Urban Mole - City Fables

Christopher Mollison In City Fables

Ding Dong, but not so Merrily

A sketch of the St Thomas church in Leipzig, perhaps from the 19th or 18th century. Several groups of folk in fine dress stand about outside. A few horse-drawn carriages come and go, a dog plays. In the background, a chimney smokes.

Two small Christmas tales to warm the cockles of your heart.

Christopher Mollison In City Fables

Chris-must Break! Happy Holidays!

Night image of a block of flats in Leipzig whose every floor is rotated 90 degrees, making the building look like a played-with Rubik's Cube. Soft orange light shines from a flat on the third floor, and there's a decorated Christmas tree in the window.

It’s that time between Christmas and New Year, the special week I like to call Seven Days of Sod All. That’s right, even Moles take hols.

Christopher Mollison In City Fables

Walking the Road of Shattered Dolls: the Via Imperii

A painting by Albrecht Altdorfer depicting Emperor Maximilian I dressed in golden armour riding a warhorse with gold barding. Behind him is the Imperial Banner, a two-headed black eagle on a yellow background. The flag is bordered in crimson with a fringe of red, green, and blue tassels.

I decide to take the medieval Via Imperii to the drug store. It's out of my way, but it's ancient. And besides, the sun is shining ...

Christopher Mollison In City Fables

Ten Ways to Escape the Festive Madness

Image of street art on the side of a building in Leipzig. A woman leans down over a balcony and holds the hand and head of a man climbing up a rope ladder. She's wearing a yellow dress, he, a red tunic, blue tights, and red shoes. Both their costumes look late medieval.

Some things creep up on you without you noticing: crows feet, dried apricots(*), JWs. Christmas should not be one of those things. It’s big, it’s shiny, it’s loud. It starts in October. Yet here it is.

Christopher Mollison In City Fables

He Made it Mauve (and I Like it)

A picture of a cartoon, egg-shaped bee with purple-magenta stripes on its yellow body. It has two black dots for eyes, a big, smiling mouth, and rosy pink cheeks. It's borne aloft on two tiny white wings. I’m out on the bi-weekly bean run. The weather may be grey, but…

Christopher Mollison In City Fables

Iced Tea, Old Chum?

A photo of two giant, ribbed concrete domes reflecting the setting sun. A full moon rises between them. In the foreground is an area of brown-green heathland. In the background, a cloudless blue sky.

Near the MDR railway station in Leipzig is a giant concrete brassiere daubed in colourful graffiti. It’s called the Kohlrabi Circus, and it’s not what you think.

Christopher Mollison In City Fables

I Once Met a Man on the Edge of a Volcano

A view from the ruins of Tusculum, on Tuscolo hill near Frascati, Italy. Four crumbling stone walls emerge from the earth in the foreground. In the distance is the green, fertile landscape of the caldera of the dormant Alban volcano. In the distance, a storm brews over the Alban hills.

A walk in the icy November drizzle reminds me of a wet hill in Italy.

Christopher Mollison In City Fables

From Misanthrope to Marveller and Back Again

Black and white photo of two men standing besides a large sculpture of an Orangutan sitting on the floor in a meditative pose, from Iris Sageser's Buddhaminders, N-O-W series.

I’ve caught another bug: the sapient shivers.

Christopher Mollison In City Fables

Shopping, Shuffleboard, or Zombie Apocalypse?

A woodcut print by Hans Holbein the Younger depicting a monk trying to flee death, who (represented by a skeleton) has a firm hold on his cowl. A dog flees the scene at the monk's feet. An hourglass is set upon the floor, its sand run out.

I go to the shops to buy spelt flakes. I find myself amidst the shambling masses.

Christopher Mollison In City Fables

I Think I’m Coming Down with a Cold. My Editor Will Be Pleased.

Cartoon of a blond-haired boy with blue top, green trousers, and brown shoes blowing his nose into a white handkerchief.

Sneezing season’s upon us, the mid-autumn malediction of coughs and sniffs which sets most Germans slipper-shuffling and clutching hankies to their faces.

Ding Dong, but not so Merrily

Chris-must Break! Happy Holidays!

Walking the Road of Shattered Dolls: the Via Imperii

Ten Ways to Escape the Festive Madness

He Made it Mauve (and I Like it)

Iced Tea, Old Chum?

I Once Met a Man on the Edge of a Volcano

From Misanthrope to Marveller and Back Again

Shopping, Shuffleboard, or Zombie Apocalypse?

I Think I’m Coming Down with a Cold. My Editor Will Be Pleased.

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