The Mad Red Motherf**ker World Tour.
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@tody great write up dude. Very cool getting a glimpse into life in Cologne. I really dig how so many of us have such a similar back story with subcultures and punk rock. It’s so rad how those experiences have somehow led us all here to this iron heart subculture.
I felt like I was hanging out with you at the bar and the show. MRMF has punk rock in its DNA!
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Thanks, guys. I'm happy to take you along.
The wife was a little amused at first, but I have shown her a little of this thread, and she came to really appreciate what the tour is all about.
She's fairly deep down the rabbit hole herself - Hen's Teeth, Scartilab, A piece of chic. She can admire the quality of the jacket, and is also amazed by the goatskin. I guess it's the colour and also the motorcycle/perfecto cut of the jacket that is holding her back. -
@tody said in The Mad Red Motherf**ker World Tour.:
it's the colour and also the motorcycle/perfecto cut of the jacket that is holding her back.
a woman with impeccable taste
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It's been a week. A very busy week, too.
We're off to the Netherlands on Tuesday, so I had to get everything squared away in the office. That sort of worked out ok, but man - I need some rest.
Thelast yearlast ten years have been stressful, being self employed comes with a price, being a lawyer and the need to keep deadlines, too. The last year has been extreme, though. As some of you know, my dad passed away in late 2022. It has taken me a long time to get back on track, and a few other issues arose during the year, such as our son getting bullied pretty heavily at school. There were some other factors that added to this as well.
Today, everything came to a full stop, sort of. Took the family for a trip to the city, went to do some shopping (see the Andersen & Andersen thread).
The Cologne Zoo hosts a 'China Lights' festival every year where we went after going out for dinner.
The only animals awake were the trash pandas (aka raccoons).
The Mad Red looked pretty good.
For the next bit, I wanted to take some more photos on a different location - I couldn't find the time to drive there yet, though. It was supposed to be a practical joke on the origins of the jacket. So we need to talk about: football (soccer for the yankees).
Cologne. FC Cologne. A club of which you need to be a fan. Second last in the Bundesliga. Just sacked the coach. The Sports arbitration court sanctioned them with a two period transfer ban. BUT: they have an excellent mascot:
They have an actual goat which is in the stadium at home games. The rest of time - you have guessed it by now - he is kept at the zoo.
So the question is - who wears the goatskin better?
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@tody
great pics and the jacket suits you extremly good ! You should think of getting a double rider kind of jacket for yourself.
merry christmas for you and your family mate
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Here's the next installment - finished the Christmas celebrations and straight off to the Netherlands we went! Yesterday we were at the in-laws, today at my Mother's. We drove straight to Den Helder from there. This is where the ferry to Texel leaves, to the first and largest of the West Frisian Islands.
It's the place we go on vacation, sort of our safe space and sanctuary.
I first went there with my parents at the age of 12, and have spent at least a few days every year there ever since. It was the perfect vacation spot when I was a kid, and my parents bought a house there early on - thus we went on every occasion we could. I was the only one from our family who kept on going there regularly, but still my parents decided to sell the house some years ago. Still, we kept going, renting a place in the same holiday park.
I had been trying to get my own place there ever since my parents sold theirs, but when there's a waiting list three pages long at the reception in that park alone, it's not an easy undertaking. We had incredible luck two years ago, when an opportunity arose, a once-in-a-lifetime thing. We jumped on it, and now go there as often as possible.
It's an 370km drive to the ferry, that is anything between 3 and 6 hours (mostly 3, but it can be bad on a Friday afternoon). That's a little too far for 'just' a weekend, but everything that is longer - public holidays leading to longer weekends, and every school holidays there are we go there.
It is beautiful to see the island changing throughout the year, things you wont see if you're a 'regular' tourist. I'll show you some spots during the course of the next two weeks.Here's the Mad Red at and on the ferry:
We had a full moon tonight:
Our place is the one with the lit windows:
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Forgot one thing to add: it was right at that ferry terminal where I heard 'Bullet in the head' by Rage against the Machine for the first time, see my music related post above. Must have been the spring of '93. Blasting from a VW bus driven by a couple of surfer type guys. Looks like it had a lasting impression on me.
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Well, by the end of this post you're going to ask me how cold it was - around 1-1.5" I'd say...
So they've got this tradition in the Netherlands - a 'Nieuwjaarsduik'. And yes, this translates to New Year's Dive. First time for me.
Despite the beautiful looks, it was windy as fuck today, with outside temperatures of 8°C (46.4°F) and water temperatures of 6°C (42.8°F).
Here's me checking in. You get a lovely orange bobble hat for free:
The MRMF ready for action:
The view from the starting line:
Still smiling:
Waiting patiently for the start:
Too crowded to take picture of the action, so here's me afterwards:
Finally warmer clothing, the N1 is a better piece for the beach... Sign translates to 'fat seal'.
No MRMF was harmed during the making of this post!
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holy crab
that’s tough 
frohes Neues
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Legend
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I have warmed up a little... The weather is pretty bleak, though. Lots of rain, and very windy - up to 10 Bft tonight.
As the island is mainly below sea level, it is difficult to pump out all the water after longer periods of rain. A lot of paths are flooded.
One area is left flooded on purpose - where the sea broke trough the dunes centuries ago, and left a giant salt marsh:
We went to one of the museums today, a seal shelter and natural history museum.
Also on display - whales, which are washed up to the shore fairly regularly. New on display is the skeleton of a fin whale:
Bones of a blue whale:
Oh, and @Alex - that wouldn't have fit in the pot for the Three Penis Soup, right?
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