Attack of the OOOFS!!

This, is Alan. We can't show you his face for reasons of privacy. And, because he's from Berlin's Office of Order (Berliner Ordnungsamt).

There's an old German saying, Ordnung muss sein (best translated to "Orderliness is a must!"). Needless to say, it isn't a very popular saying in Berlin. Or if it is used, it's always meant to be ironic. After all, everyone's just SO creative here.

But that doesn't mean that people can park wherever they want... or that's how Berlin's authorities see the situation it seems. At the start of the year they built parking bays all over the place in my area and set up pay machines too. Since then the streets have been swarming with Office of Order foot soldiers (OOOFS). Every time I park my car - honestly, every time - there is someone within a 50 metre radius checking residents' parking permits. Although, they are part of the general Office of Order, the OOOFS really do just specialise in monitoring the parking situation (long German compound noun: Parkraumüberwachung). And they are extremely focussed on just this one job. In fact, I bet that you could set a car on fire in front of them and they wouldn't raise an eyebrow. As long as the car was parked correctly.

There are arguments for and against these little guys of course. It's a really hot water-cooler conversation right now. (It's true, sometimes it is so cold we set up our water coolers to pump out hot water... just joshing, you know what I mean.) You see: on the one hand Berlin needs the money from it's hopeless parkers - the city is still massively in debt. And the OOOFS do contribute a lot of revenue-raising power. On the other hand, if the council is going to take on so many new workers, why not get them doing other useful things - cleaning the place up a bit, fixing roads or doing social work?

The difference is: the OOOFS pay for themselves of course, because they raise money for the city. Unless, it's cold and raining - then they stay inside drinking coffee. So, um... anyone for another winter?

The End of an Era

Berliners are in mourning this week following the loss of their favourite son, Knut the polar bear. On Saturday, in front of hundreds of onlookers, the big fella just rolled over and died in his swimming pool at Berlin Zoo. An initial investigation of his corpse suggests he was suffering from brain damage.

I find it hard to get really emotional about this, especially when there is so much human suffering around the world already at the moment - in Japan, the Arab Peninsula and North Africa. But that didn't stop the local tabloid, BZ, printing a special edition booklet commemorating the life of Knut and his former zookeeper, Thomas Dörflein. The Berlin Zoo says it is going to build a commemorative statue for Knut. It all seems a bit over the top really.

But I will miss him too, a bit. Over the four years of his short life, "our" polar bear became a source of constant news for the Berlin press. The death of his zookeeper, his first attempts to swim and his first romance .... we followed it all with unberlin-like enthusiasm. Now, the city is on the lookout for a new cuddly animal to idolise. Another item of fauna that will brighten up our day. But don't worry Knuto, we will never forget you.

Nuclear power? No thanks.

People in Berlin have been watching events closely in Japan over the last few days. From what I can gather many locals have a soft spot for the Japanese people. At first there was compassion for the victims of the earthquake and the resulting tsunami. Now, things have taken a turn. The impending nuclear catastrophe at the Fukushima reactor reminds people here all too well of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Concerned onlookers have turned to angry protesters.

There were a series of demonstrations here almost immediately after the first headlines reached Germany about problems at Japan's nuclear power facilities. Many people are still angry about the German government's late 2010 decision to extend the usage of Germany's nuclear power plants. The government (and Angela Merkel) has now bowed to the pressure, putting that decision on ice for three months. The local protests are in addition to nationwide demos across Germany, demanding a stop to the use of nuclear power.

And, of course, everyone has been expressing their dissatisfaction by flying the now famous little green, yellow and red flag which says "Nuclear power? No thankyou". This flag seems to get brought out whenever this issue flares up again. This morning I saw a man stick the emblem across the BMW badge on the front of his car.

Playing Dress-ups

Why go down to Cologne or Düsseldorf to dress up and look silly today, when you could do it in Berlin? Well, probably because there really isn't a lot of history of it here in the Hauptstadt, I suppose. Still, I went out and played a little bit of dress-ups this last weekend in a few Berlin second hand stores - I had to, I had a guest! My favourite store is STILL "Paul's Boutique" on Oderberger Straße.

Carnival Monday (Rose Monday, Merry Monday, Collop Monday ...whatever you want to call it) goes completely without mention here in Berlin. I'm not really sure the people would be up for it. In fact, it's always poo-pooed by Berlin locals when they see the footage from down on the Rhein. But you've got to admit it, they really look like they are having fun.