Aussiedog

  Will check this out! Looks like a friend's restaurant in Melbourne. (Turkish guy who came with nothing - possibly even as a refugee - to Australia and made his fortune in the restaurant game.)  

Great stuff everybody! Plenty of food for thought here ;-)   Looks like just doing my due diligence will keep my busy for a while!   Oh, @Sir Percy B, no worries, as they say, "Have U-Bahn, Will Travel".

I'm coming to Berlin soon to visit my BIL, generally hang out, and, more importantly, go to the kind of restaurants you just don't find down this way.   So, any suggestions? I like everything, as long as it's good. If it's great value, even better.   A few possible categories: Best pizza joint? (I mean pizza like you get in Italy.) Best Asian? Best new kid on the block? Best anything else? etc.

You definitely should try to negotiate some kind of quid pro quo. We moved into a flat once and did the floors (Laminat) in exchange for a month's free rent - something like that. Another time the landlord re-did the bathroom and we agreed to a rent increase. Don't just fork out that kind of money without getting your back scratched too...IMHO.

My brilliant analysis of the situation:   not an easy landlord, not an easy tenant.   My advice to you:   (in any order you like),   -move out when the time comes and start again -inform yourself of the rights and responsibilities of tenants and landlords in Germany (may involve reading your contract) (      ).      

Or this one...only a surfer knows the feeling!         Absolute classic!!

  I must say that I can sympathise we the OP. Even the noise of people just moving around on the level above me can drive me nuts. I'm certainly more sensitive to that kiind of noise than most it seems.  We lived in an apartment above a shop when we first moved back here (and didn't have anyone above us) , so no problem there. Not easy to find I know, but the suggestion is a good one. Now in our own free-standing house, and if the kids are making a racket at least I can go and tell them to keep it down! Sometimes they even do as they're asked/told.

  This is TT - whatever you do, DO NOT show any signs of weakness! NEVER take anything personally (unless somebody calls you a C___, of course). This is all part of the toughening up process! WE see a head - whaddya gunna do???... we kick it! Although my response was more like a little finger flick to the earlobe IMO. YOU'RE DOING GREAT! STAY POSITIVE... BUT if you do happen to stick your head out of the trench like that again, then WE CAN'T BE RESPONSIBLE FOR...   Fair enough question though...sort of.

  "...so I went to the CEO and said, "SHOW ME THE CHICKEN BURGER,  BITCH or I'm walking out the door"...and that's how I ended up working as a delivery driver...

      Here we go:   British Dictionary definitions for pommie pommy noun plural -mies (sometimes capital) slang a mildly offensive word used by Australians and New Zealanders for an English person Sometimes shortened to: pom Word Origin for pommy C20: of uncertain origin. Among a number of explanations are: (1) based on a blend of immigrant and pomegranate (alluding to the red cheeks of English immigrants); (2) from the abbreviation POME, Prisoner of Mother England (referring to convicts)   I rarely use the word but when I do it's more as a term of endearment ;-)        

Guess the country:   1. Did you have a pet kangaroo when you were a kid? 2. You're all descended from convicts, aren't you? 3. Why is the Queen of England your head of state?  4. Do you drive on the left or the right? 5. Why did you kill most of the Aborigines? 6. Have you ever seen a shark/crocodile/xxxx snake? 7. Is it true koalas are drunk/high most of the time? 8. Why did you move here? 9. Why do you call the English, "Pommie bastards"? ...   Possible answers:   Yes. No. Fuck knows. Piss off dickhead. Good question - now piss off dickhead.

  On the Autobahn, unfortunately, for the rest of us.  

Fabulous Dr. but has a tendency to want to perform this procedure when things are a little slow for his liking.      

I'd go for Pforzheim if I were you. If you can convince yourself that it's more or less as safe a place to live as Ka, then why put yourself through the commute if you don't have to? I must admit I'm a bit biased - I don't like Karlsruhe much. It's flat for one! There are some nice neighbourhoods in the hills on the outskirts of Pf. - I'd live somewhere there if I moved there. Downtowm Pf. has become less grungy in the last 5-10 years and probably has as much to offer in terms of cafes, restaurants, museums etc. as Ka. Downtown Ka. is depressing I find. You're probably right about not fitting in easily in a small town/village. I live in one about 40 mins from Ka. and it's all still extremely strange to me! More chance of finding some sense of belonging in a city I think - strange as it may sound!

I'm so fucking sick of living in this fucking country today. So many miserable, fuckwitted, mean-spirited, mean-spirited, terribly, terribly, mean-spirited people... Get me the fuck out of here. If only it were that easy. Gutless, selfish, narcissistic, dead but still alive, MEAN-SPIRITED arseholes...I wish they'd all fuck off and die.