Okay, I complained recently about the rudeness of Berliners, so I feel I ought to put in a word on the other side of things, about the niceness of Berliners – specifically, how helpful they are when you lose things on the street.
This is apparently quite a thing in Berlin. A number of people have told me stories of losing belongings somewhere on the street, only to go back and find that some nice passerby had picked up their things and set them out of harm's way on a nearby window ledge or such.
Maybe (?) this is true in many cities, but it seems to happen particularly often in Berlin!
I hadn't had much first-hand experience with the phenomenon until yesterday, when I was walking from an appointment to the office. It was a lot warmer than I'd expected, so I had both my coat and scarf slung over one arm. Somewhere along the way, I dropped the scarf and didn't notice until I was almost to the office.
Darn it! It's not the end of the world, obviously, but I did like that scarf... I turned around started retracing my steps as fast as I could.
And the further back I went, the more I scanned not just the ground but also nearby window ledges, because I knew the more time had passed, the more chance there was that someone might have already come along and set it aside somewhere.
Sure enough, partway back, I found my scarf. Not only was it still there – no one had taken it – and not only had someone picked it up and set it out of the way on a low stone wall, but that person had also folded it up neatly before doing so.
Awesome! Thank you, Berlin.
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