I’m nearing my three month anniversary of living in Berlin. I’ve eaten many a Doener, I’ve drunk litres of beer, seen litres of theatre, been to a Fag bar, and in the weekend I took part in my first flash mob. The Berlin Ring Bahn Party. Or- the party on the train line that circles the city. Two thousand people confirmed their attendance on Facebook and the photos I’ve seen since and the fact that I could not see to the edge of the crowd at the actual event suggest that there were uh … lots of people there for sure. The party itself was short and sweet. The big kids from Europe, some of them were like “yeah nothing happened”, but for a kiwi girl- it was pretty raucous.
Technically the party is not illegal, you can drink on the trains at any time of day, and judging from the frequency of buskers, playing loud music is alright too; but on the other hand, it has potential to become a riot. It wasn’t long before news got out through the crowds that police were somewhere among us, but the ever efficient Germans had a back-up plan and we walked a few paces down into the underground station and the circle train party became an underground train party. We followed the music we liked into a carriage, we danced, eventually we all got out; and then the police shut us in the underground station for a bit. There was pushing. There was shouting. The trains were held up for a while, but it was all very amiable really.
The Facebook groups says “it crashed under its own popularity” and perhaps that is the best way to describe it. But when you have 1 604 members of your Facebook group, you can’t really help but find the police stop it before it gets anywhere. But hey, the ride got me as far as a street of clubs on a Saturday night, and I laughed more than I do on my daily train rides. It does make me wonder though, why we all grizzle about how unpleasant packed public transport is. I reckon we could make rush hour “party hour “in Wellington. Just hook your ipod up to some speakers in your back pack (though if I buy that golden hand bag with built in speakers I saw the other day, I’ll bring it) and bring a couple of beers on the KP. Twud easily lighten the grind up the hill at the end of the day.