Children in Germany can now be seen AND heard

Shhhhh! - ©iStockphoto.com/rtiomUntil recently, children in Germany were restricted in how loud they could be when playing, and being too loud could land someone in court.

For a private household, there is the ever-present problem of the local Rühezeiten, but if a group of children were playing together, then their level of noise could put them on a par with a factory building.

So building a playground or even a Kindergarten near a housing estate was a risky business, because there was always the chance that someone might start proceedings just because the children were too loud.

Of course, you could wonder who would be so annoyed by the sound of children playing, that they feel the need to go to court.

But, as they say, the law’s the law and [Read more…]

Germany 10 years ago today (11th September 2001)

Today is 11th September 2011 and most of the media in Germany has at some point in the last week been looking back at the events in New York 10 years ago.

I’d like to tell you how I spent that day.

I was at home in my flat at first.  I had left my job at Psion in Bad Homburg and was using up the rest of my holiday allowance.

Ironically, I had just watched the film “Independence Day” and turned on my computer to look at my e-mails.  At that time I was still using an analogue modem to go on-line, and I believe my browser was set to load a page called “My Yahoo!” where I had, amongst other things, a news ticker.

It was on that news ticker that I first read about the attacks in New York.  At first the headline just spoke about a plane flying into the World Trade Center, and I imagined something the size of a Cessna.

But then I turned the television on.  It was just before the second plane flew into WTC2.  I knew then, that the planes were a lot bigger. [Read more…]

How British ex-pats in Germany will be celebrating the Royal Wedding

This is a guest post by Mary Conlon-Förster, President of the British Club of the Taunus e.V.

BCT Royal Wedding Card

Preparations for the British Club of the Taunus’ celebration of the marriage between HRH Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton started in January this year. As the Charles and Diana party had been so successful in 1981, it was decided to again hold the BCT celebrations in the home of one of our long-standing members. It did not take long for such a member to offer her home to us for this illustrious occasion and soon plans were being made for erecting pavilions in the garden and televisions and beamers in the living room. Getting 40 chairs together was quite a feat, but not as difficult as telling the ladies that although hats would be most appropriate, stiletto shoes would not go well with the parquet flooring! [Read more…]

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