The West is the Best

The wall came down 16 years ago this month. One of my Ostie friends was telling me how different things are, and although she said it is obviously better nowadays, there are some things that people pine for from the old GDR, like everyone having a job, for instance. She personally misses the day off a month that all working mothers used to automatically get, to catch up with their household chores. Today, where you used to see the allied guard houses of Checkpoint Charlie you can now visit Snack Point Charlie, a charming neon lit establishment where you can buy an overpriced sandwich, pizza or kebab, and then pay 50p to use the toilet.

Had a peculiar appointment at the physio today. My normal woman is on holiday so I saw one of her colleagues, who does one of these weird German therapies. It consists of her feeling all your organs, and the muscles and ligaments that are attached to them, and when she finds something ‘wrong,’ poking and pulling at you until it’s ‘right.’ I was in enough pain throughout to suspect that she may have missed a calling working for the Iraqi Interior Ministry. At one point she informed me (if I understood her correctly) that she was opening up the entrance from my large to my small intestine.

Saw my worst mullet so far: completely bald dome and sides, but last bit of hair at back of head grown very long and carefully fanned out over shoulders.