No she pauses altogether things are better

"No", she pauses, "altogether, things are better." So she does not mind the celebrations, but the pensioner is not tempted by any of the numerous multi-cultural acts in town. At its flower shop on the east side, Luise Henke is more guarded about her judgement than the "Wessi" innkeeper. For easterners like her, the benefits of German reunification seem to be in equal proportion to disadvantages. Now his shack begins one metre from the line across the pavement delineating the former demarcation between two world orders. He is now in the east, just about.Business is not as good as it used to be, but Mr Eckhard has no regrets about the historic events of 10 years ago. "I am very happy the Wall is down, but that doesn't mean that I haveto celebrate it," he says. The official commemorations, he feels, "cost too much money".The Wall along Bernauer Strasse used to bisect a cemetery.

Some have dubbed it the "Mickey Mouse Wall".A few paces away, the real Wall begins, the myriad hammer blows still traceable but the graffiti now fading. It tapers out a hundred yards farther beyond, at the point where Manfred Eckhard's shack begins. Mr Eckhard runs the Swing Inn Music Cafe, specialising in "original American hot- dogs".The innkeeper had always lived in the shadow of the Wall, which used to run down the bottom of his garden That was on the west side. The other new man-made landmark is the Wall itself, or rather, four of them. The vandals of 10 years ago had destroyed most of this piece of history, so Berlin has rebuilt a stretch with loving care.It is supposed to be authentic - inner and outer walls either side of a raked up field - but residents claim it's not as high as the original and bemoan the absence of watchtowers. Still, on the principle that opposites attract, the Date of the millennium must loom before long. Who could resist a Meet Cute between Bridget and Adrian, say in the Dome on New Year's Eve? All it needs is a speedy scriptwriter, a global rights deal - and a little stardust sprinkled by Mr Freud..

BERLINERS AWOKE to a portentous grey sky yesterday, and at around noon leaden speeches began raining down with the monotony of autumn drizzle, but darkness brought out the light-hearted who had been taking cover from this very German feast. Before the fireworks cast their glow over the Reichstag, there was only one place to go to escape the suffocating solemnity of the occasion. At Bernauer Strasse, the Wall gloried in its fresh plaster, three church bells rang out joyously on the "death strip" as brick and concrete structures that were demolished years ago were brought back to life. One such building is the Chapel of Atonement, once stranded in no-man's land as an obstacle to the border guards' line of fire until they blasted it with dynamite, and now reborn. Snugly ensconced at the head of the fiction charts, Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years has outsold all rivals for the past three weeks.

Now the celebrity offal chef and New Labour renegade may find himself dislodged by a thirtysomething Notting Hillbilly of uncertain prospects and unsteady gait.Surely their publishers should do something to stop such nice - if rather troubled - young folk from slugging it out in the stacks? Ms Jones can give young Mole a year or two, and the little fusspot might be a little shocked by her, er, lifestyle. And she has even summoned the top chap in the happening but a bit scary PR business to help her sell herself.She (or Fielding's new book, at least) is a client of Matthew Freud. First reader to spot a front- page tabloid picture of Geri Halliwell with a copy of The Edge of Reason wins an extra-stiff Sea Breeze.Fans will rejoice Tills will ring And a bookshop sales battle of Geri vs Emma dimensions will unfold in the run-up to Christmas. Yes, the gofer to Chris Evans, almost-best pal of Peter Mandelson, spin- doctor to the stars and, glitziest of all - image consultant to Frank Dobson.

Plus it was Matthew's great-grandad with the beard that first had people on his couch Well wicked etc. Why should hundreds of thousands of otherwise sensible and efficient professional women want to identify with a scatty airhead who lurches woozily from one office calamity, naff party and Unsuitable Boy to another?Anyway, Bridget Mark Two may at last reveal the Secret of her Success. pissed-off but quite cute French bloke with sticky-up hair, a manky leather jacket and a crumpled pack of Gitanes.The utterly gobsmacking impact of Helen Fielding's ditsy media babe - first as a column in This Newspaper, next in a Lesser Organ, finally in book form - left many British men with a teaser of quite ginormous proportions. Will do, Bridge. The week after next, Picador will publish Helen Fielding's follow-up to Bridget Jones's Diary. It will carry the mystifying title of The Edge of Reason, which sounds like some really, really deep novel by Jean- Paul Belmondo or some other Exsistin.. Existench...