Things I miss from Germany

During a recent visit of my parents' in Germany I realized again that there are a few things that I miss dearly - it is not the German weather, of course.
As all expatriates I miss the variety of breads but I find this tolerable. Other things I find more difficult to bear.
I had the chance to watch the evening news on public television and was really amazed: there were no commercial breaks in between, and sports news and the weather forecast did not take up nearly half of the time (as they do here). And there was more talk about global events and developments than about local affairs (a weakness of the admittedly regional TV3 - the "national" Catalan TV station). [But there are no fees for watching TV here.]
Also, as far as I am aware of the Spanish and Catalan press, there are no publications like "Die Zeit" or "Der Spiegel" here. I can find them on the web, but it is not the same reading from a screen or sitting somewhere comfortably with a printed paper in hand - 3G internet access is still quite expensive...
And then I realized why people are so fascinated by the German Autobahn. There are highways here, too, but they are all toll-roads, the lanes are narrower than those in Germany, and there is no extra side lane in case your car breaks down, etc. All this makes driving in Germany a lot more pleasurable than driving here.[Though car taxes are a lot lower here than in Germany.]
Another thing that I find very disturbing (though I once said I wanted to be positive on this blog) is that here public life virtually shuts down for summer vacation in August. As everybody wants - or does not have a choice but - to have their summer vacation in July and/or August suddenly the mail delivery becomes slower, and certain services are not available until September. All the TV stations put their regular programs on hold, emit even more commercials, and repeat old movies, their own series and other cheap productions from the last 30 years.[A welcome exception from this summer "hibernation": my local public library stays open five days a week, though, which I find more important than the changes to the TV programs.]

Books for pedestrians, and some thoughts on bicyles

Looking through old editions of The Economist, I found interesting book reviews that I want to remind myself of in the future. One book is called The Lost Art of Walking: The History, Science, Philosophy, and Literature of Pedestrianism (2008) by Geoff Nicholson, another one is What I talk About When I Talk About Running (2008) by Haruki Murakami, currently one of my favorite authors.
Due to a "weak lung" I am not a great runner but find the topic fascinating.
As to the footwear, I saw an article with nice models, some of them even ecological, on the web of Intelligent Life, the lifestyle edition of the above mentioned weekly, "The skeptical shopper examines trainers for men". The link is http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/content/intelligent-life/heel

I used to go around a lot by bicycle but in our hilly region that is a very strenous pasttime. In an article on Giant Manufacturing of Taiwan I found an interesting bit of information that I fully believe: "Each market has its own idiosyncracies. Europeans mainly use bikes for commuting, but have the odd habit of ignoring models made explicitly for that purpose in favour of sleekier, faster models which are then expensively modified." ("On your bike," The Economist, September 20th 2008, p. 67)
In Barcelona one can observe an astonishing number of people going around on stylish Brompton folding bicycles; in Germany their simplest model costs around 875,- EUR. (I tried to copy a picture from their website but I did not succeed.)

The Forum neighbourhood in Barcelona

If you really want to see one of the dreariest neighbourhoods of Barcelona, go to the area where in 2004 they held the "Forum of Cultures". It is still being "rehabilitated" but is about as charming as Alexanderplatz in Berlin before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Whereever you look there are new skyscrapers: hotels, office and apartment buildings. And hardly any people. But that is fully understandable as the streets there are made for cars, very broad and very long - and fully exposed to the sun. The Diagonal Mar shopping centre offers the full range of Spanish and international chain boutiques and fast-food outlets and might be worth a visit if you really need a specific item. And on the coast you can find a huge photovoltaic shield. But as to the charm and vibrance of Barcelona, do not look for it here.
By the way, the route of the Tour de France stage between Girona and Barcelona yesterday did not pass here and today's with the destination Andorra will not either.