Category Society
A Unique Event
Today, the third Sunday before Easter is Weckensonntag in Sulzburg. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all events have been cancelled. Which is a real shame, since this festival only happens once a year and only one place in the world. Now we have to wait until next year. And I missed it in 2019 because […]
Green Crosses
I noticed them on the drive home from the airport in January. Green crosses by the roadside. Those weren’t there when we left. In Canada roadside crosses usually mean there has been a fatal accident at that spot. They aren’t green though. I wondered what the significance was of these new German crosses. My first […]
Scammers At Work
In some ways I’m surprised it took so long. After all, the new coronavirus, COVID-19, was first identified at the end of December. You’ve probably seen the reports of people attempting to profit from the pandemic, selling hand sanitizer or toilet paper at inflated prices to a panicked public. In a free market economy I […]
Opening Pandora’s Box
Germans probably don’t realize it, but Pandora’s Box just opened. The COVID-19 pandemic is about to bring permanent, unintended, social change. Am I the only one who sees this? You know the myth, or at least you should, so I won’t repeat it. Once Pandora opened that box she couldn’t get the lid back on […]
Sign of The Times
I guess rigs like this are more common than not these days, distancing passengers from the person driving their bus. On Sunday, when I first saw this, I thought maybe the driver was taking his own precautions in not allowing people to board by the front door and making sure they couldn’t get near […]
Voice of Tolerance
Sometimes there are little surprises. Ties to history you didn’t realize were there. I was walking along the main street of my wife’s ancestral home town, Lippstadt, in northern Germany. It was there I cam across this bust. I recognized the name, Martin Niemöller. I hadn’t realized he was from Lippstadt. Niemöller was a pastor […]
We Care About You
Are you getting the same emails I am? Three airlines so far have let me know this week how much they care about me. I feel valued. Well, not really. I don’t really need assurances that you are doing extra cleaning on your airplane cabins. Or that you are waiving fees for ticket changes. Pardon […]
No Hockey Tonight
I was planning on going to the hockey game tonight. Then the season was canceled. I’m not sure how I feel about that. The Freiburg Wolves were at the bottom of the league during my first two seasons here, fighting to avoid relegation. This season the team was a powerhouse, one I could see taking […]
Land of Confusion
Are you as confused as I am? Or have Canada’s leaders lost touch with reality? You have to be 16 to get a driver’s licence. Eighteen to vote. And that isn’t all. There are age restrictions on who can smoke tobacco or marijuana, or legally drink alcohol. You can’t serve in the military until you […]
In The Mail
I was wandering in downtown Bern, the Swiss capital, when I came across this monument commemorating the founding of the Universal Postal Union. It is amazing what is sometimes found to be worthy of public art. Sending something by mail seems almost a forgotten reminder of another era in these days of electronic communication. I […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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