Day 45 - There's a Tear in my Fracking Beer

Are you familiar with the term "fracking"?  Well, it's very technical and involves hydraulic fracturing of shale to tap shale gasses.  Basically, it's a way to harvest gas from the earth and, according the the small amount of research I've done, it's not very environmentally friendly.  Elections are looming here in Germany and a very powerful lobby group has decided to stand up and express their opinion, and it's an opinion that the people of Germany will likely listen to.  The Association of German Brewers.  Yes, the beer makers.  

A story by Stefan Nicola in the Toronto Star this Friday says that the Brewers of Germany are concerned that the practice will contaminate ground water, breaking the oldest food safety law in the world...Reinheitsgebot, or Purity Law for the beer.  I've stated in previous entries in this blog that the Germans take their beer seriously.  This story just goes to prove the statement even further.  They love beer.  It's taxed here at a much lower rate than other products for one simple reason, it's considered a human right.  If you look at the link for the Star article, you'll see a picture at the top of a politician, Angela Merkel, pounding back a liter of beer...while on campaign.  They shake hands, kiss babies and make speeches, all while tipping back the steins.  That's just badass.  I'm convinced that Canadian politics would be much more interesting if beer was involved.  Can't you just picture the speaker of the house tipping back a quart of Export while a raucous bar fight broke out on the floor?  It would be epic.

This leads to a segue into the next part of my entry.  Previously I blogged the Dortmund hooligans.  Loud and proud, those ones.  Well, today was the Champions League final between Dortmund and Munich.  It's Europe's biggest tournament and the game took place in London.  And us, in our infinite wisdom, picked today to travel to Dortmund to go shopping.  The train trip was full of beer swilling and chanting...and chanting...and chanting.  

A man near us on the train got upset.  He was not happy with the chanting so he decided to go and tell the hooligans they were being too loud.  He walked to the end of the car and approached them.  I didn't see or hear what he said, but there was hysterical laughter followed immediately by more chanting, at double the volume, with a saxophone and accordion accompaniment.  He walked back to his spot with his head hanging in shame while the rest of the train just shook their head at his stupidity.  Honestly, would you approach a bunch a drunk soccer hooligans in an enclosed space and tell them to shut up?  Talk about a death wish, yet it was still early and Dortmund had not yet lost (a 2-1 nail-biter) so he lived to whine another day.

We arrived at the HBF in Dortmund to a sea of people in yellow and black.  It looked like a giant bee hive, except instead of honey, there was beer.  The chanting was constant and god forbid some poor bastard wasn't paying attention when he got dressed this morning and had the audacity to wear red.  I wore white...nice and neutral.  These people are crazy superfans.  Everywhere was packed, the streets, the bars and the Promised Land...the BVB (Dortmund team merchandise) store at the mall.

Even the local supermarket had their own tribute to the home team.

 
Football and beer, German staples.  

Lesson for the day.  There are times to speak out and times to shut up.  The mark of a truly intelligent person is to know the difference.  A little noise never killed anyone but I'm quite sure a superior and righteous attitude has.

Credit to Moo who forwarded the article to me.  Moo, it might be easier to send a web link in future.  Saves the scanning time but it's awesome that you read it and thought of me.  Can't wait to see you in Rome.

Beddy Bye Time.

Ian