Today was finally time to pick the rest of the grapes. The vine grows all across the pigsty, which I use as an office… and across the front of the barn. In fact, if I don’t cut it back soon, we might actually lose the house. So out came the ladders…...

This is exciting! I was invited this week to be – get this – a special guest star on Graham Tappenden’s weekly News Quiz. Graham records a podcast of his quiz every other week under the name “Truly German” – though in picking me as his guest, I think...

Next time the Düsseldorf city authorities decide to close one of the bridges over the Rhine for resurfacing, they should phone me first and check my schedule. On Thursday I had a speaking appointment at the Deutsch-Britische Gesellschaft in...

The weather has been kind over the last week.  The autumn sunshine has started to bring some colour to my grapes. Of course we’ve been eating them non-stop. With around 600 bunches of grapes to deal with, you can’t let up for a day. You need to eat...

The good weather seems to be coming to an end.  While it lasted, our cats loved it. Sprawling in the sunshine with nothing better to do than sleep until the next mealtime. Early evening had the feel of the Serengeti as the cats gathered around the...