I talked to a Brit yesterday who has spent the last 20 years living in a village near Munich. He also has a house just outside this village that he visits for a few weeks each year. Which is the better country to live in as a foreigner? For a start the only foreigners in Germany are those who still work. He loves France but it would drive him potty to stay here the whole time. Germany is efficient, he said. France isn’t.
I know what he means. An example is the telephone system. It’s slowly creaking towards sensible privatisation but it’s horribly rickety. A neighbour whose house I can see from the terrace is cut off yet again. I would guess his line is down for one week in every four. His router is also bust and that requires a 30-mile journey to have it replaced. When he’s up and running, his phone only rings twice before the answering service cuts in. He asked for the rings to be extended. Impossible. And it costs €34 a month, taken straight from one’s bank account.
In banking, I cannot change the pin number on my card – which costs me €7 a month. I cannot send money abroad electronically. I have to go to the branch.
But you get used to such things and just live accordingly.
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