Hey, Californiafrau! (and others with German connections)

[JanH]

\link{http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/0,,178327,00.html\Whole section about Germany} in the Guardian's G2 today

Oh no, it is too late in teh day to send sb out for a copy!

sb? What? Where are you? Tesco opens late and should still have one!

I´m abroad and can´t ask the family in UK to go out now :( I´m telling myself I wouldn`t have time to read it anyway...

JanH, do you know where the square brackets that you need for MS emoticons are on the German keyboard?

Oh noooo, no idea, I am sorry

There are others on here in Germany, I bet they have German keyboards, you could start a new thread to ask?

I'm guessing you can't read my link? Tell you what, DH is out atm playing football with DSs, when he gets back I'll send him round to Tesco's on the offchance (or the newsagent, they're open late too ) (I can't go, have had too much wine )

You can get a nice thin airmail international version, Cf dear - I had a subscription in NY 25 yrs ago - mind you that was before the wonderful www, can't you see my link either? There is a paid sub internet version you can get though?

God I would go nuts abroad without access to any UK papers!

Oh, I liked the Strangers in a Strange Land piece about old ladies etc, franke (esp after reading the thread last week, did you see that?) - didn't look at the SOH one

eg "Together, my wife Phoebe and I decided to explore the Grunewald, the vast, leafy wood in the west of Berlin, with our two small children. Sitting in front of us on the 218 bus was an old lady. The kids began singing. Within seconds, the old lady had exploded. "This is disgraceful. Why can't you shut your children up?" she raged, appealing to her fellow-passengers for moral support."

or

"Germany's legendary reputation for bureaucracy is, though it pains me to say it, deserved. In a nature park east of Berlin, we stumbled across two otters - Sid and Doris - living in separate pens fenced off with giant green spikes. "Why can't they live together and have little otters?" I asked Sid and Doris's keeper. "Ah, that's a good question," the keeper replied. "We haven't got Zuchtgenehmigung [breeding permission]," he said. Until some bureaucrat stamped their form, the otters were condemned to a life of lonely isolation."

That's all very well JanH - you just have to read about it, I have to live it! Those b$%&/y oldies - always criticising my parenting methods, like I should give a toss what they think. Everyday I get told off by someone, it becomes quite wearing.

But seriously, yes I did like that piece, he sums up the feelings you get here very well. I thought the thing about talking in the sauna was particularly apposite - there is a way of doing things and you must adhere to it. Oh and the nudity. We have a naked man living near us. He's walked around naked for years and years and is tolerated by the local community. I don't see him that often - usually the coldest day of the year. He has a very ruddy complexion.

All over, franke?

Hang on, you are in Germany and you could read it? Is UglySister somewhere else then? US, do you want me to try to find a paper for you?

Cf, glad you could read it after all - are there no restrictions in the US then? That's fab. Hope the old lady piece made you feel even better about not being there!

Oops...

first US = UglySister.

second US = America.

Hope that was quite clear!

UglySister - they're on the 8 and 9 keys - you hold down the Alt Gr key. HTH :)

Pls never mix me up with the US ; ) I have nothing to do with them!!!

Thanks Found in Translation I am really pleased to finally know where they are.. I will soon be fully emotional and literate MNer!

JanH, just realised to my shame that the link goes to the WHOLE article - am so used to getting just bits and pieces of the G2 online. Thanks for that!

Oh, you could read the whole thing, US? That's great!

Shame I missed it, now the link has updated and the articles are gone

I have got the paper, SSS, so I can search for the articles and link to them directly - Guardian search isn't working atm but will try again later

Thanks Jan, that's sweet of you I read the first one about little old ladies in Grunewald but didn't get to the rest.

Oo-er - search is working now but it's not finding any of the German articles...maybe they haven't been archived? Will try again later on.