This week I had my first experience of visiting a German court.
I’ve talked before about the payment culture in Germany, and how some customers just don’t pay up. I have had to register customer debts with the court before, but this was the first time I had actually been to one, as it was a slightly different situation. This time, it was a supplier who owed me money.
Last year, I sent some items of computer hardware back to one of my supplies for repair or replacement. Unfortunately the supplier then filed for bankruptcy.
It took a lot of telephone calls to get my hardware dealt with, but one of the items, which I had luckily noticed was not working before I sold it to a customer, was gone for a long time.
In the end I called the manufacturer and was told that the item had been destroyed and a credit note issued, meaning that rather than getting a replacement I now had to register as a creditor (called a Gläubiger in German) to my own supplier. [Read more…]
Trooping the Colour ist die Bezeichnung für eine Militärparade in Großbritannien. Sie gilt als Feier für den offiziellen Geburtstag des jeweiligen Königs bzw. Königin. Eingeführt hat diese Tradition Karl II. Ursprünglich fand diese Parade am eigentlichen Geburtstag des Königs statt. Aber weil am Geburtstag von Eduard VII. oft schlechtes Wetter war verlegte er die Parade auf den zweiten Samstag im Juni. Bis heute wird Trooping the Colour an diesem Tag zelebriert.