A Homage to S-Bahn Man
Yesterday I was on my way to Teufelsberg, yet another of Berlin’s Cold War relics I hope I’ll have time to post on soon. Anyway, I was following the same route as the narrator from the Book of Clouds, except that she gets off at Savignyplatz, and I was reminded of the following passage:
“As for the S-Bahn, it too was a wondrous thing, especially its elevated routes, and during each ride I’d fall into that limbo between origin and destination where thoughts are churned out in time with the wheels of the train but with far less purpose and linearity. It wasn’t just the trancelike glide of the wheels, however, or the view out the window. It was announcer’s voice. I preferred this recorded voice to any other voice I had heard in my life, especially on days when I felt disconnected from the city, attached by the thinnest of stringest.
“Nächste Station: Friedrichstrasse”
All it took were a few words to retighten the bond.
“Ausstieg links,”, the announcer would add for those ignorant of which side to disembark.
There was a spring to his utterances, a buoyancy packed and delivered in ancipation of every stop, and I would put away my book or newspaper and sit back and listen to the stations, as they were rolled off, one by one, uninterrupted - that is, if other presences didn’t interfere, such as plainclothes ticket inspectors or junkie musicians, their pleas for attention like dark blood clots in the city’s circulation.”
I agree with the author, it is a very pleasant voice with the right amount of enthusiasm, but not as much as to sound like a life coach. S-Bahn man sounds like he’s having way more fun than Underground lady back in London, although I don’t know yet if that is something you should be looking for in a train announcement.
