Ah... A Crisp Fall Morning...

Ah yes... a cool, clear early morning walk to the subway. The days grow shorter and shorter and suddenly I've realized that the sun rises later and sets earlier every day. Not too long ago my 6:30 walk to the subway was accompanied by plentiful sunshine, singing birds, and dry grass. Not so this morning.

Today is gym day. This means that my work clothes are carefully packed in my backpack and I am wearing sports clothes including gym shoes, all of this under a coat suitable for a business environment, today it was a black leather trench coat... Yes, I get strange looks everywhere I go.

I was walking to the subway this morning minding my own business considering how dark it has gotten in the mornings, thinking about the leaves all scattered about, enjoying the crisp fall air as my foot landed on a whole new texture from the normally inflexible sidewalk... yes ladies and gentlemen, right in the middle of the walkway, camouflaged by those same scattered leaves and lack of light... was a fresh dog bomb... and I had just stepped right in the middle of it. My brain refused to admit it, "Nah, that was right in the MIDDLE of the sidewalk... who would let their dog do that?" So I walked another step and took stock of how slippery the right foot was against the left foot. Yes indeed, the right one was sliding right along, indicating not just a little poop, but probably the work of a very happy, and very large German shepherd, Labrador, or some similar sized breed which does not belong in a neighborhood of modest-sized apartments.

When are Berliners going to get pissed like the New Yorkers and demand that the police actually enforce the pooper scooper laws? By the way, all of this happened within one block of the neighborhood Polizei. It seems like every third Berliner has a dog... they are everywhere including cafe's and restaurants, department stores and public transport... but their keepers are oblivious to the inconvenience that all of this dog piss and poop causes for the other city dwellers.

I considered my options, realized that the grass on each side of the sidewalk was likely to be just as littered with dog "happiness", and decided to cross the street to the lawn of the local solarium. Thankfully the grass was quite long and covered with fresh dew. After some of what I am sure looked like hilarious dancing on my part I decided that most of it must have been removed, so I continued to the subway. Thankfully it was gym day and I didn't have to wear those shoes to the office, eh? Maybe those people on the subway had a new reason for giving me those strange looks today... ?