This is the 5th part of the Berlin Life series and the 3rd on the gay scene. I promised it some time ago, then forgot to post it. Sorry!
Category Archives: Berlin
Berlin Lives 4. Gay times reveal our fears. Part 2
More angst at the VLP. How does one navigate other people’s sexuality? Why don’t they feel the need to hide it?
Berlin Life 3. Gay times reveal our fears. Part 1
Berlin Life Series. The Viktoria-Luise-Platz. Excerpt from my forthcoming Berlin Diary OK – weather is fine. Time for an old man to find out what is going on in the world. Round the corner is, according to the city guide books, the centre of the European gay scene. As a man who has only knowinglyContinue reading “Berlin Life 3. Gay times reveal our fears. Part 1”
Taking a Haiku chance.
It’s about breaking boundaries. The sculpture is in the Bose Park in Berlin, so I thought, do your Haiku in German! Inner me asks, ‘What is the problem?’ Outer me replies, ‘If I make a mistake, it will be out there – for all to see, or read.’ Inner me insists, ‘People make mistakes allContinue reading “Taking a Haiku chance.”
Topography of Terror
Hildegard Kneff starred with Ernst Wilhelm Borchert, in ‘The Murderers Are Among Us’. A film about the Nazi war criminals, rejoining everyday life (1946) Topography – a detailed description or representation on a map of the physical features of an area. Terror – the use of extreme fear to intimidate people, especially for political reasons.Continue reading “Topography of Terror”
Gift – Or imagining the dark side.
We are writers. Imagination is our most powerful gift. Imagine the impossible – being a Spitfire pilot in a dogfight, being your sister, especially if you don’t have a sister. Then you have to imagine her brother or sister, too, who isn’t you. And you can safely imagine your dark side. Crime writers imagine theContinue reading “Gift – Or imagining the dark side.”
Berlin Life 2
I walk through the midday Alt-Tempelhof heat and cross the four-lane Tempelhofer Damm to get to the discounter supermarket. I should go to the Turkish grocer on my way, because I know that the discounter will make me buy a sack of onions, most of which I won’t be able to use. I will leaveContinue reading “Berlin Life 2”
Berlin life. Part 1 -Tubes
Open doors. A biology Noble Prize winner, once said, ‘The world is made up of tubes.’ Consider the human body as an example! Of course, tubes need doors, otherwise our longest tube, the alimentary canal, would be a disaster. We have a door each end, a few in the middle and a mobile door, drivenContinue reading “Berlin life. Part 1 -Tubes”
How a novel begins.
The last stop – how a novel happens. Berlin Diary – Summer 2012. How it started. I walked into the sunshine from the old East German airport, still called Schönefeld. (Beautiful Field). It shouldn’t still exist. It had long ceased to be fit for purpose and is now being renovated. Back then it was trulyContinue reading “How a novel begins.”
