Last weekend I was invited to take part in a camp for former leaders and helpers of the Scout Group in the town of Sonsbeck, in the Niederrhein part of Germany.

Although I was never an actual member of that particular group, I have been in contact with them for the past 23 years and have visited them regularly throughout that time.

Find out why, and what happened at the camp, in this week’s podcast:

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Die Grünen is a name given to the Green Party in Germany.  Their official name is Bündnis 90/Die Grünen.

The Green Party was founded in Germany in 1980, and merged with Bündnis 90 in 1993.  Between 1998 and 2005 they formed a coalition government with the SPD.

Many of their policies are connected with the environment, so that they often take on government departments associated with this area when they form local coalitions.

The following politicians belonged or belong to the party: Joschka Fischer, Jürgen Trittin and Claudia Roth.

To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:

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A popular pastime during the summer months for children in Germany is to create works of art on the pavements outside their houses – with coloured chalk.

A chalk pavement picture

At this time of year, shops such as our local newsagents sell the large pieces of chalk in buckets of assorted colours, and it is not unusual for the children to decorate not only the pavement but also parking spaces and sometimes even entire roads if they are private ones.

But whilst this may be seen as harmless in Germany, the pictures are obviously washed away with the next rainfall, other countries take a different view.  I have read about cases involving the police and other officials in the USA, Wales and Scotland, each with either people being fined or threatened with such action.

In Germany, on the other hand, there was even a court case last year where the judge decided that drawing with pavement chalks could be considered “normal use”.  Some towns such as Geldern even have pavement picture contests.

It strikes me as strange, that something that children are encouraged to do in one country, can cause such a problem in another.

But perhaps the underlying German attitude to pavements and property is part of the reason.  German tenants and property owners are responsible for not only their own piece of land, but also for the public pavement that it borders with.  Hence they sweep it most weeks and even legally obliged to clear it of snow and ice in the winter.

This is definitely a case of andere Länder andere Sitten.