20

3/3

I'll always return to and for those who're not scared of others and otherness.
When will they understand that there's a difference between direct democracy as in referenda and representational democracy as in general elections with a first past the post system?

"You looked surprised."
(Versing - Tethered)

---

The Border Force Officer checks my passport, holds it next to my face, takes a look at my photograph, stares at me, stares at the photograph again and finally asks me how old I am. As I reply thirty one, he says "damn," hands me my passport and lets me enter the UK. My face must have turned into a question mark as I leave the passport checkpoint.
As S and I roam through the terminal before leaving for the city, the flight attendant I asked about his day when entering the aircraft keeps bumping into us. He keeps on asking whether or not the Duty Free bag filled with - supposedly - sweets is mine. I decline. Five minutes later he sees us again. I decline again. Not sure if this is some form of payback for kindness.

The Bundespolizist checks my passport, stares at me quietly as I'm trying not to choke on a strand of hair I managed to wrap around my neck, and then stares at my passport again. He says nothing, neither smiles nor has any kind of an emotion on his face as he hands me my passport and allows me to enter Germany.
It takes another thirty minutes or so before people are able to grab their suitcases from baggage claim. They sigh and begin to compare the size of Heathrow Airport with Tegel Airport, and while they moan about how old fashioned and broken TXL is, I wonder what it would be like had they decided to build the second terminal according to von Gerkan's plans. The light in the terminal building as you enter the gates, a faint leftover of the 1970s and a lot of triangles and octagons.

"She dances like she's got a beat in her brain."
(Pete & The Pirates - Bright Lights)