……. and if yes – why do they say that like it’s a bad thing?
One of the most annoying expressions that has come to fame in the last couple of years, and that I have been tired of right from the beginning is “living in fear”, “I refuse to live in fear” (and the derivative: being asked “are you afraid right now?”).
I am doing what I can to avoid catching Covid19 (or any other disease for that matter, since – largely thanks to the anti-vaxxers ((who funnily enough suddenly believe in science when they need a hospital bed and life-saving treatment)) the health care systems are overwhelmed and don’t have the capacity to deal properly with anything other than Corona patients) – does that mean I am living in fear?
I also look left, right, and left again before crossing the street. Does that mean I am living in fear?
The pandemic now pervades all of our lives to an extent that a sequel to the first Corona diary is in order, and therefore, this will be continued in “Corona Diary II“.
21 October
Autumn colours
17 October 2020
Which will win today – the mist or the sun?
Red basil in bloom
15 October 2020
Another grey and rainy day.
8 October 2020
Covid19 numbers are back to what they were during lock-down in early spring. And so is the weather, so this feels like “back to sqare one”. Looking out the window, mainly for splashes of colour.
The containers in the backyard of the neighbouring construction site about to be overgrown, and a bottle left from New Year’s Eve 2019/20.
6 October 2020
Between two buildings in the morning.
8 September 2020
28 August
With or without the tree?
22 August
It finally rained, and the construction site was quiet. Bliss.
14 August
Not exactly from home, but I am not at home a lot these days. This is not a good time of year to have to keep all windows and doors closed due to ear-splitting noise and clouds of dust (see “Neighbours from Hell”).
So on one of my getaways, I missed a train and therefore had time to photograph the starlings which reside on Bahnhof Alexanderplatz. Tiny but cute, with beautiful plumage.
31 July early morning
27 July
Probably my favourite lens – the 35 mm macro
26 July
Beautiful rain. I could not resist putting some of my plants back on the balcony. I usually scoff at people who spray water on flowers before taking photos of them. So I wait till it rains. A concept possibly better known as a form of hypocrisy.
15 July
14 July
Swallows (I think – correct me if I’m wrong). The acrobats of ornithology. They fly so damn quickly that I’ll never be able to get a sharp photo, even if they come quite close to our balconies. They are probably also the reason why insects never really make it as far the flowers on our balconies. Both a blessing and a curse.
I have tried to make my balcony insect friendly by sowing some wild flowers, and also counting on the herbs that eventually bloom, such as oregano and thyme.
So when there is finally a suitable macro photography model on my balcony, is it thanks to those efforts? No. It is because of a mint plant which I bought in a supermarket earlier today.
6 July
Splashes of yellow.
And some experimenting.
5 July
A crane disappeared and revealed a tower I did not know I could see. Now I have to go and see what it is. Sigma 150-600 at 600 mm.
28 June
27 June
It was just a tiny little thing, about ten mm long. And don’t worry, no animal was harmed in the making of this photo. It is safe and sound, back in the coriander plant where I found it. I love my Canon 35 mm Macro lense.
The underside
Clover, as part of my efforts to create an insect-friendly balcony. Failing miserably.
24 June
A small section of my early morning coffee view, with a little bit of exposure tweaking in Lightroom.
23 June
And in the early evening, I played with Mr Sigma 150-600
22 June
Enjoying the sunrise (very early morning). I do hate pigeons, but they sure make better models than, say, swallows.
Sigma 150-600 mm, at 600 mm, heavily cropped:
20 June
Thistles.
19 June
It was just a tiny little moth, not much bigger than a mosquito.
Equipped with facemasks, I am taking up where I left off here: https://www.hellemoller.eu/2020/02/09/walking-the-berlin-wall-starting-february-2020/. I will no longer follow the book meticulously but rather choose routes where I can get to the starting point and return from the end point using as little public transport as possible, and especially avoid the U-Bahn which is probably a virtual cesspool at the best of times.
23 February – Tour Number 23 in the book – from Schillingbrücke to Checkpoint Charlie
Photos from the (now invisible) border on the Spree to be added later.
Affordable accommodation, green surroundings, yet central, proximity to water, pets allowed.PS: Shame on you, Berlin. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, just ask Finland. The first step is to summon the political will.
18 June – Tour Number 13 in the book – from Groß Glienicker See to Sacrow
The walk started at the northern end of Groß Glienicker See where some remnants of the wall can be seen.
Onwards along the western shore of the lake, where it soon became apparent that blocking access to Berlin’s waterways is legal – to my surprise.
I therefore had to make a slight detour through streets with lovely villas in Groß Glienicke, before reaching the southern end of the lake and turning towards the Havel, through forest empty of other droplet-spewing humans.
Wooden houses seem to be coming back in fashion.
There is also, supposedly, a “Skulpturenpfad”, but I only came across two sculptures.
Almost at the Havel, I came across this confusion. I have seen several examples of this, and I hope some day to discover what the secret is. Perhaps something to do with the original “Hinterland Mauer”? I don’t know.
After that, what followed was a long, rather uninteresting walk along the road (which runs along the Havel, more or less, to Sacrow, except you cannot actually see the waterway from the road). There were, however, some points of interest: Memorials for people who died trying to escape from the GDR. The first one you get to is for Rainer Liebeke.
Before getting to that last stop, a visit to the Heilandskirche which I had previously only seen from the world heritage cruise.
I had decided to walk the first bit of the next tour in the book as well, and finish with the water taxi (which turned out to be a joke) from near Heilandskirche to the Wannsee side. At the Heilandskirche stop, there is a time-table indicating the Potsdamer Wassertaxi runs daily, but it turns out that it only runs on weekend. A fact I realised when calling them and getting a voice-mail message after having waited for half an hour. Therefore, do not plan on using them during the week. You might get horribly stuck. Potsdamer Wassertaxi is totally unreliable.
For the continuation, I will skip this experience altogether and pick up on the Wannsee side.
8 May
Part of tour No 16 in the book, starting at Checkpoint Bravo.
