Bleurgh

Propped up on pillows in an ocean of tissues, I have spent this Sunday in bed with a shitty cold. What better place to write from.

2011 is already old, but I hope you all had wonderful Christmasses etc. My week in Exeter was buried in silent snow, bliss in contrast to the brash honking of sleepless Hermannstr.

On returning to Berlin I have been inundated with visitors. 10 divided between my cupboard of a room and my housemate's was entertaining in this heatless house. There were more than I or these four walls expected but I cannot adequately describe how wonderful it is to sit down to dinner with 15 of the most brilliant people. We may not have had enough seats, or plates, and only four forks...but these are trivial matters when there are pots of hot soup and a crate of beers.

New Year's Eve itself was an epic night of mayhem. We slipped down the streets and fell up the icy Kreuzberg to see in the New Year and - what I supposed - Brandenburg Gate's official Firework spectacular.

Oh how wrong I was.

The Berg was no outlook post to see distant colours. We were the display. Armed with giant sparklers, Feuerwerk stuffed into emptying champagne bottles, the air thick with burning smoke, a sky crackling with colour, we duck under flying explosions and shouted over the roar of the fireworked sky. After surviving, limbs intact, sliding down the hill, jumping out of the way of explosions at all sides, we danced the morning through an Electro Houseparty. Perfekt.

The following week was full of Museums, Bars, Beers and uBahns. Classic Berlin. We returned to Tempelhofs Flughafen - now a white, frozen wasteland. We wandered through melancholy Treptow park. We captured smiles in the ever brilliant Photoautomats.

I miss the collage of voices, laughs and musics. A massive thankyou to everyone for being generally wonderful. You're welcome whenever. : )

And so. I keep dreaming about long days and warm nights. I've started planning disjointed adventures...this summer is going to be very, very good.

I hope you all have a brilliant year full of interesting people, stories to tell, and maybe a bit of Berlin on the side...

It's good to be home.

Love,

Nikki

xx

Photos are of Tempelhof, taken by Michael Tomkins