The twenty minutes before a tour starts

Nobody books this part. It is not in the listing and it is not in anyone's photographs. It is also the part of the job I would miss most if it went away.

The clock

I meet people at Alexanderplatz, at the Weltzeituhr, the World Clock. Designed by Erich John during the socialist redesign of the square, it was installed in 1969. Its rotating cylinder shows the world's time zones.

It has outlived the state that put it there and remains one of Alexanderplatz's most recognisable meeting points. I like starting beside a GDR object that still has an ordinary job in the city.

I get there about twenty minutes early and stand near the base of it, facing the TV tower.

Waiting

The first thing I do is make myself visible. I hold a green umbrella. Whether it rains or not, the umbrella is not for the weather. It gives people one simple thing to look for in a square where several groups may be gathering at once.

Then I wait. The number of people in front of me will change the delivery: a large group needs projection and structure; a small one can become a conversation. But the question in my head is the same either way.

The thing I am actually thinking about

Not the headcount. Not the weather.

Am I going to be good today.

That is the whole thought, and it does not get easier. On a tip-based tour nobody has paid in advance, so nothing carries over from last week. Whatever I did on Saturday earns me nothing on Tuesday. Every group decides from scratch, in real time, whether the last two hours were worth anything, and they are right to.

There is no version of this job where you have banked enough credit to have an ordinary morning. I have made my peace with that. It is standing next to me at the clock every single time.

Starting

And then I introduce myself. Not a joke, not a hook, not a question to the group. My name, where I am from, what we are about to do and roughly how long it will take.

I used to think that was the boring option. I have come to think it is the only honest one. Everything I am going to spend the next two hours doing depends on these people believing me, and you do not start that by performing.

After the first sentence the twenty minutes are gone, and I do not think about any of it again until the next one.

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The public walk starts here at the World Clock. Details and current availability.