I’m traveling on the S-Bahn in Berlin running an errand, and when I get out to change trains I notice an obviously drunken vagrant wandering around as if he’s looking for something. I move a little farther down the platform where I can observe the situation without fear of getting drawn into some kind of awkward encounter. He approaches a man standing on the platform and grabs his arm to ask a question. The man, in typical German fashion, attempts to give him a helpful answer. But this does not suffice, or the answer isn’t understood, and the man persists, his tone becoming more aggressive. The passenger, now alarmed, tries to excuse himself and walk away, but the man still has hold of his arm, and pursues him along the platform without letting go, continuing his harangue. Other people clear a path. But then a train comes. I climb on, still a safe distance away, and I don’t notice whether or not the drunken man has also boarded. In any case, the rest of my trip is a peaceful one. But then, two days later, I’m on the S-Bahn again and I hear the same strident voice. I’m hardly surprised to see the same man boarding the train, addressing some other poor victim in his shamelessly aggressive fashion…