Since Germany won the 2006 World Cup (actually they came third, but living here you get the impression the actual final match was a sort of afterthought) everyone was expecting Jürgen Klinsmann, the charismatic and unexpectedly successful team trainer, to extend his contract.

He didn't.

Can't say that I blame him, what with all the millions he has already as well as a nice place to live in California.

But it's not all bad news: the Love Parade is back after a two-year hiatus - appropriately enough under the motto "the love is back".

Taking place on Saturday the 15th, the Love Parade offers a unique opportunity to cure your post-world-cup depression by mixing with hundreds of thousands of provincial teenies having their idea of fun, which if previous years are to go by involves long-term damage to the inner ear and turning the long-suffering Tiergarten into a toilet.

Whether the predicted million or so ravers will actually turn up is another question. Any marketing activities have been rather eclipsed by the World Cup, and the event itself is under new management (much to the disgust of Dr. Motte, the parade's founder, whose company however failed to run the parade at anything less than a large loss).

If nothing else the weather should be OK, with temperatures on Saturday predicted to be around 26C and a 10% chance of rain.

If you can't make the Love Parade, try this event two weeks later (Warning: site name contains a four-letter word which might not be safe in an Anglo-Saxon work environment).

Posted at 7:11 AM in