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The Capacity of Something
Jan. 6th, 2025 01:53 amWe always seem to be forgotten about at New Year and so it proved to be again. Last year, we were at Furvester and although we tried to snag a spot in the main hotel this year too, demand far exceeded capacity and we had no luck. With no-one else inviting us anywhere and not fancying our chances going into the centre of Berlin, we ended up on VR for most of the evening, which turned out to be a rather pleasant experience. We caught up with a lot of our friends, particularly Saul's group, with whom I have been hanging for most of the last six months, while it was great to ring in the new year across different time zones in a specially created world. Furthermore, with the fireworks in Berlin going off for most of the last three days, and continually from 5pm on New Year's Eve, it was reassuring to be able to escape from the noise and go somewhere quieter. This was pretty ironic really. Anyway, Wolfie and I shared a bottle of Sekt as the clock struck midnight, while we celebrated with our British friends by watching a live stream of London's firework display in VR, which was nice. I have started to enjoy VR again, but for some reason, over the last week I've encountered a lot of racists on there. I'm not sure why now - I have been on VR for nearly four years and have never encountered this before - but at least a swift block largely sorts them.
We ended up staying up until about 7am, meaning New Year's Day was largely a write-off. With Hello Fresh not delivering the food until Thursday - as opposed to Monday which is what I initially thought - we ended up having to get a takeaway. We have found a really nice burger place in Spandau and it didn't disappoint. Meanwhile, the rest of the day was exceptionally lazy, characterised by a lie-in then some reading then another nap. It was a pretty wasted day all told. The new year's meal we had bought - strip steak in a creamy peppercorn sauce - we ended up having with some red wine this evening. We bought the wine from the local Drinkhall and it was surprisingly decent, if not a little overpriced.
Thursday and Friday were workdays, but as is often the case at this time of year, there wasn't much going on. Most of the main work will start later today I suspect. I have spent much of the weekend fretting about either the house as there is heavy snow in the UK or my job, knowing that this isn't really what I want to do going forward in the long-term. Indeed, reading Ian Dunt's column this week about how being in your 40s is basically your last chance of a career change as both frightened me and given me impetus. It's one of the reasons why I want to move back from Germany, while the CDU's increasingly anti-immigrant rhetoric is another.
Having said this, Saturday was an incredible day and one of our best in Berlin so far. We woke late but had booked tickets to see the Weihnachten im Tierpark light show down at Tierpark in the former East Berlin. I had wanted to go last year, but we ran out of free weekends, and considering this goes on until 12 January, I thought this weekend was a perfect time. Furthermore, Saturday night was cold but not windy, so it was pleasant to walk around. It was touch and go whether Wolfie would make it though, his foot causing him trouble again, but he soldiered through it and ended up going. I was delighted by this. The light shows were very much like Leeds Light Night except you had to pay €26.50 for the privilege. As it was in the Tierpark, the displays were dotted amongst the replica dinosaurs, all of which were wearing Christmas hats. It was quite amusing really. The walk started with a long lit corridor in red and yellow which led up to the main castle situated in the grounds. The grass here was bedecked in lights while they had crackers and bonbons lit up and locked in cages in an exhibition called The Land of Milk and Honey. The main exhibit was a guided tour around the Tierpark where various light displays were shown. My personal favourites were 'Morgen Kinder wird's was gehen' which had presents whose wrapping dissolved when you pressed a button, showing you what was inside (there was a teddy and a unicorn in two of them) while the yellow-lit Wunschbrucke over the narrow stream was particularly stunning. Halfway through the walk it started to snow, making it all rather magical, meaning the See der Sterne was even more wondrous. The Regenbogenbaum which had a light show in time to Christmas music was the highlight for me though as it was an evocative artistic display. There were quite a lot of people on the walk, but the ticketing system having 20-minute windows kept crowds manageable and even the kids weren't all that annoying. Meanwhile, as Wolfie was with me and I love anything sparkly, I was grinning like a six-year-old girl for most of our visit. The end of the trip saw us in the gift shop looking at the children's books. The man behind the counter was initially a little gruff but was delighted and surprised that I could speak German. Indeed, he seemed far more made up about it than I would have expected, but I was glad to make someone happy.
There were a lot of traditional Christmas stands selling sausages, gluhwein and the like, but we had already had our fill of those. The queues were long and they were quite expensive. However, the main motivation to skip these was our visit to Salami Social Club. This is right at a station just off the U5 which we happened to be passing through anyway, so we thought we might as well chance going. It's a small place but we reasoned it may be quiet on the first Saturday of January. Furthermore, we ended up spending two hours at the light show, which was less time than I had anticipated. In the end, the restaurant was half full so we secured a seat easily. We grabbed two measures of the Vagabund pale ale and soon we were eating their wonderful black pudding pizza, which came with a green pesto dip. I had forgotten just how good this was, the richness of the sausage against the tangy cheese and tomato was fabulous and we resolved to come back again soon. After this, we headed down to Brewdog Friedrichshain for a couple as it was only one stop further down the U5. We ended up having two here and I would have happily had more, but I felt it best to get back home before midnight so we could go on VR. I also wanted to do more writing today and being hungover wasn't wise.
So that's it really, a mixed start to 2025. One good day off, one productive writing day (two if you count the 3,000 word story I wrote on Friday), two days of work and a lazy day off too. The anxiety is still high and we still don't know what the future will bring - having a nearly €3,000 medical insurance bill on Thursday highlighted to me just how much we are spending here - but I guess we will take it as it comes. A few people here want to meet up so maybe things will pick up there too, while we're making plans to be back in the UK later in the month. In the meantime though, saving money is key, not least because we may need to fund the relocation. That's all for the future though.
We ended up staying up until about 7am, meaning New Year's Day was largely a write-off. With Hello Fresh not delivering the food until Thursday - as opposed to Monday which is what I initially thought - we ended up having to get a takeaway. We have found a really nice burger place in Spandau and it didn't disappoint. Meanwhile, the rest of the day was exceptionally lazy, characterised by a lie-in then some reading then another nap. It was a pretty wasted day all told. The new year's meal we had bought - strip steak in a creamy peppercorn sauce - we ended up having with some red wine this evening. We bought the wine from the local Drinkhall and it was surprisingly decent, if not a little overpriced.
Thursday and Friday were workdays, but as is often the case at this time of year, there wasn't much going on. Most of the main work will start later today I suspect. I have spent much of the weekend fretting about either the house as there is heavy snow in the UK or my job, knowing that this isn't really what I want to do going forward in the long-term. Indeed, reading Ian Dunt's column this week about how being in your 40s is basically your last chance of a career change as both frightened me and given me impetus. It's one of the reasons why I want to move back from Germany, while the CDU's increasingly anti-immigrant rhetoric is another.
Having said this, Saturday was an incredible day and one of our best in Berlin so far. We woke late but had booked tickets to see the Weihnachten im Tierpark light show down at Tierpark in the former East Berlin. I had wanted to go last year, but we ran out of free weekends, and considering this goes on until 12 January, I thought this weekend was a perfect time. Furthermore, Saturday night was cold but not windy, so it was pleasant to walk around. It was touch and go whether Wolfie would make it though, his foot causing him trouble again, but he soldiered through it and ended up going. I was delighted by this. The light shows were very much like Leeds Light Night except you had to pay €26.50 for the privilege. As it was in the Tierpark, the displays were dotted amongst the replica dinosaurs, all of which were wearing Christmas hats. It was quite amusing really. The walk started with a long lit corridor in red and yellow which led up to the main castle situated in the grounds. The grass here was bedecked in lights while they had crackers and bonbons lit up and locked in cages in an exhibition called The Land of Milk and Honey. The main exhibit was a guided tour around the Tierpark where various light displays were shown. My personal favourites were 'Morgen Kinder wird's was gehen' which had presents whose wrapping dissolved when you pressed a button, showing you what was inside (there was a teddy and a unicorn in two of them) while the yellow-lit Wunschbrucke over the narrow stream was particularly stunning. Halfway through the walk it started to snow, making it all rather magical, meaning the See der Sterne was even more wondrous. The Regenbogenbaum which had a light show in time to Christmas music was the highlight for me though as it was an evocative artistic display. There were quite a lot of people on the walk, but the ticketing system having 20-minute windows kept crowds manageable and even the kids weren't all that annoying. Meanwhile, as Wolfie was with me and I love anything sparkly, I was grinning like a six-year-old girl for most of our visit. The end of the trip saw us in the gift shop looking at the children's books. The man behind the counter was initially a little gruff but was delighted and surprised that I could speak German. Indeed, he seemed far more made up about it than I would have expected, but I was glad to make someone happy.
There were a lot of traditional Christmas stands selling sausages, gluhwein and the like, but we had already had our fill of those. The queues were long and they were quite expensive. However, the main motivation to skip these was our visit to Salami Social Club. This is right at a station just off the U5 which we happened to be passing through anyway, so we thought we might as well chance going. It's a small place but we reasoned it may be quiet on the first Saturday of January. Furthermore, we ended up spending two hours at the light show, which was less time than I had anticipated. In the end, the restaurant was half full so we secured a seat easily. We grabbed two measures of the Vagabund pale ale and soon we were eating their wonderful black pudding pizza, which came with a green pesto dip. I had forgotten just how good this was, the richness of the sausage against the tangy cheese and tomato was fabulous and we resolved to come back again soon. After this, we headed down to Brewdog Friedrichshain for a couple as it was only one stop further down the U5. We ended up having two here and I would have happily had more, but I felt it best to get back home before midnight so we could go on VR. I also wanted to do more writing today and being hungover wasn't wise.
So that's it really, a mixed start to 2025. One good day off, one productive writing day (two if you count the 3,000 word story I wrote on Friday), two days of work and a lazy day off too. The anxiety is still high and we still don't know what the future will bring - having a nearly €3,000 medical insurance bill on Thursday highlighted to me just how much we are spending here - but I guess we will take it as it comes. A few people here want to meet up so maybe things will pick up there too, while we're making plans to be back in the UK later in the month. In the meantime though, saving money is key, not least because we may need to fund the relocation. That's all for the future though.
