arunadasi

    Except even in a ten kilometre radius where I live there are at least ten border crossings, some little more than grass tracks. My daughter's cousin-in-law lives on a country road that IS a border road -- she lives in ROI, across the road, open fields that are NI. Apart from that, they couldn't close down completely. hundreds if not thousands of people live on one side of the border and work on the other, including my son in law. Most have double nationality and can't be kept out of either side.

Did I really write this two years ago?   Covid 19 has effectively closed the border. The border counties of Monaghan, Cavan, and Donegal are now at level 4 in Ireland and the rest of Ireland, with much lower infection rates as these counties, are still at Level 3. I expect there will be gardai on the prowl, stopping cars and asking what you're up to and where you're off to.

I loved those bits!   The accent I've heard is part of his appeal in the movie.

Has anyone posted Knives Out? I saw it in the cinema and it is fantastic -- a real whodunnit! Th einterview with Jamie Lee Curtis and Daniel Craig in the next video is also great. I think I'll watch it again.   It's now on Amazon Prime:  

Happy Birthday Fraufruit! Or am I late?

Is the air clear? No beasties around? Then OK, it's safe for me to post!   Good News!!!   Last year, the incomparable PandaMunich sent me an article (not sure if it was this exact one) that reported a new development: someone in the same situation had initiated a judicial decision on the payment of Versorgungsausgleich after the death of the ex-partner, and won.   https://www.tz.de/muenchen/stadt/muenchen-renten-wahnsinn-muenchner-musste-viel-geld-fuer-verstorbene-ex-frau-zahlen-11607444.html     She suggested that I should do the same. So I did. I contacted the lawyer mentioned in that article, Mr Werling of Pforzheim, and he fought the case for me.   Early September 2020, the good news: I won! It's now rechtskraeftig. That means I get several hundred Euros more of my widow's pension, as well as back payment up to 1st October last year. Quite a windfall!   So I'm posting this for your information: if you, or someone you know, is in the same situation, let them know that they can fight it and win. At the moment there are two lawyers in Germany who are representing pensioners in this situation, as outlined in this summary:   https://www.freiburg-nachrichten.de/2017/10/21/neue-urteile-stirbt-die-ex-frau-bekommt-man-als-rentner-teile-des-versorgungsausgleichs-zurueck/   I do think, though, that I'm the first widow of a pensioner in Germany to have won such a case. 

OK, go for it! I have Netflix and Amazon Prime. Things I've watched recently and liked:   Last night, a remake of The Whole Wide World with Renee Zellwanger and Vincent D'Onofrio (whom I'd never heard of before); a love story based on the real-life story of Robert Howard. Both lead actors were brilliant; I really enjoyed it, but kept falling asleep and may have missed parts of it. Amazon Prime   Self Made: True story of a black woman who became the first female millionaire in the USA through marketing hair products. Excellent, even if you aren't into hair products! Netflix   Our Kind of Traitor: loved it. Based on a book by John LeCarre. I've loved all his books and all the movies made of them, except The Little Drummer Girl, which was a series last year and I couldn't get into it. (There was an earlier movie of Little Drummer Girl which was filmed partly in Freiburg when I was studying there, and there was a call for people to apply to act in the crowd scenes. I came for the audition, but the place was so crowded I left again. I actually think they might have picked me, for diversity!) Anyway -- I really liked this film. LeCarre's work always has a very human element to it; the spy stories are not just blood and violence and war. They are moving.   This might not be to everyone's taste, but I really enjoyed Greenleaf, a US series about a black mega-church with all the ingredients of a soap opera a la Dallas, money, intrigue, scandal etc.    I started binge watching a few series but gave up.  The first season of YOU was very good but I gave up on the second series. I started Ozark but couldn't really get into it. OK that's it for now. What are you people watching?  

...without waiting an age, and what counts? I need it to get an Irish driving licence. they want a bank statement, utility statement etc. Which I cannot provide. To open a bank account here which I intend doing I also need proof of residence. Ialso need a PPSN number for which I also need proof of residence. So it's a vicious circle. I am renting a room in a b&b for some months while looking for a more permanent home. The people there have agreed to write me a letter confirming that I live there. But that apparemtly won't count. I bought a car and should be getting a new tax disc soon -- sent to my address. Will that count? Times like this I really appreciate the German system of Anmeldung!  

It's always the same item, this: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00UNHB7U2/ref=pe_386171_148771881_TE_dp_1   My daughter ordered it from my account a few months ago, and since  then they keep sending it again and again. Twice I sent it back and the payment was refunded. Last time they sent, it though, I decided to complain, but when I checked, I saw that the money had not gone off my account. I still sent it back (free of postage cost of course.) Today I got another notification that I had ordered it and it will arrive on Tuesday. Just checked my account: no money has gone off. They claim that I ordered it on 16th August, but I didn't and neither did my daughter. We don't need it. As usual it will arrive, unpaid.  I suppose I should be honest and let them know this is happening, but I am just so fed up of dealing with it. What if I just keep it. Would I be liable for anything? I could sell it on. But I'm wondering if this is some kind of scam or what. I don't get it. Anyone else had this problem?  

My landlady gave me three cyclamen plants to take care of when she went away for five days. I almost killed one of them by overwatering! I didn't realise that water was collecting at the bottom of the flowerpot; when it began to droop after three days I tried desperately to rescue it but it was too late. I tried to dry it out but the poor plant never revived. I felt so bad -- what would I say to landlady? I considered buying a cyclamen in the same colour (white) that looks more or less the same and just replace it but I'm glad you can't get cyclamen anywhere right now, as that felt so sneaky. In the end I bought her a lovely orchid. She was very understanding and said I needn't have done it and cyclamen is very hard to get just right with the water.   Anyway, I now have a droopy cyclamen whose earth is still wet. Maybe I can bring her back to life -- anybody here got a green thumb?  

In June I upped my work contract from 70% to 80%, four hours extra per week, and I got €293 more brutto pay. But only €106 netto. I'm not a numbers person but it seems to me that almost two thirds in deductions is a bit steep! Next month, in fact immediately, I'm going up to 100% which will be almost €900 more, but I'll only see about €300 of that? Grumble grumble grumble.   I should post this in the Vent thread I guess, but it would be nice if someone could explain this to me! It does not correspond with my pay before I raised my hours: then, my take-home salary was slightly over half my gross pay.

Not trying to be morbid here, just thinking ahead and being realistic. My German husband is a good deal older than I am (I am 56) and since I am in excellent health and he suffers from a chronic illness, I am likely to outlive him. I am his second wife. He receives a pension, from which he pays his first wife a good chunk as "Versorgungsausgleich". If he should die before me I will get a "Witwenrente"; does anyone know if I will have to continue paying the Versorgungsausgleich to the first wife out of that?