Berlin in a Day

Today was Berlin and the big question as I meandered through Wolfsburg (must visit some day, great architecture of the 60's industrial variety) was what I should see, the list is not endless but Berlin has been, and is destined to remain either a catalyst of European history or the heart of it. Passing Berlin Spandau that seems worth a visit, and at one point was on the list along with Potsdam, in the end I chickened and decided to see what I bumped into on a stroll around.

Walking aimlessly is not an efficient strategy for a day visit, but it worked for me - bumping into the Humboldt University, the Berliner Dom, and Alexanderplatz was more than enough for me. Walking down Unter Den Linden with the smell of flowers wafting through air - honest I smelt flowers - was a chance encounter that I could not have planned, along with the view of Alexanderplatz with the the Telecom Tower ands the Church in the foreground almost emphasising the changing history of this city from the centre of decadence to terror, to repression to liberation with the fall of the wall./

More than anything I didn't really do the sights of Berlin, but I tried to contextualise you, to get to know it for myself, to make sense of the history - it is a city with a 'past' - and try and make sense of how other people see it, how Berliners see it. I tried to see how the remains of its grandeur - its old railway stations at Fredricrtrasse, Alexandraplatz and Ost Bahnhoff run through to Berlin Hauptbahnoff and Leherter Bahnhoff like an artery through its history; the solid high level stations that ran through Berlin during Communism missing stops out because they were in the wrong Sector to Ost Bahnhoff which the link to Eastern Europe and to the East the new Hauptbahnoff built as a monument to reunification. In a testament of defiance the wrought iron roofs of the old stations stood as testaments to the 'old Berlin'.

It is hard for me to write definitives because it is not my city, not even my country, but I can say this is my impression of what is there, and how I interpret it - whether that be wright or wrong.

My major confusion was the street hawkers selling 'genuine' Russian armed forces hats, and the odd Nazi hat, it was this that made me stop and think about Berlin and the changes that have been made, and it interprets its history - for the me the war is over and the lessons learnt, so move on, Communism has come and gone - but I find it peculiar and disturbing at the trivialisation of these momentous events, as if the memories are there to be sold; I am not sure what I feel about the hats, its strange one trivial thing can have such a profound effect, I am sure that when I last visited back in the late 90's there would have been such a trade.

Berlin in day took me from the Bundestag via the Brandenburg Gate, to Alexandraplatz, but in time it took me from the 1920's to the 2010''s a roller-coaster ride that is still running .

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Location:Berlin

The Miss Marple Railway

January 26 Wrexham & Shropshire Railway ceased trading, the day it was announced that it had the highest customer satisfaction rating of any other Train Operating Company at 96%

We all feel upset at people losing their jobs, this was a double tragedy because this Train Operating Company and its staff really showed the rest of the rail industry how to ‘do’ customer service, it was a showpiece of what can be done, what we can do, and what we need to do. It was a quality operation from the refurbished elegantly simple Coaches to its toilets. 

The company was an example of how railways should be done, and what can be done when someone wants quality, not only was the quality of the rolling stock exceptional – the toilets were clean and modern and light, a strange thing to concentrate on but a basic of rail travel – the interiors were clean and well thought out, even to the horizontal power points; the simple grey/silver scheme that wreaked of class and created a relaxing atmosphere and more than perhaps anything the large picture windows so you could see the countryside rolling by, a journey not a commute.  Standard Class was to such a high standard that I had to ask if I was I was in Standard or First Class, the only other time I have had to do this was on a German ICE train.  The coaches Wrexham & Shropshire were using we built nearly 30 years old but refurbished to an exceptional standard that outshone the big boys of the railway such as West Coast or East Coast, and these companies are playing in the £100 millions league.  

No plastic seats, no small pokey windows, no narrow aisles, but good old fashioned coaches.

But a quality railways is more than its coaching stock, it is more than anything else its people, and they were quietly efficient getting the job done professionally and being friendly at the same time. 
These guys should be getting awards for their service not their P45’s.
 
A friend called the Wrexham & Shropshire the ‘Miss Marple Railway’ and so it was, with a standard of service that is has long since disappeared, and will probably never return, courteous yet efficient and dignified yet friendly; the ‘Miss Marple Railway’ tag was not a slur it was compliment.

Wrexham and Shropshire were a victim of a process that expounds competition, yet this company, it has been argued by rail commentators,  was not allowed to compete at Birmingham New Street, Snow Hill or Coventry where the quality of service far surpassed that of Chiltern Railways (a good operator) and Virgin West Coast – this company would have been turning people away but they were not allowed to compete fairly, having to take the scenic route, stopping in out of the way places like some sleepy backwater railway but with the ability to be mainline through and through.

It seems in the UK that quality is not rewarded.

Today, 26 Jan, it was reported that a W&S train ran to all booked stations and the Driver got out at each station and explained that the company has been closed and he couldn’t take any customers because the company had folded, a class act!