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The Empire Strikes Back
When foundations start to crack
The other week it was really hot here in Berlin, so I decided to cool off by taking a dip in one of Berlin‘s many lakes. Believe it or not, Berlin is full of forests and parks and lakes, which are popular destinations for swimming, boating, and water sports. The one closest to me is about a 10 minute bike ride from where I live, so that is where I went.
This particular lake has boats, a sandy beach, snack shacks, a slide, floating piers. And a designated parking area for bicycles, called a “FahrradParkplatz” in German.
I pushed my bike into the bike parking area, which consists of a bunch of standard bike racks, and 4–5 long metal rails to which you could secure your bike. I searched for an open spot, and saw that a woman and her son happened to be unlocking their bikes from one of the long rails. Once they had vacated their spot, I took it. Their spot was at the very end of the long rail, which meant that about half of my front tire would be protruding past the end of the rail.
As I was positioning my bike to lock it, a man approached me and said, “You can’t park your bike here”. He was pushing his own…
