Organised by Anne, in a loop from Buch – the route on MapMyWalk here.
Category Archives: Beginning again after a surreal six months
Tierpark on a grey day in December
I went in the hope of seeing some of the new residents. Three of my favourite animals (red panda, gold takin, and sumatra tiger) had young during summer/early autumn. Also, rumour has it that a group of gnus have moved in.
I saw the whole red panda family, but only the male tiger, and I could not find neither the gold takin nor the gnus.
Tierpark Berlin – Europe’s largest landscape zoo.
And the eternal question: Black and white, or colour?
Energy crisis or just a Hausverwaltung that does not care?
In view of the current situation, I was thinking of doing this for the winter anyway, but now I have had to: In order to keep a reasonable temperature in those rooms that I do use, I have closed off my two bedrooms and am only using the living room, and sleeping there, and kitchen.
This is working out fine and I can do that till spring, except I am still only able to reach an indoor temperature of 16 to 17 C. (Once again, Gabi Fastner comes to the rescue in order to keep warm :-)).
I am not sure whom I have to thank for this – Putin? Merkel? Schröder? Or Schön & Sever? In the beginning, I thought it was the same for everybody, but I am not hearing from anybody else that they have the same problems, so I am starting to suspect the latter, i.e. our Hausverwaltung.
The good nesws is that the fact that I don’t have a stinking cold by now, or even a hint of a sore throat, probably means that my immune system is back to normal, if not better than in spring.
But I am searching for another expression to replace the usual: “I am freezing my tits off”…….
A.k.a. foobs
EDIT AFTER the event was supposed to have taken place: When I got there, there was a sign on the door saying that the shop was closed today. I guess they just “forgot” to cancel my appointment. A wasted trip to Friedenau – thanks in petto berlin. So now I can continue the debate with myself, and include the question whether I can be bothered to try again. Astonishingly, considering the increasing number of women diagnosed with breast cancer, they are the only place in Berlin who offer this kind of service (there is also a branch in Mitte, but they are even more unprofessional. Perhaps most women opt for reconstruction, or make do with other bits of “padding” which I have been doing up to now.
ORIGINAL POST:
So. I am doing it. Getting prostheses. I have an appointment today with someone at in petto berlin for measurements.
I have been debating with myself not only whether I could be bothered, but also whether it would be hypocritical and go against everything I have been preaching. “We don’t need fake boobs in order to feel like real women”, and various other bullshit. (I have previously explained why I decided against reconstruction, and that was one of the reasons although in that context a minor consideration).
The thing is, after a radical mastectomy, you are actually beyond flat in a way. So much has been removed that you get a kind of scooped-out look, and in some clothes I notice it every time I pass a mirror or window, and I see others noticing it too, and there are just days where I do not feel like rocking that look and would like a bit more of a silhouette that goes outwards rather than inwards.
Conditioning, conformity, convention …. I know, but it might be nice to have the choice, depending on mood and choice of clothes.
Wednesday morning walk from Onkel Toms Hütte to Grunewald
Lovely walk organised by Anne from Sprechlaufwandern.
PS: It WAS a slightly misty morning, but not as spooky as the first photo might indicate. That is just what happens when you forget to check the exposure settings first.
Two exhibitions on art in East Berlin 1985 to 1995
Museum Nikolaikirche and Ephraim Palace
But first, I went to check out the ever changing gallery scene in Leipziger Straße around the Julia Stoschek Collection. It is very confusing, galleries are in and out of several locations around Leipziger Straße 47 to 55, but there now seem to be two more permanent (as permanent as that sort of enterprise ever gets in Berlin) fixtures: KVOST, and Sweetwater.
Then on to Nikoliaviertel. An area I usually shun due to my allergy towards buildings that have been completely reconstructed. One thing is renovating what is still standing, but reconstruction from scratch just gives off a totally fake aura.
Anyway, the exhibition Aufbrüche. Abbrüche. Umbrüche. is shown in the Ephraim Palace and in Museum Nikolaikirche.
The Ephraim Palace is, at a stretch, suited for this type of exhibition, but Nikolaikirche – or any “old” church for that matter – is definitely not. What a mess that exhibition is, although with several interesting works.
And then I just played around with long exposure of the atrocity that is the ferris wheel on Alexanderplatz, which I guess is the German version of a kind of “winter wonderland”.
Sunday walk 27 November
From Dammheide to Wuhlebecken along river Wuhle through Wuhlheide Forest to Karlshort.
Lisa K. organises shortish (about 8 to 11 km) Sunday walks. All communication is by e-mail and in English or German. Contact her on this e-mail address to get on her mailing list.
Start at bus stop Deutschhofer Allee. The route on MapMyWalk here, except I forgot to switch it on till about a km into the walk, and also to switch it off again as I boarded the S-Bahn at Karlshorst :-).
The very enjoyable walk (and nice to see some new faces) ended at the christmas market in Karlshorst. Possibly the most unattractive of all the christmas markets in Berlin. It had to be tried. So now I know, for future reference. I don’t like christmas markets at the best of times. I have no idea what the geezer in the photo was doing but it smelled like burnt something or other.
The walk also took us past the site of the former forced-labour camp Kaulsdorfer Straße 90.
The weather in Berlin
The morning after my return, I woke up to a more than usually thick fog.
