At Berlin airport, I used Windows XP and Windows 10 to illustrate a project’s long timeline. Someone announces a plan. Years pass. Opening the doors is another matter.
The airport operator’s chronology provides the dates. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on 5 September 2006. Terminal 1 opened on 31 October 2020. It also records the cancelled June 2012 opening.
My caption expressed frustration and drew a wider conclusion about Germany. The airport timeline supports a discussion about this project’s delays; it does not, by itself, establish the condition of an entire country. That distinction matters when turning a reaction from a trip into a written account.
A reply to that criticism led to another question: since when are we too small to ask?