As usual I'm late. So I hurry up, look for my keys and leave the house. Outside the leaves of the trees along the Leinestraße are rustling. Birds are singing. Until I reach the main street, the corner of Hermannstraße/ Leinestraße, I listen to and enjoy this summer morning sounds. Sometimes when I am about to pass the Baklava store, I can already smell the fresh backed sweets from a fair distance. Then the traffic noises fade in. I take a left, down south to the S-Bahn station Hermannstraße.
People walk down the street, carrying Aldi bags or briefcases, some of them Döner kebabs, they just bought for breakfast at one of the two Döner places around the corner. Mothers carry small children others don't carry anything at all. There are school kids, old people, labourers, students, hipsters, unemployed passing by, whatever nationality, drunk, sober, looking tired, smiling absent minded, still half asleep or lost in their thoughts. I walk by the old graveyard and another snack bar called "Bei Papa" which is famous for it's burgers. I can't tell why. I'm a vegetarian. Then comes this small odd toy store. It's weird because they don't really sell toys there but bizarre things like clocks, which run the other way around, artificial spiders that jump out of small plastic boxes, fake moustaches, masks and fake excrements in a huge variety of colors and shapes.
At one point of this route around a certain time, there is always a man standing and smoking close to a bakery, who looks like a cartoon version of Michel Jackson. Further on I pass two more cemeteries and many other snack bars. Finally I reach the S-Bahn. Two ladies from the Jehova's witnesses are selling the "Watchtower" at the entrance. They are there everyday, except Sundays, always very polite, greeting people with a shy smile.
When I'm in the Ringbahn going towards Westkreuz I usually try to read something but don't really start until I reach Tempelhof. I have to get off at Heidelberger Platz, to change to the U1 to Podbielskiallee. After short walk through a small park to Koserstraße, I reached my destination.