Winter tyres

Many people coming to Germany to live are unaware of the fact that most cars here have two sets of tyres.  The reason for this is the large difference in temperature and therefore road conditions between the summer and winter months.

The winter tyres are made of a rubber mixture that does not because so hard in freezing temperatures, which gives them more grip on cold roads.  The tread has so-called “lamella” shape, which allows it to run better on snow.  Since many side roads do not get gritted or cleared of snow, this can be an important factor.  Cars that are primarily driven on roads in the Alps may even have spiked tyres or snow chains.

The summer tyres are made of a different mixture, that does not become so soft when it gets hot.  This allows them a better grip on hot tarmac in the summer, even when it is wet.

It is important to be aware of this difference, as driving with the wrong kind of tyre can have a negative influence on any insurance claims after an accident.

So every year in April and October I take my car to the garage to have the tyres changed.  They do not simply change the rubber tyre, but the whole wheel.  At the same time they balance them out and also make sure that the tyres with the most tread on them get put on the corners that are most likely to wear during the season.

Left: winter - Right: summer

Left: winter – Right: summer

The ‘old’ tyres are then put into storage and I am used with a certificate called a Reifenpass with their storage location on and the amount of tread in millimetres left on each tyre.

The whole process can take anything from about 15 minutes up to (as it did yesterday) a whole hour.

For those who do not use their cars so much, there is an alternative called “Ganzjahresreifen” – tyres for the whole year, that are a comprimise between the other two.

Woolworth’s in Germany

The Woolworth’s chain was very much in the news in the run up to Christmas in the UK. Now, it seems, it is the turn of the German Woolworth’s to enter the world of financial turmoil. Last week it was announced that they had registered the company as insolvency – a step that is similar to filing for bankruptcy, whilst at the same time giving them a chance to carry on trading under strict conditions in the hope of finding a solution to their problems.

My first visit to a German branch of Woolworth’s (technically they are called just “Woolworth”) was in Kleve, near the Dutch border, and during my first years in Germany I was a frequent visitor to the store in Bad Homburg. However, in recent years I have rarely gone there except to buy things that I have not been able to get anywhere else. Indeed, the location at the top end of the Louisenstrasse – the main pedestrian area – means that it is somewhat off the beaten track if you are only in the town centre for a short time.

Possibly there lies the problem. Much of the media criticised the UK company as being modern enough, saying that the stores had not moved with the times. The German media has been making the same sort of claims this week, and yet the two companies were completely separate entities.

Whilst the Woolworths Group PLC in the UK had already split from the main US company in 1982, it took until 1998 for the German “DWW Deutsche Woolworth GmbH & Co. OHG” to follow suit. Since then the German company has modernised the cash desks and introduced new store concepts.

But this, it sadly seems, was just not enough.

Zuviel Gepäck?

Wissen Sie wie viel Gepäck Sie auf einem Flug nach Lanzarote mitnehmen dürfen? Und vor allem wie viel Handgepäck?

Verschiedene Fluggesellschaften erlauben verschiedene Mengen an Gepäck im Frachtraum, das heißt im Hauptgepäck. Aber die Regeln vom Handgepäck variieren je nachdem in welche Richtung man fliegt.

Iberia zum Beispiel erlaubt 10 kg Handgepäck laut ihrer Webseite, obwohl die Vorschriften in Deutschland nur 8kg erlauben. Theoretisch könnte man so 2kg mehr Handgepäck von Lanzarote mit zurückbringen, als man mitbringen durfte.

Eine andere Schwierigkeit kann sein, dass sich nicht jede Fluggesellschaft sich an die Empfehlungen der IATA (Internationaler Luftverkehrsverband) hält was die Größe des Handgepäcks angeht. Lufthansa ist so ein Beispiel und in Frankfurt übernimmt Lufthansa das Einchecken für SpanAir.

Als mein Mann im September 2001 zum ersten Mal nach Lanzarote flog, waren die Regeln was man man mit an Bord nehmen durfte, verständlicherweise sehr streng (trotzdem konnte man ein Maniküre-Set im Duty Free-Wagen im Flugzeug kaufen) und er nahm nur das allernötigste mit, den Rest legte er in seinen Koffer. Aus diesem Grund hatte er mehr als 20kg im Hauptgepäck, aber argumentierte beim Einchecken, dass er im Gegenzug im Handgepäck weniger als 1kg hatte, so musste er nichts dazu bezahlen.

Bei der Rückreise hatte er durch einige neue Bücher und Souvenirs viel mehr Gewicht im Koffer, aber mit einem kleinen Handgepäck es war wieder kein Problem.

Mit der Familie zu reisen kann auch eine sehr interessante Erfahrung am Abflugschalter sein, aber generell wird in Frankfurt bei einer Familie das Gepäck gruppenweise berücksichtigt. Also eine 3-Köpfige Familie kann maximal 60kg Gepäck haben und diese individuell verteilen, jedoch darf kein Koffer nicht mehr als 30kg wiegen.

Natürlich muss nicht immer alles problemlos ablaufen, fanden einige Passagiere auf einem Flug nach Frankfurt letzte Woche heraus. Wegen den Windbedingungen in Arrecife ließ der Pilot einer 757-300 80 Koffer abladen um das Gewicht des Flugzeugs vor dem Abflug zu reduzieren.

Ich schätze das ist eines der Risiken wenn man Souveniers von Lanzarote mit nach Hause nimmt – Lava ist eben schwer!

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