Little Asshole

You don't think that you got away without a mention of candlesticks after my trip to Germany, did you?

This is Thomas's only candlestick in his compact but adorable city apartment. It is based on a cartoon character called 'Little Asshole', which some of you may have heard of. The very first cartoon involving him depicts his birth. A doctor is holding him up as his mother lies exhausted on the birth-table, and turns to a nurse and says, "It's an Asshole."

I took this photo from a high window in the house of Kunst in Bremerhaven. What you see is a woman dressed in pajamas, sweeping the steps of the old theatre whilst being watched by a group of her 'friends', who are all drinking beer.

Yes, I know. I had to ask the same question to Thomas too. Apparently, if you are still unmarried on your 30th birthday, you are obliged to perform some humiliating task in public (such as street-cleaning or polishing the door handles of the local church) and continue to do so until you have convinced your 'friends' that the task has been completed to their satisfaction. This can take many hours, if not all day.

Yet another reason not to have been born in Germany...