28 Days later...a month in Germany day 27

Düsseldorf is rich.There‘s no getting away from the fact.It‘s not immediately obvious as you get off the train.The Hauptbahnhof is small by German standards.Modest even, and the surrounding couple of streets are what you‘d expect by any mainline station.But start walking into the city and you notice little changes especially in the shops.All the big hitters of the fashion world are here including Primark for us proles, and many people walking around are obviously expensively dressed...I saw a pair of shoes in a shop window yesterday at €650 but knocked down from €850.So yea,there’s some serious money about...

Even the outdoor market is above what you’d normally expect...it‘s only small but half of stores are bars and the rest do pretty fancy food stuffs.There‘s certainly no shouty Cockneyesque geezers trying to flog a bunch of bananas dahling...but again it’s a friendly city with no airs & graces that I can see.I imagine the rest of Germany rips the piss out of Düsseldorfians mercilessly though...

I can tell i‘m getting close to the end of trip by the diminishing drugs I have...like many my age, lifestyle choices from both the past & present mean I have to take a plethora of pharmaceutical enhancements daily.Well i‘m almost done...and still here.

Think I may have cocked up the tv in my room.Messing about with the remote last night and it’s now stuck on something I can’t get rid of,and no it’s not porn,not very good with remotes and,yes,i have tried turning it off & on again...ah well no bugger whatches those things anyway.

The hotel‘s pretty much the same standard as all the rest apart from the one in Berlin which was a converted convent or something.Anyway i‘m a stones throw from the Hauptbahnhof.It‘s an odd area,a cross between Turkish & Korean but fine for all that.Admitingly you do get a lot of society‘s drop outs hanging about the station occasionally asking for money or a smoke but that happens all over the world...let’s be honest I went cheapish on the digs otherwise i‘d have no spending money and all they’re for is sleep & shower so as long as they’re secure & clean(which they have been) that’s all that matters...this one has an old fashioned lift where you have to physically close the door to use it to.So that’s cool...

Hearing a lot more Brits here than anywhere else on my trips.Still not a lot and at first it’s a strange choice for a holiday but it’s only four hours on the train from Kings X and Düsseldorf has a good reputation so maybe it’s not a great surprise...anyway just asked the waiter if I can get a Fortuna Düsseldorf v Bayer Levekusen ticket on Saturday.It‘s a big derby game and could be sold out but he pointed me to the club shop about two minutes away so one more drink then get down there with my English charm...and English charm wins the day.Got my ticket from a Fans shop by the river...been once before to Fortuna Düsseldorf in another local derby and let’s just say it was a lively affair.Off the pitch definitely...it‘s my last night in Germany too...

Bye for now...