h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yesterday afternoon, at about half past four, the phone rang: my friend W.
W: Do you have any plans for tonight?
Me: No.
W: Would you like to go to a Cooking Show?
Me: Don't know, what sort of Cooking Show?
W: You know the Witzigmann Show?
Me: No, I don't watch any cooking shows
W: Hmm, well, yes, Witzigmann is a show where they cook and have a variété show at the same time.
Me: Oh, I had no idea, the only show I ever watched was 'Ready,Steady, Cook'
once or twice.
W: This isn't like the Witzigmann show, they don't cook there. We just go
there, get a meal and Belcanto and a Variété show for free. Tickets would be
€ 49.00 or more/person.
Me: that sounds good, how comes?
W: My son's gf (N) sometimes does some babysitting for a woman called Maria.
Maria works there, and has told N that ticket sales was slow for today, and
that she was welcome to go there for free and bring some friends. Neither N
nor my son want to go, so I thought I'd ask you. G ( another friend) will
come, too.
Me: Ok, I'll come with you, I don't have any plans for tonight anyway.

So two hours later, we took the /undergrund/S-Bahn to take us to our
destination, 'OH! MIA BELLA', on the other side of the town.
When we arrived, we marched up to the ticket booth, and W said:" We're
guests of Maria, we're invited to get in for free."
"Oh, yes, go around the corner, through the entrance, I'll go and search for
Maria."
So we went to the entrance, and W said: the only trouble is that I don't know
Maria and vice versa ."
What can I say- it didn't matter. Maria never turned up, maybe it was her
day off, or she was late or whatever.
We were greeted with a glass of and had to put our hand (palm upwards) in the
replica of the 'Bocca della Verità' - the 'Mouth of Truth'( http://images.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http://www.imagesofjustice.com/BoccaVeritaFP2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.imagesofjustice.com/boccadellaverita.htm&h=360&w=288&sz=122&hl=de&start=13&tbnid=LbDSkmx2awv7XM:&tbnh=121&tbnw=97&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbocca%2Bdella%2Bverita%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Dde%26lr%3D%26rls%3DSKPB,SKPB:2006-46,SKPB:de%26sa%3DN ).
Somebody d our hands and put some sweets ino them.
The huge hall where the event took place was only half full, what a shame.
Everything was nicely decorated, the walls were covered with beige drapes picturing Italian shops like Gelaterias, Confetterias etc, there were pots with rosemary and basil on
the tables, napkins were kept folded by a noodle! (a variaton of pasta I've
never seen before, hence don't know the name), waiters and waitressses were
dressed in red-white-green (red bandanna, white shirt, green
skirt/trousers). As an apéritif, there were olives, sliced baguette and
olive oil. There were two bottles of white wine, a glass amphora with water,
and then the waiter came and brought a bottle of red wine.
The show started with a singer presenting all the well-known songs from the
1960s - just in Italian, not in German.
We were then served a Minestrone, followed by Spaghetti with three different
sauces (Gorgonzola, Tomato, Arrabiata) to choose from, and some sort of
Tiramisu as dessert. The artistic part was short but well presented, the
food was delicious, so was the , and the atmosphere was
relaxed.There were screens all over the hall, so you could follow what was
going on on stage from wherever you were sat. In the end, they showed the
songtexts on the screens, so that everybody could join into the songs. It
was all a bit chaotic towards the ending, but very nice, we had a brilliant
evening. We left at about 10.00pm, were lucky with the public transport
connections, and when we were nearly home, we decided to have a last
at the bar, and hopped off the the last minute.
When we finally got home at about midnight, we were tired, but happy.
What an unexpected, great night out.

That does sound like fun!

Good nights out are often best when it's not planned - less time to get all worked up about it, much more chance of just going with the flow because you don't have any expectations

I must admit that I'm not usually the spontaneous type, but you're right, when somethingis planned for a long time, I usually end up not being motivated to go he very day, racking my brain for a good excuse - something I don't have to do when it's so spontaneous - I just say yes or no, and don't have to give a reason.

glav you had fun!

must remember "we're guests of Maria, we're invited to get in for free." is in Germany code for free food and entertainment

It sounds like you had a great time. And delish sounding food too.

That's exactly what we thought, pheloxi, but it will only work with Italians:
There'll be a probability of about 90% that one of the staff will be called Maria

We were all convinced that it would never have worked had the event been organised by Germans, they'd probably asked us for our IDs, and which Maria we were talking of, and then they'd have searched for Maria, and if they hadn't found her, or found out that we didn't know her and she didn't know us, they'd have sent us home.

It was really nice that everybody was so relaxed.

Ho yus, Footie.

And we weren't greedy, we didn't even finish one bottle of wine between the three of us.

wonders if it was French if Marie might work for a free meal...

>we didn't even finish one bottle of wine< *feels Bel's forehead* just making sure you were well dear.

Oh, we had a glass of and two glasses of each, so that was ok.
When we had our , I actually wondered if I'd get a today, from drinking wine and beer, but I was fine this morning.

has just been reading that and is now

Witzigmann is one of the 3 top in Germany!!

Yes, I have heard his name, and have been told that entrance fee for one of his shows is about 120
But why should I want to watch somebody do the cooking, I mean, I don't even like cooking.

I wouldn't dare utter such blasphemy - would probably start throwing his (super shapr) knives!!

he's having a jolly good laugh today because the Schiffchen in Düsseldorf just lost one of its three from the new Michelin Guide which comes out next week.

That's definite Schaudenfreude - and a sign we've been here too long!

Is that where he worked before?
And why do you say it's a sign you've been here too long?

no he didn't work there (he wishes)

sorry - it's sort of a joke with me because we don't have a word for Schadenfreude. So, to wind up my German colleagues,I always say it's because we don't experience it... so if we are, it's because we're becoming German.

Actually it's certainly not true (we're probably the world leaders in Schadenfreude) and I actually wouldn't mind being German at all.

so, actually, that was a bit especially since you just did that proofreading for me

sorry

& ?

Awww, Sho, that's really nice of you to say.
And that bit of reading wasn't much, you're very welcome.
I'm just watching Harry Potter, or rather, izt's running in the background.

oh which one?

I've just finished (today) reading HP4 to the Gruesomes. They want me to go straight into 5 - but it makes me so I'm not sure... and I want to read a couple of shorter ones first.

HP and the chamber of something - don't know the English title, don't even remember whether it's part II ot part III.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - it's the second one.