Urban Mole - City Fables

Iced Tea, Old Chum?

A photo of a disused, derelict train yard in Leipzig (red bricks covered in graffiti, arches dark), behind which are two giant concrete domes (also graffitied), whose cladding catches the golden light of the setting sun.

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.

Christopher Mollison In City Fables

The Knight-errant with the Heart of a Carpenter

A black and white photo of the front of a house. A door with a 6-segment window is on the left, and a window with cacti behind the panes is on the right. In front of the house are paving tiles borderied by small, neat cobbles.

Despite the cool night air, The Man Who Shouts at Doors is back. I can hear him through the double glazing. He’s having an argument. It sounds one-sided.

Christopher Mollison In City Fables