1, 2, 3 Holidays!

Oh there was so much going on lately, I don't even know where to begin.

Biggest, bestest news maybe are that we are leaving for Germany in less than 24 hours. And I am incredibly happy and excited, cause I do miss it, I do and it's been ages. We will go for walks at my lake, go on a boat, drink lots of schnaps for breakfast and dance with the witches. And I can't wait to see some of your German faces, you lovely German people, who I miss. (AND YOU BETTER REALLY COME, CON, OR I WILL CRY AND BABY JESUS WILL CRY AND KUNIBERT WILL CRY AND I WILL EAT THE Boots' Blueberry Nougat Bar I BOUGHT FOR YOU MYSELF!!)
So my next blog entry will probably describe how Ros and I managed to lose all our important possessions (=2 crappy mobile phones, 2 sets of keys and 2 wallets) while getting drunk in the medieval streets of Konstanz being dressed up as chess boards or something. Don't miss it.

The most amazing fact about us going to Germany tomorrow is, that I actually managed to sort identification papers out that will let me fly to Zurich and travel to Germany tomorrow. I think I already described how ridiculously complicated it is to get a new ID card when you're not actually living in Germany. Anyway. I also told you that when I went to the embassy a few weeks ago they asked me to come back within a week before my flight goes. So I did. On Thursday. Then I was told that as my flight was going into Zurich (which I had told them last time I went there already, by the way) they couldn't promise that the Swiss boarder people would actually let me into Switzerland with the letter they could give me stating that I am a German citizen and allowed to travel to Germany. They might let me in, I was told, but they might just as well turn me around and send me right back to London.
Great, I said, and what happens then when I am back in London and still don't have papers, will they let me back in or will I end up living in the airport like Tom Hanks in Terminal? They said they didn't know.
So I went for the slightly less risky option of applying for a provisional passport, which is valid for a year and a 60 quid bargain. Miraculously they actually managed to get it ready for me in time to pick it up on Friday just before they close down for the weekend and I am now the proud owner of a pretty, green little passport, which I love and won't ever, ever lose.

Apart from embassy troubles, the first 4 days of my holidays were nice and relaxed. Thursday felt a bit like summer and so Megan, Ade (her new girlfriend) and me had a beer picnic in London Fields and even though Friday the weather wasn't quite as nice I had another beer picnic on Friday with Gabby in St James' Park.
Talking about Megan, it was her birthday a little while ago and last weekend she put on a brilliant birthday party. Ros and I only wanted to pop in for an hour, as we were incredibly tired from a long, long night at the Outpost, but of course we ended up being the last people leaving the Treehouse in Finsbury Park at about 1 pm the next afternoon. Too much beer pong. Too much weed. Too many nice people and too much dirty chicken in the early morning hours.

In general I got way too little sleep lately. Lisa and I hardly ever see each other anymore, even though we still share a flat, but since her sister moved to London she's always at her house in Walthamstow and I am at Ros' place a lot. So whenever we happen to both be home for a
night we end up drinking and talking into the early morning hours. Sometimes we go for a game of pool at the Trafalgar Arms, which is a slightly dodgy pub down the road, but mostly we wrap ourselfs in blankets and stay in the kitchen and drink beer out of cans or wine out of tea cups. Oh the glamorous life of Shad volunteers...

Yesterday, for the first time, I went on a UK Uncut protest with Ros and Dom. They've been to a few, but I was always working. Now, holidays and I could come along. It was fun, we turned a bank into a launderette: http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/actions/372
Lots of lovely people doing important work here. Reminded me that I should go protesting more often again, especially as I only just learned that Germany got rid of tuition fees in general, which was something I did lots of protesting for during the last few years and it shows that sometimes you do get heard, you just mustn't give up. So well done everyone from Bildungsstreik in Germany! We got what we wanted and didn't break a single window!

Shocking, tho, how little I know about what's going on in Germany at the moment. I occasionally have a look at certain German news homepages, but not often enough and I only have a vague idea about the Guttenberg scandal and everything else that's happening at home. Maybe I should get some information in tonight or there might be horrible surprises when we get to Konstanz tomorrow morning and the place is not only burned down but the whole of Germany a completely different world... you never know.