Lifestyle briefs

Sep 15, 2011, 3:15 GMT

Get your brolly from a vending machine

Berlin (dpa) - Rebecca Agustin and Daniela Wallraff are happy every time it rains or there's a storm as the two German businesswomen have developed a coin-operated umbrella vending machine. Each brolly costs just 5.60 dollars. 'The rainy summer weather has been great for business,' says Wallraff.

Brolly vending machines are now in the western German cities of Recklinghausen, Cologne and Munster and more are in the planning. 'Business is going very well and we can't complain,' says Wallraff. 'Naturally we're hoping the late summer weather will be wet too.' But dry weather is also not so bad. 'It's going to rain at some stage and the weather is always a topic of conversation.'

Ping-pong develops street-cred in London

London (dpa) - Table tennis is turning into a trendy sport in the British capital. What used to be regarded as an emergency solution to passing the time during break at school is making an impact in London's clubs and parks. Young bankers and software engineers are playing ping-pong against each other after work in Karaoke bars and clubs as DJs play music in the background. One sponsor has placed ping-pong tables in 100 different locations across London.

Vienna eases closing time rules

Vienna (dpa) - The authorities in Austria's capital city have relaxed closing time regulations for nightclubs, allowing night owls more time to party the night away. Since the end of August clubs can remain open until 6 am. Owners must apply for a special license, however, to avail of the new closing time. Previously Viennese clubs had to close their doors by 4 am at the latest.

German artist to stage mobile phone opera

Berlin (dpa) - Electronic artist Karl Heinz Jeron is working on an opera based on annoying mobile phone conversations. For years he was irritated by being forced to listen to the phone conversations of other passengers on train journeys. 'Now I'm getting revenge. I've written down what I've heard and I've got two notebooks filled.' His goal is to write a libretto using the most absurd and ludicrous snippets of conversations.

'That will be an opera to remember,' he says. He plans to digitalise the text and have it recited by robots. Jeron will call on the skills of a composer for the score. The concept artist Jeron has already staged Handel's Water Music using robots as performers.