Evolving Bern, 2005 (an exceptionally published text) by M.J. Suter

From the two hundred thousand years, which were used by the first person to walk upright, to populate the earth, more than half of it roamed the area fresh and free. Then he settled down. A shed made of leaves and stones protected him from wild animals, like a hearty snakebite. The beehive houses followed the buffalo skin tipi, simple truss, Block- and stone houses.
The people of Catal Hüyük lost themselves about six thousand years ago on the flat roofs of their mud houses. A piece of clay, you put it in the sun, dries and becomes hard, you even put it in the oven, the result is the compact one, reddish colored brick. example: the Marienkirche in Lübeck, built around twelve hundred. It is not as graceful as the temple on Aegina, because of its building material (Stein) is astonishingly well preserved and which in turn has no relation to the French Chambord Castle. There the physical excretions had to cover a kilometer-long fall, before they hit the tower shaft with a soft thud, not infrequently a thief who likes to climb, intruder hostile to the king, was buried under the suffocating mass.
And now for this one, my dwelling. I live in an attic (Franz Mansart) right under the roof. The room is well insulated, the walls beveled. Nonetheless, some noise-sensitive repairs such as balcony renovation and window replacement were made this summer. The boiler in the basement was torn out of its foundation and replaced with a new one, which is now dripping. In a letter, which I keep in a wicker basket next to the toilet, The property management apologizes for this tedious maintenance work and congratulates the new one, soundproof window glass. In a subtle way, so almost through the flower, will also focus on the minimal financial changes, who have brought this construction pointed out.
I don't feel like I belong to a group, nor do I spend the long winter evenings in front of the crackling stove in a communal kitchen. For a long time I have felt the desire for a fat one, almost already obese tiger cat. For that I need an apartment with a run or a balcony. I wrote a letter to twenty-four property management companies in this city, in which I conclude this need, honest manner. Among others to Optimalife and Florentia AG.
The Directorate for Planning, Traffic and civil engineering is currently busy with the track renewal in the west of the city. Curbs need to be lowered, the radii of an intersection are made the same, Differentiations according to the path hierarchy are observed.
What such a city builds and generates, like swallowing and swallowing, is digested under the hectic transitional step of the city dweller away from the light. Through a labyrinthine network of pipes, All kinds of mixed water flows and gurgles in shafts and obscure sacks. In the heaped up tent-like earth pits, goose-bearded men crouch all day long and lay new types of plastic pipes made of unsaturated polyester resins. If you ask them, what's going on there, look at you, with sugar-red noses from the bise and say: "S’Electric."
I was never able to blaspheme dissatisfied about a city or praise it too high, as if it were a human figure. So what, you would have to take apart its complex structure like a house of cards. Maybe it's possible, to infer a little about the solidity of human clothing from the solidity of the local buildings. This clothing is possibly a solid casing, a kind of interior plastering of the local soul.
Unauthorized and negligent, I parked my bike several times near the construction site in this city, so that one day it was taken away for a fee. Because of street noise and tar rollers, I like to make detours or roam through neighborhoods down to the river at night. Although the Allez-Hop-Träff signs have increased like a mushroom lately, I prefer to stroll there.
With the torso flexion head and shoulders become in the rhythm of the one- and exhalation slowly raised and just as carefully lowered again. It is just important, that you don't stiffen up, because otherwise you get a nasty neck twinge.
Sometimes the old man stands, who has his home right on the river, in the tall meadow grass and cleans his rusty sickle with a cloth. His movements are sluggish and indifferent, they resemble the dense, snake-beautiful water, that pushes itself forward through the river bed, deep green and shapely. Once I counted forty-seven sheep behind the fence. It was a midsummer afternoon. The river sighed silently.
The air shimmered. Then I discovered a curled up sheep in the shade of a tree, that lay there lifeless. I tickled it with a twig, pushed his heavy weight with his hands, fine-smelling wool through the fence. Because I had to assume it would, that the sheep was dead, I didn't know for a long time, to do something.
"Dear Florentia AG", I wrote to the number one property management company in town, “I noticed when looking at the new balconies at the front of our house, that the old ones had a certain charm. I don't have one myself (balcony), but I dream of one, and if only he didn't fall into the depths with me and my cat … please say … I would be interested, where you think you know the needs and living ideas of the local tenants so well, my, I assure you of that, do not you know! Faith, it hurt me, when one fine morning the oak tree in our garden, bursting with vitality, looked out of the garbage can with distorted facial expressions. My neighbor, the sweet Sabrina, quickly slipped out of the house in the dotted pajamas and brought a couple of these with robust ones, branches covered with a dense needle ring, because it was just Christmas time.
I only noticed the quarrels about the old building a few houses away, but watched, like the longtime, terminated residents, Incidentally, self-sufficient and active in social professions, decorated the house facades with black plastic strips. I opened my window, the mourning ribbon fluttered in the wind like Indian jewelry, and I saw countless, Double trembling fingers against the house wall as if in a frenzy. This was followed by a period of hammering and drilling, instigated by the current residents, well-known cultural workers. As for house number thirty-two, so just on the opposite side of the street, concerns, so it should, as far as I've heard, To be demolished at the end of the year. For the time being it serves as a shelter for a pack of fun-loving drama students, who occasionally receive nocturnal visitors, as they like to play a little drums after midnight.
With all the comfort, that we need, dear Florentia, please don't underestimate us. This city has some pretty neat corners. I hope, that my bike, it should be on a journey of discovery, gets to see them. If you encounter it, please tell him, It should primarily look at the people and not too much at the surrounding infrastructure and report back to me in good time. Are they kind or just polite?? What are their eyes basically focused on?? How is their behavior in case of sudden hail, the sight of rioters, in the take-away queue? Is this, what they wear on their feet, comfortable in character, indivdualistisch, inconspicuous or chic?
My bike hasn't had a mudguard since a stupid crash and goes by the name Jakobli.
But, before I forget: a siphon runs in the bathroom, I think, it is on the rubber ring inside the screw connection. It is probably over fifty years old and is slowly becoming brittle. I've put an old pan under it since last year, which is to catch the dripping water. I empty them regularly, but recently the water has spilled over, when i shower. There are processes in life, which the imagination cannot really form a picture of. In such points you have to rely on outside help. At the moment an icy breeze is blowing. The radiator inside my four walls is turned on fully. Its purpose is infinite charity. I am a room fairy in warm, silky veil …“
If only this city were a human figure, then she should be funny. The world tested is not so important to me. The Leaning Tower of Pisa sagged in the sand on one side while it was being built. An architect tried to fix the imbalance, by topping up the sloping floors, which did not succeed. Every house in Piraeus was exactly like the other. With us, Marktgasse is exciting, with our ancestors, temples and theaters were the splendid buildings. When the factories came with industrialization, the English working-class families lived in small cottages under dirty railway bridges. Der Main Tower, the Shanghai Bank and other skyscrapers in the world are framed by a framework of strut beams, but a law makes them sway. There is a variant of tiled roof construction, she calls herself a monk and a nun, because always a brick (called monk) over the other (called nun) is pushed. As for house building, so the plasterer takes care of the plastering, the plumber around the toilet, and the electrician is for water, Strom, Telephone responsible. There are five different types of public trash cans in this city. The best known of these is the one with the flame drawing. Placarding on public walls leads to an overload of the space. Platforms are not allowed. A pore concrete ceiling made with ready-made mortar bears the weight of a jumbo jet. Attention must also be paid to the excavation, that the pit is bigger than the planned building. There are nine cinemas and three thousand four hundred seats on Postdamer Platz. Spiral stairs mean the axis of the world and lead to heaven.

Marion Suter, Bern, 27. November 2005 (Commissioned work)