Homo Viator

Saw a Ted today, on my way to work. Have not seen a proper Ted for years. I should have taken a photo of him, but he resembled a real-50s kind of Ted. His hair and sideburns, the leather jacket, the wrapped-up jeans, the boots, the comb and even his movements. After reading more about 50s Rockers - he may also have been a Rockabilly or a Greaser.

I have the feeling that I see more fringe groups (hope I am using the right word here, was just translating a German word) in Berlin than anywhere else in the world. The city definately boasts the biggest community of Punks that any city could have, but you also see a lot of retro wanna-appear-intellectual-Jarvis-Cocker look-alikes, who wear a lot of itchy brown clothes (especially in the barrio I live in), Mitte-Wanna-be-Hipsters with the same tight jeans and greasy 80s haircuts, quite a few gothics, MA1 Jacket wearing hooligans and a few Skinheads.

You see so many people dressing the same that you really wonder whether maybe it is us, those who do not belong to any of those groups, who are indeed the only fringe group around. The intersting thing is that most of these people probably dress like that in order to appear individualistic and distinguish themselves from the establishment, but in Berlin they are themselves the establishment. Anyway, of all those I clearly like the Teds the best!!!!