Landing in Hamburg in three weeks

Hi all
After much toing, froing, umming, and ahing, the German Fraulein und ich have decided to up sticks after 9 years in Cornwall together and move to Hamburg (and before anyone says anything - yes, it's pretty. But you try and earn a living and have any kind of life here outside the two or three weeks a year you get to enjoy on the beach! And I'm almost 40 and still not quite ready to give up my musical dreams! )

Everything is mostly sorted, but we still have a couple of loose ends to sort out. any advice would be most gratefully appreciated:

1. Can we take our washing machine with us? (have heard not, but just want to confirm this). Well, obviously we can take it if we want, but can we use it in Germany?
2. We have a set of wireless telephones with a basestation. Can we use them in Germany? I'm happy to wire them up with new plugs, adapters etc
3. Apparently the apartment we're moving to has cable tv. Will the sound on our tv work with this, or should we flog it and buy a new one in Hamburg?
4. We have a little Freeview digital decoder - will this work in Germany?

I'm a professional graphic designer and interested in picking up freelance work with Brits who have their own businesses etc; give me a shout if you want a quote for anything from corporate identity, logos, print design or websites.

Love to hear from anyone in Hamburg already - Miki loved her time in England and is a true Anglophile - she, and I, will really miss the sound of English voices, laughter, and humour, so if anyone knows of a good expat group or meetup place, let me know!

See you on the other side!

www.leeboydmusic.com
www.leeboydgraphics.co.uk

3. TV's can be used fine if you do through the SCART socket. So you cannot use with a normal TV arial, but if using any system with SCART connector then no problemo.

Nice one, Johnny. One Q down, three to go - anyone else?

Yes but you will need to buy a Y-adapter from the manufacturer or a spares shop. This is because there is usually only a cold-water feed for washing-machines (in the basement or bathroom). So, you will pipe the cold water to both hot and cold UK water inlets.



AFAIK it is not possible to use UK phones in Germany. A new cordless phone from Germany is very cheap anyway.


Your UK TV will not work directly plugged into a German cable-TV socket because TVs intended for the UK market do not have a hyperband tuner - which is required to decode the incoming cable signal. But... other people advise they have bought a German Video recorder or Digital Cable receiver in and then hooked it up to their UK TV via SCART - This should work but have not done it. Maybe someone else can confirm they have done it. If you have a south or East facing balcony you could buy a sat dish and digibox to get UK tv.


Probably not. Try it. If not, a DVB-T receiver bought here will cost 30 or 40 Euro. Connected via SCART toyour UK TV - no problem

thanks so much for that - i wasn't sure if the uk washing machine needed to pipe hot water in - which of course wouldn't always be poss; so that will save a few sheckels!
sadly we can't have a dish where we're going, so hope to sort out some kind of Eng lang package via cable - which we do have. I heard something about 'BBC Prime' but don't have any more info yet...does anyone else know anything about special packages available via cable?
thanks for answering my Qs!