8/4/2019 Why Herbie is the Business in Lederhosen

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Why Herbie is the business in lederhosen

Herbie Shultze is as impressive as a burgher a beef burger.

He lives in Hilden, one of the neat little suburbs on the hilly outskirts of Dusseldorf.

No, Herbie is not a caricature and he isnt employed by the Deutsche tourist board but he does wear

lederhosen, a belly as big as the frontage of an Altstadt delicatessen, a nose like a burst beirwurst and a face

as red as the average Brits overdraft.

He also has a chauffeur-driven black Mercedes. Its chauffeur-driven because of all the Altbeir he

consumes most of the day every day and he has no intention of facing jail anda heavy fine.

Herbie is actually the eccentric but successful face of this the capital city of the North Rhein-Westphaliaregion.

He sells space on the advertising hoardings that march along the autobahns and he is so adept at it that life

seems to be one long loud conversation punctuated by beer and laughter.

The business districts and the banking areas near Ko are his happy hunting grounds. The millennium

chrome and glass buildings there scrape the sky with their sense of fiscal importance.

But I suspect that his lederhosen and laughter are as much a uniform as the suits and ties of colleagues and

associates.

You see, beneath the party atmosphere of oompah and giant beer glasses, bombast and drinking songs,

Germany is a very serious business indeed.

And while it is good advice to get away without mentioning the war - it is obvious everywhere you look

that this country is one regimented European institution.

Everybody sounds like they are giving you orders from innkeepers to shopkeepers. Even the road signsbark at you walk dont walk cross now dont cross now. And woe-betide you if you ignore them

the looks you will get from the good people of this very tall nation would wither an oak tree. And you run

the risk of an on-the-spot fine.

But fines are a way of life in this part of the world take a trip on the Rheinbahn, but dont forget to get a

ticket from the orange sidewalk machines and dont forget to have it stamped by the orange machine on

board or itll cost you!

Dusseldorf goes by with a clinically-clean attitude of fastidious efficiency, police whiz by in sunglasses and

immaculate cars, delivery vehicles are vanquished to the rear of buildings and the streets are kept spotless.

This all-pervading mixture of business and pleasure is almost schizophrenic. Perhaps thats because the cityactually does have a split personality split by the Rhein.

On the other side of the river is the old town, the Altstadt.

But even here you can see the regimentation theyve put history in its right order. A chronology of their

living breathing past. Some of the buildings are medieval and yet they are immaculate and restored. Youcould be forgiven for believing its a film set for a new Teutonic Tales.

8/4/2019 Why Herbie is the Business in Lederhosen

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