I lived in Munich for a while and could add a few items to the list of odd
(to us!) rules by which the Germans live: the hours during which recycling
is prohibited, the posted "Hausordnung", a list of rules including a rota
for using the washing lines in the basement, etc., etc.
A friend visited the local office to register her address (a requirement in
most European countries) and was handed a form which required her to declare
her religion, for Church Tax purposes. When the official noticed that my
friend had responded to this question with "none", she flung it back at her,
exclaiming "What does this mean? That's impossible!"
A somewhat heated discussion followed, until the official (presumably noting
an accent) demanded to know where she was from. "Russia" she replied, at
which the official gave a a derisive snort, flung out her arms in a gesture
of hopelessness, muttered something like "no wonder!" and processed the
form.
CAS
On 05/03/07, Roger Munford <rogermunford@???> wrote:
>
> For a long time I have been awe of the knowledge and experience of the
> correspondents to the list and wondered if I could ever contribute
> something which would not already be common knowledge. Today is my
> chance. Germans are obliged to wash their cars at a car wash to protect
> ground water. The real surprise for Brits is the Church tax which is
> collected along with your income tax and sent to your church unless you
> opt out. Another surprise was no lorries allowed on the road at the
> weekend. Since this is a Linux list it is worth a reminder that Munich
> is the first major city to embrace open source software - (debian ).
> http://europa.eu.int/idabc/en/document/3223.
>
> Roger Munford
>
> --
> Please post to: Hampshire@???
> Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire
> LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk
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>
