About 150,000 people in the last year have visited escape tunnels in Berlin. The tunnels were dug during the time that the Berlin wall was in existence. During those cold war years there were frequent attempts to escape. No-one knows how many made it (one thought is about 300) but well over a hundred died in the attempt.

I write this rumble kneeling on the floor with my laptop on top of a small chest of drawers pushed up against the television. Why? No chairs in this hotel room so you sit on the bed or the floor. A small problem set against all the benefits. This hotel is small, old and completely untainted by modern hotel management thinking. No massive deference to me, the guest, just ordinary civility.

Breakfast this morning was just that. “Do you want breakfast,” I was asked. No choice just bacon, sausage, mushroom, baked beans, fried egg and toast. Whether I should have some fruit and satisfy those health soothsayers who are warning of my imminent demise didn’t come into it. No choice between white, wholemeal or brown bread. But there was orange juice!

[ October 31, 2009 9:00 am to November 2, 2009 7:00 pm. ] 31 October-2 November,

NEC, Birmingham

http://www.globalsnowshows.co.uk