Paella, Pa'ella, Pa'mi
First up, Lobelto now has a place in Mainz! Yes, he couldn't have chosen a better place except if it came with a ladyfriend included. So by the end of the month we should be seeing a lot more of him...
Saturday saw the latest Seacava Paella. This time cooked and organised by Ali and Mamen. Without wanting to put down the retired paella maker (Carlitos), it tasted great. Despite the slightly late start, the assembled group ate and ate, and drank and drank until there were only a few doggy bags to take home for the next day's dinner. After this filling meal, a trip to Haddocks was undertaken, where it ended at 2am with Lobelto asleep in the corner and a lot of burros playing cards. Pity that the following day had to be spent washing all the clothes as a table of guests saw fit to flout the no-smoking laws during our time there.
On another note, it looks like Jordi (yes, of 2000/01 fame) has been given a job in Brussels now where he will be doing what he does best. Good luck !
And now for something different - news related. What with Angela Merkel admitting that the German method of integration of foreigners has been a disaster, how do you feel? Go on, have a go. Hopefully more than the previous 3 will respond...
Monday, October 18, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Licensed to Live
This last week has seen Olga complete her studies as a psychologist, and Rafa graduate as an electrical engineer. So if you have problems with your life or mind, see the former, and if you have problems with your TV or the computer see the latter.
You might have noticed an addition to the right hand side of this blog. Yes, the polls are back, asking you those relevant and important questions on life. So go on, give it a go!
This last week has seen Olga complete her studies as a psychologist, and Rafa graduate as an electrical engineer. So if you have problems with your life or mind, see the former, and if you have problems with your TV or the computer see the latter.
You might have noticed an addition to the right hand side of this blog. Yes, the polls are back, asking you those relevant and important questions on life. So go on, give it a go!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Website Fun, Dirty Pavements and Bottle Deposits
Nowadays everyone has a website, they are so easy to create. There are few companies that don't have some form of online presence, and most allow you to order their products or services directly. I like to call this user interaction. Well Hema (a dutch department store) brings this interactivity to a new dimension with their e-store here: http://producten.hema.nl/. This is going back to the roots of website building - for fun and enjoyment. Well done to the person that programmed that, and to the company for letting it go past prototype stage!
Now people say that we Brits are dog lovers. This is probably true, but I am sure that the Germans give us a run for our money. I remember when I first came over here to Mainz. I was walking along when I saw a mother with a young child in a pushchair and a dog on a leash. She stopped at the entrance of a supermarket, and to my astonishment, she tied up the pushchair to a lamppost and took the dog on the leash into the store with her. That's something that can only happen here.
Dogs can go anywhere. They are regularly taken into restaurants, supermarkets, swimming pools, which personally I don't find all that appealing. It will be of no surprise then, that I often come across a pile of dog turd in the street. Yes, there is a law forbidding them to leave a mess without the owner cleaning up, but with so many dogs about, how are you going to stop them all?
So the other day I was walking across the city and started to count how many different piles of poo I had to avoid. On this half hour walk which I repeat most days, I counted no less than 9 different dollops. This is getting ridiculous! Of course the reason why I decided to write about it now was that earlier this week, whilst carefully avoiding one steaming mess I accidentally trod in another. Next time I see a dog even bending it's leg in preparation for a squat, I am going to get out my camera and make sure a big flash goes off. Maybe some owners will learn to take control...
Talking of cameras, I am seriously considering having one permanently to hand whilst crossing zebra crossings in this city. At least twice a week I ma nearly hit because cars like to race across them rather than stop for pedestrians. Legally they have to stop as soon as my foot treads on the crossing, but in Mainz they like to speed up and keep driving across, despite being mere centimeters away from me. So be warned - next time I will have my camera to hand and there will be a nice clear photo being sent to the local police station.
So the UK is currently considering putting deposits on bottles of drink, like they did about 40 years ago. This of course is nothing new to the people of Germany who have had deposits on drinks bottles for as long as I cam remember. Although I have to admit they have changed the law a good many times as to which types of bottles have which type of deposit, and whether you have to take them back to the very same store you bought them from, with your receipt and a token (luckily that is no more).
But back to the UK. The main reason being touted for deposits being necessary, is that it would reduce the amount of litter on the streets. I don't have the statistics for the percentage of litter being made up of bottles, but I would hazard a guess at maybe 5% from what I personally remember seeing.
Now jump to Germany again. Asking a few locals gives differing answers with respect to if it helped the littering problem. Some say that it did, and there's less broken glass on the streets now (although if this were true, the streets must have been paved with glass before, as I still have to avoid at least 3 broken bottles on my daily walk - maybe I should do a proper count like with the dog turds). Others say that now instead of a few bottles on the ground, there a re many more vagrants combing the bins around the city, looking for any spare bottles. They will habitually empty out a bin whilst getting to glass container at the very bottom, which of course might mean that there's less glass on the street as a percentage of litter, but the amount of litter on the street has gone up considerably.
So I'm all for new ways to get our streets cleaner (personally believing that people who litter should be punished by having to clear up the town for at least a day for every piece they threw down) but maybe people should look beyond what the direct effects could be, and think of the side-effects too, to make an informed decision of whether the total balance is beneficial or not.
As a final note, for the doctor who recently celebrated his birthday and who used to be a frequent visitor to this site - welcome back !
Nowadays everyone has a website, they are so easy to create. There are few companies that don't have some form of online presence, and most allow you to order their products or services directly. I like to call this user interaction. Well Hema (a dutch department store) brings this interactivity to a new dimension with their e-store here: http://producten.hema.nl/. This is going back to the roots of website building - for fun and enjoyment. Well done to the person that programmed that, and to the company for letting it go past prototype stage!
Now people say that we Brits are dog lovers. This is probably true, but I am sure that the Germans give us a run for our money. I remember when I first came over here to Mainz. I was walking along when I saw a mother with a young child in a pushchair and a dog on a leash. She stopped at the entrance of a supermarket, and to my astonishment, she tied up the pushchair to a lamppost and took the dog on the leash into the store with her. That's something that can only happen here.
Dogs can go anywhere. They are regularly taken into restaurants, supermarkets, swimming pools, which personally I don't find all that appealing. It will be of no surprise then, that I often come across a pile of dog turd in the street. Yes, there is a law forbidding them to leave a mess without the owner cleaning up, but with so many dogs about, how are you going to stop them all?
So the other day I was walking across the city and started to count how many different piles of poo I had to avoid. On this half hour walk which I repeat most days, I counted no less than 9 different dollops. This is getting ridiculous! Of course the reason why I decided to write about it now was that earlier this week, whilst carefully avoiding one steaming mess I accidentally trod in another. Next time I see a dog even bending it's leg in preparation for a squat, I am going to get out my camera and make sure a big flash goes off. Maybe some owners will learn to take control...
Talking of cameras, I am seriously considering having one permanently to hand whilst crossing zebra crossings in this city. At least twice a week I ma nearly hit because cars like to race across them rather than stop for pedestrians. Legally they have to stop as soon as my foot treads on the crossing, but in Mainz they like to speed up and keep driving across, despite being mere centimeters away from me. So be warned - next time I will have my camera to hand and there will be a nice clear photo being sent to the local police station.
So the UK is currently considering putting deposits on bottles of drink, like they did about 40 years ago. This of course is nothing new to the people of Germany who have had deposits on drinks bottles for as long as I cam remember. Although I have to admit they have changed the law a good many times as to which types of bottles have which type of deposit, and whether you have to take them back to the very same store you bought them from, with your receipt and a token (luckily that is no more).
But back to the UK. The main reason being touted for deposits being necessary, is that it would reduce the amount of litter on the streets. I don't have the statistics for the percentage of litter being made up of bottles, but I would hazard a guess at maybe 5% from what I personally remember seeing.
Now jump to Germany again. Asking a few locals gives differing answers with respect to if it helped the littering problem. Some say that it did, and there's less broken glass on the streets now (although if this were true, the streets must have been paved with glass before, as I still have to avoid at least 3 broken bottles on my daily walk - maybe I should do a proper count like with the dog turds). Others say that now instead of a few bottles on the ground, there a re many more vagrants combing the bins around the city, looking for any spare bottles. They will habitually empty out a bin whilst getting to glass container at the very bottom, which of course might mean that there's less glass on the street as a percentage of litter, but the amount of litter on the street has gone up considerably.
So I'm all for new ways to get our streets cleaner (personally believing that people who litter should be punished by having to clear up the town for at least a day for every piece they threw down) but maybe people should look beyond what the direct effects could be, and think of the side-effects too, to make an informed decision of whether the total balance is beneficial or not.
As a final note, for the doctor who recently celebrated his birthday and who used to be a frequent visitor to this site - welcome back !
Sunday, September 12, 2010
The bane of malfunctioning credit card machines
To accompany the new design to this site, how about a bit of new content style too? That question was rhetorical, by the way :)
So in case you don't know, in Germany it is hard to pay for goods and services with credit cards. Big stores normally accept them, but otherwise you might just have a chance with the so called EC card. This is basically a debit card instead of the normal VISA debit cards etc one is used to.
Actually, an example I always like to give to people on the use of cards in Germany, is at a supermarket a couple of years ago. I was in the line to buy my groceries and as often happens, there is some special offer on some home electronics (or a chainsaw, but that's another story) this day there was a huge flatscreen TV on sale. It had a pricetag of around 550 Euros. And sure enough, the customer started to count out lots of fifty notes into the cashier's hand. And the cashier didn't flinch once - this is normal here !!!
But I digress, the card readers.
So to pay for a meal for instance, like in other non EC-card countries, a machine is brought out and the card inserted or swiped. The machine sends the details per wireless or cable to the base station where it checks with the payment authority if this card is valid. Then the customer is asked to either enter their PIN, or to sign a receipt.
Now I'm not the oldest person I know, but I remember this happening in some form for at least 10 years (pubs at uni accepted cards, don't you know). And I don't remember once ever having a problem with them.
Now wind forward to the present. Last night was the second time in two days (and on average I would say at least twice a month) when trying to pay for a meal in a restaurant (knowing full well they accept cards, so I don't bother making the treck to the bank to take out extra cash) that the waitress comes back and says sorry the machine isn't working today.
I know I long gave up on everything being so efficient here as people are led to believe, but I had hoped that at least this problem could just be a freak occurrence. So, we could be in the most rustic village in the middle of Spain, and the machines worked without a hitch, but here in Mainz they seem to have a malfunctioning rate of about one a week. Shouldn't someone investigate this? Did they get these machines on special discount from Aldi? Maybe they need to be sent to China to be repaired?
I think next time this happens I'll just give them my address and tell them to send me the bill. That way I don't have to do 3 trips to the bank a day...
So, about that chainsaw...
To accompany the new design to this site, how about a bit of new content style too? That question was rhetorical, by the way :)
So in case you don't know, in Germany it is hard to pay for goods and services with credit cards. Big stores normally accept them, but otherwise you might just have a chance with the so called EC card. This is basically a debit card instead of the normal VISA debit cards etc one is used to.
Actually, an example I always like to give to people on the use of cards in Germany, is at a supermarket a couple of years ago. I was in the line to buy my groceries and as often happens, there is some special offer on some home electronics (or a chainsaw, but that's another story) this day there was a huge flatscreen TV on sale. It had a pricetag of around 550 Euros. And sure enough, the customer started to count out lots of fifty notes into the cashier's hand. And the cashier didn't flinch once - this is normal here !!!
But I digress, the card readers.
So to pay for a meal for instance, like in other non EC-card countries, a machine is brought out and the card inserted or swiped. The machine sends the details per wireless or cable to the base station where it checks with the payment authority if this card is valid. Then the customer is asked to either enter their PIN, or to sign a receipt.
Now I'm not the oldest person I know, but I remember this happening in some form for at least 10 years (pubs at uni accepted cards, don't you know). And I don't remember once ever having a problem with them.
Now wind forward to the present. Last night was the second time in two days (and on average I would say at least twice a month) when trying to pay for a meal in a restaurant (knowing full well they accept cards, so I don't bother making the treck to the bank to take out extra cash) that the waitress comes back and says sorry the machine isn't working today.
I know I long gave up on everything being so efficient here as people are led to believe, but I had hoped that at least this problem could just be a freak occurrence. So, we could be in the most rustic village in the middle of Spain, and the machines worked without a hitch, but here in Mainz they seem to have a malfunctioning rate of about one a week. Shouldn't someone investigate this? Did they get these machines on special discount from Aldi? Maybe they need to be sent to China to be repaired?
I think next time this happens I'll just give them my address and tell them to send me the bill. That way I don't have to do 3 trips to the bank a day...
So, about that chainsaw...
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Dangerous Cheese, Spyclists, and the Purple People
So I've blogged before about the escapades of rolling cheese down a hill and people getting hurt trying to catch it. Well apparently it got too much, and this year's rolling has had to be called off. Next they will be banning egg-and-spoon-races...
The Shambles, in York, has been named Britain's most picturesque street, beating Bath's Royal Crescent into second place. Definitely worth a visit if you up that way...
You've heard of the warning about spies in our mists during the war. Loose tongues cost lives and the like. Well, what you might not have heard about, were the German touring cycle groups, which apparently went around the areas of possible invasions, to take note of the potential targets, and possible hostilities in the area. Is that why they love cycling so much in Germany?...
Movement is afoot in Italy. Not about the Vatican and the sex abuse claims, but rather on the political front. They don't have their own political party, but the Purple People are a large group of people that apparently formed through Facebook to show their dislike of Berlusconi. They have organised protests with hundreds of thousands of demonstrators turning out, all wearing something purple. It might not be a direct competition for the upcoming elections, but they do have a voice, and one which is getting louder by the day. It will be interesting to see when they reach a critical mass, how the current leader can cope (except for using violence of course)...
There once was a lovely village set in the middle of green pastures, where one could relax without noisy motorways, airports etc nearby. This Area of Natural Beauty is called the Chilterns. And this will no longer be the case if the government has its way and creates their new High Speed Rail Link between London and Birmingham going straight through this greenbelt area. Start joining the protests now...
And the Rugby. The latest Six Nations game is underway at the moment, France vs Italy, and then the final matches are being played next Saturday, which we will hopefully be able to enjoy with Luca, Carlitos, Luigi and a possible show by Lobelto. Then we will have to wait for the World Cup in South Africa...
So I've blogged before about the escapades of rolling cheese down a hill and people getting hurt trying to catch it. Well apparently it got too much, and this year's rolling has had to be called off. Next they will be banning egg-and-spoon-races...
The Shambles, in York, has been named Britain's most picturesque street, beating Bath's Royal Crescent into second place. Definitely worth a visit if you up that way...
You've heard of the warning about spies in our mists during the war. Loose tongues cost lives and the like. Well, what you might not have heard about, were the German touring cycle groups, which apparently went around the areas of possible invasions, to take note of the potential targets, and possible hostilities in the area. Is that why they love cycling so much in Germany?...
Movement is afoot in Italy. Not about the Vatican and the sex abuse claims, but rather on the political front. They don't have their own political party, but the Purple People are a large group of people that apparently formed through Facebook to show their dislike of Berlusconi. They have organised protests with hundreds of thousands of demonstrators turning out, all wearing something purple. It might not be a direct competition for the upcoming elections, but they do have a voice, and one which is getting louder by the day. It will be interesting to see when they reach a critical mass, how the current leader can cope (except for using violence of course)...
There once was a lovely village set in the middle of green pastures, where one could relax without noisy motorways, airports etc nearby. This Area of Natural Beauty is called the Chilterns. And this will no longer be the case if the government has its way and creates their new High Speed Rail Link between London and Birmingham going straight through this greenbelt area. Start joining the protests now...
And the Rugby. The latest Six Nations game is underway at the moment, France vs Italy, and then the final matches are being played next Saturday, which we will hopefully be able to enjoy with Luca, Carlitos, Luigi and a possible show by Lobelto. Then we will have to wait for the World Cup in South Africa...
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Carnival Thaw
So the carnivals have drawn to an end. This year there actually seemed to be less broken glass on the ground...could it be fewer bottles were smashed? Or they were quicker in cleaning up? Or did the cold weather keep many people at home? I don't know the answer, but it was a nice surprise on the Tuesday morning to not have to pick glass splinters out of my shoes when I arrived at the office.
Of course, cold weather was never a problem in Barranquilla, where their carnival took place at 34 degrees celsius.
As most people are still recovering on the Tuesday after carnival, I suspect they forgot that it's also known as Pancake Day. Yes, you should pick up all your leftovers and use them as filling for the pancakes you make. Tasty...
Google StreetView has appeared in this blog a few times. And here it is again. This time the video-car came across something in Norway that was very unexpected...just take a look at this link.
Well, Luca is back in Germany, this time in Bochum, so maybe there will be a meetup again, once the weather has warmed up a bit.
Keep those woollies on...
So the carnivals have drawn to an end. This year there actually seemed to be less broken glass on the ground...could it be fewer bottles were smashed? Or they were quicker in cleaning up? Or did the cold weather keep many people at home? I don't know the answer, but it was a nice surprise on the Tuesday morning to not have to pick glass splinters out of my shoes when I arrived at the office.
Of course, cold weather was never a problem in Barranquilla, where their carnival took place at 34 degrees celsius.
As most people are still recovering on the Tuesday after carnival, I suspect they forgot that it's also known as Pancake Day. Yes, you should pick up all your leftovers and use them as filling for the pancakes you make. Tasty...
Google StreetView has appeared in this blog a few times. And here it is again. This time the video-car came across something in Norway that was very unexpected...just take a look at this link.
Well, Luca is back in Germany, this time in Bochum, so maybe there will be a meetup again, once the weather has warmed up a bit.
Keep those woollies on...
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Pricey Ham, Evils of Playstation, and Airport Security
Selfridges has decided that there are some people out there who would pay an arm and a leg for a nice piece of ham. They have put up for sale a piece costing 1800 pounds. Yes, that's pounds, not pesetas...
Amongst all the worrying things that the current president of Venezuela has done (taking over anything and everything) is the attack on the Sony Playstation. Yes, that's right, Chavez has decided that this piece of technology is evil. A bit like the pot calling the kettle black...
So after the latest attempt to blow up an airliner it's become all the rage to bring in the nudity scanners in airports. You know the ones - you walk through and the attendant no longer asks you if you have a canoe in your pocket. Well, in principle, the better you get at detecting these things, the safer for us, right? Well, it would be if humans were not part of this equation. Just take Munich airport (go on, take it). They have the explosives detection in place to work on laptops, and the machine says that this laptop was probably in touch with explosive substance. Well that should be the end of it you may think. Inspect the guy thoroughly until you are sure it was just a false positive. Well, no. The human element lets this guy take his laptop and walk away into the (security cleared) area of the airport. Here he can board a plane, make a transit in another country and not get rechecked.
So it doesn't really matter if we have to pass through a scanner completely naked, get all our orifices checked and have sniffer dogs all over us. In the end the human element will allow mistakes to happen. So what should we do? Well, maybe we should just sit back and await all the status updates that these new scanner machines could generate on twitter...oh, nobody told you they were attached to a SIM card?...
Travel safely...
Selfridges has decided that there are some people out there who would pay an arm and a leg for a nice piece of ham. They have put up for sale a piece costing 1800 pounds. Yes, that's pounds, not pesetas...
Amongst all the worrying things that the current president of Venezuela has done (taking over anything and everything) is the attack on the Sony Playstation. Yes, that's right, Chavez has decided that this piece of technology is evil. A bit like the pot calling the kettle black...
So after the latest attempt to blow up an airliner it's become all the rage to bring in the nudity scanners in airports. You know the ones - you walk through and the attendant no longer asks you if you have a canoe in your pocket. Well, in principle, the better you get at detecting these things, the safer for us, right? Well, it would be if humans were not part of this equation. Just take Munich airport (go on, take it). They have the explosives detection in place to work on laptops, and the machine says that this laptop was probably in touch with explosive substance. Well that should be the end of it you may think. Inspect the guy thoroughly until you are sure it was just a false positive. Well, no. The human element lets this guy take his laptop and walk away into the (security cleared) area of the airport. Here he can board a plane, make a transit in another country and not get rechecked.
So it doesn't really matter if we have to pass through a scanner completely naked, get all our orifices checked and have sniffer dogs all over us. In the end the human element will allow mistakes to happen. So what should we do? Well, maybe we should just sit back and await all the status updates that these new scanner machines could generate on twitter...oh, nobody told you they were attached to a SIM card?...
Travel safely...
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Certain Weather, Riot Sledging and Chavez Stores
Whilst the weather here can't make up it's mind (finally the snow had cleared for 2 days and then in 2 hours 2 inches of snow had fallen in Mainz yesterday evening) let's have a look at what's been happening in the world.
A novel new use of police riot shields has been found in Oxfordshire. After a heavy snowfall with most people being snowed in, a couple of bobbies decided to take to the slopes on their aforementioned protective gear. Looks like fun, although that didn't last once their boss got wind of their escapades...
After devaluing the Venezualen currency last week, Chavez ordered soldiers to take to the streets and take over shops not offering their wares at their recent lower value. Is there anything this man won't keep his hands off?
Ever wondered what that whiff was when you drive out of London? Well it could quite easily be the recycling of sewage, which has been saving millions of pounds a year, and generated 14% of Thames Water's energy. Other ideas for recycling it as lip-gloss haven't gone down too well though...
Just left to say that the earthquake in Haiti has been taking up most of the news lately. Let's hope they manage to sort out the supply dispersion quickly enough to save as many lives as possible of those that are left...
Think before you apply that make-up...
Whilst the weather here can't make up it's mind (finally the snow had cleared for 2 days and then in 2 hours 2 inches of snow had fallen in Mainz yesterday evening) let's have a look at what's been happening in the world.
A novel new use of police riot shields has been found in Oxfordshire. After a heavy snowfall with most people being snowed in, a couple of bobbies decided to take to the slopes on their aforementioned protective gear. Looks like fun, although that didn't last once their boss got wind of their escapades...
After devaluing the Venezualen currency last week, Chavez ordered soldiers to take to the streets and take over shops not offering their wares at their recent lower value. Is there anything this man won't keep his hands off?
Ever wondered what that whiff was when you drive out of London? Well it could quite easily be the recycling of sewage, which has been saving millions of pounds a year, and generated 14% of Thames Water's energy. Other ideas for recycling it as lip-gloss haven't gone down too well though...
Just left to say that the earthquake in Haiti has been taking up most of the news lately. Let's hope they manage to sort out the supply dispersion quickly enough to save as many lives as possible of those that are left...
Think before you apply that make-up...
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Lidl Drugs, Bean PM, and Y2010 Bugs
If you're going shopping at Lidl in Spain, maybe you should take a closer look at that package of bananas you put in your trolley after one kilo bags of cocaine were found to be hidden in amongst the fruit. I suppose there's going to be someone that's not too happy about losing so much powder, and then there's going to be someone who's very happy with their latest banana trifle ;)
Spain's PM, Zapatero has often been likened to TV personality Mr Bean. So it was a funny surprise to see that a hacker had exchanged the PM's photo on his website for the new EU presidency for that of the comic. It would be interesting to find out how many people had seen the site without realising there had been a switch...
Ten years ago, you heaved a sigh of relief, that after so many reports of the world coming to an end, the millenium actually started with very few technical hickups. Pity the people with German cards then, who woke up on the 1st of Jan 2010 and tried to pay for their shopping, take out money from the ATM, or were on holiday trying to pay for that expensive meal they just ate - and finding out that there's a technical glitch with the chips on their cards and they don't work. Well this happened to around 30 million German card holders, who were without resolve until yesterday. Of course, this comes on top of the fact that in November last year, over 100 thousand German credit cards had to be recalled after there was a security breach in the payment system, and they were being used without the owners consent.
Well, there's been a lot of snow chaos going on all over Europe, temperatures reaching -22 degrees, airports being closed, planes being cancelled, lorries and cars in pile-ups and accidents, and water pipes bursting. If it wasn't so cold out there I'd take some photos and put them up, but you'll have to make do with this link to the BBC article here.
Wrap up well !
If you're going shopping at Lidl in Spain, maybe you should take a closer look at that package of bananas you put in your trolley after one kilo bags of cocaine were found to be hidden in amongst the fruit. I suppose there's going to be someone that's not too happy about losing so much powder, and then there's going to be someone who's very happy with their latest banana trifle ;)
Spain's PM, Zapatero has often been likened to TV personality Mr Bean. So it was a funny surprise to see that a hacker had exchanged the PM's photo on his website for the new EU presidency for that of the comic. It would be interesting to find out how many people had seen the site without realising there had been a switch...
Ten years ago, you heaved a sigh of relief, that after so many reports of the world coming to an end, the millenium actually started with very few technical hickups. Pity the people with German cards then, who woke up on the 1st of Jan 2010 and tried to pay for their shopping, take out money from the ATM, or were on holiday trying to pay for that expensive meal they just ate - and finding out that there's a technical glitch with the chips on their cards and they don't work. Well this happened to around 30 million German card holders, who were without resolve until yesterday. Of course, this comes on top of the fact that in November last year, over 100 thousand German credit cards had to be recalled after there was a security breach in the payment system, and they were being used without the owners consent.
Well, there's been a lot of snow chaos going on all over Europe, temperatures reaching -22 degrees, airports being closed, planes being cancelled, lorries and cars in pile-ups and accidents, and water pipes bursting. If it wasn't so cold out there I'd take some photos and put them up, but you'll have to make do with this link to the BBC article here.
Wrap up well !
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