Post New Year.

New year in Dusseldorf was something I never experienced before. In fact, I had never done a European new year before. Our  good friends Steven and Lisette  came down from the Hague and had a chow at our place.

Anne and I figured out how to make that fire wine stuff that I call Shangri-La.   Feuerzangenbowle is the real name but frack, try saying that quickly three times.

Anyway, the stuff we cooked up tasted just like it should and three bottles of red wine went in there with plenty of rum too.

Civilized people would could call it a fondue, with red wine, rum and sugar as the main course.

Oh deary, deary me, that was fun.

And then, while we were eating and partying, we watched Pink Floyd  ‘Live at Pompeii’ which is our very favorite kind of music. Then our good friends Barry and Nadine phoned us on Skype video from Switzerland, and we all spoke a whole lot of shit and it was just like the old days in SA.----Albeit electronically spoken via the laptop.

Dang, but Skype can be cool sometimes.

As  twelve approached we put on our clobber and mellowed out to check the fireworks and people out.

That’s not mist you seeing.

That’s smoke from the fireworks.

The whooshes and bangs and sparkles were something one has to see  to believe.

The tone of the ‘hood was lowered collectively and there was a whole lot of  liver damage going on.

Which made everybody very happy. Me too, looking after these  two lovely babes.

The place looked like a festive war zone. What I really like was that there was absolutely no agro.

Like in SA or St Maarten, there would be fights, fuckups and blood. Here, everybody was just intent on getting into a fall over fun mode.

So cool.

And trust me, some were really falling out of the trees.

Like I said, the Dusseldorfers really know how to make big bangs.

One after the other. And there is no count down to twelve ‘o clock.

There is just this almighty din from nine to dawn with everybody shooting off fireworks in the streets, alleys parks and any place big enough to fit something in. It was nirvana for me.

But it took us two days two recover.

Dude, EVERYTHING has a price.