Little old ladies in Germany

[SSSandy]

How do you manage these little old ladies? Berlin might be a special case. People from different parts of Germany always tell me that Berliners are very errr... let's say outspoken.

I do try to remember that they probably got bombed out in the war and worked as Trummerfrauen and had a really hard life etc. but they're a tough bunch, aren't they? I used to find it so annoying that they'd always be telling me how to bring up my child "she's too warmly dressed, she's isn't warmly dressed enough, don't let her eat in the street...". I tried to tell myself they were caring and showing an interest so it wouldn't get on my nerves too much but it did bug me.

Yesterday took the bus and sat dd down in the seat with a cross above it near the door (so meant for elderly/disabled). The bus was full and dd would have had to stand otherwise. So this old lady, she was sitting next to dd, told me off and said dd couldn't sit there, only someone with a disabled pass. I would have given up the seat if an elderly person had gotten on the bus. When the old lady got off, she stood in the door screaming at me over and over that dd couldn't sit there. What should I have done? Should I have made dd stand up in the bus and leave the seat empty?

i liked it too

Sentenced to prison for 'attempted desertion of the republic' and given some raher nasty 'treatments' while in there :( - when she came out she found it impossible (IIRC) to study or get a decent job.

i wnet ot berlin in 1980
statred my periods there btw
dad wa sint he forces so we went ot he sealed train through east germany complete wiht a 60s style carriage nand goose stepping gurads
also went to east berlin adn the russian war meemorial

I wonder what happened to him in there ks :(

dh and I more or less got together at that Russian war memorial cod - well, went for a walk there as 'friends' and - without anything happening - both realised during it that more was going on under the surface - so I have a soft spot for that particular monstrosity

you didnt start your periods there then?

blimey ks you ar elike someone in aloo allo

er... no cod

sorry aloo allo soudns like the curry based french resistance

Love a good curry. Find restaurants here serve a very bland curry though, don't you agree?

Yes we find that too, we usually cook indian style at home due to dh being indian and a fuss pot. We haven't found any decent indian shops either to buy the rice flour and spices we need. Plenty of asian stores but vietnamese or chinese , strange for a big city like Berlin. Found one in Moabit but not that good

I used to do the transit from the other side, from the Polish border through to West Berlin. We had to go round Berlin as were not allowed to cross from East to West. Dead straight road made with Hitler's blocks -ber dum, ber dum, ber dum. Strictly enforced speed limit (this was late 80s), they timed you as you went over at Frankfurt-an-der-Oder and as you left the DDR to go into W Berlin. You weren't allowed to stop. If you did the journey too slowly you got interrogated about where you had been and if you'd been too quick, they just fined you.

Stasiland is an excellent book. Can also recommend "The Land of Green Plums" by Herta Muller, who was an ethnic German living in Ceausescu's Romania - a novel written about life under the securitate.

Really enjoying this thread. My dad was in the RAF, and we lived in West Germany for a couple of years in the 70's. We visited Berlin, and I remember it so clearly - Dad having to not acknowledge the presence of the East German soldiers at the checkpoints - officially the Russians were the "occupying force" and therefore in charge, so the East Germans didn't count!

Now, I find myself with a dp from East Germany! He is very blase about being brought up in the East, but every now and again comes up with a real humdinger, like the other day when he was telling me about a schoolfirnd of his, who one day didn't turn up at school cos the previous night he and his family had "escaped to the West"! Also the house his parents now live in used to be the local secret police (stasi?) headquarters! It's the way he just says it like it was normal!! I find it really interesting, but sometimes hugely gobsmacking!

Another thing that took me some getting used to here was that when one person is sitting by themself on a bus seat meant for two, they generally choose to sit on the aisle seat, not next to the window. I suppose so they can get out faster.

When you come up to sit next to them, they don't move across to the window seat (which is what I would always do), neither do they stand up to let you go over to the window seat. What happens is they might draw their knees in a bit but you clamber past them with a great deal of bumping (good fun when the bus is already moving) and you have to hope your bags don't swing out and hit them. Must say if this does happen and the bag hits them in the face or you lose your balance and fall on top of them, they take in in their stride and often enough smile at you.

I always stand up to let the person at the window get out, but it isn't usual here. If you want to pass for a local the thing to do is stay seated and watch the other person clamber past you.

For a Brit who tries really hard to avoid touching people unnecessarily in public transport, this is quite odd.

Oh gosh, this is so funny! I didn't know that so many of you lived in Germany. They do walk on the right - but my brother always tries to antagonise them by walking on the left. He always says I am English, I only walk on the left!

An old lady told me off once because my dd nearly ran under a bus in Dusseldorf. I grabbed her arm to stop her (she was only about 3) and then promptly got a good talking to from this funny old lady who thought I was being a bad mother.

What about queueing in supermarkets! I have stood in Lidl with two items in my hand and someone with a huge trolley with 2 months groceries will try to push in front of me. I always say things like, I am English and we always queue! They give me some very strange looks.

However, my mum and dad are German and I love it there - it is like going home for me.