My last means of transportation in Germany is running on fossile fuel. It’s a red Vespa Primavera, and it’s a fast and furious little machine. I had an intense week in Germany, which ended with a scenic ride along the Rhine River and crossing it eventually by ferry. Among other things to manage, I have sent personal effects and furniture by sea freight, first forwarded to Frankfurt, further to Berlin and from there to some exit port. There is only an estimate, when they will arrive. It highly depends on how smooth the land transport to the port will go. And not much runs smooth anymore in Germany, unfortunately. I was here for the federal elections, and the country is in a fix. Then followed the traditional Carnival, which this time maybe more of a funeral feast after clearly burying what some call the “good old times”. Then Trump clashed with Zelensky on TV, the EU is in disarray, and Germany literally disappeared from the international stage in this debacle. Well, perhaps that’s not the worst position to be in. I am just guessing that soon there could be European troops policing a cease fire in parts of Ukraine, securing not just “peace”, but also US FDI. And there are no good memories on German soldiers in Ukraine. The incident in September 2023 when the the Ukrainian-Canadian Yaroslav Hunka received standing ovations in the House of Commons of Canada, being praised as a freedom fighter, may have refreshed some history awareness. Hunka was not just a normal Nazi collaborator in Ukraine, but served in the notorious SS Devision Galicia, an extremely ruthless part of the military wing of the Nazi Party. Somebody did not do his homework, before inviting him into the Canadian parliament.
On the other hand the presumably “naive” American way of doing things, reminds me of the scene in Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville ghost, when the American Mr. Otis meets the ghost, Sir Simon, at night and offers him the American made Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator to oil his chains and reduce the noise made by them. For centuries, the ghost had prided himself on his ability to terrify the inhabitants of Canterville. But these new family's pragmatic and unflappable reactions to his hauntings completely undermined his sense of purpose as a ghost. And you know what? I like it. Not sure, whether you can build a Riviera in Gaza like that. But some ghosts clearly have to loose their purpose. Especially, when the purpose is to bring misery.
Spring is coming, and this is another good reason to dash around with the Primavera, until I will again board a plane over the Atlantic.