I never usually rant about the city online. But I think this one is worth sharing, because it’s definitely not a coincidence.

Recently I’ve been losing my important stuff outside. Twice. And both times, it came back to me.

The wallet

The first one was my wallet, with a good amount of cash in it. I was cycling up Greifswalder Straße, out of Prenzlauer Berg towards Weißer See, when it fell out of my pocket somewhere along the way. I only noticed about 10–20 minutes later. Frustrating. Natural instinct: I turned around and traced my way back, cycling the same route, eyes scanning the asphalt and the tram tracks for a small black rectangle that could be anywhere by now.

Then I found a strange guy standing in front of my apartment building. As I approached him, he was looking very uncomfortable, and then he shouted my last name — “Yahya?”

Think about it: he found a wallet on the street, and instead of walking away with it, he figured out the address from my ID and stood there waiting for a stranger to come home.

And I’m like…

He’s the angel. He gave me back my wallet, untouched, everything inside.

The bag on the S85

Then last Wednesday, I was heading home on the S85 with my bike, around 22:00. My phone was nearly dead, so I put my backpack down on the floor of the carriage, pulled out my power bank, and once the phone was charging I stood there over the bag and started a game of chess.

At Treptower Park, the train just ended. It’s supposed to run through to Pankow, but the announcement said everyone out, cross to the other platform for the next train. I grabbed the bike and hurried over — and that’s where it went wrong. The bag was still on the floor, and the carriage was empty, so there was nobody to shout after me.

I only noticed at 22:20 when I got to my home station and started patting myself down for it. The guy standing next to me said I hadn’t been wearing a bag — which tracks, because by the time I boarded that second train, I didn’t have one. It was on the floor of that first S85. Staff told me the train reversed direction at Treptower Park after we all got off, so my bag was riding back south without me.

Inside it: a quite expensive laptop — with a YubiKey still attached, which costs a good amount of money on its own — and a cap that says “kein bock auf nazis”. Late at night, on an empty carriage heading the other way — I really thought I lost that bag.

The ridiculous part? My band has a song about exactly this. The chorus literally goes “sway goodnight to your wallet and phone” and curses that last train to Pankow — the very train that betrayed me. I should really start listening to my own lyrics.

I sent a lost & found report to S-Bahn Berlin anyway. Two days later, I received an email — just like getting a delivery notification for an online order, with a pick-up address. Quite an experience.

The moment of reunion at the Fundbüro. Untouched, of course.

Closure

The thing I want to emphasize is how random this is, in a city. Where I come from, this wouldn’t happen that often.

It shows that honesty and integrity exist around the random people around me, and that’s a lovely environment.

The environment is the one that shapes you to be a better person.

So, Berlin people, keep it up. So much love for Berliners, wish you all greatness throughout the year :)