I was thinking the other day about how many electrical appliances run, even when they are not “directly” in use.
I don’t mean simple things like a television on standby, but things that in a sense need power, such as a video recorder or radio-alarm clock.
However much I attempt to reduce my power consumption (or “carbon footprint”), eg. by using bio-fuels or switching to renewable power sources, things still run on electricity.
Take the humble telephone. In the old days they used power from the phone line. These days I use a telephone exchange and cordless phones – all of which require power to run that is not supplied down the phone line. And I can’t turn them off, in case someone rings!
Thinking back to my childhood in the 1970s, I worked out that our house used almost no energy at night whatsoever. There was no video recorder waiting to record, no answerphone waiting for a call. Heating was provided for by a coal-burning boiler, which went out at night and had to be re-lit in the morning. My alarm clock had to be wound up before I went to sleep!
I am pretty sure that the only thing in the house consuming any power at night was the fridge!
Why can things not be so simple today? Our modern society is so reliant on electricity, that instead of finding ways to consume less, we seem to be looking for better ways of producing it.
How about looking into ways of saving it instead?
Low-energy housing – a thing of the past?
Queueing and Blogging
I went to the DIY supermarket at the weekend to buy a set of metal shelves for our cellar. The shelves, along with their metal supports, were packaged into polythene as a set. The whole thing was quite a weight to carry, so I made a direct line for the checkout…
Now normally this would not be a problem. I avoid people that might be in my way, and those that see me coming with such a heavy item would probably make way for me anyway. But not this week. Just as I was reached the checkout a young lady stepped out in front of me… and stopped! Although she didn’t want to go actually to the checkout, she stood in front of it and blocked my way.
I gave here a look that said “this is heavy”, to which she looked at what I was carrying and said “you could put it down!”, and then continued to hold a conversation with someone else.
I was so speechless, that I didn’t even think to reply with “you could get out of my way” or something similar. I was just amazed at how blunt she was.
Which leads me nicely on to write about a new site where my wife started blogging today. On AllThingsBritish.net she is doing the exact opposite of what I blog about here – namely writing about British topics in German. Today, by co-incidence, she has written about how difficult it is in some British shops to know which way to join a queue.
Later this week she will also start blogging about words that have, at some time or other, caused us confusion or at least led to a topical discussion on EnglishWordsExplained.
So if you can understand German then please take a look at the new sites and give her some feedback!
Das Arbeitsamt
Das Arbeitsamt is a name given to the Bundesagentur für Arbeit – the German unemployment agency.
It is responsible for helping unemployed people find jobs and processing their claims for unemployment benefit (Arbeitslosengeld). It is also possible to go there for career advice.
A separate part of the agency deals with employers, for example when they apply for an employer number in order to take on employees.
Finally, the agency also carries out research into the job market.
The head office is situated in Nuremberg but there are branches in most larger towns. It is the largest Government agency in Germany, and is mainly funded by social security contributions (Arbeitslosenversicherung).
To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:
(Press the “play” button to listen to the podcast)
