20.02.2007 15:33 - Another Anniversary
Wednesday 21st February will be the eighth anniversary of my arrival in Cologne. Eight years ago I took a particularly vexing flight from Birmingham International, which stranded me in Brussels airport for an hour before getting me to Düsseldorf airport.
I arrived in Germany, laden with two suitcases and a Rickenbacker 350, and just 3000 Deutschmarks, and was shown to a one-room flat, which was within the sound of the Dom, and of St. Ursula's.
I know this because their bloody bells woke me at six in the morning on Sunday.
Once left alone in the flat, the enormity of what I had done overwhelmed me, so I played my guitar for a while, calmed myself down, and went downstairs to buy sugar and milk so I could make myself a cup of tea using the tea bags I had brought with me. It wasn't easy. I arrived knowing absolutely no german, although I had a small phrasebook. I got by with pointing at things or buying in supermarkets.
Frankly, I'm amazed I managed to stay this long.