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Original poster

Durch die Strassen auf und nieder, leuchten die Laternen wieder... ***Herbstunterhaltung im Deutschem Eck***

578 replies

MmeLindt · 15/09/2009 13:57

Durch die Strassen auf und nieder
leuchten die Laternen wieder:
rote, gelbe, grüne, blaue,
Lieber Martin, komm und schaue!

Wie die Blumen in dem Garten
blühn Laternen aller Arten:
rote, gelbe, grüne, blaue,
Lieber Martin, komm und schaue!

Und wir gehen lange Strecken
mit Laternen an den Stecken
rote, gelbe, grüne, blaue,
Lieber Martin, komm und schaue!

*

It is that time of the year again. Check your lanterns, get enough batteries, start the Bastelaktion.

OP posts:
Original poster
MmeLindt · 15/09/2009 15:25

Hmm, have started the thread and now I am alll alooooooooooooooooooone

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admylin · 15/09/2009 15:37

Well done mmelindt. I'm back from tennis, it was cancelled, pouring rain and no one turned up to the indoor place.

Got talked into buying comics for the dc so they are sitting reading in their room instead of starting homework. I need a cup of tea.

admylin · 15/09/2009 15:37

Oh I also bought two of thos emassive bags of chio salt and vinager crisps, just for the store cupboard...

Original poster
MmeLindt · 15/09/2009 15:42

For the store cupboard, hmm?

We have football training tomorrow, wonder if it will be called off if it rains. It is forecast to be bad weather tomorrow.

It is cold here. I gave in today and put the heating on, in the morning at least.

No way am I sitting here with 3 jumpers on just to save money.

OP posts:
admylin · 15/09/2009 15:48

No heating needed here yet, it's pouring down but still warm (or it's maybe just me, I always say my Scottish blood means I don't feel the cold)

Original poster
MmeLindt · 15/09/2009 16:27

It is freeezing here, only 10°C outside. I am off to check the heating settings. I think that it is set to come on mornings and evenings only.

Did you hear about the Custard Cream Scandal?

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Gracelo · 15/09/2009 16:39

Goodness, you got soft on the continent, we are still wearing shorts when it is 10 C outside in Scotland
What custard cream scandal? I got some lemon puffs for the communal biscuit tin at work and they are not crisp, maybe I should complain to Tesco.

Original poster
MmeLindt · 15/09/2009 16:42

Custard Creams are the Devils Work

Yes, Gracelo. Complain to Tesco. You might get sent a parcel of biccies as compensation.

Ha! to getting soft. I don't care. I am cold and I am heating.

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Gracelo · 15/09/2009 16:52

I'm already pretty close to complaining to Tesco about them reducing their selection. I don't think I will get anywhere since I can't even threaten to go shopping somewhere because there are almost no other shops.
Oh, I remember the dangerous biscuit story. That is some research I would like to get involved in.
We have balmy 15 C here at the moment. I'm in short sleeves, the tourists are in scarves and hats.

Original poster
MmeLindt · 15/09/2009 16:55

lol, I should think at 15° the locals are ready to get their bikinis on.

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canella · 15/09/2009 19:39

i'd love a custard cream!! going back to the UK for the weekend in a few weeks - might just have to buy some! but a friend here was in london at the weekend and brought me back some decaf teabags and some cadbury's chocolate! heaven!

cant belive how much of a local i've become - it was 19 degrees here and i was making sure the kids had enough clothes on and i had a jumper on! in the UK i'd have thought that was positively tropical!!
we've also had the heating on at times the last few days - just a cue for dh to start his autumn/winter rant about closing doors!! he's obsessed with the phrase "keeping the heat in"!! granted we've got a big house so maybe it might be a plan!

Original poster
MmeLindt · 15/09/2009 20:26

Canella
careful now. Soon you will be worrying about the Lüftung and if es zieht

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canella · 16/09/2009 08:21

oh oma does this already!!!

there also seems to be an obsession here with people believing that a common cold comes from being cold!! i've had a stinky one for 10 days and granted the day before i got it we were at some friends at a BBQ and when the sun went down i was a bit cold! but surely that's not the reason!! well everyone i met when i had the cold said oh its cause you didnt have enough clothes on! the friends whose BBQ we were at both said oh that must have been when you were at ours and were cold!! WTF!!! wonder why scientists are spending money researching a cure for the common cold!! surely the answer from germany is wear more clothes!!! madness!

admylin · 16/09/2009 08:47

Speaking of getting colds - dh has had the round mail telling all the hospital employees to go for the flu jab because of swine flu. They have set up a room and they can just pop in, no appointment just their identification as employee of hospital.

Anyone getting it for dc or themselves? We're not but last time I went to the doctor they even had a sign on the door 'If you think you have swine flu ring bell 4 times'

LilianGish · 16/09/2009 09:07

Too jealous of autumn in Germany. Back in Blighty after four years in Berlin - strictly speaking second autumn here since our return - love St Martin, nothing to beat it imo and then the run up to Christmas with all the twinkling lights, markets and gluhwein stands. Please enjoy it on my behalf! (Don't miss January and February though!)

Original poster
MmeLindt · 16/09/2009 09:12

Lilian
I am on my second non-German Autumn too, and am wondering about making Laternen with the DC anyway.

Canella
Oh, I know about the cold thing. DH always says that too, you should not have stayed outside so long.

Saying that, DH does get sniffles if he is outside too long. He has a funny sneeze allergy/cold thing. If he gets cold, sometimes even after showering and having the window open in the bathroom, he starts to sneeze and sneeze. Up to 20x in a row. Then he sniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiffffs for an hour or so. Very annoying.

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Gracelo · 16/09/2009 09:30

I've had the it's-been-120-years-since-Koch-published-his-postulates-and-they-still-havn't-made-it-to-blinking-Fr ankonia rant a couple of time to my mother and my sister and they still believe I'm utterly wrong with my claim that you don't catch a cold by being cold. I am also a microbiologist but what would I know?

I'm trying to establish autumnal/wintery customs here but it's hard all on my own. There is a girl in dd's class who is also half German maybe I can team up with her mother and introduce some German customs, not St Martin as any lanterns would get blown away most likely but Nikolaus and baking Christmas biscuits.

admylin · 16/09/2009 09:36

By the way mmelindt, dd turned her nose up at the tchibo boots. Sigh, gone are the days where I chose what she wore every day.

I don't know where the German idea of cold gives you colds comes from but it does help if you feel a cold coming on and you wrap up really warm including a scarf on at all times.

Original poster
MmeLindt · 16/09/2009 10:06

Admylin has been in Germany too long. She is going about with a scarf on when she gets a cold, even indoors

DD is still at the age that I choose most of her clothes. I got her the wintery snow boots and the posher ones. I do know which ones she will want to wear all the time.

LOL at Gracelo. A degree in microbiology is nothing compared to centuries of German mums and grannies.

OP posts:
Original poster
MmeLindt · 16/09/2009 10:13

I really have to sort out the office today. Just cannot motivate myself to get stuck in. Urgh.

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LilianGish · 16/09/2009 10:14

Gracelo - my children insist on Christmas biscuits and a Hansel and Gretel house. The only Christmases they remember are German - we even have to play German Christmas songs as they know them better than Christmas carols!

admylin · 16/09/2009 10:16

Lol, honest, try it next time you feel a cold coming on or a sore throat!

I've just put an apple pie in the oven for later when the dc get back.

First success story for dd at Gymnasium too, she got a 2+ in one test and a 1 in art for her self portrait. Ds has his first round of Klassenarbeiten this and next week. It would be nice not to see too many 3's and 4's this year (hope)

canella · 16/09/2009 10:32

well done to your dd admylin!! i'm sure you're son will do well now he's happier at school!!

but you have really been in germany to long - all this talk of scarves!!

my other english speaking friend here told me about polish friends of hers who have a huge house so they have rigged 2 swings for there 2 dc so they can swing when the weather is bad outside!! but they're only allowed to go on the swings with a hat on and warm socks!!

BECAUSE THE MOVEMENT OF SWINGING WILL CAUSE A DRAUGHT AND THEY MIGHT GET THE COLD!!!!!
(had to put that in capitals because it so fecking stupid!!)

so its not just a German (or even Franken) phenomonon - its spreading east!!

canella · 16/09/2009 10:33

hope you've cracked on with your work mme lindt!! i'm relaxing this week since its the first week that dd is back at school - it was a long summer!

admylin · 16/09/2009 10:37

I think if the computer is on in the office room, you won't get much tidying done eh mmelindt?

Good thing about baking is that while it's in the oven you have to occupy yourself so interent is a perfect distraction. Apple pie smells lovely.