No post today

March 21, 2008 By 2 Comments

I have always been fascinated by the way that post boxes in the UK make a special mention of Good Friday.  On this day the post is collected at a different time to the rest of the year.

It’s one of the quirks that as a British ex-pat I think about today, along with having a lack of hot-cross buns to eat.

There are not many things that I miss about the UK, and most of the things that I do I bring back to Germany with me.

But the postal collection on Good Friday is one that I cannot bring with me, and Germany does not collect the post on any bank holidays.

I guess it’s just a piece of culture that I will have to do without.  I wonder how long it will last for?

Come to think of it, does anyone know why this exception exists in the first place?

Filed Under: Easter, Post Tagged With: , , , ,

Ostern

March 19, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Easter is called Ostern in German. The Easter Week starts on Palm Sunday as is known as the Karwoche. Its climax starts on Maundy Thursday, known as Gründonnerstag and is followed by Karfreitag, Karsamstag, Ostersonntag and Ostermontag.

Traditionally people either go to Church on Saturday evening to a service called the Osterfeuer or on Sunday morning.

Also on Sunday morning children hunt for Easter Eggs, Ostereier, around the flat or in the garden.

Easter marks the end of Lent, so people eat meat again on Easter Sunday. They eat pork, beef or even rabbit and can start drinking alcohol again.

Karfreitag, Ostersonntag and Ostermontag are public holidays, so all of the shops are closed.

The date on which Easter falls varies from year to year, but can be calculated. It can be anytime between the 22nd March and 25th April. The exact fomula is known as “Computus” (see Wikipedia for more details).

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 a transcript

Download the MP3 file | Subscribe to the podcast

Filed Under: Easter, German Words Explained, Podcasts Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

As easy as pi?

March 18, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I may have learnt all about the Greek letter pi at school and its significance in maths for calculating things to do with circles, but it’s actually something else that I remember it for.
In a special episode of Dr.Who, broadcast as part of “Children in Need”, the Master skipped across a chequered floor and retorted “try it Doctor, it’s as easy as pi”, to which the Doctor eventually muttered “3.14159265”.
I remember that scene so clearly, that it has helped me to memorise the beginning of pi for years. Since most people only remember the 3.14 bit, it’s almost showing off to know so many numbers in it, and yet there are a handful of people out there who have memorised a lot more of them.
So I guess they in particular will have celebrated pi day last Friday. Now, I know it’s an important number, but does it really need a day named after it?

Filed Under: Cymeradwyo, Mathematics, Television Tagged With: ,

Please click on ACCEPT to give us permission to set cookies [more information]

This website uses cookies to give you the best browsing experience possible. Cookies are small text files that are stored by the web browser on your computer. Most of the cookies that we use are so-called “Session cookies”. These are automatically deleted after your visit. The cookies do not damage your computer system or contain viruses. Please read our privacy information page for more details or to revoke permission.

Close