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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2020 19:26:56 GMT
It's on German plates. Lack of inertia was taking hold, I'd run my previous car on Brit plates taking it back to the UK every twelve months for an MOT and having insurance which only required me to be in the UK once every twelve months.
That was tightened down on and to be honest it was getting a bit of an inconvenience doing the annual run so I exported it, had the HU test done here and registered it in Germany. Now the UK is out of the EU importing a Brit car will become increasingly difficult if there is no certificate of conformity alignment between the UK and EU and vice versa.
Also started my insurance record here otherwise there'd have been no way I could have had an RS. After the Brexit vote in 2016 I then swapped my UK driving licence for a German one. After January, depending on what the agreement is, I could possibly swap my UK licence for an EU one as today or, worst case, have to retake the test which is about 2k€ (what I've been lead to believe) in Germany plus have to take my bike test again too, no idea what that would cost.
It was just easier to do it all while we were still in the EU for a nominal fee and I'm glad I did it now.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2020 20:02:22 GMT
Missed the edit: It's on German plates. Lack of inertia motivation was taking hold, I'd run my previous car on Brit plates taking it back to the UK every twelve months for an MOT and having insurance which only required me to be in the UK once every twelve months. That was tightened down on and to be honest it was getting a bit of an inconvenience doing the annual run so I exported it, had the HU test done here and registered it in Germany. Now the UK is out of the EU importing a Brit car will become increasingly difficult if there is no certificate of conformity alignment between the UK and EU and vice versa. Also started my insurance record here otherwise there'd have been no way I could have had an RS. After the Brexit vote in 2016 I then swapped my UK driving licence for a German one. After January, depending on what the agreement is, I could possibly swap my UK licence for an EU one as today or, worst case, have to retake the test which is about 2k€ (what I've been lead to believe) in Germany plus have to take my bike test again too, no idea what that would cost. It was just easier to do it all while we were still in the EU for a nominal fee and I'm glad I did it now |
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Post by Humph on Sept 20, 2020 20:18:19 GMT
Ok interesting. I did wonder if you might have had to, or, as you say, found it more convenient, to re-register it in Germany. Guessing you're planning on staying there more or less indefinitely then?
I suppose your kids are at least bi-lingual? Presumably you and Mrs B are comfortable/fluent in German too?
You might remember that I worked for a large German shoe company ( with a lizard as its emblem 😉 ) near Stuttgart ( Kornwestheim ) for about 9 years? Prior to that I'd been at a British company for 6 years, but before that, in fact my first "proper" job was with a Swiss company based near Zurich.
I left uni with a degree in business studies and languages, ( German and Italian ) and thought I spoke German. On arrival in Switzerland and plonked into a shoe factory as a management trainee, I quickly realised I didn't speak enough of the language, and indeed the local accent/dialect was more or less impenetrable to me.
Took a long while to get comfortable with it and to this day, I'm accused by Germans of having a Swiss inflection in my spoken German.
After I left them, although I was now working for a British company, most of my working life for the next six years was in southern Brazil, the company paid for me to learn Portugese, but ironically German was more useful. That part of Brazil is more or less run by descendants of German immigrants, and the movers and shakers all speak German and indeed English, very well.
But, on moving to a German company, it became obvious that my version of the language was now severely corrupted by exposure to the Swiss version and a sort of South American derivative.
I've not really had to operate regularly in any other language than English since 2004, and although I'll muddle by if required on occasional trips to Germany, it's become quite rusty and takes a few days to kick in again at any useful level.
I did a trade show in Dusseldorf this time last year, and although I was understanding everything being said to me, it took a lot of concentration to converse at anything other than the most basic level for the first couple of days.
I think, maybe you have a view, but I think it's about forgetting to "think" in your mother tongue and attempting to translate everything, but to remember to think in in the language you're using.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2020 20:35:22 GMT
We've bought a house here and the kids are fluent in both German and English. Neither of them have attended an international school, we have thrown them in at the deep end and they have coped.
What I have found with language(s) is no matter how comfortable you think you feel there is always a curve ball coming. German, like English, is full of local dialects as I'm sure you know. Hannover is the place to go with education learned German a bit like Bath or Inverness with English. Swiss-German to my ear sounds like they are in a musical and about to burst into song. Bayerisch is like learning the Queen's English and being dropped into Liverpool or Glasgow city centre, no use what-so-ever. We live near the Dutch border, the local dialect sounds more Dutch than German to my non-German ear though they are using German words and constructs.
When you start dreaming in a language then you're starting to get somewhere.
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Post by dixinormus on Sept 20, 2020 21:58:43 GMT
Spontaneously swearing in the local language is a good benchmark I found (when living in France)!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2021 10:44:43 GMT
Spotted a pre-A reg Vauxhall Cresta on the road this morning. Two-tone blue and white. Now I like a good old classic as much as the next man but these could all disappear without a trace and I wouldn't be sad. What an ugly old piece of crap. Surely only someone playing 1950s dress up games would want such a hideous thing.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 17, 2021 11:08:32 GMT
And that’s before you savour the smell of the exhaust.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2021 11:28:58 GMT
Well quite. I've mentioned before there's a lad round here who drives a 1970s Mini around the gaff which stinks to absolute high heaven. It is truly offensive. MOT exempt I expect. He uses it as a daily driver, which is pretty anti-social if you ask me, especially as it sits and expels its poison in the IDR traffic jam during the rush hour. I have now spotted where it lives and am deeply tempted to end the nasty little thing.
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Post by Humph on Mar 17, 2021 11:31:41 GMT
I expect if you did, that he might feel similarly about you...
😉
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 17, 2021 11:55:50 GMT
Surely only someone playing 1950s dress up games would want such a hideous thing. Didn’t you get the memo? 1950s dress-up will be compulsory in the triumphant Global Britain. Yay Bozza! Yay the Empire! Yay the grinning piccaninnies who love Mrs Queen! (Human rights in China? Nah — far more important to get a preferential trade deal to make up for a little of what we’ve forfeited in Europe.) |
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Post by EspadaIII on Mar 17, 2021 14:28:33 GMT
There is a Toyota iQ which is used by our local council to police the bus lanes. It has a camera mounted on the roof. On cold days the driver sits there with the engine running permanently to keep himself warm and polluting the atmosphere.. Great way to save the environment... Better the bus lane was removed and all traffic ran more smoothly...
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 17, 2021 14:39:55 GMT
One silly piece of implementation doesn’t invalidate the entire concept.
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Post by EspadaIII on Mar 17, 2021 14:58:27 GMT
Oh I agree. But the council did remove a bus lane elsewhere in the borough and traffic runs so much more smoothly. Previously backed up for 1/2 mile and now not backed up at all. Pre-Covid; buses full as well.
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