BERLIN: A New City
For me visiting a new city follows something of a regular pattern. For the first few hours, I don't like it, wherever it is. That's pretty much a given. It could be the holiday destination of your dreams - I won't like it. They could be scattering orchid petals in front of me on the street - I still won't like it. Period. I'm generally the trip organiser. I tell myself I do it under sufferance but in reality, it's a control issue - I think something would get forgotten if I didn't do it. So because I've arranged everything I have this performance anxiety thing going on. My wife won’t like it, the hotel’s going to be a roach infested pit and we’re going to get mugged - the usual stuff everyone worries about.
However, once that's passed and it is generally only a few hours. Then fairly quickly after that, I want to live there. Not lock, stock, and barrel sell our house and move. Just live there for a while, three months seems ideal. Long enough to get to know the place.
My fantasy, which is fully developed by now, generally involves renting a small apartment. I like the idea of an apartment because it's easy to maintain, there are no distractions from the work in hand. I don't want to waste my time gardening or sweeping the yard. I'm going there to be an artist nothing else. Once settled I'd spend my time wandering the streets with my trusty camera documenting the life of everyday man. In the evening I drink red wine and eat at a pavement café.
That’s not so unusual, I hear you thinking, everyone does that, from time to time. But for me it's not time-to-time it's every time!
A woman working late at night seen through an open window
This fantasy doesn't always end when I leave the city. When I got home from visiting Eugene, Oregon, I spent several hours trawling rental properties online. Deciding which one I was going to rent like I was actually going to do it. I like the view from that one, but it’s a long walk from the town, that’s no good, I tell myself.
I picture myself like W. Eugene Smith trying to record the whole of Pittsburgh.
One property consisted of a small cottage at the bottom of the owners garden. I developed the story I was going to tell them about why I was there. As long as there's no gardening required that would be fine. I'm not going to have time for gardening.
The latest object of my desire was Berlin. We visited last month and stayed in a great hotel in Neukölln. We loved it. The streets behind the hotel were jammed with suitable apartments, it was ideal. A new city to explore my imagination ran riot. There are lovely little bars and a really welcoming atmosphere. I don’t speak more than the very basics of German, but that’ll come, I told myself, once you’re living here, chatting to people every day.
Maybe this fantasising is the sign of some malcontent in my life as it is. Could it be I just have an overactive imagination? I’m going to Bristol for the weekend soon, so if you’re interested in the state of the rental market give me a few days and I’ll be the man to ask.
