Monday, late morning. Alexander dials in from Bavaria in Germany; the Mayor sits in a small Alsatian village, Cleebourg, with the November light trying its best through cloud. The question arrives as simply as coffee poured into a familiar mug: Are you an optimist or a pessimist about the future?“I’m an optimist,” Alexander says. He…
Let me start with the boring part of things. Friday night dinner was Chinese take-out, we didn’t feel like cooking and this was our choice, a bit healthier than pizza or burgers. Watched movies and went to bed. Normal boring routine. Saturday was spent lounging around and watching rugby and movies. And the chaos unfolded…
Two dots on the map. Northern Germany. Northeastern France. Rain tapping on two windows, steam rising from two mugs. It’s Monday morning, and the Mayor—our host in Cleebourg—opens the week the Pineapple way: with a warm, slightly mischievous conversation about learning something new. On the other end is Ralf, a barbecue romantic with eleven grills,…
In a previous meeting we spoke about receiving letters from friends and this reminded me of a box of letters I have stacked away in the top of my closet. Letters from friends, old love notes and letters from past time boyfriends and some other trinkets and memories from my school years. I have been…
I’ve become quite the armchair traveller lately. Brida’s modest footprint — stretching across perhaps eight or ten countries — allows me to feel both worldly and environmentally virtuous. I tell myself I’m doing my bit for the planet, staying put while others chase sunsets. Of course, our digital footprints hum away in data centres, each…
In recent events and to the knowledge of most of you, I have started running. A way to get fit and in shape, take care of my health, but also a way to keep me focussed, relaxed and motivated. Some other reasons include not being a couch potato and getting outside a little more. Because…
In my little fruitloopy world of happiness and rainbows and roses, I focus a lot on mindset and how to think in a different way but also be open minded and open to change. Sometimes this is exhausting, I kid you not. But then I do things I enjoy, like reading, this is my favourite…
On a stormy evening in Johannesburg, a teacher logs on and a French teenager in Strasbourg answers from a bedroom scattered with sketchbooks and scout gear. Across continents and time zones, the talk finds its natural center: creativity—not as a museum piece, but as a living muscle that warms the room, solves everyday problems, and…
🌍 The Weekly Slice | The Skill of Being Human — and Staying Curious There’s a moment before every new skill begins — that tender gap between “I can’t” and “Maybe I could.” That’s where November begins for Brida, and where this edition of The Weekly Slice takes us: into the soft architecture of human…
It’s barely light where Frank is—Cleebourg mornings come on grey and slow—and yet the conversation clicks on like a lamp in a kitchen. “And we are live,” he says, twice for luck, while Fruitloop (Janita) laughs on the other end of the line. Between them lies a continent, a generation, and a shared project of…
