Mr. Wollkopf, Mr. Golz, Magic Energy Pods & The Toaster

Pretty soon after settling into the Pariser Hof apartment, Dave & Kate began to find themselves feeling whacked out with the energy.  It was clear why they were here now and not moving around in hotels.  Each day they found they could do very little.

They would make the long walk in the snow along Karl-Marx Allee to the internet points at Alexanderplatz each day to deal with emails and on the way back they'd buy groceries from Kaisers and sometimes pick up a cake from their favourite Bäckerei.

Each afternoon they'd slip into their magic energy pods and disappear off to god knows where for an hour or so.  It wasn't sleep as such, they would be conscious but so deeply gone, as if withdrawn from the bodies.  They'd return feeling refreshed and maybe listen to the radio for a bit (Chris Rea's "Driving Home For Christmas" seemingly a favourite in Germany) in between making tea and spontaneous reasoning sessions.  Later at night, they'd maybe watch a bit of German TV.

There was a bit of a mix-up due to the delay in emails with the owner, Wölfgang.  The heating took a few days to kick in and as Kate had contacted him about it (and then told him it was now fine) he had already been in touch with the caretaker of the building, Mr Wollkopf, who had been trying to get hold of them.

Dave & Kate returned to the apartment one afternoon - their clothes hanging to dry all over the place as the drying line above the bath was loose - to find a note from Mr Wollkopf.  He had fixed the clothes line, taken away the broken toaster (replacing it with his own for now) and had opened the windows as he said the place was like a "bio-tape" due to the condensation from all the clothes drying.

The next day it was Mr Golz turn to pay them a visit.  They opened the door to find a big, jolly, German Santa Claus type figure who had apparently been informed to check the heating.  He came in and they told him the heating was now fine and he seemed rather disappointed as he'd brought his "special key".  He walked over to the radiator anyway, put his hand over it and said "easy!" and let out a roaring, hearty laugh.

During their second week there, they were sound asleep in their magic pods when the doorbell went at 11am.  They couldn't get up quick enough to answer and then they heard a key going in the door.  A knock on the living room door and then a head in a beanie appeared and as he saw they were still in bed he apologised and whispered: "a new toaster", before slipping a brand new toaster down at the door.  They had finally met the mysterious Mr Wollkopf!

Dave got up shortly after this to have a shower and then the door went again - a young German to read the gas and electricity meters.  Only problem was Kate was still in bed in the living room.  Dave tried to explain to him that someone was still in bed, rushing between the living room to check if Kate was ready and back to the front door.  All he succeeded in doing was making the guy suspicious as to what the hell was going on.  Eventually he agreed to come back in 5 mins.

This time Mr Wollkopf was with him who introduced himself properly and apologised for his entrance earlier, saying Wölfgang had instructed him to buy a new toaster to replace the broken one.  Dave & Kate hadn't lost the knack of making friends in unusual ways.