being there in berlin

They tell me it's 25 years ago. 25 years since the Berlin Wall started to come down. I  find it hard to believe it was so long ago. Yet most of the young men and women who came up to Oxford this term were not even born then.

By one of those strange twists of intention we were in Berlin on the day Germany was reunited. By 'we' I mean our European Seminar in Ethnomusicology. Our proceedings on that day were enhanced by liberal quafftings of champagne. So I remember rather more about our surroundings than about the actual themes from our various contributors.

Going sightseeing. Checkpoint Charlie. The Brandenburg Gate. Little East German cars putt-putting around West Berlin. Picking up a fragment of Wall left over from the demolition .. ..

Who remembers Checkpoint Charlie now?