Finally, I think I'm making some progress on the paintings, but it all takes so much time that it is hard to fit everything in. Sarah Kent the art critic is in Berlin writing about UK artists who have moved here to work. Mona Hatoum is one and Susan Hiller, Tacita Dean are others. Sarah came to my studio here to look at what I'm doing and then we went to dinner. What a pleasure to be able to talk freely and be understood. Apart from a few like the quicksilver landscape architect and the jazz singer who has lived in London for a time, the isolation here is the language. It is as if one lives behind a sheet of glass prevented from being a real part. Not that they aren't nice – Berliners are so very friendly and well mannered that I am astonished how very obliging and caring everyone is. Everyone smiles and says ‘Hallo' and ‘Chuss' as we pass in the halls. Any time I need to find out or get something done they are so helpful, but it is the chats and free conversations, to really get to know them, that can't happen without my speaking German, that I miss. Sarah and I went to a wonderful laid-back place on Oderberger Strasse, which we both said reminded us of London in the late seventies. A lot of Berlin is like that as if brimming with nostalgia. All bare wood and hand decorated loos, no hassle, sweet people and what is more, delicious food. A girl at the next table was doing her studies, writing in a book.
