To Berlin, for the opening of Wolfgang's Waffle Bar in Potsdamer Platz. On the way back to the hotel I ran into a demonstration against nuclear power, and, not having anything more pressing to do, walked along with it for a while.

Germany has never been known as the land of the friendly policeman, but they are charm itself compared to ours. No scowling fluorescent apes with clubs, no “intelligence” teams pointing telephoto lenses at you, no helicopters or sirens, no officious twerps searching people. All my experience of cops in recent years has been in banana republics like England and Colombia, where the police hate the public and the public hate the police. I had forgotten what a non-malevolent Western democracy feels like.

I soon got bored, though.