the jazz boat © Lilly Schwartz 2011

When I was standing on the bridge taking a picture of the moon over the river Spree last night I could hear jazz from the distance. I was balancing the camera on the parapet of the Hansabrücke and was trying to get the long-exposure settings right while the music was coming closer. The boat from which the music was coming was the bigger one in the foreground of yesterday’s picture and when it was going past me I could see men in suits, women in cocktail dresses, waiters in black and white, and I could hear soft laughter and talk rising up under the blanket of music. It was one of these moments where you feel you’re displaced in time. Boats are seriously last century when you think about it.

I had actually been planning to go to the park near the Berlin Zoo, but while I was walking with my camera I realised that I was just exhausted from all the work I have been doing over the last few days. Additionally I also couldn’t sleep so well, so I felt my eyes burning and I just couldn’t quite concentrate when I was taking pictures. In the end I didn’t make it much further than the Hansabrücke, just because I was so tired. I still have a few days to go until I hand in my dissertation, so this will not be the last time that I am this exhausted. It’s really about time to finish this work so that I can finally have a well-earned holiday. 5 days to go.

When I travel to England in 3 days it will also be the last time for a while that I travel there. The end to a chapter in my life and calling it ‘difficult’ would be an understatement. It was certainly a big adventure though.

Luckily time will soften the edges of any difficulties we encounter in our big adventures. And then our memory of them is just like this boat last night that seemed to be drifting by from the past. The laughter, the music, and smiling smart people.