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

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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

MmeT I've had that too, have learnt to set the alarm if expecting Handwerker who say they'll come at 8 and turn up at 7.30

Our postman here in Hannover comes very early - especially on Saterday if he has to ring to give a parcel in or something and I answer the door with my pyjamas on and the inevitable stipes down one side of face from the pillow!

I was not really expecting them so early today, as they haven't turned up before 8.30am all week. In Germany they would be there between 7am and 7.30am.

Hmpf, could nto get the fire to start. I don't have any newspaper and tried the paper that the removal men used to wrap stuff, it must be special paper that does not burn easily. I will have to start having a paper delivered so that we can start a fire.

I must find a local farmer to bring me a load of logs first though, we paid 7chf for the bundle of logs the other day and we burn really fast. I am a log fire novice so don't know the best logs to get. Will ask a neighbour.

um, we don't burn fast, the logs do

at Hobnobs.
Found a brand called 'Hobbits' which are nearly but not quite which is always worse. DeBeukeler (?) used to do an almost-chocolate digestive but I can't find them any more.
Did find Rolos in Schlecker today. V yummy, v moreish. A 3-pack. 1 pack gone already.

Funnily enough, we get quite a few biscuits, digestives, rich tea, hobnobs, shortbread. I did see that Coop had their own brand of shortbread that was dearer than Walkers. Coops own brand is called Fine Foods and is in silver/black packaging that makes me suspect that their marketing chief had a trip to Tescos.

what do you think?

only just put the heating on?! Has been on for weeks here, although did switch it off for a day or two last week when it warmed up.

OOooh, fire. Purrrrrrr. We had one in the flat we first had out here and really miss it. Think we have the only house in the whole village that doesn't have one now, dammit.

Thanks for the feedback on the bin. Have to re-read our vertrag I think. The bin was already here so not sure how it goes.

Dead jelous of the shortbread. We can get an ok brand "grenola" for choccy digestives but have repeatedly tried to make our own shortbread without a huge success. However, fudge and custard experiments are going quite well. Pluss our pickled onion exploits are definitely accomplished. H missed seriously big, strong ones rather than the "the pathetic piddly silverskin thingys" we find here (apparently).

Should probably add though that H is a bit obsessive about trying to make stuff we miss from blighty and is also learning how to make his own cheddar and stilton. I say learning because H says "its much harder than you would think .... ". Not as hard as it is to eat the product, darling!

mmeT - jealous of the contents of your biscuit tin and co-op have def been to Tesco!!

LOL at MrGabster making his own cheddar. You can buy Kerrygold cheddar in Germany, it is quite a mild one though.

I go through phases of wanting food from home, I used to miss it much more but have pretty much adjusted to just having a treat now and then.

Off for a walk with the neighbour and her dog, if I can tear the DCs away from the TV. Our neighbour gave us a shot of The Wizard of Oz and they are fascinated.

MmeT - that is def a copy of Tesco Finest.
I have phases where I want strong cheddar and proper bacon. Tulip now have bacon here but the rashers are thinner, more fatty & Not The Real Thing. Still, you used to only find thin fatty strips so the size is obv increasing. Maybe in another 5 yrs...

Since my Rolos find yesterday I am on a chocolate blast. Do I get a prize for the healthiest breakfast? Black coffee & my latest find, Milka caramel chocolate, dunked of course. Not a patch on Cadbury's Good thing we're taking the car at C'mas.

Gabster is there an English shop in Munich? There used to be one in Mannheim, and 2 months before we moved out of Heidelberg a new one opened which had a video hire & imported fresh food, like cheese, sausages & bacon Not the most important things in life but very pleasant when in a bout of homesickness. Heidelberg has a huge contingent of English/Irish students & young people, of whom alas I am no longer one.

I love the rolls here, my latest new discovery are Roggenbroetchen which have a layer of sunflower seeds on the bottom and are soft and delicious.
Milka caramel choc is headache-inducingly sweet, will go back to dark chocolate I think.

OOooh - love the milka caramel stuff - but totally addictive.

Should add we buy around 8-10 packets of kerrygold cheddar (and sometimes cathederal if they have it in Kaufland) a month (H is a bit of a cheese fiend, hence the motivation to make his own). I think we could feed a small family of 3 on the amount of cheese H eats alone.

Yes, there did used to be several English shops in Munich but I think they have all pretty much gone now, as it is so easy to get things on-line. Some of the big department stores have a good selection of stuff though (Galleria Kaufhof, Hertie) - cereals and chocolate, shortbread etc. We treat ourselves to shortbread and if possible a jar of stilton at Xmas.

Is this the right time to say we make our own cornish pasties too??

Hope nobody is going to kill me for this, but if you are really desperate then look here. Not saying they are cheap, and have only used them twice but the customer service was really good.

Hey debbie - does your kündigung frist mean you are definitely going back then? When's the big day?

Good link, Gabster, will have a browse later.

Finknottle
Good FOOC post on St Martin, I don't think they have that here, or I haven't heard or seen anything about it.

Gabster - we have decided to go back to the UK but have to sell the house 1st, just needed to get out of expensive insurance before they automatically took this years premium from the bank

Ah, yes Debs - that old "selling the house" chestnut. What's the market like in Austria/where you live at the mo?

DH 'sorted out' our insurance when we moved last (4 yrs ago) which meant the stupid idiot love went and signed us up for a 5yr contract. Apparently totally normal so the English speaking rep decided it was not worth mentioning to DH before he signed (his known German vocabulary would fit on the back of a large match-box).

The market's as slow as usual, Austrians just don't do buying and selling much so we're depending on some Auslander!!

What is it about being tied to insurances - madness

I laughed recently when my neighbour in Germany said that the house opposite, which was up for sale, was priced too high. She said that the house cost 250000eu when it was built 10 years ago and realistically with a house that age they could not expect it to bring more than 230000eu.

She could not understand that I would have expected house prices to rise, she compared it to buying a used car that would cost less than a new car.

Hope you can sell your house Deb.

We are just about to set off to the school, it is a beautiful morning.

The weekend was ok, DH and I seem to get on each others nerves a lot at the moment. He can be quite annoying sometimes.

lovely day here too mmt

FUMING!!!

No other word for it. FUMING FUMING FUMING!!! ARHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHG

DH just went back to work today and has had a written warning for not sending in his doctors' note within 2 days of first calling in sick. WRITTEN?! Is this German law does anybody know, or some stupid in company rule they have made up and not told anybody about (he has worked there nearly 10yrs now and this is the first we have heard of it).

He has only gone back because he feels so guilty for being off so long and is not totally better yet. Am so mad I could spit. He works so hard for that horrid place and ... >.

Going to be Grrrrrrrrrrrrr all day now!

Oh, Gabster, I think that it is law. At least in my old job I used to have to bring in a sick note within 2 days. Did the doc not give you one?

Bad of the company though, why did they not just give him a quick ring to ask if he had forgotten. I am assuming that his colleagues knew what was wrong and how long he was to be off sick?

Is it a big company? Could it be miscommunication somewhere along the line?

Thanks for the reply Mme - I send DH to talk to the works council in he end. Yes, it is law, but apparently they should have rang him first.

In fact he talked to his boss nearly every day his first week at home and it was never mentioned. Also, apparently his boss (on hols now) has the right to over-ride HR and get the warning quashed so we shall see what happens.

Still feeling Grrrrrrr .

How ridiculous Gabster

I meant your dh's company not you of course - oops

TheGabster - I´m afraid MmeT is right, it is the law. It is actually 3 days not 2, but the employers need the sick notes to claim back 75% of their costs from the employees insurance. I think it is really harsh to give him a written warning when he didn´t know. Usually a company would ask if they hadn´t received anything. If he´s got the sick notes at home it would be worth taking them in as at least then he can prove he was genuinely ill.

debinaustria - it is really strange that the whole house buying attitude is completely different to Britain. I´ve got a friend who is building a house even though there a quite a few lovely houses for sale here. When I asked her about one of them the conversation went a bit like this
friend: Oh it´s really old.
me : Really, it doesn´t look that old.
friend: Oh yes, it must be nearly 25 years old.
me:

lol, we have American neighbours and they were telling us that their house was in the historical area of town. It was built in 1920, they admitted with a sheepish grin on their faces. They feel a bit silly calling it historic when they now live in a town with houses dating back to the middle ages

Bloody miserable weather today, I am off shopping to France once I get the kids off to school.

Urgh - well I'm back vaguely human.

Thanks for your support guys.

Yes Debs he took the sick notes in with him on Monday so its not like he was on the diddle or anything. Will just have to wait and see.

Know what you mean about real estate though. Amazes me that houses over 30yrs old are sold here as "building plots" fully expecting people to knock them down rather than do them up.

Yup, weather is pants here too. And have the dog today so poor DS is going to have to come out in it with me.

Some inconsiderate tawt, arse, person made a hell of a racket with their car at 4.59am this morning, and woke DS and me, but of course, this meant that within 10m the whole house was awake because of DS's protests at being woken. Finally gave up trying to get him back to sleep so started the day at 6am under much protest (I am not a morning person). Have got him back to sleep but the next person to wake him with deal with my built up wrath from yesterday!!!!