Germany: like the UK in a timewarp?

[lethargic_man]

Various things one observes living in Germany, such as the tobacco advertising, the majority of people cycling bareheaded, the complete lack of automated checkouts at supermarkets, etc, etc (no doubt I will think of a better example the moment I hit "Post"), make it feel a bit like being in the UK twenty or thirty years ago.

This feeling is only compounded by the presence here of branches of Woolworth's (closed in the UK 2009) and C&A (closed in the UK 2001)...

Comments

[iddewes]

Now C&A IS Dutch and they have always had it in other parts of Europe...
Not to mention the lack of credit cards being accepted at supermarkets. Have also noticed the cyclists - it is only the serious looking ones who look like they are dressed to do the Tour de France who wear helmets!

[lethargic_man]

Not to mention the lack of credit cards being accepted at supermarkets.

Wouldn't know about that: I don't have a credit card, and I'm avoiding using my debit card as I'll run up a conversion charge. (I brought €1000 when I came, of which I deposited the majority in the Bank of aviva_m, and have been making withdrawals from time to time ever since.)

[iddewes]

Ah I am still using my debit card here. I know I am getting charged, and I really should get round to getting a German bank account, but I just haven't yet.
The only card they usually take is their Euro card, which seems to be like the Interac card in Canada, it's a bank debit card but doesn't work like a credit card like ours in the UK do.
Dirk was telling me his late grandmother always called Woolworths 'Volvort' and refused to believe it wasn't a German company! I think nowadays it may as well be, because I don't think it even exists in the US anymore. In Canada we used to have Woolco which was part of Woolworths but that got taken over by Walmart in the 90s before I even left Canada.

[lethargic_man]

Dirk was telling me his late grandmother always called Woolworths 'Volvort' and refused to believe it wasn't a German company!

I didn't realise it wasn't a British company until I saw it here after its demise in the UK, then looked it up online. They made such a big deal of its shutting down in the UK after 99 years, but never mentioned it wasn't a British company in the first place!

(When I was growing up, I thought Kellogg's cereals were British too, because they had the Queen's Warrant on the side. And Tony the Tiger had a much less strong accent on the adverts too, then.)

[iddewes]

That reminds me of my friend Cathy in Canada being convinced Bob the Builder was an American programme!! Only because it apparently is dubbed by an American actor over there. (Either that or Cathy thought Neil Morrissey sounded American, which is unlikely!)

[lethargic_man]

Americans are a funny lot; they refuse to understand anything unless it's voiced by other Americans, which is why we show American comedies on our TV here (meaning the UK), but they have to remake British comedies in their own image first.

I got rather narked when I was participating in an Internet writers group at the American members complaining when I used British terms. If I was reading something written by an American, and they used a word I didn't know, I'd either pick it up from context, look it up or just ignore the fact I didn't know what it meant; I wouldn't demand they rewrote it in my own variety of English.

[iddewes]

And yet lots of Americans do like the originals of British comedies, which makes it seem to me more like the TV people in the States assume no one will understand the originals, whereas in fact quite a few do. Ok, it's more likely to be the well educated ones who have travelled.
And yeah, I can see why you were annoyed by the American members of the writers group. I've also noticed in penpal groups online that are supposed to be international that Americans will just put their location as CO or MA or something like that while members from other countries put the actual country - so EVERYONE IN THE WORLD is just supposed to know that CO is Colorado, USA! I wondered if one of them would complain if I put that I was in Hesse instead of a country. I'm quite sure they wouldn't know where Hesse is.

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

When I was in Kyoto, none of the cyclists wore a helmet, but just about all of them carried an umbrella. I think it's makes a lot of sense as long as you think of cycling as a faster way of walking instead of a way to compete with traffic on the roads. People there ride on footpaths and tend to trundle along at just over walking pace. And everyone just wears street clothes and there's no need to change or have a shower after you've made it work...

[lethargic_man]

Maybe that makes sense if you're doing short journeys. Life's way too short for me to trundle along at just over walking pace on my commute. (It takes me 45 minutes to get to work in London; at walking pace I estimate it would be around two and a quarter hours.)

[green_knight]

On the other hand, British supermarkets only recently stopped foisting plastic bags upon you at all costs (ten years ago I frequently had to unpack my shopping... only to be pulled up by security for not carrying shopping in a bag) and Germany is much further ahead in terms of recycling and packaging. Foodwise, the selection in British supermarkets - particularly the fresh fruit/veggie section - has caught up with Germany, too, so, well, overall I guess it's a draw.

On the other hand, I don't think any country has taken celebrity gossip to such a fine art as Germany - if you want to keep up with the Royal Family (or at least with the Klatschmagazine's idea thereof), Germany is the place to go. It's a rather bizarre obsession...