arunadasi

  Not likely -- imo bacon is  gross.

I suppose it depends on which Beamter you get. My son was able to change his immediately. But it's a longish story so I won't go into it,  about Umlauts and transcribing them into English.   ETA: in my case it's the English fools at the bank etc who won't bother to understand and accept the correct transcription of an Umlaut and telling me I've spelled my own name wrong.    

  I've got one of these. I also have a Brother laser printer which I've had for at least ten years and still works perfectly and economically. |Every so often I need to buy a new cartridge but I don't print all that much anyway. I use the instant ink thing but it's all been free up to now sine I still use the Brother. I use the Envy only for scanning - I do need to scan  a lot of items and it's easier than taking photos with my phone. I've also scanned all my photos so I can have them in digital. Occasionally I need to copy something and also use the Envy for that. I like that I can scan/print remotely. The Brother doesn't do that. So, best of both worlds.  

Yes, I am absolutely insane, and I love living in the country, as remotely as possible! The last thing I think about when looking for a place to stay is A&E. At the moment I'm still in Monaghan town, in rental accommodation. I can't afford my own place yet, and I've grown a little more fussy. Probably need at least €250k when I do buy. I think the link was in Scotstown, not Scotshouse? I lived in Scotstown for the first year in Ireland. I couldn't find my own place right away but I met a couple who run a B&B near Scotstown and just 8 k from my daughter on the other side of the border. Now THAT was remote! But they were a lovely couple and I got my first taste of Irish hospitality. I've only grown to love the Irish more since then. I stayed in a lovely big room in that B&B for a monthly rent of €375 so I was able to take my time while choosing a place to live. Perfect.   I might be ageing but I'm very fit, After hip surgery I'm quite mobile again and expect to be for a while. I want to live near my daughter and grandchildren (two kids now). That's my first priority. If I need surgery again I'll make use of the Cross-border Directive, enabling me to have it anywhere in the EU (sadly, no longer in the UK.) All has gone well, considering. No hard border, and I've put down roots here. I don't even mind the weather any more. But I'm flying to the UK next week so my concern was getting in with as much ease as possible, so flying from Belfast to avoid hassles. Returning to Dublin. If I have to quarantine afterwards so be it. I can do that.

  My step-brother was born in Scotland in 1964 and was able to get UK citizenship without a hitch later on, when he moved back as a teenager after living in Guyana, and now lives there; his parents were/are both Guyanese and never lived in the UK, they were on Long Leave at the time. I don't know if things have changed since then. Just my 2c for what they are worth.  

    Yes, I did, but not to my alma mater, which was in Harrogate. I sent them both to St Bede's in Eastbourne (now Bede's). My son had ADD problems before he went, my daughter was dyslexic. Both were helped enormously so that they graduated problem free. Funny, I haven't checked into TT for months and then I come as if summoned! (Edited to add: read the whole thread now. Good luck OP.)   I sent my son to boarding school when he was ten. I can't remember much about the paperwork but we definitely still got Kindergeld. By the time my daughter was ready to go, also aged ten, I went with her so she was a day student. We lived just around the corner and came back to Germany in the holidays. She wasn't really the boarding type. Both have good memories of UK schools and say it was much, much better.  

  Also, my accountant never sent me a bill for doing last year's tax calculation (2018). I sent her the docs for 2019 recently and reminded her about the overdue invoice. She said she'll do both together now. I'm not used to this kind of attitude.

  I honestly think  Barry wouldn't follow up, and his secretary -- whom I paid it to -- forgot the last time. Good thing I'm honest, right?

Frankly, not much has changed in this supposedly stricter lockdown. People wear masks in the shops and supermarkets, but that's about it. Lots of non-essential shops are still open, and the streets are not dead as they were in the first lockdown.  My daughter's about to deliver and after that I'll move in with her for child care. There are no border controls, no sign of any weirdness. She is still on the other side and will be there for the next two years. There are a few signs in Northern Ireland near the border saying No Hard Brexit and such, but people seem to be just waiting and seeing. I'm not aware of any panic; but then, I hardly see anyone except close family and supermarket cashiers. 

Bumping this thread because I have a result! First of all, I decided to let it go to court. The first court date I got was in April, and it was postponed twice due to Covid. So the date was this morning, 10.30. I'd decided to hire a lawyer. I know a lovely lawyer just five minutes walk from my home, whom I'd met earlier this year in another matter. I went to him just after lockdown opened so I was one of his first clients after lockdown and it was all a bit disorganised -- he really is lovely, which is not a work I've ever used on a German lawyer!!! He practically chatted to me for an hour; looked up Guyana on the computer screen, asked me about it, told me about his experiences in French Africa, gave me advice about where to live in the area, told me a bit about the Troubles, all in this cosy Irish accent. But lots of folk here are like this. Loads of time for chats. I'd asked him about the speeding charge back then and he said he didn't represent that kind of case. That the judge usually gives lenient sentences to murder cases and draconian sentences to minor traffic stuff, but he'd help. He is actually a prosecutor, but for murder stuff. He did a power of attorney for me and said it wasn't worth the paper it was written on because anybody could buy a stamp and attach a few ribbons to it. Anyway.  They did iin fact refer me to a different lawyer who gave me a spot of advice, but when it actually came to court Barry (that's his name) did represent me.   What a morning! They made us stand outside in the cold for half an hour before a locked door, only allowing lawyers and staff and Garda in, and then I sat outside the courtroom for a further hour. Barry kept rushing to and fro, told me when I go to the witness stand I should just say I'd moved home, that was all; that I never got the first speeding offence notice. Lots of people, mostly Garda, in face-masks milling about; it all seemed rather chaotic.   A bit disappointing as I had prepared a whole case with lots of evidence and arguments. I was finally called in. It was over in 2 seconds. I had to go to the witness box, sanitise my hands, pick up the Bible and swear on it to tell the truth. They established that I wasn't living at the old address the notice was sent to. A second later they were waving me to go away. They weren't interested in the fact that I wasn't the driver. Just that I'd moved home before the offence and didn't get the letter. I went outside and Barry came out and said I was being sent to prison for 14 years but he'd visit me there. And then he laughed and said the case was dismissed and I should drop the €50 into his office. Which I did. I didn't get a receipt; I didn't last time, either. So I basically saved myself €110. Nice! Sorry to ramble on a bit instead of just saying that last bit. I just find the way things are done over here so interesting! The other lawyer never charged me, btw.  

As this isn't in Germany I'm posting it here. Last September, my son got a speeding ticket driving my car. But I never received it, because the car was still registered to  my old address, which was a b&b in the country. I guess they never forwarded it. So I had no idea.   Anyway. So the whole thing escalated and I got a summons two weeks ago, to appear at court. I could avoid this by paying a double fine of €160 at the post office. Paying the fine would get me 3 points; a conviction would get me 5 points. But I was not the driver so I put my son's details on the payment slip -- he was of course ok to pay the fine and take the points. But it was not accepted because  it needs to be in my name, as it's my car. So I wrote them a letter explaining.   Yesterday they called me and very nicely explained that the only choices I have  now is pay the fine and accept the 3 points on my own licence, or go to court, explain to the judge, and  hope he lets me off. because a ) I wasn't the driver and b ) I never got the first letter. If the judge convicts me I'd get the five points on my own licence -- the first points I've ever had in my life! and my insurance will go up.  Both daughter and son think I should risk it. Explain to judge that I am 68 and never had any points and if I'd got the letter it would have been paid immediately (of course by my son). What do you think? My tendency is to take the easy way out and just accept the 3 points.

OK I mean Frankfurt and Munich specifically. Had an unpleasant adventure the other day. We -- myself, daughter, and her fiancé -- were just about to leave my home for Frankfurt airport when she discovered she had forgotten her passport -- in Freising! Meanwhile the car was waiting to take us to the station (taxi's waiting, he's blowing his horn etc) to get to Frankfurt. We got to the train I time but still not knowing what to do.  She had neither passport nor ID. Just drivers license. Someone said that Easyjet accepted license for international travel but a call to Aer Lingus established that they didn't so we sent her to Freising from Mannheim, to join us the next day in Dublin.   So, Tony and I travelled on taking her suitcase. That meant that we had three pieces of hold luggage and 2 hand luggage. Which  meant that we'd need a trolley at Frankfurt Fernbahnhof. When we arrived Tony said he'd just go and "grab" a trolley. He was gone about 15 minutes with me guarding the luggage. The reason being you cannot just grab a trolley. You have to pay to get a trolley. 1 Euro. but not with a coin. No you need a credit card, and only a German card would do. T did not have a German card. Luckily some Afican guys turned up who had a German card and he got the trolley. Then a long trek to Terminal 2. Nowhere was it stated that we'd have to take the shuttle train. We suddenly found ourselves at the statio right at the top of the airport. Trolleys not allowed on the train, so all luggage unpacked and loaded in the train. Trolley gone. The airport worker who grabbed the trolley began speaking to Tony telling him not to get off at the Terminal 2 but stay on the train till the next stop, then we'd get a free trolley. He spoke so quickly it was unundestandable why, so I told him  T does not speak German and please repeat. He repeated, but I still didnt get it so we did get off at Terminal 2 as I did not understand. There were no free trolleys so I ran off to grab a paid one, another 1 Euro of course. The machine was impossible. It did not accept my Volksbank card and also not my Visa card. It just said follow instructions on the screen, but there were none.   I fiddled with the machine for about ten minutes, wondering where T was. I never got a trolley. eventually T found me -- he had free trolley. apparently the free trolleys are simply the paid trolleys people leave behind when they find they can't board the train with trolleys. Long story short, to change terminals you need to go through the unresponsive trolley system twice, paying 2 Euros.   Now why in God's holy name would it occur to anyone to create a trolley system where you cannot use 1Euro coins??? ONLy credit cards, and only German credit cards, and even then you can't figure out how to make them work??? (I use machines and ccards all the time but never encountered such an unresponsive machine.) At an AIRPORT.   Our odyssey wasn't over. We checked in ( nice agent who accepted daughter's hold luggage as ours) and continued to the Gate. Which was closed. about 50 people standing or sitting on the floor in the corridor outside the gate. I refused to stand or sit. I sat down on one of the security staff counters. A staff member told me to get up. I said no. I said I need a chair and I am not going to stand or sit as both are painful to me. Anyway that seemed to do the trick as he spoke to someone who opened the gate and we (everyone) were able to enter and sit down.   Meanwhile daughter arrived home in Freising, picked up her passport and left for Munich airport next morning. Which is the most badly signposted airport ever, as I found out when I flew  to Sri Lanka from there earlier in the year, and as my daughter complained after queueing for 15 minutes only to be told to go somewhere else at the last minute.   I know these are 1st world problems but don't anyone tell me how efficient everything in Germany is! Traveling is hassle enough without things that should be easy (like machines that accept coins or proper signs) being made difficult. Should have posted in the Vent I suppose. Feel free to vent about other airports.   On the way home we stopped off in Drogheda and went to the church where Oliver somebody's head has been preserved since the 17th century. How weird.   Very cold here. Rents are fairly high but buying a house would be cheap. You can get a nice 2- bed for 50 grand. Might even do that.