If you are from Berlin – or went to Berlin and to Mustafas Gemüse Döner then you probably just laughed as much as I did. I think this perfectly sums up Berlin humour to me. And also shows a real riddle and phenomenon. Berlin has around half a trillion Döner kebap stores – and probably 99 percent of them do better döners than Mustafa. And at none of them you have to line up for an hour – but for some reason people seem to think Mustafa is the only Kebap store in the city. I do not get it.
Here a few “handy” street observations from my walks through my new neighbourhood Berlin Treptow.
Politikerhände – Newsstand, Berlin Treptow (Photo by Stefan Klenke).
Nagelparlour, Baumschulenstraße, (Photo by Stefan Klenke)
Streetart Hand on Rubbish Container (Berlin, Treptow, Photo by Stefan Klenke)
Why do we always lose just one glove? – Berlin Treptow (Photo by Stefan Klenke)
Lepra is alive – Berlin Treptow (Photo by Stefan Klenke)
E-cigarette poster “Smoke differently“ – Berlin Treptow (Photo by Stefan Klenke
Does anyone know what this means? (Photo by Stefan Klenke
The smell coming from the bakery was sooo delicious. Poor doggy, has to wait smelling that yumminess with a nose so sensitive – Photo by Stefan Klenke
Poor waiting dog – He didn’t feel like smiling. – Photo by Stefan Klenke
Waiting is monkey business. Poor doggy. – Photo by Stefan Klenke
This waiting dog needs some medicine against loneliness. – Photo by Stefan Klenke
Well, by now you should have spotted the fake waiting dog. I was laughing when I spotted him sitting outside that soup place in Friedrichshain.
Translation: Our quarter – our streets (Berlin, Neukölln) Photo: Stefan Klenke
Homeless person sleeping in U-Bahn station Berlin (Lichtenberg) – Photo: Stefan Klenke
Translates as: “Rixdorf needs to stay dirty!“ ), Berlin Neukölln, Photo by Stefan Klenke
Translates as “Fight the capitalism!“ – Photo by Stefan Klenke
I just heard on the news that the rents in Berlin increased by 70%(!!!) in the last 10 years. The price is now around 10 Euro per square metre when it was just around 6 Euro a decade ago. The reason for this incredible rise according to the news was the increase in population. I was disgusted to hear this. I think the real reason is a system that supports greed and profiting on the needs of human beings. The system allowed house owners to raise and raise the rents without a healthy limit.
New Berliners who moved from other cities and countries where they already were used too expensive rents willingly accepted to pay those “still relatively cheap“ Berlin rents while the less fortunate poorer Berliners were pushed out of the city centres to the cheaper borders.
In a popular city like Berlin there will always be people who would still be able to pay for way too expensive rents. But still the problem is the system who failed to build cheap social housing and instead decided to cash in and build luxury expensive apartments for renting or buying and did not introduce an effective rent cap – and created another gentrificated unfair unequal city. This system is called Capitalism.
Berlin Neukölln – Colours like no other.
It’s a really grey and boring looking day today that’s why I was happy to see this colourful mix of street art and advertising posters at S-train station Neukölln this morning. Happy Friday, everyone!!! 😍😊
German efficiency
I loved how the gigantic billion Euro heavy Deutsche Bahn corporation fixed a leaking fire hydrant. Why spending hundreds when a 10 cent plastic supermarket bag will do the job. It’s also one of the trillions of bags less polluting the planet. We have a clear win-win situation here, friends. Well done Deutsche Bahn. #deutschebahn #respect
Well camouflaged
Can you spot the well camouflaged street observer? 😍
Aw, these poor guys. Always have to wait outside. They must think their owners left them forever.
Tonight on TV: Snow!!! 😁
Smily street art in Neukölln, Berlin
Mailbox full of Peace and Love (street art in Panierstraße, Berlin Neukölln)
When we look at the news today we might easily believe that humans are just about war and destruction. And some even think it would be best to erase humans off the globe. Well I strongly believe the world is what we want it to be and that we must remember that most people want peace and love. We must not give in to fear and hate.
It starts with every single one of us. Try to be nice to people around you. Try to improve the world with a smile, by planting a tree, making art, writing some music, donate money to people who protest and peacefully fight for our rights and our planet or join them, try to eat less meat, don’t buy a fossil fuel car, switch off lights you don’t need, do not buy plastic crap you don’t really need, boycott evil companies like Nestlé, Monsanto, Bayer or Shell, hug people more often, do not buy cheap clothes from places like Primark or bottled water that was transported thousands of miles.
Ask yourself, when you die – what have you done to make this world a little bit better?
I wish you loads of Peace and Love – not just for 2017.
Piece of the former Berlin Wall, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin
ITCHY EYE 