h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It just occurs to me, I'll probably be working down the line in September, going to do my work experience thing with a couple of carpenters near Geilenkirchen... If that's at all the right direction, maybe we can have a brief weekend meetup then!

Geilenkirchen is the next stop after Erkelenz - which is where we are.

And deffo I'd love to meet up, so let me know and we could give it a go.

Of course, I don't get home until around 6:15...

except Fridays.

I'll keep that in mind, then! I doubt I'd get out of the office/workshop/construction site earlier, anyway. Perhaps we can meet for dinner somewhere, or something like that - I'm going to be living where I'm working, so I'm sure the boys will be glad to be rid of me for an evening, even if they'd never say it Or Friday... I'll probably be coming back here for the weekend(s), so I can always stop in Erkelenz on the way back

you would be very welcome to come over for dinner - it's a bit of a madhouse here, but we eat well!

it's no problem to collect you from Erlekenz Hbf

That did sound a bit like angling for an invitation. Sorry

Before you do anything of the sort, let me warn you that I'm one of those veggies. It's not my religion or anything, and I don't throw a big hissy fit if there's meat in something, but I'm not truly appreciative of it

no worries, I was a veggie for about 15 years before I had the gruesomes and for a while after - and knowing you were so near i would have invited you anyway. You have to take us as you find us though.

We don't eat meat often, so we can have a veggie day - if you have likes/dislikes you can tell us first and we'll make something that you can (hopefully) eat.

And there will be home-made ice-cream.

oh and we have a

Oooh Now you'll have trouble keeping me away!

It'll make a pleasant change from the place I'll (probably) be working. Very nice people all, but they do go in for farm fare - Griebenschmalz on everything But it's the only place I know where you get turkey eggs for breakfast, so to each his own

I'm always a bit iffy about eggs - I'll go for months without eating them because the idea of eggs puts me off.

Then we have Ei, Spinat & Kartoffel for our dinner and I'm hooked again.

But... being a veggie in Germany isn't easy. I started in about 1985 and it was so bad that I automatically ordered whatever I was ordering, that the waiter had assured me was veggie "ohne schinkenstreifen" because EVERYTHING in this country came with shinken of one form or another at that time.

I was a pioneer...

my doctor shouts at me if I don't eat enough eggs. Seems my brain goes through vitamin B faster than normal people's, so eating no meat probably isn't the wisest choice.

And I know what you mean Go into any traditional restaurant and ask for something vegetarian, and they look at you like you're from a different planet and then venture "Wir haben eine Pilzpfanne..."

It was really bad during our field trip to Romania now, they get offended if you don't eat the meat. But when it's pieces of bacon that are *only* fat...

one of the reasons I love veggie food so much is that there is zero chance of suddenly getting a mouth full of something chewy, gristly, fatty or all three.

I never ever eat bacon sandwiches made by someone else, unless it's or my mum, because nobody else in the universe shaves off all the fat, makes sure there are no bones etc... in the same way I won't eat bought frikadellen or stuff like that

and it means that I'm restricted to the most expensive cut of steak of them all.

If I were going to Romania now, I'd probably insist on a Vegan diet. And whenever I fly I order veggie food.

Exactly. I don't really like meat to begin with, and I can't afford any better meat - I refuse to eat the supermarket gristle-with-antibiotics - so I just cut it out entirely, and save my money for organic or at least local veg (when I can get them) and free-range eggs (always)

Yes, the veggie food is definitely better! Or any of the other "minorities", though the US now saves information on what you ordered to eat in the plane for *15 years* I suppose anyone ordering the kosher or halal is put on a no-fly list

oh I'm deffo ordering Halal meals alternated with Kosher meals when I fly. thanks for the tip!!

And yes, we always use free-range eggs. If I can't get free-range I don't get any. And usually we buy Bio-eggs anyway.

But veg... hmmmmmm we get ours from that very nice chap: Mr Bofrost.

Of course. How dare they!

Good plan I just hope we (well, my mother) can keep chickens again soon. But there's a fox about, and he's so cute! He hides in our barn when the neighbours are after him

I only have a tiny freezer compartment, unfortunately, so only buy peas and spinach frozen I read recently though that Greenpeace did a study, and of *all* German supermarkets, the best for veggies - no pesticide residue, etc - was Aldi! And Lidl did the worst. Unfortunately, I only have this stupid Plus here

always reckons you're safe with Aldi because everyone watches them more closely.
The only thing with them is that they really push the prices down too far for the farmers to make a living. But their Bio products are good. But mostly not available in Erkelenz - so I have to use the shop near my office instead.

Cute about the fox. So... how are foxes controlled over here? As you can probably imagine, I'm not keen on that quintessential British "sport" of fox-hunting...

That's one reason why they'd have to be safe, yes.

And our neighbour now supplements his dairy cow income with being paid *not* to plant corn or potatoes

Well, fox hunting's just fine, so long as there are no foxes involved They can lay artificial trails... As for fox control over here, I think mostly, they'll trap and deport them, though the farmers often take matters into their own hands. They can get pretty sadistic with poison and things But the usual consensus is just that it's your own fault if the fox gets your chickens if you don't lock them up properly. More of a preventative/defensive technique

that's what I keep telling the huntin'/shootin'/fishin' brigade of my acquaintance... but they prefer to shout "tally ho" and all that.

ho hum.

But then, I'm not the right person to ask. My mother traps all her mice live, and then we mark them (so we can see whether they're coming back) and look up what kind of mouse they are, after which they're taken on a long walk or a drive and released in the wild - with a basic supply of nuts and grains to start them off

we have a the only mice we get are dead and usually headless

We have two grown cats - who will both come complain to us if there's a mouse in the house, we have to do something about it! so now we got two kittens, hopefully they'll grow up to be mousers.

mine usually just runs away from things, but he seems to think we are collecting mouse corpses