[Kleinanzeigen on eBay: An easier eBay system?]

Tried to buy a a laptop from a seller in a nearby town. Once the sale was agreed the laptop was suddenly re-located to the UK and would have to be couriered back to Germany at extra cost. Same laptop? Why the move to the UK? = scam!

[Dinnertime conversations with family]

My two teenagers are into all sorts of music and that is usually an avenue for developing political discussion. They both love a Norwegian group called "Kollektivet" (Sp???) This band doesn't appear to sell its songs through iTunes etc. so this led to a long discussion about independent music income streams, multinational monopolies, music as a consumer product, ownership of the means of production etc. etc. Might gets things going...

[Admission to the FIS in Erlangen]

I have children at the FIS. Some classes are full, some are not. That's the only likely reason an application will be turned down. The school teaches an international curriculum with International Primary Curriculum in the elementary school, IGCSE from the UK for G9-10 and the International Baccalaureate for G11-12. There is, naturally, lots of German language teaching but the school does not have an Abitur programme; graduates can use their IB Diploma for Abitur equivalency and then apply for German university (if they meet government-set course and grade requirements.) Many graduates go to the UK, Netherlands, USA, Canada, Australia etc.

[Wrongfully accused of causing an accident]

I can believe the OP. A couple of years ago I was driving through the next village to home and saw an older man on a bicycle coming the opposite direction 50m ahead. He was wobbly and very slow; I pulled into a parking space on the right and 10 seconds later the old man starts to wobble towards the middle of the road, wobbles more and then the bike falls over. I, and other locals, quickly went to see if he was OK. First thing he wants to do is to yell that I knocked him down, did not know the road rules, lawyers will be in contact, Polizei etc etc. The locals said they saw it all, not to worry and I left the scene. Luckily I heard nothing more. Can a crazy person accuse you of causing an accident when you were not involved? Yes.

[Sufficient income for married couple in Erlangen]

Housing and rentals are much cheaper to the east of Erlangen, direction Graffenberg, but the traffic can be slow on the way in and out of town. You could pay half the rent asked in Erlangen and balance that off with car and/or public transport costs.

[Schools that offer IB programmes]

Augsburg, Ulm and Erlangen are the other closest ones.

[Ages for visiting Holocaust sites]

We have taken the 10yo and 14yo to POW camps in Taiwan, the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, Documentation Centre in Nuremberg and a visit to Buchenwald. We briefed them in detail and discussed what sort of things they would see. Makes explaining recent events in Norway a little easier as they are not unaware of the myriad ways humans can treat each other. We also go to galleries, concerts etc. and show them that humans are also capable of the sublime and beautiful. I would feel irresponsible as a parent if they were to remain ignorant of the world they live in.

[Bad experience with Hermes Shipping]

Hermes are useless.

One large valuable parcel left on the windowsill in full view of all passing traffic; marked delivered. Luckily not stolen.

Another parcel left with a neighbour but the card informing me that is was with the neighbour had a completely different address, only got the parcel through accidental meeting with the neighbour.

Last straw: parcel from overseas opened, things stolen and then resealed - Hermes response: silence.