Life in “lockdown light” – week 4

Lockdown light is not having the desired effect.

As we’re coming to the end of week four of lockdown light, it’s become increasingly evident that while the restrictive measures are working in most parts of Germany, the number of Covid-19 cases in Berlin continues to rise. In some districts, namely, Neukölln and Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, the number of new infections has increased by as much as 60% in spite of the partial lockdown. Berliners, it would seem, are undisciplined. That doesn’t surprise me at all. As I’ve observed before, the main streets and shopping malls are crowded. Incredibly, some people are not even aware of the rules limiting social contacts. 

Until recently the weather in Berlin had been fairly mild, but now it’s typical November weather. It’s cold and grey and some days it’s difficult to tell the difference between night and day. Nevertheless, people in Berlin don’t like to stay at home. Although Christmas markets are not allowed to open this year, there are alternatives. Kiosks selling Glühwein or mulled wine have popped up in several parts of the city. I’ve even seen a Vietnamese restaurant with a stall on the pavement selling Glühwein. 

The current partial lockdown measures have been prolonged until 20 December and there has been some toughening of restrictions. For instance, only two households are allowed to meet up, with a maximum of five people (it used to be 10) both indoors and outdoors. But while in the rest of Germany there will be an easing of the lockdown rules to allow gatherings of up to 10 family members and friends during the Christmas holidays, in Berlin there will be no change. Luckily for large families, children under the age of 12 are excluded from these calculations. In Berlin it is not unusual to see families with four children. Having three children is almost the norm these days. 

Talking of Christmas, the Advent season begins on Sunday. In Germany the tradition is to light the first of the four candles of the Adventskranz or advent wreath on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. Although you can buy them in flower shops or even supermarkets, for the past three years we’ve been making our own Adventskranz. It’s not difficult to make, but it helps if you have the right tools: a straw ring (the base), twigs, green wire (for fixing the twigs to the ring), candles, candle holders and anything you might like to use as decoration. Usually, families and friends get together on the four Sundays preceding Christmas and sit at the table with the advent wreath in the middle to drink tea or Glühwein and eat Christmas biscuits, or Plätzchen. This year, Advent season won’t be quite the same.

Finally, I have a new Netflix recommendation. It’s an animated short film called If Anything Happens I Love You. It’s only 12 minutes long, mostly in black and white, with no dialogue, but it’s extremely powerful and moving. 

Life in “lockdown light” – week 3

Be a couch potato, be a hero.

It’s week three of lockdown light and the German government, or Bundesregierung,  has come up with a new strategy to convince young people to stay at home. They are running an online campaign with a series of ironic documentary-style videos showing old people reminiscing about the winter of 2020, a time when they were young and they became heroes by simply doing nothing. In one short film, an old man shows off the medal he was awarded for his outstanding contribution in the fight against coronavirus. He was a lazy slob, who stayed at home all day playing computer games and eating junk food. His friends used to make fun of him, but due to his laziness he became a hero because he stopped the virus spreading. The final message is: “Become a hero too and stay at home”, hashtag #besonderehelden or special heroes.

If the scenes at the Mauerpark last Sunday are anything to go by, it’s likely to be an uphill struggle. Clearly Berlin is not a city of couch potatoes. Crowds gathered at the park, which, by the way, has been enlarged recently. As well as people dancing in close proximity to one another (clearly in defiance of the AHA rules), there were multi-ethnic families having barbeques, aspiring musicians trying out new beats, aspiring acrobats trying out new tricks, graffiti artists spraying on the walls and the usual boules-playing gang.

Meanwhile in a different part of Berlin, Prince Charles was giving a speech, partly in German and partly in English, at the Bundestag, the German Parliament. He was attending a ceremony to commemorate Germany's National Day of Mourning for victims of war. Actually, his German is quite impressive! I wonder if the Prince of Wales is aware that there is a nightclub in Berlin named after him. Unfortunately, the club called Prince Charles, like all other clubs (in case you didn't know, Berlin is famous for its club scene), is closed due to the current Covid restrictions. I should point out that Prince Charles and Camilla are amongst the first passengers to land at the newly opened BER airport. It was worth opening a painfully delayed airport in the middle of a global pandemic after all!

Talking of the royal family, season four of The Crown is finally available to watch on Netflix. My favourite moment so far is when a mystified Margaret Thatcher, played by Gillian Anderson, wonders why she is wasting her precious time at Balmoral, while «struggling to find any redeeming features in these people» (i.e. the royals), who her husband describes as “boorish, snobbish and rude”. Meanwhile, Earls Court, where Lady Diana lives, is a place for “prostitutes and Australians”. That is according to Princess Margaret, played by Helena Bonham Carter. If you think you come from an odd family, don’t worry you’re in good company, even though you might not live in a palace or castle.

Life in “lockdown light” – week 2

Mexico City or Berlin?

The second week of “lockdown light” is coming to an end, but you wouldn’t know it walking around the streets of Berlin. There are plenty of people out and about. At least during the daytime - I haven’t been out in the evenings. There are people inside shops (wearing masks of course) and there are queues outside fast-food and other restaurants serving takeaway. There are also plenty of bikes and cars on the streets and people waiting at tram and bus stops. I have been avoiding public transport, but I hear that S-Bahns and underground trains are pretty full. Of course, bars, cinemas, theatres, museums, fitness studios, etc. remain closed.

When the partial lockdown was announced, it was supposed to be in place for at least four weeks, but it may well last longer. We should find out more on Monday 16 November, when Angela Merkel is due to hold a meeting with regional leaders to discuss the current situation. Meanwhile, the number of Covid infections in Germany continues to rise, but at least the reproduction number (or R value) has fallen below 1 – a positive sign. However, these figures may be misleading as the testing strategy has changed since early November. Patients with colds no longer get tested, because the testing capacity is stretched, so we might be comparing apples with pears.

The Christmas season will feel very different this year. Christmas markets are one of the staples of the festive season in Germany, but many have been cancelled. In Berlin, the traditional Christmas markets at Gendarmenmarkt and Schloss Charlottenburg, as well as the Lucia-Weihnachtsmarkt and the Alt-Rixdorfer Weihnachtsmarkt, won’t be happening this year. The Christmas Garden has also been cancelled. Where will we drink our Glühwein (mulled wine) and eat our waffles with cinnamon sugar, just to mention a couple of the delicacies on sale at the markets?  The simple answer is - at home. I guess I will have to invest in a waffle-maker, or my son will be disappointed.

The most awaited news since the beginning of the pandemic came from Mainz, where the German company BioNTech is based. Together with US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, they announced that their jointly developed vaccine is 90% effective in preventing people from getting Covid, according to early results from Phase 3 trials. This news was welcomed all over the world: hope is in sight! BioNTech was founded by husband-and-wife team Prof Sahin and Dr Türeci, both children of Turkish immigrants, or Gastarbeiter, as they are called in Germany (literally “guest workers”). Tell that to AfD voters! In case you don’t know, AfD is a far-right anti-immigrant party.  

If you are looking for Netflix recommendations, the series The Queen’s Gambit is one of the best I’ve seen recently. It’s about chess, but don’t be put off by that. It’s very stylish and beautifully shot. Although the action takes place in the US, Mexico City, Paris and Moscow, many of the scenes were actually filmed in Berlin. Filming locations include the Bode Museum, the Friedrichstadt-Palast (pictured), Rathaus Spandau, the Palais am Funkturm, the Berlin zoo, several locations on Karl-Marx Allee in Friedrichshain, including the bar at Kino International, and even the Humana secondhand and vintage shop at Frankfurter Tor. It might feel like Paris or Moscow in the late 1960s, but don’t be fooled, it’s Berlin!