As a male, one thing you have to do every other day or so, is to shave yourself. Well, unless you want to become a hipster with a huge Mr. E beard or if you just want to maintain the scruffy sexy look of a 3 day beard.
The matter of shaving is something males in the western world mostly has to face themselves. However, it has not always been like that.
In the good olden glorious days of western civilisation, I believe to know there was barber shops dotted around in the streets. These was probably gentlemen's dens and perhaps meeting points for regulars, just like a pub would be it. At the barbershop, gentlemen of all kinds and class could walk in to have their facial hair taken care of. And have a laugh and a chat and maybe get some of the latest gossip and the more important football results. What have become of those social institutions in the modern western society?
Thinking about it, I can only remember having seen a combined hairdresser and barber in Aberdeen in Scotland - I sure can remember this because I went there on my wedding day- and another one I found in Taomina on Sicily. This was more a kind of gimmick for tourists I think. Anyway, I do like to go to the barber to get a good shave.
Now zoom in to the the intergalactic flapdoodle and the UAE and the sultans Galaxy again. In Dump-bai, I saw they had barber shops, so naturally I went there to get good shave and a facial wash and cleaning. That is nice and here they understand the value of that and it is nothing awkward about it. After leaving the system at the UAE on a shared shuttle, I have organised my own vessel for my research around in the sultans universe for interesting and memorable experiences -to tell the grand children I will definitively never have- to upgrade my brain to MYOS P47.
Last couple of days I've docked my pod at Sur. A costal hub, mostly famous for fabrication of sea fearing contraptions and fishing. And now also tourism. Mostly because of its beautiful beaches and lately also because of a significant marine life. Anyway, what stunned me for both the UAE and also here in the sultans Galaxy is the barber shops. On nearly every corner, you have a barber shop. Here named such as "Gent's Hair Fashion" or this one I particularly liked "Men's Beautification and Facial". And soon after I was again sat in the barbers chair waiting to get my face covered in foam.
So, my point is, why can some societies maintain a culture around mens facial hair and making it a social event to go to the barber to get shaved when this tradition has become close to extinct in the western culture?
Another social male event I have come across on my adventure, is the culture around the "Bolz Platz". The word originates from German. And "Bolzen" is a term used for kicking a ball around anywhere where it is possible. Yes, I am talking about football. I don't know how to translate this into English. It is a "fun kind" of nickname for a playing football in a hobby kind of fashion. The word "Platz" can mean square, place and pitch. So literary it means a somehow square even surface where you can kick a ball around. If it includes goal post is not important. Again in German you would say, "Es ist wurst" if you have posts or not, and actually the word "wurst" means sausage, so in German when something is not important you can actually say that it is sausage.
But now I'm drifting away from the Bolz Platz. So this Bolz Platz is not a stadium or anything near a regular football pitch with grass and lines. It can be anything.
Here in the sultans Galaxy, I have seem more Bolz Platze than I have seen ever before. And they can be found everywhere, also when you least expect it.
In the desert outside a wee village. You can find an cleared even dirt pitch with some sort of metal constructions for goals. Sometimes there is even put up some lights to act as flood light to let the game go on longer time in the evening. I have seen them play. 2 teams & 11 a side with substitutes and a referee and even other villagers coming as audience to watch in the evening when the temperatures again allows physical activity without risking a heat stroke.
Unfortunately I have not yet had the possibility to take part in any game on one of the many Bolz Plätze I've seen here. However if I get the opportunity and feel I can keep up with them, then I would certainly do it.
Maybe they should try to utilise these amazing pitches for some sort of "Bolz Platz tourism" and let the local lads Bolzen with a team of interested visitors.
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