ranting

New from Nivea: Berlin style skin-thickening cream

You’re not so friendly yourself, sign-y boy… You’ve got to be darned tough to live in this city. It is by no means a place for dreamy romantics or vulnerable maidens; no, in this city, raised by Kraftwerk and Currywurst and G’s that sound like J’s, you must be an industrial terminator-type, a metropolitan-style SAS warrior. You have to be ready to shove your shoulder into wherever you want to stand or move and ready to walk through an open door even if it’s being held open by a struggling young mother holding groceries and two babies.  Well, not quite,...

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The high life

If I were a Times reporter I’d make a joke about royal wedding hats right now. I know, I’ve not been around for a while and I’m sorry. Last week was a frenzy of activity as I completed entirely unvoluntary voluntary work, went to a bizarre exhibition (more on that in the next post) and saw my friends for the last time before the main event of the week: my grandparents came to Berlin to see my new turf for the first time. Unlike friends or parents, grandparents have a kind of dignity and connoisseurial eye that means that you...

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Women: It’s time to stand up and do stand up

I couldn’t have done it without my trusted partner: quirky eyeliner. I’d like to break away from the topic of Berlin’s weather for once to talk about something that I find genuinely beguiling and worthy of more debate. Specifically: who is this woman? Well, I know who she is. She is Lauren Laverne, general TV personality and go-to person whenever a telly show needs a woman with a bit of moxie to make up the numbers. She is, apparently, a comedienne, although she began the most notable part of her career presenting the Culture Show on the BBC where she...

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