Eclipse-watching at the Planetarium
March ended as it began with blustery weather and a
scattering of snow. In between there
were days so warm and bright that it seemed more like May. I don’t think there is another month as meteorologically
diverse; our birthdays are both in March and we’ve had some with temperatures
in the high twenties and others under a foot of snow. Over the last two days the city has been battered
by a violent storm so I’ve stayed indoors catching up with some reading and
writing and contemplating an ‘Easter clean’.
I’ve been reluctant to walk the streets during high winds ever since one
Saturday morning a few years ago when I’d been for a wander around
Kollwitzplatz market and, as I was walking down Sredzkistrasse, a large terracotta
plant pot fell from a balcony and crashed to the pavement a few feet in front
of me.
The first weekend of the month was spectacularly radiant
after a bitterly cold start. We went to
see Buzzcocks at Astra in Revaler Strasse on the Saturday and prepared for it
by spending a mellow afternoon drinking beer in Friedrichshain, at one point
standing outside on the street amid a crowd of ageing punks bound for the same
gig. The next day when I went for a roam
around the Mauerpark it was so warm I didn’t even need a cardigan let alone a
coat. The park was packed that afternoon
with Berliners making the most of the unexpectedly lovely weather.
The following evening I went to Lettretage in Mehringdamm
for the launch of Readux Books’ fifth series.
I caught up with my friend Bernadette, an American poet based in
Prenzlauer Berg, and had a couple of drinks while listening to the authors read
extracts from their texts. Usually there
is no entry fee for a Readux event but on this occasion there was a 4€ charge
which included a free book from the series.
I’m building up a collection of these delightful little books; I have
six of the Berlin-centred ones so far. Later
that week I went to the opening of Topics in Weserstrasse for which I’m
planning a separate article.
On Wednesday 25th I went to my first ‘Fiction
Canteen’. This is normally held at the
Alte Kantine in Wedding but for complicated reasons it took place in the
Platzhaus on Teutoburger Platz this time.
I’d never managed to get to one of these events because it had always
coincided with the language exchange but now I’m not involved with that any
more I finally had the chance to check it out.
I got to the square – a little park at the very bottom of Prenzlauer
Berg – to find those who’d already arrived, sitting outside around a crackling
log fire. Inside the Platzhaus there was
wine and beer for which there was no set charge but a recommendation of a 1.50€
donation. I opted for a tumbler of red
wine and popped my coins into the tin. A couple of the readers wandered off
through the park to fetch food from the Kaisers across the road as they hadn’t
eaten and another joined them on a mission to pick up more wine before we took
our seats inside for the readings (someone suggested that we hold the event round
the fire which would have been very romantic but it was too dark to be able to read). The event’s organiser Lucy got things under way by reading a
piece from a translation she is currently working on then those who had
volunteered to read took their turn.
There is a maximum of eight readers who each get a five-minute slot in
which to read complete pieces, extracts or works in progress. It operates on a first come first served
basis so the first eight to register get to take the floor. There was a short break after the first four
readers whose offerings included poetry and prose, during which we replenished
our empty wine tumblers. Afterwards,
most of the participants moved back outside having rekindled the fire. I walked back to the U-Bahn station at
Senefelder Platz by cutting through the Pfefferberg complex which contained one
of my favourite beer gardens until it got ‘improved’ a few years ago. I had chosen not to read as I’d been going
through a crisis of confidence about my writing but by the time I left I felt
much more inspired (I’m always amazed at the wealth of writing talent in this
city) and I spent the next day raiding my work for a piece that I might
possibly read at a future Fiction Canteen.
Spreading the word - at Guinness, Books and Records, Curious Fox
A month of music and literature was neatly rounded off on
the final Friday when we went to the ‘Guinness, Books and Records’ evening at
the cosy Curious Fox bookshop in Neukölln, one of my favourites. Our friend Abby turned up, amply supplied
with enough vinyl for all of us as our records are all in the UK. The evening basically consists of drinking,
browsing the bookshelves, listening to the records that have been brought along
and chatting with the shop’s owners and the other vinyl enthusiasts. I had such a good time that I spent the following afternoon
rummaging through the tubs outside the record shops on Kastanienallee.
That evening we met up with Abby again at her
home in Weissensee. Her husband Albert
was competently managing the barbecue on their very spacious fifth-floor
balcony where we stayed, in fleeces because of a chilly wind, until it got dark
before moving indoors without any disruption to our eating and drinking. At one point a strange party game got under
way when Alan and I (British), Albert (German) and Diego (Spanish) each tried
to argue that our respective countries had the most shameful past before Abby
(American) claimed that the behaviour of her nation trumped us all. I’m still not sure which of us has the best
case.
As far as writing goes, I’ve had a roller-coaster month in
which I initially felt very low about the quality of my work but I’m now in a
much more positive frame of mind and I’m revisiting my larger projects trying
to get back on track.
Work-wise, I’ve made a start with the proof-reading of the
translated children’s book. I still
teach the two girls in Kreuzberg once a week too but the last couple of
occasions have been rather joyless and I’m beginning to find one of the girls
an extremely unpleasant, rude and disrespectful brat. A couple of weeks ago I picked them up and it
was obvious they’d had an argument. They wouldn’t even speak to me to begin
with. Then last week the brat had one of
the most evil tantrums I’ve ever witnessed, scribbling all over her work,
throwing her (my) pen across the room, shrieking and then refusing to do
anything. It’s rather tedious and not at
all fair on her friend who gamely took part in the rest of the activities by
herself while the brat sulked and fumed.
I won’t be seeing them again for another three weeks because of the
Easter break and an upcoming visit from my sixteen-year-old niece so I’m hoping
that the brat will have calmed down by then.
So, yet another busy Berlin month has passed. Besides the literary events and music (live
and otherwise), I’ve visited the cinema (Lichtblick), a new museum (Deutsche
Widerstand), an old one (Film and TV), and a new street food market
(Kulturbrauerei) I’ve been to a football match at which I got covered in beer
following a last-minute winning goal, had a birthday, and watched an eclipse
from the park at the Planetarium. I’ve
read four books and I'm now about half way through Kate Atkinson’s ‘Life after
Life’. I’ve added the pursuit of vinyl
to my book and vintage shopping habits and we’ve added a couple of places to
our lengthening list of favourite bars and cafés.
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