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Husky Dreams
Jun. 28th, 2021 01:47 amWith things opening up again, we haven't been at a loss regarding things to do. Indeed, balancing all of our commitments has proven to be quite tricky, but then I guess it's good we have options and people want to see us.
Last Sunday, we headed over to BRLO near Gleisdreieck, for the main reason that it was more comfortable outside than it was in the house. The temperature hit 35C last weekend and the bedroom in particular resembled something of a sauna. We mentioned to the fureigners group that we were going there, but no-one took us up on the offer, largely because it was so short notice. However, Fiasco did spot it later in the evening and told us to let him know when we were going there next time. Ultimately, it was a rather pleasant evening. We had a quick walk around the nearby park, largely going around the BRLO circumference as the entrance was badly signposted. Once in and signed into the luca app, we found a table and made use of their ordering facility where you order using an app then go and pick up your beers. This wasn't clearly explained in German, which used the word 'receive' rather liberally, but we soon worked it out and Wolfie developed quite a relationship with a barmaid. Meanwhile, I was on food duty, calling off at the grill at the front of the courtyard. I did this mainly in German, but with the noise of Italy vs Wales on the big screen adjacent to the concession, I had trouble hearing and we reverted to English. This was the only match last Sunday, so people headed off swiftly once it was done, but we sat outside in the waining light, enjoying watching the underground trains from the U1, U2 and U3 which convene at Gleisdreieck. Indeed, it's two stations on bridges built one on top of each other, which made it quite fascinating. We didn't see much of the Italy vs Wales match as it was hidden behind some fronds aligning the gazebo area where we sat, but we did move seats eventually and ultimately enjoyed sampling the range of beers they had.
Tuesday was England vs Czech Republic and we invited Note around to watch the game. CoVahr was going to come too, but couldn't due to work. Note arrived at around 8:30pm and we had a pleasant evening sharing crisps and snacks, at one point getting into a cheering match with some Croatian fans over the road from us. The game itself was rather tedious, with England doing enough to get a 1-0 win and qualify top of the group, but after scoring in the twelfth minute, they didn't do an awful lot else. Meanwhile, Scotland were crashing out to Croatia and the day after, Germany laboured to a 2-2 draw against Hungary. We watched that match on live stream, with a number of the Leedsfurs around, although ultimately it was inevitable that Germany would finish second in their group and thus face England in the next round, which takes place on Tuesday. I still don't know what we're going to do for that, but we shall see. It certainly will be a difficult day.
I had started to get increasingly worried over the course of last week, aware that the deadline for UK nationals to apply for residency in Berlin was this coming Wednesday, 30 June. Having heard nothing and with Wolfie already having his interview confirmed, I was becoming worried my application had been lost in the ether. I still haven't heard anything, but over the weekend, the authorities moved the deadline to 15 August so the heat is off a little bit. I also contacted them on Friday to notify them of my change of address, with us getting the keys to our new flat this coming Thursday. I have mixed emotions about this, but ultimately I will be sad to leave Guerickestrasse and this neat little flat. It's certainly too small for us and we'd like greater certainty, but the area is really nice, particularly down by the Spree. I also like the cosmopolitan group of people in our block of flats, while the landlord has been incredibly good to us. Alas, moving on is the right thing and I just hope that Spandau, although further out, will make the centre of Berlin more accessable. I also hope the new place will be even better than this one.
During Fiasco's request last week concerning BRLO, he invited us to dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant near where he lives on Friday evening. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity to meet another fur and try a recommended eatery, we headed out just after 7pm and were sat down shortly after 8pm. It turned out it was the very same place we sat outside with Fox B back in February, when we were looking for a place to perch having picked up some Korean food from a nearby food truck. We had met Fiasco before at EF, as he is very big into homebrewing, so it was great catching up with him once again. We had also had word of a fureigners meet-up that evening too arranged by Fox B. This was all very impromptu, but Fiasco was also keen to meet up with the gang too, so after our exceptional noodles and first bite of sushi for something like 18 months, we all headed over to Frankfurter Tor to check out the Abgedreckt bar. This had been described as steampunk but it was more modern, with vinyl records on the wall and an inverted bassoon near the toilets. We were sat outside and supping a range of beers, which kept flowing. Note and CoVahr were there, along with Taliesin, who we had not met before. A Canadian popped down later too, whose name escapes me. I was ultimately on very strong form, making people laugh, and the atmosphere was all very convivial. Alas, towards the end of the evening, Fox B and I ended up discussing UK and German politics and there was cause for some disagreement which, although not heated, I hated myself for the next morning. We ended up catching the train back together at around 3am and no damage has been done, but I do wish I didn't get so defensive or impetuous at times. It didn't ruin the evening, but certainly tainted my reaction to it.
The other problem with good evenings is the next day I have a massive crash. This is particularly the case involving alcohol as my body dysmorphia really hits me. I desperately want to lose weight, partly to deal with my inner feminity, but it's very hard when you drink a load of booze. And yet I keep doing it, largely because I am a social creature whose mental health would suffer without this outlet. It's a Catch-22. Suffice to say, I woke up on Saturday incredibly depressed, with the ten minutes of negativity outweighing the five hours of positivity, and it took a long walk, a talk from Wolfie and My Dad Wrote A Porno to break me out of my funk. I did pick up a little towards the end of the day - aided by watching both football matches with Note and others, which segued into one of Stray's fantastic Jackbox evenings. This was great fun, but drinking a 5L keg of wheat beer to just Wolfie and I certainly took its toll on today and again made me doubt myself regarding my weight loss goals.
We were intending for Sunday to be a quiet day, but in the end, it wasn't. The weather was starting to pick up again and Hunter Husky was asking whether we were doing anything. After a little protracted discussion, he ended up coming around, pretty much when I was on the middle of my walk. This wasn't an issue as Wolfie was in, and although I had to go and do Pony Chat while he was here, this didn't matter either. It was all very relaxed and after some discussion inside, once I had chatted to the ponies, we headed outside to sit by the Spree with some crisps and a beer. After this, we decided to check out one of the local restaurants, settling on a Greek place that served some excellent gyros. The service was really slow, but that wasn't an issue, plus with free ouzo and yoghurty honey desserts, you can't complain. You also can't complain with the price either, which was just over €20 each. Considering our night out on Friday was just under €50 each, the prices in this city do seem to be incredibly cheap. We'll see what happens when we hit the craft beer I suppose. Either way, it was great to try at least one of the local restaurants before we leave the area, while sitting on the roadside and watching the gloaming descend was rather marvellous. We then trudged back home, where Hunter stuck around for an hour or so, before heading off, leaving us to groan at our coma-inducing bulging bellies.
Last Sunday, we headed over to BRLO near Gleisdreieck, for the main reason that it was more comfortable outside than it was in the house. The temperature hit 35C last weekend and the bedroom in particular resembled something of a sauna. We mentioned to the fureigners group that we were going there, but no-one took us up on the offer, largely because it was so short notice. However, Fiasco did spot it later in the evening and told us to let him know when we were going there next time. Ultimately, it was a rather pleasant evening. We had a quick walk around the nearby park, largely going around the BRLO circumference as the entrance was badly signposted. Once in and signed into the luca app, we found a table and made use of their ordering facility where you order using an app then go and pick up your beers. This wasn't clearly explained in German, which used the word 'receive' rather liberally, but we soon worked it out and Wolfie developed quite a relationship with a barmaid. Meanwhile, I was on food duty, calling off at the grill at the front of the courtyard. I did this mainly in German, but with the noise of Italy vs Wales on the big screen adjacent to the concession, I had trouble hearing and we reverted to English. This was the only match last Sunday, so people headed off swiftly once it was done, but we sat outside in the waining light, enjoying watching the underground trains from the U1, U2 and U3 which convene at Gleisdreieck. Indeed, it's two stations on bridges built one on top of each other, which made it quite fascinating. We didn't see much of the Italy vs Wales match as it was hidden behind some fronds aligning the gazebo area where we sat, but we did move seats eventually and ultimately enjoyed sampling the range of beers they had.
Tuesday was England vs Czech Republic and we invited Note around to watch the game. CoVahr was going to come too, but couldn't due to work. Note arrived at around 8:30pm and we had a pleasant evening sharing crisps and snacks, at one point getting into a cheering match with some Croatian fans over the road from us. The game itself was rather tedious, with England doing enough to get a 1-0 win and qualify top of the group, but after scoring in the twelfth minute, they didn't do an awful lot else. Meanwhile, Scotland were crashing out to Croatia and the day after, Germany laboured to a 2-2 draw against Hungary. We watched that match on live stream, with a number of the Leedsfurs around, although ultimately it was inevitable that Germany would finish second in their group and thus face England in the next round, which takes place on Tuesday. I still don't know what we're going to do for that, but we shall see. It certainly will be a difficult day.
I had started to get increasingly worried over the course of last week, aware that the deadline for UK nationals to apply for residency in Berlin was this coming Wednesday, 30 June. Having heard nothing and with Wolfie already having his interview confirmed, I was becoming worried my application had been lost in the ether. I still haven't heard anything, but over the weekend, the authorities moved the deadline to 15 August so the heat is off a little bit. I also contacted them on Friday to notify them of my change of address, with us getting the keys to our new flat this coming Thursday. I have mixed emotions about this, but ultimately I will be sad to leave Guerickestrasse and this neat little flat. It's certainly too small for us and we'd like greater certainty, but the area is really nice, particularly down by the Spree. I also like the cosmopolitan group of people in our block of flats, while the landlord has been incredibly good to us. Alas, moving on is the right thing and I just hope that Spandau, although further out, will make the centre of Berlin more accessable. I also hope the new place will be even better than this one.
During Fiasco's request last week concerning BRLO, he invited us to dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant near where he lives on Friday evening. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity to meet another fur and try a recommended eatery, we headed out just after 7pm and were sat down shortly after 8pm. It turned out it was the very same place we sat outside with Fox B back in February, when we were looking for a place to perch having picked up some Korean food from a nearby food truck. We had met Fiasco before at EF, as he is very big into homebrewing, so it was great catching up with him once again. We had also had word of a fureigners meet-up that evening too arranged by Fox B. This was all very impromptu, but Fiasco was also keen to meet up with the gang too, so after our exceptional noodles and first bite of sushi for something like 18 months, we all headed over to Frankfurter Tor to check out the Abgedreckt bar. This had been described as steampunk but it was more modern, with vinyl records on the wall and an inverted bassoon near the toilets. We were sat outside and supping a range of beers, which kept flowing. Note and CoVahr were there, along with Taliesin, who we had not met before. A Canadian popped down later too, whose name escapes me. I was ultimately on very strong form, making people laugh, and the atmosphere was all very convivial. Alas, towards the end of the evening, Fox B and I ended up discussing UK and German politics and there was cause for some disagreement which, although not heated, I hated myself for the next morning. We ended up catching the train back together at around 3am and no damage has been done, but I do wish I didn't get so defensive or impetuous at times. It didn't ruin the evening, but certainly tainted my reaction to it.
The other problem with good evenings is the next day I have a massive crash. This is particularly the case involving alcohol as my body dysmorphia really hits me. I desperately want to lose weight, partly to deal with my inner feminity, but it's very hard when you drink a load of booze. And yet I keep doing it, largely because I am a social creature whose mental health would suffer without this outlet. It's a Catch-22. Suffice to say, I woke up on Saturday incredibly depressed, with the ten minutes of negativity outweighing the five hours of positivity, and it took a long walk, a talk from Wolfie and My Dad Wrote A Porno to break me out of my funk. I did pick up a little towards the end of the day - aided by watching both football matches with Note and others, which segued into one of Stray's fantastic Jackbox evenings. This was great fun, but drinking a 5L keg of wheat beer to just Wolfie and I certainly took its toll on today and again made me doubt myself regarding my weight loss goals.
We were intending for Sunday to be a quiet day, but in the end, it wasn't. The weather was starting to pick up again and Hunter Husky was asking whether we were doing anything. After a little protracted discussion, he ended up coming around, pretty much when I was on the middle of my walk. This wasn't an issue as Wolfie was in, and although I had to go and do Pony Chat while he was here, this didn't matter either. It was all very relaxed and after some discussion inside, once I had chatted to the ponies, we headed outside to sit by the Spree with some crisps and a beer. After this, we decided to check out one of the local restaurants, settling on a Greek place that served some excellent gyros. The service was really slow, but that wasn't an issue, plus with free ouzo and yoghurty honey desserts, you can't complain. You also can't complain with the price either, which was just over €20 each. Considering our night out on Friday was just under €50 each, the prices in this city do seem to be incredibly cheap. We'll see what happens when we hit the craft beer I suppose. Either way, it was great to try at least one of the local restaurants before we leave the area, while sitting on the roadside and watching the gloaming descend was rather marvellous. We then trudged back home, where Hunter stuck around for an hour or so, before heading off, leaving us to groan at our coma-inducing bulging bellies.
