Thömas, my German dentist friend, sent me this. It made me laugh, anyway.
He is coming to stay in the first week of October. I always look forward to seeing him and I always miss him when either he goes home or we do when we visit Bremerhaven.
There is a lot of the Jacques Tati in Thömas. Tati always said that humour resides in the legs. Like me, Thömas more than his fair share of leg - see photo below.
The waiting room of his practice (or praxis) is decorated with murals of penguins, painted by our mutual friend from Hamburg, Tobias.
Tobias started his adult life as a Marxist. Over the years he has slowly evolved and is now a devout Catholic (convert) who spends all of his spare time in a kitchen, feeding the homeless. He has a highly developed sense of social responsibility.
German banks - combined with the regulator of German dentistry - make life very difficult for dentists who are not very wealthy to begin with. Unlike Britain, dentistry fees are capped (no pun). Some procedures are capped lower than the actual cost to the dentist. When you are trying to recover from being ripped-off by a rogue partner, banks and an assistant who orders latex gloves by the ton (they have a shelf life of about a year), paying your rent, staff and business rates can be quite stressful. He recently had to buy a new chair. I think it was about 100,000 euros.
A friend of mine runs two restaurants in Bath. I asked him what his weekly outgoings are the other day. He thought for a bit then said between £15,000 and £16,000. That's a week. I know that Thömas has to pay out alot of money before he can allow himself a few hundred euros to live on.
Both he and Tobias (and probably most of the rest of Germany) took the British decision to leave Europe very personally. The ordinary German of a certain generation is usually an Anglophile. Thömas is an extreme one. He drives an original mini and a vintage M.G. and he loves nothing more than to drive them to Britain. They are hurt by the Brits voting to leave, and it is not just to do with money and trade. They thought we were friends. The unification of Germany was very hard for them financially, but a new market for V.W. and Mercedes soon opened up and things began to look better.
Then - beginning with Mercedes - the emissions scandal happened and they lost a lot of post-war national pride which had taken many years (and much Allied investment) to build up. Brexit came at a very bad time, and it isn't over yet. I hope Thömas gets here before the 31st.
This photo was taken on a little trip to Norway last week. He couldn't afford to stay too long - a small beer in a Norwegian bar costs 12 euros.
That is a ridiculous thing to say that voting leave made him think we are not wanting to be friends. I cannot believe it. Please tell him that at least this Brit voting Leave did not wish a German to think we are no longer friends.
ReplyDeleteAs for German cars, they have a bigger problem with the Chinese market which is diminishing by the day and not just because of Trump. They have not declared Germany no long friends either, they just have bought enough German cars for the time being and they last a long time.
I told you that they took it very personally. It might be a ridiculous way to feel, but that is just the way it is. Feelings are governed by the heart, not the head.
DeleteRegarding the cars, I also said that the exposé of the emissions software scam dented their national pride. That also is something to do with the heart and morale. The financial side of it has yet to be sorted out. The combined court cases for the USA alone will take years and and billions of dollars in compensation. They can design software to correct the readings, but that won't help with the litigation.
I forgot to say the photograph of your friend with the lighthouse is very well composed. The caption with the dentists waiting room made me laugh too.
DeleteThat roofline makes the girl on the wall look like the Angel of the North if you squint.
DeleteI don't want to turn my back on our friends either. We are the laughing stock of the world
ReplyDeleteWe will be funnier later, after the price has been paid.
DeleteEx pat's don't like the uncertainty of a deal or no deal Brexit. Churchill believed in the United States of Europe. Why offend other countries people's feelings and throw it all away?
ReplyDeleteThe E.U. was set up to counter hostile advances from the USA. We need it now more than ever.
DeleteOn the question of business costs, some time ago I heard an English publican saying that his business rates were £120,000 pa. That's before he's turned on a light, paid a barmaid, or pulled a pint.
ReplyDeleteYes, that would be true. It's a dicey business.
DeleteI love that dentists waiting room .... if only other businesses adopted the same concept ..... life would be made even brighter ! My dentist became one as he hated going himself. He bakes bread and makes coffee to give a relaxing feel. Having been in the dentistry world, it would help many patients. XXXX
ReplyDeleteI would set up the seats with hydraulics to bite patients.
DeleteHaha!
DeleteThere are almost as many remainers as leavers so Thömas should be reassured.
ReplyDeleteI wish it worked like that, but it doesn't. If you think you are not welcome by the majority then you you feel rejected, no matter what the truth is. All those Poles who came here after the fall of the Soviet block, all those West Indians who came here to help in the late 1940s, all made to feel unwelcome by a handful of ambitious right-wingers who know how to manipulate the popular sense of outrage. They have stolen the sense of British fair play and decency from us, and in doing so they have begun to undermine the social fabric and sow the seeds of discord and divisiveness. There is a lot at stake in the next few weeks.
DeleteAfter three years of hope, I have finally given in, and resigned myself to the gloomy prospect of what appears to be on the horizon.
DeleteWe had Swiss people staying the other week. They were very anxious, that when they got to England that people would be hostile towards them. And were cutting their time in London short. They spend 6 weeks a year touring the UK. They said they following all of this, they may not come next year as they dont know how they will be received. I told them Scotland is open to everyone. The Scottish government wont allow anyone to mess with tourism and people coming to see the history and beauty of the land. he seemed heartened by this. But still added as they left. I hope we find people like you in London. I think the will find everyone open to them. Although I was given a bit of racial abuse by a man in Asda in Newton Abbot last month who told me to go home as I was standing next to some ladies from Poland who were talking. He even poked me. lmao "you should all go home" wagging his finger and jabbing it about pointing. I told him "I am home you idiot". My niece told him to F off!
ReplyDeleteSilly people are so easily influenced by the far right. Silly people by the far left too. It is time to come together to fight both. Have you noticed how the lowest of politicians actually encourage divisiveness to further their cause? The Romans knew what they were doing. Divide and conquer. It's been going on for thousands of years.
DeleteBack before the current crises that can reduce me to tears often, world events generally did not feel like a knife to the heart or gut. Watching Bill Clinton lie to congress made me feel just awful. Hearing the report on VW's shenanigans with emissions made me cry. Just a few (worse than) scalawags bringing down a fine name and reputation.
ReplyDeleteMuch of our current troubles - or the bad handling of them - are being put down to one man. The aforementioned Dominic Cummings. He told the British public last week, "I advise you not to watch the news." That would suit him very well.
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