More Germany: the Turkish market

A few years ago, I spoke about supermarket shopping in Germany, and mentioned that as a vegetarian, I did a lot of shopping at the two Turkish markets in the tiny town of B. While I was there last week, I took a photo of the only one still existing in B:

Now is such a great time to shop in DE as all the local produce is available, such as tomatoes from DE (rather than Holland!).

Above is the fruit side, and here is the vegetable section:

It was very warm in my corner of Germany last week, it felt more like Spain, so the umbrellas were all up to protect the produce from the sun.

Back from a week in Germany

I had a chance to travel to Germany this week for work. It's been announced that Benevolent company J will be moving from the Tiny town of B, so I brought along my camera this week, to capture some images of where I spent so many years.

First though, the trip out of Stansted (STN). I had heard that Airberlin is pulling out of Stansted and expanding at Gatwick. They have already cut down the Dusseldorf route from 3 times a day to 2, and now the only direct cities from STN are DUS, Stuttgart and Muenster Osnabruck. Back in the day when I first arrived, AB occupied 4 or 5 of these counters with a customer service team on-site and automated check-in machines.

Now, they've moved around the corner where they only have 2 counters that are only staffed when their infrequent flights are running and no automated machines or customer service. Of course, I can always switch to German Wings to Cologne, but Company J has a corporate deal with Airberlin; as well I prefer them anyway so I hope they do not disappear completely from STN as it's my closest airport to my corner of Essex.

In case you're wondering where else you can go from STN, here's a photo I took while waiting for the AB counter to open:

Unfortunately, there are no flights to the US, although they've broken into the Asia with budget airline Air Asia. However, from late October, Air Asia as well pulls out from STN and relocates to Gatwick.

Opening the pickled peppers

A while back, in October, I was awash with peppers and decided to jar them up. As the peppers are starting to appear on my plants this year, I'm reminded to eat them to clear out the jars. So how did it go?

Certainly looks ok...no major loss of colour:

Looks ok here too, smells ok:

On taste though, a little too heavy on the vinegar. So they preserved really well, better than Old El Paso version here in the UK that retails for 1.24 GBP a jar, but I need to use them in cooking, so on pizzas, in tomato sauces, etc. where the vinegar will burn off, rather than raw and in a salad. In the past weeks I've been through 4 jars already.

So last year was a learning year, this year will be better. :-)

From the garden this week

With guests coming next weekend, I'm trying to get organized.
Being 4 stories up from the ground, I'd love to know where these fellows originally came from...

And the way they eat my chilli pepper plants, if I could find someone who would eat them, I'd happily hand them over....

The American flag across the street

I mentioned a few posts back, about the construction across the street. I had to zoom today when i spotted the American flag bandana being sported today:

I wonder if he could ever imagine that an American would be taking his photo in this corner of Essex. ;-)

From the rooftop garden - tomatoes

I'm rather pleased with my tomatoes this year, perhaps because it was so hot here and not so rainy, they've done well. Today's high: 28 C/82 F!

from my rooftop garden - peas

The view from my window

Across the street, they've taken a vacant building and they've started to gut it and built it up by one story. This was my view from my kitchen window today, on the zoom setting:

In the US, I've yet to see a Sikh construction worker, but here in the UK they are plentiful. So much so that the UK has published regulations, http://www.hse.gov.uk/foi/internalops/fod/oc/200-299/282_27.pdf regarding their exemption from wearing helmets on construction sites.

More from America - rules

While seeing a free 'summer concert in the park' Friday night event, I noticed the children enjoying the fountains in the hot and humid summer night. I later noticed the 'FOUNTAIN RULES':

It cautions against anyone with a communicable disease, or 4 wheeled recreational vehicles, or diaper changing.

A few interesting things to note:

-It's not a fountain that includes a pool, it's only shooting spurts of water from the concrete.

-It's a tiny park tucked inside an upscale shopping area. Any 4 wheeled recreational vehicles would not be welcome well before arriving here.

-Diaper changing in the water area defeats the idea of dryness.

I have not yet noticed any 'fountain signs' in Europe, so I have no comparison points to America.

Another reason to love Philadelphia airport

Free wifi!

You are located at:
Philadelphia International Airport
8500 Bartram Ave.Philadelphia, PA, 19153

They could use a few more outlets, however. Newark is much better about outlets, they're usually on the poles, with plenty available. With Philly you're usually camped out in random corners on the floor, or I see a few people tucked into them in the airport eateries.

So it's been a short visit back to the US for the 4th and a week of 90+ temps in Philly.

From the rooftop garden - strawberries!

Sorry for the delay, I've been back in the US for work, and then busy with work here.
While away, my strawberries were gearing up, so I came back just as the first ones were ready. Then, I had about 3 weeks straight of strawberries for breakfast, freshly picked off the balcony each day.

Here are some of the last ones (notice the green insect on the right one--organic!):

I have around one more week left of strawberries. I currently have three runners started, so the rest will soon follow suit.

I arrived in the UK in early 2009, so this is the third year for some of my plants. Strawberries build up in the first year, peak in the second and then start to wane in the third. So the runner plants will get planted in as starters for next year's crop.

The countdown continues...

This week is a small milestone. The UK, like Germany, allows for permanent residency after 5 years of residence. Different from Germany, however, the UK in addition allows for a path to dual citizenship after a few additional activities.

Even though I had Germany permanent residency, it did not count for anything in the UK, so the clock started over again for me in 2009.

5 years x 365 days = 1825 days

This week I dropped into triple digits, so below the 1000 day mark.

The next milestone will be the half-way point of 5 years, in August 2011.

Life in Germany: the Department of Order

A short article about Germany's Ordnungsbehörde, or Department of Order. If you're planning to move to Germany, it's worth a quick read:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/magazine/you-are-here-germanys-anti-chaos-crusaders.html?_r=1&ref=magazine

I personally never met them, but a few work colleagues in Cologne (both German and not), have mentioned experiences with them, mainly those crossing the street (empty or not) against the light, and for bicyclists going through red lights rather than following the rules of stopping with the cars.

An impressive UK border agent

If you read this blog regularly, you know that I don't have the highest of opinions on the folks controlling the UK borders, in particular, because I'm irritated with playing 20 questions with them when I have a legitimate work permit that is valid into 2012.

Although I'm as equally annoyed when they play 20 questions with you tourists and I'm usually in the queue behind you, although their questioning of how you are getting from London to Shakespeare's house, and the waiting while you get out the Rick Steve's book all marked up with post-its can be endearing (or would be if I wasn't so jet-lagged).

Yesterday, I went through the usual at Heathrow:
what kind of work do you do?
how long have you been doing that?
what is the company?
where is the company?
etc.

Then, a brand new one:
Are you planning to stay for residency and perhaps citizenship?

Why yes, that is the plan. And my tired heart soared, as no one usually thinks that one can have both, or maybe people expect that Americans go home, but no one ever asks that question. In particular, no one has ever asked me that at the border, so it made my dream a little more tangible, that I didn't have to present it or explain it, that someone can see the path, that it seems feasible.

As he stamped my passport he then explained:
In that case, you'll want to take care, they will want to review all of these entry stamps, and we must stamp in the page next to or behind your permit. It those pages start to become too full and the stamps not legible, you'll probably want to get a new passport to avoid any hassles later on with your application.

Not a concern as I need to get a new passport anyway late this year, but I was impressed that he proactively presented the tip.

Back in the UK

After 2.5 weeks (mainly work related), I am back in the UK. Our plane was 4 hours late to take off due to storms in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Jet lag gives me a wonderful opportunity to appreciate the time prior to sunrise here. In the UK our winter days are very short, but our summers are very long.

Sunrise today: 04.57
Sunset: 20.50

Slocombe's fan club

The garden is a flurry of activity these days and I'm selling plants via multiple channels. All the way in the back of the photo, in front of the frosted wall, is Slocombe the cat, on the chair. On the other side of the wall is my lovely and sweet Italian neighbor, A.

Essex has been having hot summer weather, so I've been leaving the front terrace door open. The back is a little more dangerous, as it's larger and there are some 'escape routes' so SC only goes on the back on the lead.

Today, as I was watering the plants, I noticed that something caught her eye and she went immediately into attack mode--bottom to the ground, and focused while she crept over to the frosted glass wall and then was chin to the ground in front of it. As she is an inside cat except for the balkon, her mighty huntress routine can be rather amusing....although that being said, she takes care of any fly or mosquito that gets trapped in the flat quite handily.

I figured out by being near it, that A's British boyfriend was on the other side of the wall on the balkon, reading a book. This was very exciting to SC, to sit next to the wall and watch him, like she's stalking a giant mouse.

He must have pointed her out to A, because then I heard, 'Awww...the kit-ty!', and SC realized she was the center of attention and immediately took off to back inside her flat. A and her 'loud Italian-ness' are a little bit scary to SC, although it is all meant with love...

Later today as I was coming home, I ran into A.

A: I saw your kit-ty!

H: Oh, sorry about that, I hope she did not bother you?

A: OH no! My boyfriend loves cats! He was happy to see her!

So sweet. Maybe I need to unblock the exits on the front balkon, so she can pop over for a visit at some point.

Schadenfreude

Definition here.

Let's use it in an example:

Heather experienced schadenfreunde when this glorious UK summer weather was cut short by an impromptu rain shower, as it forced her neighbors to take their stereo and their cigarettes inside, as our rooftop terraces are uncovered.

After three hours of listening to their trance music at a volume that could be heard inside her flat, with all doors and windows shut, and earplugs in addition, this unexpected rain was most delightful!

Granted they are students and it is a Saturday afternoon, so their behaviour, while chavish, is not out of line. As they are young people, they will bounce back from this misfortune and hopefully re-group in a bar down the street.

For the travel nerds amongst us - long journeys

Benevolent company J recently launched a new internal travel system here in the UK. I have IT colleagues who were involved in it; apparently this is a huge cost savings as it's very expensive for a 'person-issued' ticket as opposed to a self-administered booking. In addition, the application has all sorts of bells and whistles built in to enforce various policies. However, it seems to lack a bit on the 'common sense' side of things, but perhaps that it not programmable. ;-)
It is smart enough to tell me that 'you have chosen a fare that is more than 100 GBP than the next closest fare and within 3 hours, enter your mandatory comments in the box which will be reviewed by management'. I need to remember to stifle any sarcasm before I start typing as it starts to come out like, 'Will miss the meeting start time of 9 AM by several hours due to the 13 hour overnight connection in Los Angeles' and 'Will negate cost savings due to extra hotel night due to connecting flight leaving one day later.' Behold my options for the London to Chicago route (sorry, you need to click on the jpg to expand it.)

Remember that a London-Chicago direct flight will come in slightly under 9 hours...so it's fascinating that I can fly over Chicago and go all the way to California with Air New Zealand, and even better, with a 13 hour overnight layover at LAX. It's a similar story for Stockholm and Istanbul, except that those journeys are first going in the opposite direction of where I need to go. The third is magnificent, as I've never been to Asia, this could be my golden opportunity to fly Cathay, plus the added bonus of an overnight in a German airport, in addition to a second German airport in the same trip!

Apparently they used the same logic for domestic routes as well. I will wrap up my trip in Milwaukee, and then I will head home to Philly for a few days. There are a few direct options, USAir and Frontier come to mind, for this short 2 hour flight. It's much more interesting to instead take 10 hours however...
because to travel to Philly on Hungarian Malev Airlines via Canada would probably make for a good story.

UK politics and immigration

Even though the economy is supposedly picking up, immigration remains a hot topic as the UK continues to try and lock down the borders and implement hurdles for those of us entering legally. I've been achieving my old pc data as it is ready for retirement at 8 years old. Here was a photo from before, with yours truly in the foreground:
Local elections are upcoming on May 5, 2011. My corner of Essex is a hotly contested battleground as the numbers in the last election were very close. As well, we're a densely populated region of many flats, so one assumes a transient population. Therefore the parties are out in full force, to try and lock down a win. Every week, I get papers under the door, telling me who I should vote for, and why the other party has failed me. These folks are out prior to 9 AM on Sundays, during the week and at all other hours. Unfortunately, as a non-UK citizen, their papers are mainly a waste as I have no vote here.

UK Passport control at Eurostar Paris

Someone asked me about work in Europe and is it exciting to travel to so many countries. No, quite frankly I find it irritating, especially so now that I live in the UK. As mentioned previously, it's a hassle to travel back into the UK on a non-European passport. Last week, I needed to go to a business meeting in Paris. I left on Wed night and returned Thurs night. Upon leaving the UK, you go through French passport controls while still in the Eurostar terminal in St Pancras, in London. Sidenote: I love travelling on Eurostar to the continent rather that having to go via the airport, but it's only really viable from my corner of Essex when:

• going to a direct Eurostar destination of Brussels or Paris rather than an indirect one like Cologne, otherwise to fly is faster.


• when the company is paying for business travel as it's awfully expensive.

So coming back, one clears UK immigration on the French side at the Gare du Nord Eurostar terminal in Paris. After you get through the ticket checkers and bag x-xray, it's on to passport control. I had a young Asian border agent, whom interestingly, I had a hard time hearing. This is quite an accomplishment, as I have 'bat ears', I can hear a gnat sneezing in the next county. So it went something like this:

(Heather, handing across the passport, work permit side open and face up, along with the required entry card).

Border agent: Travelling to the UK?

Heather: Yes (Thinking: No, I just wandering in here and handed you my passport to get to the platform where trains only go to the UK as a mistake.)

BA: Do you work in the UK?

H: Yes. (Did you not just see my work permit page, the one that you scanned, or are we playing border agent games?)

BA: mhrp mmm trp?

H: Yes?

BA: Trrgh sm profession?

H: Yes.

BA: (More loudly this time) What is your profession?

H: Computer work. (like it says on the border card that I handed to you.)

BA: What is your work permit?

H: I'm sorry?

BA: What type of work permit do you have?

H: (Now sitting on the fence and contemplating a response that is either condescending at her obvious border games, or more of a 'German irritation' flavour, ultimately I go with the latter. Insert German scowl here.) Tier 1. It's the page where I gave you my passport and where you scanned it.

BA: Are you employed?

H: Yes. (Not that I really need to answer that. My permit does not require me to remain 100% employed, only that I meet the criteria prior to renewal.)

BA: And where do you work?

H: Benevolent company J.

Finally she stamps the passport and through I come. I continue to find the UK immigration experience to be ridiculous. It's interesting that there is such a strong local backlash against immigrants 'taking the jobs of UK workers' and specifically at illegals, but I have to go through the dog and pony show every time I want to come into the UK on my legal work permit. Specifically, I find some of these agents to be over the top, that they appear to be pinning their frustrations onto the only targets they can find, rather than the ones engaged in illegal activity.

1039 days until I can apply for UK citizenship to have a UK passport and get off this teacup ride. Or two years and 10 months, but who's counting?

May 23 then will be the day that I drop below the 1k mark, to 999 days. I may throw a small party to celebrate the milestone. ;-)