I’m on Substack now! You can read this for free. https://substack.com/home/post/p-172703656
From Joe's writing

It was the time of Kölner Karneval in Cologne, or, as many of the locals preferred to call it, ‘die närrische Zeit’, the fifth and foolish season. Once a year, just after winter had ended, the city would host a huge carnival filled with parades, performers, and vendors hawking various foods and desserts, all enjoying a full weekend of madness celebrating the year to come.

— Small Things, Chapter 25