A quarter of a century ago

25 years ago the first "Monday demonstrations" began in Leipzig, calling for a reform of socialism, for "socialism with a human face". 25 years ago I had just turned 22 and was wrestling with the Welsh language on the Wlpan course in Lampeter, and about to start my first job as a German language assistant in a couple of secondary schools in Aberystwyth. I spent the winter sitting on the radiator in my draughty room, reading my way through Aber public library, while the world turned upside down back home in Germany. When I returned I found I'd missed it all, so I went to Berlin to do a two-month work experience in a radio station in East Berlin (this was very shortly after reunification) to see what it was all LIKE, this new combined Germany. I ended up dropping out of university and into broadcasting, spending not two months but seven years in Berlin. And after that I decided to go to London for a year, but that is another story...