Der Herbst ist da - wir wollen aber kein Regenwetter: Life in Germany cont/d

[finknottle]

Too lazy to scroll through the other long one.

Here for Obst und Blaetter - guess what d came home from school singing yesterday?

All welcome, Austria & Switzerland & any German-speaking Leute too

That's a good tip when trying to end a contract for anything here in Germany. I always write Ich bitte um Bestätigung just to be sure. Good job as well because in Berlin the cable TV company had moved address and company name had changed since we joined so when I didn't get a Bestätigung after a while I searched for them and found the new place and they had to accept even though I wasn't within the 3 month Kündigungfrist anymore.

admylin did you get the tickets? We'll be taking the ferry as h is coming too, it's England's turn this year and we'll be there for the whole of C'mas

Had to go down to the school this morning and it was rottenly miserable, raining and dark, don't mind one or the other but this morning was the first time it was properly dark at 7.30
Clocks go back though on Sunday?

Where are you getting the ferry? My dad was saying he thought Bremen area (Bremerhaven?) had ferry trips to the north east. I'd love to drive but I'm not confident enough to switch to driving on the other side when we get off the ferry and h is not to be trusted (mad scientist and all that)!

Dd was asking yesterday if we would be in UK over Cristmas but I don't think we will, she looked so fed up as we just don't manage much of an atmosphere just the 3 of us - h won't join in, he doesn't do any festivals of any sort anymore - I should book those flights for summer though shouln't I?

We head south so use Hoek van Holland-Harwich.
My h is also v unfestive, right bloody scrooge re C'mas/Easter/even birthdays. I have learnt to

• hammer in (not literally but not far off...) that it's not about him & utterly crap to spoil the children's fun
• celebrate exactly how I want when I want and spend as much as I want on it. I noticed after a while he joined in more when I just ignored him.

Now he confines himself to the occasional tortured sigh at my Bing Crosby Christmas CD. And going home for C'mas is a given, I made that clear years ago. In the early years I had one C'mas just here & it was hell, surprised me how homesick I was so since then I've always gone, when it's Germany's year we do 24th at ILs, 25th us 5 at home, and then I fly with the children home for 5 days & return for New Year with Papa. Even when money has been tight. Mind you, it is different for me as I live in h's country so can be diva expat when it suits me

Yes, you do it right - I remember you encouraging me last year to just do it and I went and got a tree and everything and I did try but it's not the same of course! Anyway , at the moment I'm looking forward to having my sister here with her 2 girls. They come on Friday and will want to go shopping first (that comes from living out in the sticks with no big shops!) and then we might try and get to know Hannover abit.

By the way how long do you have to drive to final destination from Harwich? we're Lake District so it's far from every where really!

Ikwym about it not being the same, I used to get fraught & a bit sad about it but rarely nowadays, have learnt to concentrate on enjoying it & the children still do so very much. Things like that are "family glue" I think, but then again I make sure we do other glue things with him & the children do things just with him.
Persevere
Blimey I'm like Pollyanna this morning, ahem: I decided one day life's too short to waste on the neg've & the gloomy, far better to spend the time doing/making something pos've to enjoy.

We are staying here for Xmas, it will be our first Xmas alone for ages, since we had the DCs I think, and I am really looking forward to it. We were at PILs last Xmas and it was ok, just not so relaxed as in Scotland.

We used to take the ferry to Edinburgh-Rossyth but it got much too expensive, it cost almost 1000eu for the four of us. We switched to the one from Ijmuiden (Amsterdam) to Newcastle. There is one that goes to Hull, that might be better for you Admylin. The long crossings are all very expensive. We did the short crossing once and drove up from Dover. Absolute nightmare, never again, certainly not now we have DC.

It is so gray and bleah here today, I can't be bothered doing anything. We have to get out of the house later though, otherwise the DCs will drive me round the bend.

x-post
couple of hours, doable.

DH is reasonably festive, he does not dress up as Santa and run around singing White Christmas, but he is not a Bah Humbug Man either.

I love Christmas, must dig out my CDs soon and get making a wreath for the door.

MmeT, C'mas at Lake Geneva sounds wonderful, doesn't it?
Our 1st C'mas in our new house was great too, aided possibly by the knowledge that we were taking the 1st flight to England the next day, lol.
Are you on half-term? How's school going?

Errr, steady on, it's not Halloween yet
I have to get the travel arrangements sorted early then I shelve all thoughts of C'mas until Dec 1st when I go into Festive Mode.
Anyway, your wreathe du jour should still be autumnal surely? Or are the Swiss different to the Germans in Deko?

We've gone into halloween mode here - dd loves ghosts and vampires so she's been making things to hang up and we have to have a halloween party when her cousins are here although we won't be trick or treating like they do back home!

Newcastle would be a good place for us to get to but as you say it would be expensive. You can't get cheaper than flying billig-airlines can you.

I have a silver fish problem in this flat. The neighbour said they're every where so not just in my place. One just walked - or rather scuttled - from underneath the key board and it makes me so itchy. I have constantly tried cleaning everything and even sprayed under the toilet as the guest toilet has them most but they still keep coming. I know they do no harm but it just makes me itch when I thiink of them.

We've got a box of Halloween stuff somewhere, that'll be a good activity for d this afternoon. We used a new babysitter last night whom d already knows so she was excited for days beforehand that the girl was coming & though she was put to bed at her usual time, apparently didn't sleep for ages. She was sleep-walking to school this am.

The children go trick-or-treating here but not where we live in the old fogey bit. There are loads of families with young children on the new housing estate so we go down there some years. It's still rather a novelty here.
We always have a family Halloween first, bobbing & matchstick in the flour & telling ghost stories by the fire, last year the weather was so foul we didn't bother going out, and even h joined in.

We normally have a Halloween party but I don't know if we will this year. Our neighbour has hinted that he may be having a party as it is his birhtday on 1st November so we might wait to see what he decides.

I am not quite ready to dig out my Xmas deco, don't panic.

Admylin
Urgh, silverfish. We had them in Hannover too, when I come to think about it, but just in the guest loo.
We will probably be flying over to UK from now on, the drive is just too long and with the petrol prices it is too expensive. It is a pain not to have a car though, as we cant all get into my parents car. We might hire a car for a few days.

Evening all

DH is showing signs of improvement. Lung specialist took X-rays and his lungs are all clear - just bad reaction to the now gone infaction remains it appears.

Hey Finknottle - love the attitude - absolutely totally agree. No point in anything if don't enjoy the life we have!

Admylin - we had silverfish probs with last house (wierdly also guest loo). Bought a little tringle thingy which got rid of them but fairly sure it was poison - left it to DH as not good at these things. Feel for you.

Absolutely dreading Halloween as everybody does it here and poor DS is never going to sleep through the door bell going 10 times, let alone the inevitable dog frenzy that will follow the ringing of the door bell

Well looking forward to Xmas mind - we always spend it in DE - love it here. Snow, gluhwein, Xmas markets and going out for a beer Xmas day ..... already planning where we can put the tree where DS won't be able to pull it over.

DS still isn't rolling over (lazy boy) but is rocking on his arms and legs/bum and reaching rather than inch-bumming now so think crawling may come soon. However, has made me now freak as realise need to completely re-arrange whole house to make sure small hands can't reach into dangerous places. Can't face it now - will do it at weekend.

Oooh - and can anybody help me out.

Has anyone else been told "no more round restmüll wheely bins" or else? We seemingly have to get rid of our bin and buy a new shiny square one (message from the Gemeinde) or they won't empty it from next year. But surely that's something the landlord has to sort out, isn't it?

Help!

Morning.

Very chilly here today, all my windows were steamed up this morning, think the heating will be going on soon!

Gabster, we had the bins provided in Berlin (and here) but in the south of Germany we rented a house in a village but we had to buy a small bin. Maybe if it's just for your rubbish you have to buy one yourself, if you share bins like here for a few flats together they are provided by the owners. I bought mine at a Baumarkt I think.

Our new car is OK but I still don't feel up to going to the airport in it, shame but the train connections are OK. It costs about 80 Euro to fill the tank, I used to have a big Audi in the old days and it cost 80DM to fill the tank!

Gabster, our bins changed when we were still renting but the Gemeinde/rubbish company just told us the old ones would be picked up on day x & new ones come next day.
Can't imagine they'd expect people to go and fetch a new bin, surely? What would old people do?
As for who's responsible, good question. Logically I'd say it was the l/lord's resp to provide bins & tenants to pay for and keep clean. But years of renting taught me that however good the laws here are regarding tenants, they never seem to work in your favour when something turns up, lol.
What does your Mietvertrag say?

admylin - I can´t believe you´ve not had the heating on yet. Ours had been on for a few weeks, but then again I´m a complete wuss when it comes to the cold.
If you change you´re mind about driving to the airport make sure you know which terminal your sister arrives at. The short term car parking is right next to the terminal, but can be quite a long walk if you park outside the wrong one.

Gabster - pleased to hear you dh is on the mend. Sorry can´t help with the bins. Ours are provided and you only have to pay for a new one if you lose/damage the one provided.

I know, it is quite late to be putting the heating on isn't it? I asked the neighbour from the top floor if she had put hers on yet and she said yes, even in the day time when she works at the computer she needs it on. We're ground floor so I was thinking maybe all the pipes running up to the other floors are warming my flat, who knows! Always heard ground floor flats would be colder but the cellar seems to be quite warm so lucky for us!

Just got new duvets - nice warm ones to replace our old ones which had served long enough, up to now we've still got our thin summer cover on the bed. Now need to get new pillows after seeing a documentary about dust mite type things, yuk.

Hupa, we haven't got the heating on yet either. Temps going to be 0C tonight though so may put it on for tomorrow morning - have been lighting fires every day & notice too that's earlier each day. Do love a fire.
Where are you though? We seem to be in a sheltered bit, they (well the tourist board) call this part the "Tuscany of Germany" lol.

Morning from chilly Geneva.

Our heating is on but we have Handwerker in the house so most of the heat is going out of the door. They are putting in insulation in the loft.

It was a bit embarrassing this morning as the DCs slept so late (unusual for them, they are normally up at 7am) so when the guys came at 8am we were all still in bed. I had a mad rush to get dressed, pat my hair down and get the kids up. I stammered something about les enfants dorme and fled into the kitchen to make breakfast.

Gabster
good to hear that your DH is on the mend. In a every house that we have been in, the bins have been the responiblity of the landlord, often you pay for them with your Nebenkosten. Have a look at your Mietvertrag.

I am thinking about putting the fire on as it is coldcoldcold

I have to say I like the German idea of two seperate quilts rather than one huge one. I have a thick winter duvet all year and dh manages with a thin summer one the whole time. It used to drive me mad when I lived in England and dh would visit and we´d be fighting all night over who had more of the double quilt. Mind you my English friends think the 2 quilt option is really strange even though they can see the practicalities.

Ooh, wish we had a fire , central heating is nice but fires are so cosy. Teh dc love it when we go to England at my parents place they just sit infront of the fire all content and dreamily stare into it curled up on the rug like cats!