(Backup) Mannheim: Where the streets have no name*

There‘s a district of Mannheim called The Quadrant which is the main area of the city and it‘s true that there’s no street names only a letter/number combo...*in fact there are a few street names in the Quad but that wouldn’t fit on my headline and would have considerably altered U2‘s seminal song in the process...It seems like a weird idea but I suppose it works...

Mannheim is a lot bigger than i expected and also a lot busier too.Walking round the Quad on Saturday afternoon there were a lot of people about doing their thing.I don’t know how this area is viewed by the rest of Germany but it looks pretty prosperous to my eyes.There are plenty of expensive looking shops as well as a shed load of jewellers along with many cafe bars.Incidently I have yet to visit any city in Germany that has a „“dead“ look to it.My hometown has that look unfortunately.As much as I love it and am proud of my heritage i‘m afraid it has the look of a town that’s dying on its arse but I have yet to see any city in this country that has that death rattle  aura about it...

 

Even though i‘m a Brit I rarely discuss the weather in these blogs,and yes,I know i‘m a disgraceful ambassador for my country because of that so I hope this little bit will redress the balance and keep me out of the tower...it‘s hot! Phew what a scorcher! And all that.For the five days I have been here it‘s been 30 degrees daily without a hint of rain( it actually looks like we may get some today.Still horribly muggy though) I think the north had a bad time of it recently.As you travel on the train between Essen & Bremen the tens of thousands of acres of maize are just dead in the field.Brown & lifeless.Horrible to see...and my legs are still Lilly white. 

Mannheim and Ludwigshafen are cities split by the river Rhine.As far as I know there‘s no animosity between the two,which is a bit of a surprise( I can’t be arsed to get my Google head on and do any research.I’m not a journalist)Mannheim is far from the cliched German chocolate box image.Just a regular post war industrial city.Ludwigshafen however is definitely It’s ugly sister.Both solid working class areas I think it’s the least English I have heard in any German city yet...i‘m staying in Ludwigshafen and none of the local shops & bars I have been in have spoken English.It‘s fun.Causes me to try to make myself understood which usually ends up me throwing some German words around hoping some of them stick much to a combination of amusement & horror to those on the receiving end...although my English came in handy when a local overheard me mention London to a barmaid last night and asked if I knew Muswell Hill as he‘s a huge Kinks fan and was going there soon.Not only that but I told him which tube & bus to get up there...See? International relations.They should put me in charge of the Brexit negotiations...

At the moment i‘m watching Storage Wars dubbed into Deutsche while hearing freight trains rumble past the window.Think i‘d better visit my „“local“ for the last time.Bottles of Becks at two Euros a pop.These Turkish bars know their audience...besides it’s the only place I can get a signal to post this!

Tomorrow I have a four hour train journey to Leipzig.It will be my first visit to east Germany besides Berlin,which is a law unto itself, and i‘ll be interested to see the difference between the old east and what us oldies knew as West Germany back in the day...

Laters boys and girls...