Occasional Observations

The 1976 Smokie hit "Living Next Door To Alice" has long been a carnival favorite in Germany and in recent years it's become an Oktoberfest staple. The renditions aren't quite true to the original: the vamped up version includes a chorus sung by the crowd which goes as follows:

- Alice, Alice, who the F--K is Alice?

You could say the same about my office: here I am not living but working next door to the Oktoberfest - and hearing the strains of Alice, Alice (etc) coming from the beer tents.

Getting here's tricky - as the U-bahn trains to Theresienwiese are jam-packed. The only time I've ever seen the trains more crowded was on the way to World Cup matches last summer. At least there's now mobile phone service down on the U-bahn platform at Theresienwiese, I think it's the first Munich U-bahn station to have cellphone reception.

There's also quite a lot of traffic and you can bet on at least one Italian-registered camper van forlornly looking for a parking slot within staggering distance of the big tents. Overnight camping is verboten in the locale but there are two dedicated campsites across town.

Once I'm in the office, it's OK - provided we keep the windows closed. With them open, we get assaulted by wafts of roasted almonds - by 4pm yesterday I cracked and sent out for supplies.

As for actually visiting the Oktoberfest, all in good time. I've got three trips planned and we'll also try and have a spontaneous agency lunch on a non-rainy day. With something as big as the Oktoberfest happening under my nose it's hard to ignore but also I don't want to go every day - that would be overkill.