2014: My page in review

It’s nearly the end of the year. So it’s good to know that the WordPress.com stats monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this page.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,200 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 20 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

In the thick of it…

As part of DW’s sports coverage I was recently asked to go to Germany’s EURO 2016 qualifier in Gelsenkirchen. I had to do a live telephone interview before and after the game, a written post-match report and I also recorded and cut soundbites from the players, for our English language radio shows too.

It was a treat to be given the chance to report from the game, as we often have to do so much football journalism from our desks these days. The match ended in a 1-1 draw – which felt like a loss for the Germans – but irrespective of what the local fans thought: I still had a great time. Continue reading

Paradise downer

DSC_0926There’s nothing like getting away from the desk job and discovering somewhere new. Especially if you are on holiday and actually have some time to slow down, look around you and take some notice. With my better half, we opted to visit the Croatian island of Vis for the first time. How we got there is a weird story, but that – as Ofelia Harms would say – is not the point. Continue reading

Just 20 days to go

For the duration of the Football World Cup in Brazil, it looks like I will be back roaming the sports department at DW. After working as a correspondent for the Euro 2008 tournament and the 2010 World Cup, I’m pleased to be back lacing up the boots again.

This time it won’t be on location though. I’ll be staying in Bonn helping with DW’s special Brazil World Cup webpage.  Once the tournament gets going, the page should be absolutely overflowing with match updates and quirky reports from in and around the World Cup in Brazil. Continue reading

Had to be done

Through all my time covering the environment beat in Germany, I can’t remember a more obvious story to cover than this one. Germany, a country that is hell-bent on improving it’s amount of renewable energy, is considering charging self-producers of energy an extra fee for the power they produce themselves.Picture 1

Although the new surcharge is mainly meant to hit big chemical and manufacturing companies that have on-site mini power stations, it also is due to affect those companies who have invested in renewable energies, for rooftop solar cells or wind turbines. Continue reading