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In Berlin:
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In many ways I miss Berlin.
In many ways, I don’t! 
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It’s certainly interesting, so different from any other city in Germany. I wouldn’t want to live there but I always enjoy my visits.
It has changed a lot since my first visit in 2004.
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2004? I was there then - came home in December that year, having flown out in February 2003.
Lived there from 1991-96, too, in various boroughs from latest build apartments in Rudow to houses with WWII damage in Pankow. Just over those 5 years the city changed massively - especially in the East, as I suppose would be expected. Had a lot of good times there - loved the Ku’damm and spent most of my nights out there.
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Some things off the top of my head:
- The area around the then brand new Hauptbahnhof (Central Train Station) and the government quarter was a huge construction site.
- The stairs of the Reichstag building were still accessible to the public
- The new Berlin Palace that is now finished was non existend. In its place was the horrendous Palace of the Republic (GDR architecture)
- all in all there were a lot more construction sites than even today as it was the transition period where the government moved from Bonn to Berlin
- Berlin Schönefeld Airport felt very provincial (Airport Berlin-Brandenburg is finally “finished” lol)
- Tempelhof was still an airport, today it’s a public park (Tempelhofer Feld)
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I have seen hail like that in Saskatchewan causes incredible damage and kills livestock.
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First I must show you January 1st, 2022:
And 6’-1” (185CM) me for scale - this pile was in the 5 foot range.
AND THEN THERE IS TODAY
We broke the 7 foot mark!
We couldn’t cut out the paver stone walkway down the driveway next to my dad’s Acadia. The pile was too high for our snowblower to throw over, and doing it manually was asking too much. It was near 0°C when the snow fell, so it became wet packing snow before we even touched it. Don’t mind my 4ft square plywood backstops - since I had to shoot clear over the pile, I positioned those to protect our front walkway which we had just cleared and then moved them to block overshoot falling down on the neighbor’s driveway.
This was really a case of nature winning. The other side of our driveway has no lawn between us and the next house, so all that snow also goes on this pile. We had to call it done at good enough. I usually also cut the front of the pile on the road side and stack that one so that when the snowplow comes by our driveway does not get buried in with packed snow, but that was not an option. The road itself it about 6” above grade with snow now.
Needless to say I did not appreciate working this while also suffering a case of a sour stomach which meant I still have had nothing to eat today at just shy of 5:30PM. Unlike the snow, that has cleared up so it’s time for a proper meal!
Does anyone have a flamethrower available for rent?
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Shoot, for the low price of $3,450 USD you can own one, and then rent it to others!
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I like the napalm compatibility, it definitely needs to “stick” and really apply the heat to get the job done on this mess.
Winter 2024 budget perhaps? 
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My only advice is that the diesel/gasoline mix needs to be heated (warm) prior to adding the thickening agent or else it takes forever to really thicken. 
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Meanwhile in Germany the Rhine is already really low in its riverbed (it is normally pretty high this time of year), it hasn’t rained nearly enough in over 3 years (except for freak weather events that bring death and destruction) and the last time we had snow for more than a night and more than 5mm was three years ago and before that we had snow back in 2011. Last time I was ice skating on a lake was 2012 and the last three summers saw temperature records broken again and again. Cycling home after 8hours at work in 42°C heat is not fun.
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Dramatic changes over the course of our lifetimes. Our snow fall usually comes in large waves, rather than one or two massive ones. Our early winter had very little snow, more rain.
Summers vary between brutally hot and hot but mild. As a kid I don’t recall heat so insufferable, but I was probably more immune to its effects.
Cycling above 40°C? Sounds like madness - is it dry heat? Hear we’d only get that with near 100% humidity making it very risky for heat stroke.
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Luckily it was dry heat but there was no wind and I went through four litres of water (had to stop at a gas station for a refill). In calm conditions I usually ride the route (31km) in about an hour, that day it took me 1:10h and I was exhausted. Not recommended even if you usually ride ~300km per week and I imagine it is pretty dangerous if you are not as well trained and don’t drink enough.
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I wouldn’t mind cycling to work, my route in town would be about 20km - but we lack dedicated cycling lanes and the culture. Riding here would be suicidal at best. When I drive, I actually drive out of the city North to the country roads, go across and dive back in close to home/work depending on the direction - it makes the drive a hair over 30km but takes the same if not less time because the average driving speed goes from under 40km/h to over 80km/h.
I figure the added distance for the car balances out with not being stop-and-go, and the fuel economy is massively better too.
The reduced mental stress of foregoing traffic is worth any bit that doesn’t otherwise balance out for the above reasons.
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Here at the Lower Rhine we have pretty good cycling infrastructure by German standards and cycling to work is common enough that 99% of the drivers are very considerate. Most people around here own a bike and ride in their free time (not even as a sport, just something you do around here on weekends) so most people here know both sides and there’s usually mutual respect and understanding which is not a given in other parts of Germany. Maybe it’s because of the vicinity to the Netherlands, idk…
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I agree having good cycling infrastructure is super cool. Luckily we have that in my city Oulu, even for winter cycling.
Here’s a recent video analysing some pros and cons of two winter cycling cities.
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A niece of mine lives in Berlin.
1990s I flew into Flugplatz Schonhagen on a flying tour of Europe from Perth (Scotland) in a Pa 28-180C. Weather delayed us 7 days in East Anglia (Swanton Morley) and for another day at Le Touquet. This threw my plans and timing out significantly.
I had originally arranged to go into Templehof but on crossing the German Border ATC pointed out it was now the Berlin Airshow and where did I want to divert. This was pre GPS and my Decca system stopped working at that point*.
A nice German pilot we met in Ostend had told me about a lovely grass airfield at Schonhagen so I went there. The Russians were still in former East Germany with the air charts warning of the risk of encountering large formations of transport aircraft that would not comply with air law. When I arrived overhead amidst very bad cb’s, thunder and lightning, I saw a huge hard runway. Not a grass airfield. We landed anyway expecting a cell in a Russian base. They had built the runway the previous week. I believe Schonhagen is now an exec jet base. It was one of my three favourite airfields of the trip.
It was either at Schonhagen or Groningen I first fulfilled my ambition of sleeping under the wing. On waking I sat up. Loud mettalic bell like noise and a sore head.
- I forget the range, but Decca worked on coastal transmitters so stopped working about a hundred miles from the coast.
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I hear ya, the temp. average from 1961-1990 where I live is 9.6°C, the last year that had an average below 11°C was 2010. The last year with an average below 10 was 1996. In the last 10 years, 5 had averages above 12°C. This is not looking good.
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