Some gentle humour for your Friday afternoons

[dolorosa_12]

I'm more excited about the return of Deutschland 89 to our screens than the finale of WandaVision — and given I love WandaVision, that's really saying something! But I'm not here to talk about TV — I'm here to bring you this delightful gem from elsewhere.

I absolutely love local newspapers — in part because, when they're funded properly, they have the ability to do good quality, investigative journalism with a focus on issues taking place outside big cities. But the main reason is because they have a tendency to focus on ridiculous, long-running tiny local issues that don't matter at all in the grand scheme of things. I follow the Facebook group Angry People in Local Newspapers (also available via Twitter as angrypiln), which curates the best local newspaper content. (The 'angry people' in question are usually doing one of the following: a) pointing at potholes b) complaining about parking tickets or c) NIMBYish opposing some minor local devolopment application by demanding that local councillors 'think of the children' in situations where doing so is entirely irrelevant. There are also a lot of photos of local politicians wearing high vis jackets and lanyards, carrying clipboards.)

It was via this group that I first became aware of a particularly silly ongoing local saga, involving a man in Norwich (in the UK) illicitly running a Japanese restaurant from his home. Every time the council tried to catch him in the act, he simply denied that this restaurant existed, and the council continued to say they had insufficient evidence to prove anything. In spite of this, the dogged local newspaper managed — in a series of articles — to ascertain that this guy had:

Previously run a Japanese restaurant in a commercial premises

Had an active business Facebook page for a restaurant of the same name as the above, now with his home as the address. This Facebook page also listed a menu, prices, and details for collecting takeaway from the home address

Applied for and received a food safety and hygiene rating, for his home address

A journalist from the paper also ordered and collected a takeaway meal from the guy's house.

Every few months, the local paper runs another story along these lines, always accompanied by the same photo of the guy looking extremely smug, and a quote from him saying the restaurant doesn't exist.

Here is the latest version: Fresh questions over 'Japanese restaurant' in Norwich home. As I say, this can be added to 'I haven't turned my house into a restaurant', Norwich man claims, You can dine in or have a takeaway - fresh probe over Japanese 'restaurant' run from Norwich home, and Man who denies running restaurant from home given food hygiene rating. All these have been posted over the past two years, and at this point I demand a humorous British film about the saga.

Honestly, this whole thing has just made my day.

Comments

How it looks from here

[ng_moonmoth]

All this makes me strongly suspect that there are enough people in the city government who like their teriyaki too much to really want to shut the place down. I don't have a good enough feel for UK dining patterns to estimate how likely there are to be other Japanese restaurants in a city the size of Norwich, although I would certainly expect it might be able to support a legally constituted one.

Re: How it looks from here

[dolorosa_12]

Yes, my feeling is that either he's paying someone off, or the councillors just like his cooking that much that they're turning a blind eye — I mean, what do they think is going on?

I got shown a related article in the newspaper when I was digging up the various links which was a restaurant review of a different (legitimate) Japanese restaurant, so it's certainly not a scarcity thing. I live in a much smaller town than Norwich, and even we have one Japanese restaurant.

Re: How it looks from here

[ng_moonmoth]

That inspired a visit from my muse, who has a pattern of dropping in and greeting me with, "Yo! You wanna write this!" It's to the tune of "Julian of Norwich" by Sydney Carter. Enjoy!

Off in the town of Norwich is a restaurant known to me.
Here, where Orlando Williams says he runs a B & B.

CHORUS:
Take out from Sakura and let the diners come and go
I shall be full again, I know.

Word comes from all the neighbors to the council of the town
Word comes from all the neighbors: they request we shut it down.

CHORUS

They say that he serves takeout from his place in Earlham Road.
We served him Breach of Planning, and he flatly told us “no”.

CHORUS

They asked if what we'd found would let us lay his restaurant low.
I like my teriyaki, so I told them “We don't know.”

CHORUS

I shall be full, I'm telling you, let the diners come and go
I shall be full again, I know.

Off in the town of Norwich is a restaurant known to me.
Here, where Orlando Williams says he runs a B & B.

CHORUS

I shall be full, I'm telling you, let the diners come and go
I shall be full again, I know.

Re: How it looks from here

[dolorosa_12]

Amazing!

Re: How it looks from here

[ng_moonmoth]

Glad you liked it.

[kore]

Ha, this is great!

[dolorosa_12]

I've been aware of this guy for about six months (on the basis of a previous story that the local paper ran), and every time his cheerful, smug face appears, I'm just delighted.

[pauraque]

at this point I demand a humorous British film about the saga

Or at least a Monty Python sketch! I was getting some real "the parrot isn't dead, he's just resting" vibes from this story. XD

[dolorosa_12]

Hahaha, that would be even better!

Honestly, I just love this entire saga.

[lirazel]

But the main reason is because they have a tendency to focus on ridiculous, long-running tiny local issues that don't matter at all in the grand scheme of things.

AGREED.

This would make a fantastic British comedy, and I want it!

[dolorosa_12]

I used to work for the local newspaper in my hometown — although because my hometown is simultaneously the national capital of Australia, and also only has a population of 390,000 or so, it publishes such a bizarre combination of national politics, weird civil service wonkery, and minor gripes about tiny local issues. My mother worked for local radio in the same town, and it had a very similar vibe.

I wish I knew people in the film industry, because I genuinely think it could work as a film!

[lirazel]

I really do think that the demise of the newspaper industry is a great loss to the world. I would have loved to be in a newsroom--that's so great that you had that experience!

[chestnut_pod]

That is delightful.

[dolorosa_12]

Isn't it just a fantastic story! No doubt there'll be another, similar article on the topic appearing in the local newspaper in the next few months!

[trepkos]

Can you tell me, is Deutschland 89 a drama or a black comedy?

[dolorosa_12]

It's kind of hard to pin down (and interestingly my husband and I were actually having a conversation about this very question yesterday — sometimes the show is a comedy of errors, sometimes it's a spy thriller, and sometimes it's a serious family drama).

If you've ever seen the film Goodbye, Lenin!, it is very similar in tone and feel (and both fall into a category of German media called Ostalgie, 'nostalgia for the East'). For the most part, it's comedic, a show about a bunch of hapless incompetents who just happen to be there at key moments in Cold War history. But there are some extremely dark, sometimes heartbreaking moments as well.

Deutschland 89 is actually the third season of the show — the first season is called Deutschland 83, and the second is called Deutschland 86. As you can probably tell from the names, each new series skips forward three years, but focuses on the same characters. The third, and final series takes place immediately before, during and after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

[trepkos]

Sounds like it might be my kind of thing ...