Ines

Marcel and Ines dine with a waiter at Klinker and discuss whether they enjoyed the meal.

Before I had the Year of Art, I had the Year of Friendship. It was actually two years, but who’s counting.

These yearly themes aren’t really supposed to end when the year does. Something always sticks. One of the things that stuck from the Year of Friendship is that I now tend to say yes when someone asks me to do something. Relationships are the most important thing in life, and I don’t want to look back one day and think I should have done more, tried more, or spent more time with the people I care about.

That being said, I don’t think this philosophy will extend to eating at fancy restaurants much more often. The food is delicious, sure, but I’m mostly there for the company, and by the next day I’ll probably have forgotten almost everything I ate. I have friends who can still tell me about that incredible mushroom steak they had in Copenhagen ten years ago or whatever. That’s just not me.

Food is very much an in-the-moment kind of thing for me. I enjoy it while it’s there, but it doesn’t have a huge impact on how I remember an experience overall, as long as it’s good and healthy enough.

Marcel sits on a park bench holding Fritzi while Ines stands nearby with a cup.

These spontaneous walks have become less frequent since Ines moved to a different part of the city, and I miss them. It was great having friends in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, there's no way of finding an apartment anywhere else, so I'm stuck here in my absurdly beautiful Winterhude. Oh well...

Friends and family celebrate Werner's 40th birthday at a garden party, with a woman holding a baby and a boarding pass displayed.

It was such a lovely day. Everyone was there. So many friends came to Hamburg for the weekend, and we all had a wonderful time.

Marcel reacts to a spider in the shower, then meets Ines for coffee.

The spider crossed my “this is fine” boundary and was promptly evicted.