Writer, Explorer and Travel Philosopher
I like to stop by Bebelplatz for a visit to the Empty Library
The barber shops reopened in Berlin this week.
I’d booked an appointment as soon as I saw it coming, to beat the mad rush of involuntary hippies. And so I set out this morning to put an end to my out-of-control hobo chic.
This tree is Berlin’s oldest resident
It’s beginning to feel like someone broke the weather.
We had snow here two weeks ago — the most snow I’ve seen in four years in Berlin. It didn’t snow at all last year. Before that, a few centimetres once or twice which melted within a day.
How does this make any kind of sense?
How big is your head?
I’m not suggesting you know its exact circumference in centimetres, but you do have an idea of how much space it takes up, right?
I don’t think this is the case for German people. How else would you explain their pillows?
These are the best books I read in 2020
Do you have a book addiction? Well I’m here to make it worse.
I love a good reading list like a hobo loves Aqua Velva.
Why is it so difficult to stay informed? To sift the essential from the vast cacophony of background noise? To consume just enough without smartphones and 24-hour news cycles taking over your life?
In part, the devices that improve — and often plague — our lives are deliberately designed to be addictive.
One of my old friends is going native.
I went to the beach with her and her sister long before kindergarten was on the horizon, and we attended the same high school in our tiny hometown.
“There’s gotta be someplace out there for me…”
It’s easier to get into North Korea than it is to rent a flat in Berlin.
I can say that with great confidence, having done both.
This was once the largest Red Army base outside the USSR
The largest Red Army base outside the Soviet Union was a 40 minute drive south of Berlin.
It was just beyond where the new airport — and the old Schönefeld SXF — is today.
This new book by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay is essential reading for anyone struggling to make sense of the self-contradictory ‘woke’ ideology that’s spread divisive cancel culture like a mind virus through our workplaces, public policy and social lives.
Tempelhof airport was once the world’s largest building
I’m moving flats next month and saying goodbye to Tempelhofer Feld, my favourite space in the neighbourhood.
But before I pack up my books and lug them across town, I’d like to tell you a bit about the history of what was once the world’s largest building.
