I already knew before the weekend even started that I would be tired. At work I was covering colleagues who were on holiday, and for two weeks it would continue like that. Four mailboxes to manage, different countries, different offices, different people asking for things at the same moment. Spain maybe open, maybe closed. France…
When The Mayor showed me the cartoon, I liked it very much. I was quite touched by it, actually. The idea was simple, but also completely absurd in the right way. Garbage are playing at The Piece Hall in Halifax on the 16th of June, with Skunk Anansie, and somehow I am not only at…
My name is Fabrice. I was born in Wissembourg in 1967, but I grew up here in Cleebourg. For me, Cleebourg is not just a village. It is my village. My childhood friends were here. Some of them are still here. My family was here too — my grandfather, my grandmother, everyone. I went to…
I suppose playful thinking is not so easy for me. The Mayor said this at the beginning, more or less, and I think he was right. Not because I don’t like playfulness, but because sometimes when someone asks me a funny question, my mind goes to the practical side first. I try to understand the…
Frank only popped in for a few minutes, but somehow he still managed to make me laugh before disappearing again. He leaned into the conversation with that amused smile of his and announced that he would leave me and Fruitloop—his nickname for Janita—to continue talking. He only wanted to say thank you for coming back…
I had reservations about this topic before we started. Creative play in daily life. For some people, maybe this sounds easy. For me, not really. I can talk about customers. I can talk about football. I can talk about family, driving, meetings, distributors, sales numbers, and how to build a relationship step by step. These…
Fruitloop:I asked the Mayor if he was ready. He said he was never ready. So, naturally, we went live. That is how Episode 46 of Peeling Potatoes began: not with dignity, not with polish, not with a grand announcement, but with the Mayor checking whether I was warm in my little cubby hole and me…
Today started with chaos. My computer was doing weird things again, and Fruitloop asked me if I had the good computer or the bad one. Honestly, I didn’t even know what happened, but finally it worked, so it was okay. I was really tired. Like really really tired. I had a huge weekend and almost…
Coming back home after four months away felt unreal. The second I walked into my room at my parents’ house in Alsace, I finally breathed properly again. Everything smelled familiar, even if the room itself looked like a storage war zone because I had dumped half my apartment into it. Between unpacking, reorganizing everything, and…
Some weekends arrive quietly and peacefully. Mine arrived carrying a flea market, a wedding anniversary, Mother’s Day, school projects, birthday surprises, and one tragically shattered ceramic grater. Janita — or Fruitloop, as I like to call her — started the conversation by asking whether I was excited about my birthday. Excited might have been too…
