Or what the city you live in says about the city you live in.
In Berlin the doors on the trains and underground close slowly. People do not walk on escalators, they position themselves left and right and in the middle and then drop their cases or bags next to them, so that getting past them is nigh on impossible without seeming like a complete maniac. People don't sigh in the queue at the supermarket when the person in front of them not only gets out the little receipt which they got when they brought back 2 bottles, which has to be deducted from their total but also asks for a tax receipt which has to be written by hand. People don't actually seem to mind that all these things mean that what could be an activity of 10 minutes suddenly takes half an hour. And why not?
Because they don't mind if it takes longer. The city and its inhabitants conspire together to make things take more time. So what does this say? That everyone in Berlin has endless amounts of time? Well maybe. Or that this city and its enviroment is not driven solely by the need to be somewhere else as in London. There is much more of a street life in Berlin than in most of London. More cafes with tables outside, more people just flaneuring. And so, the urge is not to be in front of your desk, the TV or the bar, but out and about.
In Berlin the doors on the trains and underground close slowly. People do not walk on escalators, they position themselves left and right and in the middle and then drop their cases or bags next to them, so that getting past them is nigh on impossible without seeming like a complete maniac. People don't sigh in the queue at the supermarket when the person in front of them not only gets out the little receipt which they got when they brought back 2 bottles, which has to be deducted from their total but also asks for a tax receipt which has to be written by hand. People don't actually seem to mind that all these things mean that what could be an activity of 10 minutes suddenly takes half an hour. And why not?
Because they don't mind if it takes longer. The city and its inhabitants conspire together to make things take more time. So what does this say? That everyone in Berlin has endless amounts of time? Well maybe. Or that this city and its enviroment is not driven solely by the need to be somewhere else as in London. There is much more of a street life in Berlin than in most of London. More cafes with tables outside, more people just flaneuring. And so, the urge is not to be in front of your desk, the TV or the bar, but out and about.
