Dear colleagues,
let me first wish all of you a very happy New Year.
Up to now, I was a silent member of the list, reading the contributions
with growing interest.
Then Brendan's quiz arrived. As many questions dealt with enclaves, I
decided to give it a go.
After surfing for hours and hours, reading numerous contributions by you
and finding many sites I had never searched for otherwise, I sent my
answers off to Brendan.
Baron de Coubertin said, that it is to be in it that counts. And now
I've won. Imagine my surprise.
So, an introduction seems to be appropriate.
My name is Bernhard Lurssen. I'm 44 years old, working as a technical
author and translator in Langenhagen, next to Hannover airport.
My main interest is geographic anomalies caused by frontiers, mainly
enclaves. I have only ever visited one of them, Büsingen, just driving
through, though.
Apart from "real" countries' problems and conflicts, I'm a confessing
micropatrologist. That is, I research into microstates and micronations.
Best known examples are "Principality of Sealand" near the English coast
East of Harwich or "Hutt River Province" in Western Australia.
As Brendan was the winner in 1999, does that automatically mean that it
is my task to prepare the next quiz and prize?
All the best from Germany
Bernhard
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