UK- Boxing Day - No Trains Raise Ire

Old Dec 30th, 2008, 05:33 AM
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People don't die fast enough..., thank god, nowadays we've got aids..>>>

And that. ladies and gentlemen is all thinsight into the German soul you will ever need.

In any case it's not a real country. It's just Prussia with the flea-blown bits of the Holy Roman Emperor sellotaped to it.

They had a king called Ludwig the Stupid. 'nuff said.

Oh and they still all have mulletts.
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Old Dec 30th, 2008, 05:45 AM
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Germany is famous as a country where the shops close at lunchtime on Saturday and reopen Monday morning.

Is this because there is no demand?

Incidentally, in the English city where I live, there is no bus service on either Christmas Day or Boxing Day. This compares with the great U.S. of A where there is hardly any public transport on any day of the year.
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Old Dec 30th, 2008, 06:23 AM
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chartley - German shops extended shopping hours greatly over the past decade - they have modernized to meet demand

Britain wants to remain QUAINT it seems.
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Old Dec 30th, 2008, 06:39 AM
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Just back to the original point on public transportations on 26 Dec...

I (as well as many rail commuters) prefer to have all major engineering works done over the quiet holiday period rather than during the year.

London tubes and buses operate on Boxing Day. In addition, congestion charges are suspended over the holiday period so no problem driving into the City.

I personally thinks we're less of a third-world compared to a certain European countries where basically all main stores are closed on Sundays...
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Old Dec 30th, 2008, 06:43 AM
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Pal - you will be interested in this statement from the official Munich shopping website.

"Opening hours
Opening hours vary according to where the store is located and the type of shop. In general, shops are open from Monday to Saturday. Smaller shops, such as bakeries, open very early in the morning and may close a bit earlier, especially on Saturdays. All shops except petrol stations and bakeries are closed on Sundays. In general, the following opening times apply, although it is up to every individual shopkeeper how long they want to keep their shop open.

Department stores: Mon - Sat 10am - 8pm
Supermarkets: Mon - Sat 8am - 8pm
Bakeries: Mon - Sat 7am - 6pm, Sun 7am - 12pm

Grocery stores, butchers, small shops, etc. have individual opening hours which, by and large, correspond to the following scheme. Please note that this is only an estimation and that you should check with the individual shop. Mon - Fri 8am - 12:30pm and 3pm - 6pm Sat 8am - 12:30pm. Petrol stations are allowed to be open 24/7."

You cannot buy paint on a Sunday.
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Old Dec 30th, 2008, 06:50 AM
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You cannot buy a pint on a Sunday?

No pints on Sundays? Sounds like parts of Wales.

Check out Austria if you really want severely restricted shopping hours - do they still close everything up at 2pm on Sat?
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Old Dec 30th, 2008, 06:53 AM
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I think it's germany where you're not allowed to mow your lawn on a sunday. It's one of those protestant hell-holes anyway.

All you need to know about germans is that the men have mullets and moustaches and the women have hairy armpits and legs.

They also do unspeakable things involving glass topped coffee tables. Truly unspeakable things.
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Old Dec 30th, 2008, 06:55 AM
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"German shops extended shopping hours greatly over the past decade - they have modernized to meet demand"

How early in the day do you start on the paint? Shouldn't you be seeing someone?
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Old Dec 30th, 2008, 07:01 AM
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well extending from 2pm Sat closings to 8pm and extending weekday closings from 6:30 to 8 or 9 is what i call greatly expanded. (I guess each state in Germany can set its own laws.)

And i guess some trains did indeed run in Britain this past Boxing Day.

flanner - again i ask what did you leave your servants in their boxes Dec 26th and if servants had time off who walked the dogma and picked up its detritus?
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Old Dec 30th, 2008, 07:38 AM
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> It's one of those protestant hell-holes anyway.
That would what part of Britain?
Most people in Munich are good catholics.

Still trains don't run on boxing day in Britain, even where there's huge demand. (They don't run, because the whole country is broke)

And still one pound will be worth below one euro today or tomorrow and you can't do a thing about it.
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Old Dec 30th, 2008, 07:44 AM
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"And still one pound will be worth below one euro today or tomorrow and you can't do a thing about it."

Why would we want to?

Devaluations are what countries try as hard as they can for in depressions. Why else do American protectionists scream out to get the US dollar devalued as much as possible against the Chinese Yuan?

Usually the rest of the world doesn't let countries devalue. In our case, no-one's stopping us. Further proof that God is an Englishman.
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Old Dec 30th, 2008, 07:51 AM
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Amazing - when the pound was strong everyone (foreign) was complaining about how expensive it was to come here.

Now the pound has weakened we get all sorts of bollocks about how 'poor' and 'decaying' the country is, and how we (apparently) can't afford to provide essential services.

Is there some sort of international whinging olympics going on that we don't know about?
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Old Dec 30th, 2008, 07:51 AM
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Closing noon Sat until Mon AM sounds wonderful, compared to US Commerce that Never Sleeps. So does the long French lunch break, and letting British rails cool off for a day or two/year.

The world in general needs to slow the heck down.
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Old Dec 30th, 2008, 07:52 AM
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Let us start worrying about our money when we have to transport it around in wheelbarrows to buy a loaf of bread*. If you don't know what I'm on about ask your grandad.

*German bread is really an instrument of warfare.

ps The Germans actually LIKE Wagner and David Hasselhoff. I have not the words....
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Old Dec 30th, 2008, 07:54 AM
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stoked: Yes nice but not good for commerce and giving folks time enough to spend in stores, rather than rush around during the few hours when workers get a chance to shop.

Sarkozy i think wants to open stores on Sunday to stir the economy and provide more jobs as well.
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Old Dec 30th, 2008, 07:57 AM
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>>some sort of international whinging olympics going on that we don't know about?<<
Thanks to Fodor's, we do know. We just don't know what kinds of medals are awarded.




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Old Dec 30th, 2008, 08:00 AM
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Pal-mon-pal, the 24 hr stores are staffed by folks who must then sleep during the day and/or live on stimulants and sedatives. Family life becomes something you watch on Andy Griffith reruns.
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Old Dec 30th, 2008, 01:17 PM
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>German bread is really an instrument of warfare.
250+ different kinds of delicious bread compared to one "fluffy mac big big american".
They don't even sell bread in ze UK!
They sell recyled "american styrofoam" mixed with small pieces of wood.

At least they import decent irish butter.
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Old Dec 31st, 2008, 03:57 AM
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Sorry my cabbage munching friend, but this is where you lost the last vestige of sense.

ALL German bread, like ALL German food is designed to kill Frenchmen, (or whoever else the charismatic leader you're following this week decides he doesn't like).

The only thing the Germans can make is beer. They're good at that. Not as good as the English obviously, but not bad.

The main purpose of German bread is to provide plenty of roughage so that they can do unspeakable things with glass topped coffee tables. Utterly unspeakable things.
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Old Dec 31st, 2008, 05:04 AM
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One word: pumpernickel.

Nuff said.
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