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The wheelchair man
A couple of weeks ago, I decided it was warm enough to wear the pretty party dress my sister gave me for my birthday. I arranged an evening to go with my outfit. LSB put on a shirt and tie. I squirted...
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“Getting an abortion in 1953 wasn’t that easy.”
In 1953 Frau Bienkowski’s friend, who was having an affair with a married man, got pregnant. Though she’d had abortions before, she couldn’t get one this time. She had a baby daughter. The man left his...
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Familienfest 2013 Part 1
The train journey to Familienfest 2013 was hot and sticky. I got a seat in the bicycle carriage opposite a large dog with a sad, deformed paw. My mother met me at the platform in Regensburg. She was so...
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A stitch in time
The last time I visited Frau Bienkowski I was wearing a red cotton skirt. The pattern featured lots of identical girls and boys holding hands and strolling past apple trees. “What lovely material,” she...
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On life and death and the sanitary towels in between
“I thought that at my age I could no longer cry,” said Frau Bienkowski. “But this morning, the tears came.” Frau B had spent the whole day trying to get hold of a packet of sanitary towels because ever...
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Christmas with Frau B
“Willy Brandt wouldn’t really have been my type,” Frau Bienkowski says, examining the Tagesspiegel’s full-page spread in his honour. “Nor mine” I say. “He was a bit of a womaniser.” “Well, just as well...
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Kate Katharina appears in rag, LSB brings home bottled water
Some of you might have noticed that I’ve been blogging less since LSB moved here. But, as my psychology professor used to enjoy pointing out, correlation does not equal causation. I mean, of course we...
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How to turn flat-hunting into a hobby
Regular readers know I’m more than a bit of a creep. I stare unashamedly at strangers and note down snippets of conversations I hear on trains. And – no I am not joking, LSB got me a periscope for...
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World Apart
I get the U8 to work. Berliners call it the Drogen Linie – a title it’s earned. Men and women with drooping eyelids and sad shuffles inhabit the line. On the platforms, people with trolleys containing...
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Lidl children
Whenever I go to Lidl, the cashier asks if I’m collecting the football stickers. When I say “no,” she looks surprised and a tiny bit relieved. Yesterday I went to another branch closer to work. There...
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Why I’m a tree hugger and you should be too
When Frau B looks out of her fourth-floor bedroom window, she sees two tall trees. On the left is a spruce. Its mass of deep-green needles presents a burst of colour all-year-round. But she’s more...
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The rabbit cage
A few years ago, a large grey rabbit appeared in the hallway of the nursing home. Residents would park their Zimmer frames and wheelchairs by its cage and stick their fingers through the bars. The...
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Mama
“I’m just going to stitch you up,” said the doctor. “You’ve lost quite a bit of blood.” She was kneeling on the floor, looking between my legs. “Okay,” I said. “Thank you.” It was just before 5 in the...
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