This disgusting mess has now been there for about three weeks for no apparent reason or purpose other than to make the place look even uglier and restrict my use of my balcony even more than they already have done for two years now. I am sick and tired of looking at it. I can’t believe the way they feel entitled to do this to others for so long. And I am completely powerless. Even our Hausverwaltung is on their side. They are renovating a building which is under “Denkmalschutz” which means they can do whatever they like to neighbouring buildings. For years and years.
My only “light at the end of the tunnel” right now is that by the time I have been vaccinated (1 July plus two weeks) hotels and holiday homes in Germany will be open so I can get out of this place and spend a couple of months at the North Sea, and return fit to face another autumn, winter, spring …..? without a balcony and with all this ugliness to look at.
One of the few things I miss about Denmark – apart from my brother and his family, and the proximity to the sea – is the relative honesty. I am not saying everybody in Denmark is pure as the driven snow, and that there are no bad apples, but growing up, I was practically brainwashed to believe that lying – for whatever reason – Is. Not. An. Option. Period. It just makes life easier when you can, on the whole, believe what others are telling you, and vice versa.
Not that making life easier is a thing in Germany. Just look at the garbage disposal system designed to be as cumbersome as possible – a small thing but a daily annoyance. The door to the general garbage bins binds, and has done all the time I have been living here, to the point that I am sometimes unable to open it, even when doing the shoulder-and-all-of-my-not-unsubstantial-weight-on-it thing. To dispose of paper/carton and bottles in separate bins, you have to drag the bins out in order to ease the stuff in, and then push the bin back in. Although I am old, I am not that weak yet, but I still ask myself almost every day what country and which century I am in when things are designed to be so difficult to everybody other than the youngest and strongest.
Anyway, that was a side track. So I was not overly used to being lied to, and I am also blessed with a healthy skepticism, but I have still been lied to, often in small matters which I have noted and forgotten, and often in matters that I did not see at the time, just realised later, and either added them to my mental list of people who are mendacious and unreliable, or brushed them off as not important . I will use the example of the renovations next door to make my point.
Far be it for me to glorify Denmark (after all, there are many reasons I am not living there …) but had that type of renovation been carried out in Denmark, I am quite sure that:
They would not have told us that the part of the scaffolding which is almost ON our balconies would be there for six to eight months, when they obviously knew it would be at least four times that amount of time;
They would not have told us that our balconies would not be affected, when in my case that could not have been further from the truth (the other balconies, all directly underneath mine, have been suffering from lack of light and the claustrophobia of having the scaffolding there but they have not to my knowledge been constantly plagued by thick layers of dust, rubble falling on to balcony and furniture, cigarette burns on one of my chairs, a severe reduction of sunlight compared to what they normally get, etc. etc., all chronicled in this category of posts. Now for almost two years and counting.
They would not have muttered about financial compensation just to appease us temporarily, unless they actually intended to pay it, which, as there has been no mention of that since the meeting where it was told to us verbally (that is the other thing here: whatever you do or say, make sure there is no documentation ……) early in 2019, that was obviously also just to make us go home without asking uncomfortable questions. Not that it matters since nothing will bring back two, soon-to-be three ruined summers. I know that to many, a balcony is not that important, but it is to me, and as I have mentioned before, it was one of the main reasons I bought this flat. Had it been smaller, or not on top and normally flooded in light, I would probably not have bought this flat.
I now know why there is so much distrust and suspicion in this society. It is because everybody knows that they and everybody else lie whenever that is the most convenient solution in the moment. Just something to get used to.
Two cigarette stubs miraculously disappeared, and then two new ones appeared.
As a complete coincidence, I saw one of them – still lit. It is raining today, so the fire hazard is minimal, but the material you placed there about a week ago, apparently for no other reason than to make my balcony look even uglier and restrict my use of it even further, to me looks highly flammable when it is dry.
You obviously consider my balcony nothing more than an ashtray for your workers, (and thanks to you, my flat is worth nothing these years), but it is my home, and believe it or not, despite everything, I love it. So please try not to burn down the house.
You would think that the least they could do was refrain from throwing cigarette stubs on my balcony as an added insult. I thought that had stopped after I complained about it some months ago, when I also found burn holes in one of the chair on the balcony. But no. Of course not.
The promise that my balcony would not be affected was made in a meeting between administrator and owners about two years ago, and is to this day the biggest lie anyone has ever told me. I think it was in the same meeting that we were promised some kind of compensation. I did not pay much attention since the amount was negligible – actually on hindsight completely pitiful – and I just thought yeah yeah whatever since my balcony “would not be affected”. In any case, there has been no mention of that compensation since then, so that was probably just another lie.
The other day, I had just cleaned the balcony floor and shelves for I don’t know which time, and suddenly it looked like this again:
So I cleaned up again, just in time for them to turn up and place some covering there, so now it looks like this:
I guess this qualifies as progress, unless they leave it like that for another couple of years.
But for now, I am keeping up hope. Having the full use of my balcony back would be far more important to me than receiving the COVID19 vaccine. The vaccine would not make a big change to my current lifestyle anyway. I would still have to adhere to most restrictions, including my own, and masks will be required for many months to come, and besides, with the new mutations spreading from banana republics such as Brazil and India, the current vaccines are not going to be much good for anybody in the longer term.
Being able to use my balcony, not to mention the fact that if they finally finish work on that wall, that part of the scaffolding can be removed, and I will get the daylight back which it is currently stealing and has been for almost two years now. All that would hugely enhance my quality of life.
And by the way, the size of the balcony and the light were among the main reasons I bought this flat.
I have been lied to more times in the five years I have lived in Germany than in the 63 previous years living in Denmark, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Denmark (again) put together.
I have conveniently forgotten most of them because they were less important in the grand scheme of things. The worst one, and the one I will never forget or forgive is the one told to me in the Eigentümerversammlung where we were told about the renovation project – Viktoriahöfe – next door and promised that our balconies would not be affected.
We were also told that that part of the scaffolding would be there for about eight months, i.e. till March-April 2020 (!).
And now they are letting several pairs of rats with wings (pigeons) nest on the shelf just above my balcony and I think also on the one above that.
I have had psittacosis twice before, with no after-effects, and I am not keen on tempting fate once more, which means that my balcony is off-limits for me from now on.
I thought the previous summer 2019, and spring and summer 2020 (the year where I had to spend most of my time at home (!!)) were ruined because at least 50% of the daylight was stolen by the monster scaffolding and I had to look at all that ugliness. But I could at least spend time on the balcony and grow a few herbs etc. there, although I did not feel like inviting friends around, even during the times where it was allowed.
However, now that they have let the netting collapse around the scaffolding, allowing pigeons to nest virtually on my balcony, but out of reach for me to remove them, I have to stay indoors altogether and also give up growing herbs etc. there.
EDIT 4 March – this one paragraph added: Despite my tendency to catch psittacosis easily, and the fact that pigeons also constantly try to nest on my own balcony (which I am able to control – sort of), and my resulting lack of sympathy for them, I still think this constitutes cruelty to animals, and despite several messages to Cresco Capital Group, they are seemingly refusing to respond let alone do anything about it: https://www.facebook.com/1073953174/videos/10221891189003568/.
So I have to stay off the streets as much as possible to avoid one virus – and off my balcony to avoid another one, in this case purely because Cresco Capital Group can’t be bothered to finish their work on one wall and remove that part of the scaffolding. This particular part of the scaffolding was added much later than the rest of the scaffolding and could therefore be removed again much earlier. If they wanted to. But the magic word, as ever, is DENKMALSCHUTZ, which means they can behave whichever way they like and I just have to be honoured and eternally grateful to be such a close – literally – neighbour to a building which – and this is the big irony – if they ever finish it in – what five? eight? years (this IS Berlin after all) – will still be one of the ugliest buildings in the world.
Coming up to the third consecutive summer of shade and claustrophobia now. How much longer will that monster be stealing half my sunlight? And how much longer will I have to look at that ugly wall?
When in May 2019 at a meeting of owners in the building we were first informed about the renovations next door, we were told that the part of the scaffolding that is really close to our balconies would be there for six to eight months (starting in June 2019) and that our balconies would not be affected. I was surprised that we were offered compensation – on hindsight probably a pitiful amount but I did not pay much attention because – six to eight months seemed like nothing, and “my balcony would not be affected” – so – yeah-yeah, whatever. And in any case, that was the first and last we have ever heard or seen of that money, so perhaps that was just another lie.
Now I finally understand why I was lied to so blatantly. If I had known:
To what extent a summer, an autumn, a spring, and another summer– and most likely the second autumn as well – would be ruined;
The amount of cleaning I would need to do over and over again;
The ugliness I would have to look at;
The amount of sun and daylight that would be stolen, and for how long (years rather than months);
The inexplicable and despite many complaints loud shouting, roaring and singing (?) sometimes already shortly after 6 AM, even on some Saturdays, which wakes up the entire area;
Not to mention the construction noise which up to now has been for longer periods of time and louder than I ever thought possible, often causing me to have to get out of the flat – in times of Corona where I should be at home – and on my balcony (!) – most of the time;
– I would have paid more attention, been less impressed that they were even offering any kind of compensation, and reserved the right to adjust that amount upwards later.
Do I feel like an utter fool? You bet.
By the way – what is that ridiculous net doing there? It no longer has any function, since it is hanging loose in many places, sometimes flapping wildly in the wind. All it does is make the whole thing look even more messy and ugly. But perhaps, to them, that is reason enough to leave it there.
Fortunately, I am escaping the nightmare again next week (it is not just the mess but most of all the noise which now starts at 05.45 AM and continues throughout the day so no chance of a mid-day nap), so I am not sure I can be bothered to clean that up, since most likely there will be more when I get back.
The bigger question is, how much longer will I have to look at all this ugliness:
Edit 6 August 15.45: Wow. What a difference a Facebook post can make. That is a heck of a lot more light than before. What happens next is of course a worry, but for now I assume I can risk starting to clean and re-furnish and use the balcony. And enjoy what is left of the summer.
I still wish they would inform me (IN WRITING) what is going to happen to that wall and to my balcony, and preferably approximately when, because I am fully aware of the fact that the real nightmare may not even have started yet, but they do not seem to want to do that.
Every time I think it will get better, it gets worse.
In an e-mail last week, I was informed that the last work would be done on 3 and 4 August, and that the net could then also be removed (I don’t know what it is doing there at all now). I therefore dropped my plans of leaving Berlin for any considerable length of time.
I did flee the chaos for three days, and arrived home in the afternoon of 5 August hoping to be able to slowly start cleaning and using my balcony (and my living room) again.
Instead, I found things looking worse than ever. In addition to some more boards and some more rubble, they have installed what looks like an entire euro-pallet – ON my balcony. So much for “your balcony will not be affected”. That statement is becoming more and more laughable by the week, and has been for over a year now.
No work was being done on that wall yesterday afternoon, and none whatsoever today, 6 August, either.
I don’t know what is more breathtaking – the arrogance or the propensity to lie over and over again. Do they actually think it is nice to have a good-sized balcony and not be able to use it? Especially during the summer, in a year where I ought to be at home most of the time? Not to mention the fact that my living is full of most of the things that are normally on the balcony.
