Around the Neighborhood...

@lloyd-mecca   Funny story about that.  The local administrators of such things are rather nasty to deal with, for Germans as well as expats.  Mine was a particularly nasty sort and even though I have been driving since I was fourteen, my California license wasn't good enough, because Germany did not have a reciprocity agreement in place, with California.  Yeah, it's that fubar'd over here.  Reciprocity agreements are between each state, and the state of Germany.  Don't ask me which intellectually-challenged group of politicians sorted that out.  Anyway, he said I would have to pay 2,000€ and be taught by a German driving instructor.  Me, the one who had been driving for over forty years, by that point, was going to be taught how to drive in a country with the highest percentage of vehicle accidents in all of Europe (at the time this was clearly stated as a warning, on the USA consulate website).  So, a plane ticket was only four hundred Euros and I spent a lovely holiday with friends in New Mexico (a state with a German reciprocity agreement) and flew back to Germany, to present my NM license to Mister Titwillow (no, that wasn't his real name).  Upon being presented with my new license he told me it was too new and they had no way of knowing if I was experienced, so I would still have to take the class, unless I could prove experience beyond my California license and the new NM license.  He actually smiled when he told me this bit of news, but when I returned with four expired licenses, from three states, spanning thirty years, he grumbled and I was approved for a German license. 

There is a safety/life saving training that is required by all new drivers and he did tell me that I would have to bring a signed form with me, when I returned to pick up my new license.  I did take the class, but when I returned I presented him with a letter from the US Consulate 'reminding' the administrator that there was an agreement in place wherein US citizens did not have to comply with this rule.  He was p-o'd enough to storm out of the office, at that point, leaving his clerk to finish with me.  In the end, I did present my signed receipt for the training, because I believe everyone should take a course like this, to get a license.  She smiled and I think she liked how her boss had been pushed back a step or two.  But, this is an attitude one encounters frequently, in Germany, and it is not solely directed to us auslanders, and doctors tend to be the worst.

But, the countryside is beautiful and we are a mere 1.5 hour jaunt from France.  There is always a positive, if one looks hard enough.

@gdh 

WOW! I'd have been sunk - never kept any old licenses and the first went back to 1961 or 62!

@perrone1   The cool thing to having a German DL is it is the only time you have to go through that rigamarole, for it is a lifetime DL.

@jack-dodds Jack, I think the neighborly thing Tony could do is to ride his John Deere next door and clean up the poor guy's yard....after that he could clean up the guy's car. It's always nice to help the downtrodden.

@bob-jackman I daresay Tony and his JD Grassblaster would blow through that yard by the time he got two martinis down the hatch!  As far as the Roller goes....I'm thinking an offer with profit margin is pending from our yardmaster....

Bob/Jack - just finished mowing his property but instead of cleaning up the Roller, I installed a mower deck to it and now he can mow his OWN yard!

@perrone1 The only RollerDeere in existance. I'm guessing you left your neighbor in a Spirit of Ecstasy.

@perrone1 Good job and in your usual record time Tony!  Now it's time....for breakfast!

Posted by: @jack-dodds

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@perrone1 Good job and in your usual record time Tony!  Now it's time....for breakfast!

WHOAAAAAA the horses back there Wild Bill. I'm on a diet. Please remove one of those olives. Oh, and hot sauce for the eggs, if you will.  

 

@perrone1  That's pretty close to a full-English breakfast - without the martini.

@gdh 

You ain't kiddin'!!

@gdh It's a delicate balance...organic coffee will even it all out nutritionally.

@jack-dodds   Yup.