall we go up that dome there?
  
  
• Ain't nobody got time to meditate for 45 minutes in the morning!
  
  
• You're gonna have to warn me about these German jokes.
  
  
• Do you recommend packing tonight, not tomorrow? 
  
  
• ...but what are you wearing and why?
  
  
• Should we maybe try to have some chips?
  
  
• He was not allowed to study painting in Vienna.
  

World Cup in London: Germany

Last night I went to watch Germany-v- Brazil with German fans at Zeitgeist, a German bar in Vauxhall.

And what a match to choose to support Germany, as they pounded Brazil 7-1.

The bar was super-packed and sold out, so I hung around on the street outside. In spite of this, the atmosphere was infectious from the bar within.

Huge cheers every time Germany get the ball here. On top of chants, singing, face painting, flag waving and general good Teutonic cheer.

Someone in the German pub has got hold of a cowbell and is not afraid to use it.

But in spite of all the surprise, joy and celebrations as all the goals poured in to the Brazilian net, there was still room for a few (jaded) German stereotypes.

Meanwhile, amongst all celebrating, a man is perched at a bench checking emails on his laptop. Insert your own German efficiency jokes.

Some men here are discussing how Angela Merkel will react.

Germans dancing on tables here. Lots of muttering about rules from the doormen.

And, as always, the best entertainment comes from watching how other people react and enjoy the game.

A German fan on a bike has just arrived late. His disbelief at the score matched by him realising he's missed ALL the goals.

Spanish woman describing her German boyfriend - "ginger and white as hell" - celebrating: "he went bright red and waaaaaaah"

Germany + Greece

I saw this tweet recently:

Someone just used an emoji in a pretty serious work email. It was a middle aged German. Such informality! It's like they've become Greeks.

— Jorge (@ChocoLlama) April 14, 2014

It reminded me of another encounter I saw between German and Greek cultures.

While in Greece, we visited  the local travel agency to book some tickets.

A spry sprightly middle aged women worked there, Mrs Papanagiotou. She had dark brown curled hair tightly cropped and sat at her little desk with a light cardigan hanging from her shoulders.

One day when we called she was sitting outside, animatedly chatting and drinking coffee with a neighbour.

We mentioned that she seemed to be having a lovely time, an easy summer life. "But I'm a little worried," she said, would she be affected by the recent Angela Merkel led German bail out the Greek economy?

"No, no, I don't want to be a German woman, sitting in an office and never speaking!," she said as she crossed her cardigan in a certain fashion.

Variations on a Brazilian flag

When I was in Belgium, I saw this flag hanging from a building. It's the Brazilian flag re-purposed with Belgian colours.

I love this take on the Brazilian flag, re-purposed to support Belgium in this year's football World Cup.

So I decided to make a few more flags:

 This could be any number of countries - Australia, Costa Rica, Chile, France, Croatia.

Cameroon.

Colombia or Ecuador

Netherlands - though I suspect they're more likely to have a big, bright orange flag.

Germany

 Portugal

1

Iran or Mexico or Italy

Ivory Coast

 Nigeria

Spain

Switzerland

Uruguay or Bosnia and Herzegovina

Norwegian Airlines posters ad campaign

I saw these posters when I was in the Stockholm metro. I did a double take, wondering why London events were being advertised to the Swedes.

Then, I noticed more posters - from Krakow, Riga and Berlin, and realised it was an ace ad campaign from Norwegian Airlines. Here's a little video about how it was made.

It's not only a great campaign, but I really love how the sense of the cities come through in the posters.

Filtered train photography.

Taking photos on a train can be tricky. First, you need to be fast, then you must avoid the trees and powerlines by the track which could obscure your view. And then the lights in the carriage might reflect on the window.

So instead of trying to avoid these things, I played up to them and used phone filter apps to make the most of them.

Take a look at these photos taken on trains in Germany, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.

My fave photo apps, by the way, are Cymera and Pixlr-o-matic.

World Cup in London: Germany

Or: Fußball! Football with London's German fans

I hoped to watch tonight's Germany -v- Spain World Cup semi-final with German fans. Vauxhall bar The Jolly Gardeners was super-full, however, with people reportedly queuing since 3pm.

So I joined other fans in another nearby over-spill bar. That bar too was packed to capacity, so I stood outside for most of the first half. One man emerged from within saying "Oh my days". It must have been quite exciting inside.

During half-time, I snuck in. What an atmosphere! The temperature was practically sauna-like, clammy with sweat and alcohol.

This didn't deter the German fans who were singing and chanting a whole variety of tunes. Sadly no blast of their recent Eurovision winner. Forshame.

One man carried around a replica of the Jules Rimet trophy into which he placed his beer. Nice. Another blew on his vuvuzuela.

But midway through the half, the bar fell silent when Spain scored. "Scheise", one man whispered.

Germany never regained momentum, though the fans did, cheering all the way, particularly "Auf Gehts Deutschland Schieß ein Tor" (Let's go Germany, score a goal).

But as the final whistle blew, and Germany lost, a man outside changed the chant to "la la la you're going home".

Oh dear.

Next: On Sunday, I'm going Dutch for the World Cup Final.

I don't know what I thought about Berlin

I spent a few days in Berlin several months ago, and ended up with mixed thoughts on the city.

It seemed to lack a centre, to have vast swathes of void landscape, but made up for it with energy, spirit and nightlife and an unending sense of history and place.

I have decided to show my photographs along with the words of others I have been reading to make sense of this fascinating city.



Berlin is all about volatility. Its identity is based not on stability, but on change. - Rory MacLean



I did not find Berlin a beautiful town, but an exciting one - Christabel Bielenberg



It's the usual human mess. Hard to disentangle the past, isn't it? The right intentions? The wrong result? In that sense, Berlin's a truer city than most, truer because it's a city without set pieces. Where are the great views? The great vistas? What hill can you climb and see it all? - David Hare



Nowhere does a grand bridge and a wide flow of water divide the city. Instead, it is bricked-up buildings and sections of breeze block that bisect the city - Len Deighton

Berlin got high on itself and ruined itself through megalomania, and... now had to make amends in a state of permanent hangover. - Tobias Ruther

Work in Progress, ice Berlin Wall at German embassy

Yesterday, to mark the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's fall, the German Embassy in London installed Work in Progress, a fragment of a wall, made from ice blocks, slowly and surely melting away.

Fall of the Berlin Wall exhibition

It has been twenty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. To mark the occasion, the Goethe Institute in London are holding an exhibition of Norbert Enker's photography taken in and around the wall and what remains of it.

Taken from December 1989 to March 1992, the photographs document the wall's removal, destruction and the changes in the way it was used. The pictures are haunting and poignant, and give a real sense of the physical mass of the wall, particularly the third image below.

The exhibition continues until December 18 at the Goethe Institute on Exhibition Road.

Flags, made of paper

My newest fun thing to do is to make collage flags from bits of scrap paper. I recently changed jobs, and made these flags for colleagues to say farewell.
UK flag

USA flag


Australia flag



Kent flag


Sicily flag



Wales flag


India flag



Nepal flag


Berlin flag


Cuba flag



Ukraine flag



Ethiopia flag



Madagascar flag


Philippines flag



Ireland flag


France flag


Ibiza flag