Observations Regarding Germany

[Secret Chief]

If you can find a public toilet.

True.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Observations: Germans like their bottled water, especially with
"gas" (carbonated). So I asked for "stille wasser" (tap water)
cuz I'm a cheapskate, & I like to avoid packaging (even though
they recycle).

I forgot about their gassed water.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I'd been informed (by youtube & people) some things about the old country.
It didn't always comport with my experience there.
Deutschland relative to Ameristan.....

Claim: Germans are cold towards people they don't know.
Finding: They're actually quite outgoing & friendly.
Strangers struck up conversations with us.
(One thought we were Canuckistanian. Must've been the accent, eh.)
Perhaps some judged by the occasional sticks in the mud.
Who doesn't have those, eh.

Claim: Germans like cash, but not credit cards.
Finding: Credit cards are welcome in many places frequented by foreigners.
But they share my love of cash (freedom dollars Geld).

Claim: Toilets aren't free.
Finding: Indeed, you pay for public Toiletten.

Claim: Germans are aggressive drivers.
Finding; This was not so, however they strive for efficiency.
This could be seen as aggression.
But I found them considerate, competent, & courteously efficient.

Claim: Many Germans know English.
Finding: True dat. While many don't, the country is English friendly.

Claim: Germans & Ameristans shouldn't discuss politics.
Finding: We all discussed politics...even guns & gun control.
It turned out that we had similar opinions. No discord whatsoever.
Being civil, thoughtful, & engaging always succeeds.

Observation: Relative to Ameristan, everything in Germany is...
Dainty but efficient:
- Smaller cars, trailers, & trucks.
- Smaller houses.
- Smaller roads.
Clean, well maintained:
- No trash along roads.
- All homes look new & tidy.
- All cars look clean & new...even vintage ones.
- Villages are confined, leaving open natural & farm land devoid of urban sprawl.

Observation: No hardware stores. We dismantled & packed
an engine in Hof. The seller (who lives there) said that when
he needs hardware, he has a neighbor who deals in it.
Yes...it struck me as much like needing illicit drugs.

Observation: Airport security is more thorough.
But it was reasonable & efficient.

Observation: I saw more guns in Germany than in Ameristan.
They do love their H&K machine guns...but only in the hands
of cops, especially at the airport.

Observation: Smoking was surprisingly tolerated.
We marveled at cigarette vending machines still existing.
They even smoke in restaurants. But most abstain.

Observation: They charge for things that are free in Ameristan.

Observations: Germans like their bottled water, especially with
"gas" (carbonated). So I asked for "stille wasser" (tap water)
cuz I'm a cheapskate, & I like to avoid packaging (even though
they recycle).

I'm half German.

Rest is beer.

Kraut and polish sausage.

Times change. *grin*

 

[Twilight Hue]

Smoking is still really big on the continent; you won't find it in the UK as much.

America is anal about smoking now. Unless it's weed.

Weird.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

America is anal about smoking now. Unless it's weed.

Weird.

Why shouldn't everyone be anal about cigarettes? They're terribly destructive and really only exist to make legal drug dealers wealthy while killing and maiming their customers.

 

[Stevicus]

You mean the beer hall putsch?

No, the beer hall pooch.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Yes...but here it is legal.
On a school trip (I was 12) I bought two bottles of Limoncello...in Naples.

Well I was thinking more about the physical effects, since after three or four pints he might have been drunk and/or sick at that age.

 

[Secret Chief]

Why shouldn't everyone be anal about cigarettes? They're terribly destructive and really only exist to make legal drug dealers wealthy while killing and maiming their customers.

Yes, but you have to balance that against a free market and freedom of choice

 

[Estro Felino]

Well I was thinking more about the physical effects, since after three or four pints he might have been drunk and/or sick at that age.

I didn't drink those bottles in a row. I drank them when I got home, with my friends.

 

[Mock Turtle]

I didn't drink those bottles in a row. I drank them when I got home, with my friends.

Well that was the surprising thing about the Bruno article, given he supposedly drank the eight within two hours. I must admit, I can't remember having any alcohol, apart from a sip perhaps before trying beer as a teenager, given that neither of my parents drank much at all apart from some Christmas spirits and such. We three boys were no doubt a disappointment to my mother - all beer drinkers - and especially when I came home obviously very drunk from work (someone was leaving) before I was to set off on a cycling holiday the following day.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Yes, but you have to balance that against a free market and freedom of choice

I didn't say ban them, but ideally they should be universally condemned.

 

[Secret Chief]

I didn't say ban them, but ideally they should be universally condemned.

Personally I'd ban them.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Personally I'd ban them.

Don't want another Al Capone.

 

[Secret Chief]

Don't want another Al Capone.

Yes, guns help.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Yes, but you have to balance that against a free market and freedom of choice

Why?

 

[Estro Felino]

Well that was the surprising thing about the Bruno article, given he supposedly drank the eight within two hours. I must admit, I can't remember having any alcohol, apart from a sip perhaps before trying beer as a teenager, given that neither of my parents drank much at all apart from some Christmas spirits and such. We three boys were no doubt a disappointment to my mother - all beer drinkers - and especially when I came home obviously very drunk from work (someone was leaving) before I was to set off on a cycling holiday the following day.

I need to point out that here there is a great stigma towards smoke. And so...they will certainly not sell cigarettes to middle-schoolers.
But as for alcohol, total anarchy. I have never heard of parents forbidding their teenage children from drinking alcohol.

 

[Stevicus]

Personally I'd ban them.

I don't think cigarettes should be banned, and in fact, I think other substances should also be allowed. But some restrictions are reasonable.

I remember back when people could smoke wherever they wanted, although they had non-smoking sections on airplanes. I remember the first time I went into a restaurant and they asked "smoking or non-smoking?" It used to be all-smoking, but people were starting to learn more and more about the dangers of second-hand smoke. I think it was somewhere in the late 80s/early 90s when some of the mandates against public smoking started to be enacted, such as bans within workplaces, businesses, or any public building, while smokers had to go outside and smoke. I recall that bar owners initially balked against such restrictions, since it was still common for people to smoke in bars and they thought they would lose a lot of business.

 

[Stevicus]

Don't want another Al Capone.

Al Capone loved baseball, from what I've heard.

 

[Secret Chief]

Why?

Sorry, unnotified sarcasm.

 

[Mock Turtle]

I need to point out that here there is a great stigma towards smoke. And so...they will certainly not sell cigarettes to middle-schoolers.
But as for alcohol, total anarchy. I have never heard of parents forbidding their teenage children from drinking alcohol.

I agree with the smoking ban and see such as possibly the worst and most senseless addiction, apart from gambling, or porn use perhaps. As to alcohol, well the UK has been known more as a beer-drinking nation - perhaps more in the past and the greater drinking of spirits now might account for why so many females get drunk. I can't remember seeing females getting drunk in my youth - or so many males actually. The continent perhaps is more wine oriented, and having children drinking such (watered down perhaps) might be better for them so as to cope with alcohol later.