it was a realisation heading towards me and my life in berlin that my time in the fatherland was coming to an end. I had spent 4 years in berlin and every day was filled with pure excitement of gaining confidence as a city man. I had witnessed so much in such a short space or a few years but my life in berlin will live with me forever because it was the best years of my live and if I could repeat it all over again then I would. regardless of what ever happens in the future you have to embrace life to the max and fill every minute with excitement. it was a great moment of joy. my last year working outside of berlin gave me time to reflect upon my family back in somerset England. that was my home and I need to get back there to start my future there again. the phone call I made to speak to my parents came as a bit of a shock because I had been told by my father that he had to go into hospital for a quadruple heart bypass so I decided to fly back to England for a couple weeks to see my family and visit my father who was in hospital. once achieved I headed back to Germany to wrap things up with work etc. well the day I arrived home in bernberg I received a phone call from my cousin Fiona asking why I hadn’t call into London to visit her. she decided to hook up with me in berlin which we did for the weekend and on that weekend we decided to marry. she flew back to London and in just 6 weeks time we were married in Hounslow Middlesex. when the time is right I will re-visit berlin and reminisce through those early years of the 1990s which changed my life forever. the rest is HISTORY..
Monthly Archives: May 2014
blog…10.looking back.
although my last years were working outside of berlin it never stopped me from returning back to the glory of berlin. this city really did het under my skin and even today I still dream of returning one day for a revisit but without all the hectic stuff involved. looking back through those years im amazed how I survived but it was exciting and I made sure I had lots of fun. if you recall I was still avoiding the courts fior the taxi robbery charge and that fateful day arrived after me and andy, a friend from hull, managed to fall into a fight one night which ended up with both of us getting arrested and have a guess what I was remanded straight to moabit prison, which may I say scared the shit out of me purely because I felt so alienated being a foreigner. for the next 3 weeks I laid in my cell sweating everyday thinking this is it im going down again, like I did in England, but I was thinking this is Germany so how many years am I going to get. eventually a warden opened my cell door and instructed me to get ready for the court appearance. I was as nervous as I had ever been. I was scare of going down. I was placed into a security van with other prisoners, mostly german but a couple of americans wer up the same day on a double murder charge which made me feel slighty better but never the less I was still instructed by my English speaking german solicitor. all the way through this case of me attempting to rob a taxi driver for just a couple hundred marks completely got to me because I was totally innocent against the English hating taxi driver who I damned to death either way if a got sentenced or set free because he lied through his rotten gob. mr browne are you ready to stand trial I was asked and so I stepped into court and placed inside a see through metal cage which made me feel like I had commited a double murder aswell. so as the charges were read out and translated to me I started sweating and getting nervous again. the taxi driver was sat at the front of the court with the back of his head towards me. the prosecution began first and then the defence and then the judges disappeared for roughly 20 minutes and that 20 minutes felt like a week. 3 judges came back into the court room and seated themselves with the paperwork infront of them which would seal my future. the head judge started speaking whilst my solicitor translated to me. without any hesitance the words I heard first were please can you immediately release mr browne from the court house because as the evidence shows we find him NOT GUILTY. within half an hour after signing my release papers I was back out on the streets. the taxi driver was charged for taking my 20 marks and was put on a probation order. I told the truth and the truth came out. so now it was time for another celebration. tresor it was for me.
blog…9.losing control and leaving berlin.
it wasn’t just the historical knowledge development that caught my attention of how such a fasinating city berlin is but the massive bright lights and all the destractions that come with it seemed to have taken control of my interest which triggered something inside me which is athe that point I lost total control and began to investigate and discovered that underneath the streets of the city there apparently appeared more to be happening than what I had anticipated and had bargained for. I found living in berlin 20yrs ago verymind blowing and very exciting. first and foremost berlin is a European city well known for its parties, its eccentricricity, it vibrant buzz and most of all the side to berlin that I was completely nieve to and that’s the party scene and the stimulants that are involved and of course without forgetting how many gay people are in berlin. its a very sexy and sexual city and the people involved are really open minded and educated and very partiful which for some reason or other I seemed to fit in ok and gathered together a string of close friends from all walks of life and race. I cant deny talking about the abundance of all types of narcotics which were always readily available where ever you went. my self destruct button as I was unaware of at the time seemed to have been pressed to its full capacity because once I had the discovered the night life and all its ravishing going ons there was no way of turning back. the likes of tresors, e-werk, café Moscow, the kit kat club and many more which were meeting places for the social techno and drug addict party finders and goers. I didn’t realise at that my next 3yrs living in berlin was to become the biggest party I had ever commited myself to and I hit it to the max. I had picked up many addictions both mentally and physically and it was difficult to control. I was having to much fun to worry about the future and the conseqences that eventually fell on my worn out lap. what amazed me through all this partying were the places I frequented every weekend for 3yrs and each time I ventured out I found new places, deeper underground which bought more intense partying and hiding away from the world but more importantly my life. it spiralled completely out of control and I was unable to stop it. the force of earning a big wage packet every week only seemed to make matters worse because it was affordable to do these things and still work and live comfortably. I became a heavy narcotic user which took over my being and my life and I desperately need to find a way out of my dangerous predicament and fast. the historical aspect of berlin had faded for me and I needed a way to relight the fire for the love of berlin city. how could I allow something that I loved so much allow to desroy me. well I wasn’t prepared for total wipe out so I decided my only way out was to move out of berlin and begin a new life living far away from the city. I eventually move about a 3hr drive away from berlin and started a new job in a place called bernberg which I stayed for my remaining time in the fatherland..
my life in berlin 20yrs ago. 