optimista

Arbeitsamt. Do you get wage slips?

Why spend tax payers' money this way? Frankly, let 'em rot. I have no sympathy.

Me and my kid certainly had Münchenitis. For several years till we moved. A combination of air pollution, allergies and horrific recurring respiratory infections resistant to antibiotics. A decade ago there were some really nasty bugs around. They probably still do the rounds. We were sick from September to March every year.  Cleared up miraculously once we left the country.

He doesn't need citizenship. But by the time you have farted about meeting all the requirements for the paperwork for a residence permit you may as well apply for citizenship. Do you have a residence permit fruity?

I am in France and also figured it would be just as easy to apply for citizenship than fart about (every year initially) with obtaining a residence permit. That cunning plan is currently on hold owing to bureaucratic hoop-jumping being beyond my wherewithal and patience. I can see that some countries are going to make it so bloody difficult to get the paperwork - despite us having the rights - some of us are going to be unable to prove our status on paper. Which is worth a fine at the very least in my neck of the woods. Sigh.

Dunno. But maybe you can find a humane dentist - Eastern block - probably less teutonically rigid? - nearer to home. (Guessing fruity is at my Romanian ex-dentist's colleagues' place.) Also, a long shot but for information,  if you can find an acupuncturist, having a needle at the edge of the nail-bed in the forefinger on the side you are having treatment diminishes some (though not all) pain. My Hungarian dentist did this herself and I was flabbergasted.

When the guy hammers on your wall when you are on video-call you can assume he hears your noise. Why do you then ask other neighbours if they hear you instead of the man hammering on your wall? Go and speak to the guy. Why does he also not speak to you directly? Reading between the lines, he seems already to be insinuating that comings-and-goings when you have no job mean you work from home. Maybe he thinks you are entertaining clients? So he wants you to leave...

  ... and if they cannot correctly interpret what they see on their TV-sized screens - which is what happened to me on one occasion although I had a massive, black caries under a filling after weeks of being prescribed a herbal gel to apply to the gum - that is useless. Just sayin'.

  Indeed. I didn't want to put it that strongly, but as a breed, they suck. Dentists who later saw what happened in my mouth expressed utter disbelief on several occasions.

Please be very careful in choosing your dentist. I had only very unfortunate experiences in Germany with German-trained dentists (who came recommended by colleagues. Not sure the average German knows what a good dentist is or should be.) Do not, for example, let them whip out your fillings "because they are amalgam", have  your wisdom teeth out just because, fix wot is not broke or give you crowns where a filling or inlay would do the job. Forewarned is forearmed.   In stark contrast to the German-trained quacks I had the misfortune of entrusting my dental health to, I had excellent treatment with a Hungarian and a Romanian dentist over many years. I would seriously think about finding a non-German-trained dentist, as a bad or criminal one can be the cause of much misery.

Looking back to my childhood I now know what happened to a newly arrived Ethiopian classmate, aged 7. She spoke no English but caught on quickly and was a lovely, bubbly, happy, bright kid. She entertained us in the playground with her music - a kind of ululating song. Then she was absent a few days. Upon return, the teacher was asked to accompany her to the toilet. The teacher was distressed, I remember that. She stopped playing with us. Told us she was in pain "down there". The kid was never the same again, totally changed and became a bad-ass. Absolutely tragic, and we had no idea. That was 45 odd years ago. She was one of about 12 kids and presumably all the other girls went the same way. Barbaric.

Really? Prostate massage could help. Sorry couldn't resist.

Knickers. The design thereof. The gusset in particular. Not long enough towards the front to be useful. The Chinese are saving on material. They are even selling them without double gussets these days - without mention on the packet of something that is taken for granted and essential in knickers. Designed by men no doubt. The ladies will know what I mean.

Hmm... they can be quite deaf (and awkward) and have their TV, radio and hi-fi turned up too... careful...

With her history? And all those conditions setting you up for getting it wrong? You have the patience of a saint. Or maybe just foresight. May karma be with you. And her.