and it's still raining, though not stories

Mid-day column for the last two weeks... it comes to an end soon - and the sub-editor is showing this by giving the last one a title they used for an earlier column already! Perhaps I should ask for that job...

My friend P called up annoyed one day, scolding me for using a word she did not understand (au courant and pulchritude). I felt this was a good way for her to learn new words - but maybe the sub also does not understand some words and feels fed up and decided - yeh tou generally against normalcy type of character hai, so when in doubt let's just title the column Out of the Box.

Anyhoo...

Last Sunday's on Not Having The Number

And the one before on Stories I'd Rather Not Have (or Longing for the Ones I'd Like To)

Meanwhile here in Berlin it is summer.

People have put TV sets out on the pavement and were watching the match on the street with beer in hand.

I was told that if Germany lost the match yesterday, against Englad, there would be big, grown men walking down the streets clutching their heads in despair, gathering in street corners crying.

I was looking forward to it.

Instead they won, and car horns tooted, people walked around hooting and calling out German slogans which I mercifully did not understand, trailing cloaks of German flags. Nicole cringed while I was rather wide eyed and interested. When I said to her, come on, it's not so bad, she said: would you walk around on the streets of India with the Indian flag painted on your face? Hmm??

I was silenced and resumed chopping sweet peppers for the eggs, accepting my womanly position in life, even in sunny Berlin where roses bloom shameless on the streets and men go out on the rampage because "their team" won at football.