New world

I like my new place, even if I haven’t had time to settle into it yet.
Sure, I got the keys and my name’s on the door, but circumstances over the past week have prevented me from really moving in, really making it home.
But it’s a great place, albeit temporary, as all places are. The day you find the place you’ll stay is the day… well, let’s not get into that. Even then some fucker will probably dig you up to make way for a new supermarket.
My “landlady” left all her furniture and she’s got some pretty nice stuff, stuff she picked up from fleas’ markets and trendy 1970s film sets, stuff I’d never have been able to gather on my own. Most importantly, she has wooden floors, loads of windows, a little balcony and a wine rack.
She left all her cutlery, plates, pots and pans and so on, so there was no need for me to get anything. She even left food in the fridge and wine in the wine rack.
“Work away on that,” she said when she gave me the keys.
When I switched on the radio for the first time, the dial was already set to FluxFM.
There was even toilet paper in the bathroom, fancy toilet paper, with pictures of flamingos and things on it. Not only that, but it was perfumed, perfumed! What in the name of Jaysus anyone wants with perfumed toilet paper is beyond me, but there you go – that’s the type of place I’m living in now.
I’ve inherited a load of plants that I have to water so they don’t die. Before I only needed to worry about José, the cactus, but now there are two more cacti as well as a large palm tree and some other, regular, plants. I should be watering them now but I’m writing this.
I like the area, despite it being Prenzlauer Berg. It’s not the up-its-own-arse part of Prenzlauer Berg but the more run-down part on the other side, just north of Mauerpark.
I get the feeling there’s a strong sense of community here. People are friendly, they talk to each other, greet each other(!) and are generally pleasant to one another.
There’s a Kebap place around the corner with decent Kebaps for €2.80. But the Kebap fella knew everyone that walked by. They all said hello, some stopped and chatted, others waved. Mad. I don’t know how many times I said hello to ignoramuses in Pankow that wouldn’t even look at you in response. So that’s a nice change.
Amenity-wise, there’s loads of shit around. There’s a taverna on the corner that I haven’t tried yet, a hairdressers downstairs, a bar around the corner called the “Black Witch” with pints for €2.20 and a Späti with good cheap beer a stone’s throw away. They have some stuff made by monks. Amazing how all the beer is made by monks. You’d have to wonder what the nuns are doing in their convents. 
The S-Bahn station’s around the other corner with trains directly to the airport in case you’re of a mind to get away. Or arrive, of course. The trains go in both directions.
My main concern was whether the young lad would like it, but he seems to be delighted. “We got two houses!” he proclaims from time to time. One wasn’t enough. Obviously he won’t feel at home in this one until I do. Once things settle down a bit and I have a day off we’ll make it a home.

Pictures here (apart from the first one) are from the abandoned paper mill of Wolfswinkel.