Is It Me? Or Is It Them?

I need a rant!
Last week I couldn't get a space in the parking bay near my house and seeing one across the road I went there. I saw no signs or markings to prevent me parking there. On return to my car I found a note under the wipers saying"this park place is for No.s 13 &14 blah blah..please respect this.
OK I thought, and didn't park there again.

This morning I came out to my usual park place where I had parked on the bay on the right hand side of the road but I was facing the opposite way to the other cars...OH MY GOD!! another note! Hier parkt man rechts it said!
Warum?? what difference does it make?? What is wrong with these people? have they nothing better to do? is it the Scottish flag on the back of my car that makes them think they can tell me where and how I can park my car? or is there some law I don't know about that says you MUST park in the direction of the traffic?

GRRRR!! These F***ing anal people!!!

Thanks for listening...I feel better now!

Any time Sandra , always pleased to help ...

I hope your day gets better now

Hi Muffin

I think there is a rule about parking in direction of the traffic but I wouldn't swear to it. Not sure what to say it is probably somebody who has nothing better to do with their time.

As for parking in the bays opposite your house I would try and find out if they are private parking for those houses but surely if there is no sign then they can't be.

Maybe it has something to do with the Scottish flag - this is why I don't have one (a Welsch one that is of course).

I would just ignore them and park where and how you want but maybe that is just me!

What is the German obsession with writing notes why can't they just ring on your door and say sorry this is a private parking area?

Hey

poor Sandra, I hope this venting helped a bit

But unfortunately there is actually a rule that you have to park in the direction of the traffic. In one way streets you can park on the left side aswell though

Guess because you drive on the left (wrong ) side in Scotland (I guess?? ) is maybe the reason that people said, hier parkt man RECHTS

that's Germans for yer! By the way, your car is,nt a dark coloured Land Rover with a scoatisch flag on the ariel is it? I drove past one last night parked on the pavement in Oberrad/Offenbach.

I also parked "the wrong way round" in America a couple of years ago and some local resident with nothing better to do with their time stuck a note under the wind screen wiper.

I honestly don`t know though if it is officially an offence or not whether it be in Germany, England or America.

well I guess if you do your driver's license writing test here in Germany the right answer to the question is "in driving direction". So I guess it is a rule (could google for it to find out 100%)

But if I was reversing up the road (for whatever reason), parking the other way round would be my driving direction.

no comment

No I have a dark blue rugrat carrier and I live in Celle, north of Hannover.

In the first house I had here my driveway and the neighbours driveway were next to each other, in between both our houses. One day the neighbours knocked and asked me to move my car saying someting about the wheel, I tought at first maybe one of the wheels was slightly in their drive. But when I went out it wasn't anywhere near their drive it was because my wheel was turned and pointing towards their drive and they didn't like it!!!

Also now I live in a flat and to get to it I drive down a play street. In the first week I got stopped by one neighbour about 4 times for going to fast, to go any slower I would have had to get out and push. One day I sat outside and watched the other cars and every single one was going faster than me and this partiulcar neighbour would wave and smile to them as they went by not saying a word about the speed. She did it to be once more after that and a few words were said and she hasn't done it again.

Yes, I guess some folk have nothing better to do. My German teacher last night said" It will be some old f*ck with no life" Quote!! and she is local!

I've calmed down now, thanks for listening everyone!! My husband has been away for 2 weeks in the States and I guess I'm a little tense..need him to get home and "calm me down"!! or alternatively...George!! (Clooney) ...doing anything this weekend?

A couple of months ago, we had a short circuit so none of the plugs would work. It was a 8pm on a Sunday evening so there was no chance of getting the electrician in. We have a baby and needed to boil some water to make some milk for her. No problem I thought ... I've got an extension cable I'll go the flat below and ask if I and plug it in down there and run the cable from one balcony to the other. The answer was a categorical "No" because she doesn't like to sleep with window open.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHH

Not that clear what I wrote, was it...

It was the woman downstairs who said no. It was the first time we'd met (just moved in). You only get one chance to make a first impression. We now ignore her and let our daughter make lots of noise on the floor. She particularly likes to bounce my golfballs up and down the hall...

When we first moved here, our neighbour knocked on our door a few hours after we'd had our furniture delivered to tell us that there were weeds in our front garden and it looked unsightly!!! When we had friends over they parked in the spot outside her house and she called the Burgermeister who happens to live in our street so he could explain "the way things are" to us ignorant foreigners!!
We are moving to Stuttgart next month hopefully it will be a little more civilized

At our previous flat, after we moved in we had quite a bit of rubbish. The bins were full so stood the folded cardboard boxes next to paper bin. The witch downstairs, carried them back upstairs and left them outside our door when we were out.

This is the same bitch who refuses to use proper rubbish bags, insisting on using carrier bags instead which let the contents fall out. The bin last summer was a mass of maggots. Lovely.

how does the theme tune to that old Aussie soap go ...

"neighbours ... everybody needs good neighbours"

Mine send me anonymous letters complaining about noise I make only it is the people upstairs as I have to put up with the racquet as well

Muffin ,

I know you'll forgive me for being a bit cheeky

are they playing tennis or squash with their racquets ?

regards // Ian

oh did I mean racket???

Sorry I am blonde

They could well be playing tennis - who knows???

Sorry Sandra,
In Rome this weekend, apart from that you are a married woman whose husband is away and due to return soon, I'm getting to old to be jumping out of bedroom windows clutching as many clothes as I can find

Have you ever noticed how surprised people look here if you reverse into a tight parking space on your first attempt. We live in a terraced house and I always try to park outside our house in the middle of three marked spaces. Its quite a narrow street with spaces marked on either side to slow the traffic down but often as not there's someone driving less than 2 metres behind me impatient to get to ALDI which is just around the corner when I stop just beyond "my" space and put the car into reverse. Sometimes the penny drops and they back up a bit to let me park with a look of disbelief when I get the car into the space, others refuse to move back until I have got out of the car and explained that I am planning to park here because I live in this house and I am not on my way to ALDI. I have on occasions been told that I should drive into a parking space forwards or not at all, but the space really is too small and I have always reverse parked. About a year and a half ago I got a bigger car and the neighbours all watched to see if I could still get into the space. I think your teacher is right Sandra, obsession with other peoples parking is a rather dull hobby and leaving notes does seem to be a tradition here, our neighbour opposite once left a note stuck into a dog turd outside her house, intending to embarrass the dogs owner perhaps but I would have preferred it if she had just swept the poo off the pavement.

I think there is a law in the UK about parking the right way round after dark (i.e. so your reflectors are lit up by cars coming down the same side of the road). I have no clue what the German rules are.

Anyway - the thing about getting notes on your car is you must always remember to save them... You can then put the note on someone else's car (regardless of their parking) :-)

I am lucky where I live though - my landlord lives downstairs but has no problem when I use the washing machine on Sundays, whilst listening to music.

This issue of people driving right up your bumper when you are trying to park - I get it all the time in car parks. My strategy now is to put the indicator on and wait for them to move (however long it takes).

JG

I quite often need a lot of space to get around a corner, so the need to swing out and use some of the “other lane� becomes necessary, what quite often happens is that a pig ignorant car/van driver will insist on taking up the space I need by driving into my path and sitting there with the excuse of… “It’s my lane, YOU move�. They soon change their mind when I switch the engine off and put my feet up on the dashboard with a nice thick book to read.

all parking spaces that are not sealed off you can park on, even if there is a sign (ie. numberplate on the wall).
signs don't mean a thing it is just something that is also typical german.
this info comes from a policeman. which means you can park opposite your flat if you want

Sadly back in the UK again (Thanks for the PM Slack). Arrived home in Lincoln last Monday evening absolutely shattered after a 12 hour drive from Berlin and fell asleep on the sofa.

Dragged my bum to bed when I woke up at about 3AM and woke up properly at gone 10AM Tuesday morning.

I live in the historic bit of Lincoln all cobbled streets and you aren't supposed to park there, but the traffic wardens know us residents and overlook us.

I have a neighbour though who sticks notes on any car that is there for more than 5 minutes (unloading shopping, loading ambulances - He doesn't care. )

Anyway, I get up on Tuesday morning and think "oh shit! I left the car outside".

Expecting a ticket (and rightly so - All night is taking the Mick.), in fact I found a note under one wiper from the traffic warden saying "One of the neighbours said you got back from Germany last night - You must be sleeping but we'll be back at Midday!".

Under the other wiper was another note from my cretinous neighbour sealed in a freezer bag and stuck to the windscreen with tape saying "It is Illegal to Park Here".

We've all had our fill of this idiot so I stuck the note to his freshly painted front door with some extra strong tape.

An hour later the note was gone from his door along with a 2 inch strip of paint.

Justice I think.

Incidentally my previous rants about driving in the UK? - Fresh off the Chunnel I can confirm that UK drivers are indeed appalling and it wasn't a figment of my imagination.
I drove nearly 2000 miles in 4 days; The bit from Lincoln to Folkestone was delayed by idiots driving up the middle or outside lane when not overtaking anything, slamming their brakes on when they thought I was too close (I wasn't - But regardless, will the penny ever drop that if you think someone is to close up behind, slamming your brakes on will make them even closer?!!?!).

Apart from the 2 hour delay thanks to a broken rail at the tunnel the trip accross Europe was great. No hassles, perfect lane discipline...Until, that is, the last German leg of my trip on the way back to Calais.

I was heading down the autobahn from Oberhausen to Kamp Lintfort to join the A57 and then get the road up to the Dutch Border at Venlo.

There I was pootling along at about 135mph when I come accross a 7 seater with Warendorf plates in the outside lane, nothing in the inside lanes at all. So he is about half a mile ahead, I adjust my speed to about 110mph closing in a bit more slowly, give him a quick flash and then left hand indicator on -

Straightaway he slams on his brakes so hard the wheels lock up with lots of smoke and he slows down to 50mph...in the outside lane of an autobahn yanking the wheel left and right dragging him in and out, in and out of the middle and outside lanes -

It's only then I make out that famous English hand gesture (which I assume is to indicate that I should go around this car on the inside as its driver is too busy masturbating to change lanes in accordance with the highway code and the law. ).

I also notice for the first time the union jack sticker on the back windscreen.

Incredible isn't it? 1500 relaxed but very swift miles accross Europe with sensible drivers and the only person who hijacks me is a Brit!!!

Drving in Germany the only hassle I got was of the welcomed variety namely people putting their windows down at almost every set of lights and tankstelle asking me endless questions about the car. I even had boy racers in Polos with fatboy tyres and wheels waving at me! In the UK they just cut you up, shout abuse, give you obscene hand gestures and do things that not only risk my life but suicidally risk their own!

I think I'm gonna by myself a 10 year old Bedford Rascal with rust and a towbar and be done with it.

A free Chunnel ticket turned up in the post the other morning to compensate me for my 2 hour delay on the outbound (I was very impressed - I didn't even have to ask!) so I shall be back in civilisation sooner that even I had hoped!

End of Rant!

Double sided carpet tape is the worst

I heard you get mentioned on BFBS... scrounging coffee on the drive time show somethings dont change

Did I get mentioned??? Poor old Brian Nero must still be dillusional after all that Herforder Pils on Friday night - Pity I was listening to NDR2 on my trip home and missed it then!!!

...Actually, in truth I'm a bit upset that I missed it - What was said Slack???

You must have been on site when it was said, Brian just mentioned you were there to pinch the coffee.

Ah...The magic of radio!

@That Bloke ... you should post a piccy ... then we can see if you are one of those guys with the perfect face for radio

just check out the BFBS homepage and you can see him

which one is he ... piccy direct from BFBS home page

I guess the one with the yellow helmet on ...

i thought the little one in the middle of that piccy

Actually this is me - Just an old radio dog...

helllllloooooooooooooo Handsome ...

here doggy doggy, want a bone

I'm not that kind of dog...Still got less hair than Kal Sutherland.

thats true

that does look like a female dog and me being a bbulldog, well the rest is all about birds and bees :$

I think we need a lead (leash) for Bully ...

Cheeky git...According to my hair dresser I "look like I've just stepped out of a salon"...Because I'm worth it.

yeah into the bloody wind, not like in the advert where the fur stays in shape

Bully , are you allowed to say "bloody" here ???

Try and bloody stop us Essex boys

'kin 'ell

What ya been celebrating?