BiB

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1. pleite - January 15, 2007

Redneckarts, hello, and thank you! I didn’t even know you could comment in about, which, in honour of Canadianness, I am currently internally pronouncing ‘aboat’.

But sorry to hear about the gloom. What helps? What makes the depression subside? I say wrap yourself up warm in front of that fire – let me imagine you live in a nice wooden house in the forest surrounded by lots of nothing. Can I come and stay? (Are you by the sea?) – and blog more and paint more and fall in love and stroke your cat and… and… everything.

I’m so glad I made you laugh. That means blogging is a good thing. Please drop by for a chat whenever you feel like it.

2. redneckarts - January 15, 2007

six in the morning in Canada here. I’ve been up all night with depression…usually it works the opposite way but I can’t sleep all day too. Can I. Canadians just don’t.What with the industrious beaver.

Just stepped out to get firewood from the yard. Nice mix of snow and rain falling. Which may slow the arrival of smoke frankly and I may have to kill something by noon. But you made me laugh very hard.

I think I know the lecturing lesbian. They’ve cloned her and she lives all up and down my little backstreet here and has taken over my favourite bar on Friday nights. I have nowhere to go. I blog.

Thankyou for your blog. I’m going to link to it. Mine’s at wordpress too. It isn’t very funny. My cat isn’t well. later dude. And keep up the hard work.

3. redneckarts - January 15, 2007

thank you so. I will visit. Our first blizzard here and it cheers me up enormously. And I do say aboot. And I am in the country’s middle and far from the sea. A wooden building in a town more like Miss Marple’s than you’d believe. Quaint enough to gag a maggot as they say in the bushland about twenty minutes north, I’m from farther that way. And you can come to stay. This blizzard helps the gloom enormously. Thankyou. later then.
rock

4. BiB - January 15, 2007

I love your icons and paintings of Robert. I need to scour your site(s) more. Now I’m a great believer in reciprocal linkage, but am wondering if I should list you under ‘blogroll’ or ‘other’. My inclination is towards ‘other’, as you’re not exactly a blog, but do say if you have a preference either way. Is the hall pictured here your very own hall? If so, I’m on the next plane. We could play ‘scenes from films’ – we’ll make up the rules once I arrive – for EVER.

5. Michael Eckert - January 31, 2007

Hi,

I couldn`t sleep and was reading your BLOG all night.

a ) great for learning / brushing up my English
b ) totally funny, hilarious, excellent !!!! ( I love it )

No need to be broke……

Just contact me, I am Terminator 4.

Greetings :-)

Michael

P.S. Live in Berlin, but get paid from somewhere else….!

6. pleite - January 31, 2007

Michael, I am so glad you liked it. Thank you. That sort of comment makes blogging more than worthwhile. As you can see from the comments above yours, I am a great cure for insomnia! Actually, I couldn’t sleep all night either. I mean, I could have slept but was forbidden from doing so by having to work (and surf). And I’m not nearly done. And it’s 6.30am.

Living in Berlin and getting paid from somewhere else is sound advice. Actually, I mostly do that. It’s just getting the payers-from-elsewhere to meet their side of the bargain that’s difficult. When they really start misbehaving, I will seek out your terminatorly assistance. (What do terminators do?)

7. Sil - May 10, 2007

I have been sitting here, at work, wasting precious tax-payers money for the last hour, reading your blog. Your writing is phenomenal – at least by the blogging standards that I have come across. Anyway, I miss Berlin dearly and hope you continue to be inspired to write about it. Alles jute!

8. pleite - May 11, 2007

Sil, thank you. What an incredibly nice thing to say. And far be it from me to encourage wasting tax-payers’ money, but I’m sure blog-reading ranks right up there amongst the better wastes of time. Inspiration is frequently lacking, I have to say, but I’ll keep plugging away as best I can. Alles jute to you too!

9. Marthe - November 13, 2007

I’m avoiding writing an essay on tenth-century monastic reform by reading your blog. This is a service more valuable than you may ever know.

And your family seems to live in somewhere near my corner of south-west London, if I read the references to Twitnam aright! (Used to live just off Twickenham high street, now live in Chiswick. Which I suppose is actually west London. And I only live there in the holidays now.)

But yes, really awesome blog – fucking hilarious. Thank you.

10. pleite - November 14, 2007

Marthe, thank you. Your comment has made my day. If I’ve provided a distraction, though as a responsible adult I do, of course, encourage you to write your essay on tenth-century monastic reform – where? In Britain, you mean? Sounds rather fab, actually – then that is a good thing and I can delay, or tell my conscience to delay, thinking that blogging is a naughtily self-indulgent and silly thing to do.

Yep, good old Twickers. Was there just last week. Teddington Lock is my refuge for when I need to run away from my mother.

All the best to you.

11. emeline - March 7, 2008

Pleite, we don’t know you! Who is hidden behind these amusing and well-written articles?

Maybe I am wrong but it sounds that your sense of humour is similar to the British one! Are you English, Scottish… or worse… French?*

*Please people don’t be angry after reading this bad word! It is a joke! I am French and it is nice to make fun of my native country!

12. Adrian - March 8, 2008

Hi mr pleite! thanks for replying to my europop quiz – you win a runner up prize. Email me on acediscoveries@gmail.com, and I’ll let you know more.

13. pleite - March 12, 2008

Hi Adrian, and thank you. The e-mail should be with you. Already looking forward to the red carpet.

Emeline, well I can’t say too much of course, as I have to keep my sooper-dooper hidden identity hidden. But, yes, an Englishman in Berlin. I sometimes claim to have Scottish origins, but I think it’s a lie. And I did spend some formative (of a sort) years in France, but I suppose I’m still a rosbif at heart.

14. narrioch - June 1, 2008

Found your site from searching for Berlin tags – your style of writing makes me laugh. I’m off to Berlin soon so will be checking back!

15. BiB - June 2, 2008

Narrioch, thanks for saying so. Hope you enjoy yourself when you make it here.

16. wierdo - June 27, 2008

Hello. I just found your blog through following links (I spend hours going from blog to blog and reading everything that’s interesting until my eyes pop), and I must thank you for making me laugh! You’ve got a really nice way of writing that makes me a tinsy-winsy bit jealous but most of all just makes me want to read more!
Just thought you’d like to know!

17. BiB - June 28, 2008

Hello Wierdo and thank you very much for popping over to say so. That’s very kind of you. I am now going to go and have a pry over at your place(s) which, in the case of the Welsh-language blog, will involve me trying to say the words out loud and imagining, while not understanding a thing, that my pronunciation is perfect.

18. Wierdo - June 28, 2008

I would LOVE to see that! Although, give me 5 pints of cider and I’m the same!

19. BiB - July 1, 2008

Seeing it would presumably be far betting than hearing it. Though personally I think I make a fairly mean ll.

20. redneckarts - July 7, 2008

Lost your email address… and I wanted to ask you something off site. hope you are well. Very hot here, baking hot, and I’m just home from a nice drug and alcohol addled time in the city with my ex stripper friend Tommy who looks like jon bon jovi gone punk and his girlfriend who looks like mona lisa gone goth. I’m very immature I know, but being here in my hometown a bit and seeing what doing the right and only thing to do has done to my school chums has only worsened my behavior. I was right all along. Been catching up on your posts tonight. thankyou sir.
rock

21. BiB - July 7, 2008

Redneck, e-mail winging its way bravely and cleverly to distant Canada.

I’m constantly battling internal demons, telling myself it’d all be better if I only did something sensible and lived a sensible lifestyle. It might be better for my nerves, in some ways, but I still can’t help thinking that, sometimes, maybe things aren’t so bad like this.

22. Steven - July 13, 2008

I thought you were a female, when you said about primping up your hair for the Russian?

23. BiB - July 13, 2008

Steven, no, all man.

24. Geoff - July 16, 2008

22 – this is my favourite comment of the year.

25. BiB - July 16, 2008

Geoff, it’s a good one, isn’t it? Though I do sometimes think I might be a woman with a willy, so, Steven, you could be half-right. But, then, women tend not to have willies. It’s all much less (or perhaps more) simple than it at first seems. Men give birth now, after all.

26. Cuckoo - July 22, 2008

Ha Ha Ha… I liked Geoff’s comment !!

And I too am wondering who are you ?? BiB or Pleite ??

27. BiB - July 29, 2008

Hello Cuckoo. Either will do. BiB is short for Broke in Berlin and pleite is German for broke, so they each apply just as well.

28. Ed Meza - August 22, 2008

Hi BiB,
I was a bit dazed this morning after my night out at the Stammtisch, followed by more imbibing on the dance floor until 3 in the morning or so.
Very funny stuff. My greetings to the Russian.

29. BiB - August 25, 2008

Ed, nice to have met you and I look forward to repeating the experience soon. If you ask very nicely, I might even try to drag the Russian along.

30. Will - September 3, 2008

Hi BiB,

I was looking for an email address for you to try an arrange an review similiar to https://www.thebloggersguide.com/barcelona/karie-scotts-european-adventure – Could you possibly email me if you are interested?

Many thanks
Will

31. BiB - September 6, 2008

Will do, Will. And thanks for asking.

32. Annie Rhiannon - September 8, 2008

Hi there. Could you please email me too? I have a favour to ask of you…

33. BiB - September 8, 2008

Consider it done…

34. headbang8 - November 18, 2008

BiB–Broke, but sexy, in Berlin.

I’m glad comment 23 cleared up the Big Secret. Not that there was any doubt in my mind.

One clue that you and the Russian are a gay male couple is that you don’t need complete fluency in each other’s tongue to have a relationship. If you’ll forgive the turn of phrase.

Women share emotions with words. Men don’t need words; our emotional instincts are sharper.

My other half is Japanese. People often ask how we manage our relationship when I speak only the barest Japanese, and his English is far from perfect.

I tell them that you don’t need many words to fall in love. But if you want to have a really good argument, your language has to be deadly, pinpoint accurate.

Besides, who needs to talk when your mouth is full?

Take care of yourself. HB8

35. BiB - December 1, 2008

Headbang, that’s interesting. I’d never really thought of it not being that bad a disaster that my Russian is far from perfect because we’re a male couple. One problem of it, for me, is that I can sometimes be lazy. If I have something that I want to say that I know is going to be complicated, I often just don’t bother. Which doesn’t make for the most communicative of relationships, and my other half is not the chattiest man on the planet as it is. But, yes, I agree, there are ways of communicating beyond language and I still think we know each other as completely as is possible, even if I can’t always put what I want into words.

36. trampelpfade - December 15, 2008

My compliments on a very elegantly written blog. Britain is truly the home of the English language. Although I disagree with some of the political opinions displayed by yourself, most notably an seeming affinity to Andrew Sullivan, your writing is still a pleasure to read.

Regards..

37. BiB - December 16, 2008

Hi Trampelpfade and thank you so much for writing to say so. That’s very kind of you and encourages me no end.

I must say I’ve slightly fallen off the Andrew Sullivan trail. I remember finding him a very impressive person when I first came across him and he probably seemed impossibly glamorous, having gone and taken America by storm (if that’s what he did). Now I still read his articles if I stumble across them in the British press but don’t know enough about the American issues he writes on.

Do you blog/write anywhere yourself?

38. bad sarah - January 26, 2009

I am coming to meet you!! I am very excited indeed – and to meet the Russian. Emma said you would meet up with us on our journey to Berlin??

39. BiB - January 26, 2009

Hello Bad Sarah! I’ve heard oodles about you – I even know that you never take a bad photo – and have pencilled into my brain that you and Emma are coming to Berlin. So that I can pen it in on paper, will you remind me of your dates again as, even though Emma’s already told me, I can’t remember where I put the info? Ta. And see you soon!

40. bad sar - February 17, 2009

that is a downright lie – I take horrid photos these days as my chin has grown into three chins… oh yes – it’s true. I used to take a good photo – the camera doesn’t lie:)
Make sure you let me know about the “package” at Stansted.

41. BiB - March 16, 2009

Bad Sar, I now know for a fact this isn’t true. Thrilled to have met you. Thanks for the laughs!

42. Matthew Cashmore - May 18, 2009

fab blog – would love to include it in Lonely Planet’s BlogSherpa – https://lplabs.com/blogsherpa

If you’re up for it drop me a note on matthew.cashmore@lonelyplanet.com and we’ll get you set up.

matthew

43. BiB - October 20, 2009

Thanks Matthew. Have done…

44. sabrina - March 7, 2010

Dear Broke,

I’ve been reading your column since 2007. It is the best blog about Berlin that I’ve come across. Sometimes I read it out loud to my boyfriend, who reminds me of you (a not Gay you). Anyway…I write a blog about Berlin too and about life in general. I just moved back here and it’s comforting to reconnect with all the Berlin institutions I missed while I was attempting to drown my impoverished sorrows with pale-ale in Portland. I consider your blog to be one of those institutions and I am really enjoying catching up with your life on this gray Sunday in Kreuzberg.

I would be honored if you would check out my blog. If you care to link to it, that would maybe raise my profile from 20 readers a day to 21!

Thanks,
Sabrina
foodandfootage.com

45. BiB - July 13, 2010

Sabrina, I’ve edited your url into the comment, which I hope you don’t think is rude of me. But thank you for such a lovely and encouraging comment and sorry to have ignored it for so long. Incredibly rude of me. Will see if I can get my blogging head back on.

46. headbang8 - August 19, 2010

Ping. Write something.

47. Stephanie - September 9, 2010

I’m the editor of Expat Arrivals.com (https://www.expatarrivals.com), a site devoted to developing comprehensive destination guides aimed at easing expat transitions abroad. I came across your blog while doing research for the German portion of our guide and was hoping I could convince you to contribute. We exchange valuable content about destinations for promotional profiles where you can levy exposure for yourself and your blog. Furthermore, would you be willing to link to our site from your blog. I think some of our info could supplement your posts nicely. I look forward to hearing from you!

Best-
Stephanie

48. Josè Pascal - February 6, 2011

Surfing the waves of the web I am pleasantly stranded in this beautiful blog.

I write under the pseudonym of Josè Pascal (a descendant of the great Colonel Aureliano Buendía).

I invite you to visit my italian writing blog https://parolesemplici.wordpress.com/mytinbox/. I define this blog “In parole Semplici” as a “virtuacultural tin” box where they are guarded thoughts, memories, images, sounds, and simple stories. ”

If you want to participate and to have more informations send me a letter to inparolesempli@gmail.com

Good life and I hope to soon
Josè