A Kiwi basks in centrally heated Berlin







Here it is. The secret at the centre
of German civilization (at least from November till April)...

The double window and the permanently-on-radiator.

And in the room behind the camera, Steffen and I are sitting in T-shirts (not out of antipodean bravado, but because it is actually warm) working on episode three in which……

Joerg must wear all of his insulated, wind-resistant extreme outdoor clothing in his bedroom because he has learnt that the New Zealand answer to draughty, uninsulated houses is "Then put on another jersey!" And Duncan is on the verge of a German rite of passage: he is about to buy his first pair of "Hausschuhe"; so much more than a pair of slippers, this felt-based footwear, along with double-glazing and central heating, completes a kind of holy trinity accepted by all Germans. Hausschuhe protect against the myriad of mysterious illnesses that Germans seem to believe are lurking at floor-level, waiting to assail bare or merely socked feet. More updates soon….

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