Frankfurt-Eschborn Cityloop

Each year on 1st May (Maifeiertag) the main road out of Oberursel is closed off for a cycle race which this year was re-named as the “Frankfurt-Eschborn Cityloop”.  This means that for anything up to 2 hours we are unable to get out of our road.  Even the U-Bahn stops running!

Junioren

Juniors

The answer, of course, is to either get out early or to stay and watch the race – and the drivers arguing with the police that they need to go somewhere.

U23

U23

My daughter and I opted for the 2nd option this year.  To find out more, listen to the podcast:

(Press the “play” button to listen to the podcast)

Download the MP3 file | Subscribe to the podcast

Hausnotruf

Hausnotruf is a system offered my organisations such as the German Red Cross (DRK).

People who do not want to move into an old people’s home, but still want the peace of mind of being able call for help in an emergency use the system.  The have a red button on a necklace that they can press in an emergency, which contacts a base station which in turn dials an emergency call centre.  They then send out someone who has a key to the flat or house to help.

Some systems also offer a an option, whereby the user has to press a button on the base station eg. every 24 hours.  If they do not, they receive a call or help is sent out.  This can be useful if they are not able to press their button.

For more details on the Red Cross system, visit www.drk.de.

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

(Press the “play” button to listen to the podcast)

Download the MP3 file | Subscribe to the podcast

GSM

GSM stands for Global System for Mobile communications and is the the mobile phone standard common in many parts of the world.  It has been the main standard in Germany since the middle of the 1990s.

The two GSM frequencies in Germany are known as D-Netz and E-Netz.

The standard also covers features such as SMS (Kurznachrichten), which started out as a by-product and is now one of the most popular ways of using a mobile phone.

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

(Press the “play” button to listen to the podcast)

Download the MP3 file | Subscribe to the podcast

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