23 November 2011

Wonderful Remark


Docklands office building.
Hamburg, Germany.
November 2011.
Click here to view a
photo taken in April 2011.


Radisson Hotel.
Hamburg, Germany.
November 2011.




How can we ever feel the freedom
Or the flame lit by the spark
How can we ever come out even
When reality is stark

Listen, how can you tell us something
Just to keep us hanging on, yeah
Something that just don't mean nothin'
When we see you, you are gone

Clinging to some other rainbow
While we're standing waiting outside in the cold
Telling us the same sad story
Knowing time is growing old

That was a wonderful remark
I had my eyes closed in the dark

(Van Morrison - Wonderful Remark)




The past one or two weeks have been very foggy. I've been busy doing this and that, but tonight I felt like driving around for a while, and I took my camera along. 
My application for a job at a coffee shop was successful - the boss and the rest of the team are wonderful people and really easy to get along with.
Speaking of the Boss, Bruce Springsteen will be on tour in 2012... I'm not going to miss the European leg of that tour... a new album will be released, too.
Last but not least, two friends from school, one of whom is now living in Dublin, suggested that three and a half years after leaving school we should gather as many of our classmates as possible and that we should all hook up on New Year's Eve. The city of choice is neither London nor Dublin though, but Berlin. A certain percentage of our international circle of friends (an Argentine, a German, and a Swiss) all moved there. If I do decide to celebrate New Year's Eve with my old friends instead of my new ones, I'm sure we'll live it up, and we'll probably do a few things that we'll never live down. I might just as well stay in Hamburg though, for I would never have thought that I'd make such good friends in another place, and it is here that this only child has found the family he always would've loved to have had. You might say that they're just close friends, but it's as close to a family as it gets.

Goodnight.


- Dom

15 comments:

Brooke said...

Lovely photos! I especially like the hotel picture. Sounds like that will be a fun New Years!

Jenny Woolf said...

. Well done on the pleasant coffee shop job and handy for you that Berlin is the lucky city that will host you on new Years :)

These are austere, atmospheric pictures.

Angela Häring-Christen said...

Guten Morgen lieber Dominic,
deine Bilder sind fantastisch. Besonders beeindruckt mich das Hochhaus, wie es im Nebel verschwindet. Es wird der Fantasie des Betrachters überlassen, wie hoch es ist.

Wir wohnen in einer nebelarmen Gegend. Heute hat es Nebel, aber ich weiss, 2 km nördlich hat es keinen Nebel mehr und natürlich können wir auf einen Jurahügel und von dort über das Nebelmeer schauen.
Ich bin in einer nebelreichen Gegend aufgewachsen und ich finde, Nebel hat durchaus seinen Reiz, wenn er nicht Wochenlang festsitzt.

Ein starkes Gedicht!

Dann hoffe ich, es klappt mit dem Klassentreffen! (Wenn ich das alles richtig übersetzt habe. Mein englisch lässt da zu wünschen übrig.)

Liebe Grüsse
Angela

Siddhartha Joshi said...

That's a wonderful plan Dominic! Inspiring me also to plan such a thing with college friends :)

What would you be doing at the coffee shop?

p.s. the second pic is great!

Dom said...

Thanks very much for all those lovely comments!

@ Angela: Kein Gedicht, ein Lied. Allerdings haben die Lieder von Van Morrison in der Tat eine sehr poetische Qualität. Und ja, das hast du richtig übersetzt! :-)

@ Siddhartha: Making coffee, espresso, hot chocolate and tea... but also cleaning tables. The usual... but it's the perfect job for a student: They pay well, it's easy, and you meet a lot of people.

joo said...

Still fog there? But it definitely adds charm to the city! The photo of the hotel is awesome!
Berlin is great, and if you decide spend New Year's Eve there you'll love it, I'm sure!
By the way, don't you miss Richmond sometimes? It's such a lovely place!

Dom said...

Yes... I suppose it's going to last a while longer.
I know, Berlin is awesome! I've been there many times over the past four years, and there's always something going on!
I do miss Richmond! I have very fond memories of my childhood and youth. A lot of things have changed though. Many of my friends went to college in other cities or countries; my parents split up and my mum moved to her native Germany. Long story short, there wasn't much left but memories, and back in 2008, it made a lot of sense to me to leave. I still don't regret that decision.
Have you visited Richmond or even lived there?

joo said...

I've never lived in Richmond, but visited it some time ago - had a pint in White Swan and nice river walk - lovely place indeed! I might even pop there round next week since I'm going to London for a couple of days on Tuesday:)

Babzy.B said...

fog is one of your best friend on these shots , well done !

Ash said...

Lovely photos. Congrats on the new job!

Dom said...

Joo - if you're going there, get some delicious food at William Curley's shop. I recommend that place to everyone... and I don't do that for no reason! :-)

Ely - indeed, without the fog those pictures wouldn't be anything special.

Ash - Thank you very much!

Emm said...

What gorgeous foggy photos. How nice that you're getting to see your old school friends (hopefully). I'm still friends with all of my school and uni friends. There was a time when three of my oldest, closest friends were in London too but soon it will just be one. Onwards and upwards.

Dom said...

Yeah, it would be nice to see my old friends again. There are also my friends here in Hamburg though, and since they're the ones with whom I've spent the better part of the past few years, I'm undecided. I might as well just visit those of my classmates and old friends that really mean a great deal to me next year... My best friend from school visits me on a regular basis anyway. I wish I could travel to London that often, but Hamburg is an expensive place and there's never enough money left at the end of the month...

Mauricio Sapata said...

I really like your abandoned places' pictures ! Great stuff in your website...

Dom said...

Thank you Mauricio!