A few minutes ago I read it in the news: the locomotive drivers of German's Deutsche Bahn will strike again.
I had already booked a fine Hotel in Bremen for our class reunion on coming Friday and Saturday.
Really: I am so disappointed! Luckily I could cancel the hotel, my three classmates who had organised dinners and events - all their troubles were for nothing - had cancelled the meeting. Coming by car is no alternative - we have black ice, and I would have to drive over 6 hours.
If you look at the drawing underneath (I cannot turn it right) you see that Germany is stricken at the moment: the farmers protest with thousands of tractors, and the DB keeps her trains at home - only the management board got, each of them!, a bonus of 300.000 Euro (extra! each of them!)for this year of breakdowns, ill management (only ever 4 out of 10 trains are punctual - or come at all..).
Speechless...
It's exactly the same here too Britta.
ReplyDeleteDear Rosemary, and...
DeleteYes, as Rosemary says it is the same here too.
ReplyDelete...dear Tom, that is interesting to hear. England is known for people who strike for their rights - in Germany it seems only to begin.
DeleteThat's so disappointing for you and your friends. Hope you can meet up another time when the weather is better.
ReplyDeleteStay off black ice!!!!
Yes, dear Mary, I am very disappointed - and the three friends who organised it with time-consuming meetings are disappointed too.
DeleteI do hope you and your friends can reschedule when things are running better. We have been having similar problems here so I can relate.
ReplyDeleteThank you, dear Emma - I hadn't the heart to ask right now, but I hope that something might follow in three month or so?
DeleteEven if you get the train ticket money back, it underestimates the amount of planning wasted - pets put into care, mail held at the post office, the weekly food delivery cancelled, clothes unpacked, hotel reservations cancelled etc etc.
ReplyDeleteBut missing out on the reunion with old friends would be the saddest aspect of all.
As you say, dear Hels: time-consuming. And bad for our economy: one day (and we had already many) of a train-strike throughout Germany costs about 100 millions Euros on economic performance, says the Institut of German Economy in Cologne. Now they will strike for 6 days - and the situation at the Red Sea doesn't improve it.
DeleteI hope you are able to reschedule. Missing a reunion over a strike is a shame.
ReplyDeleteThat, dear Joanne, I do hope too - with my friend Nele (I see her every year at least once) I promised that we two will see each other in spring.
ReplyDeleteBut there are two really sick schoolmates - cancer - and it is not sure that we will meet all of them or the others - though we hope.
Oh, what a pain!!! How disappointing for you and your friends, dear Britta. I hope there will be a chance to meet again when everyone is well and able.
ReplyDeleteNo trains at a time of dangerous road conditions could bring the country to a standstill! It's an absolute disgrace that the fat cats still get bonuses in the face of such mismanagement.
Dear Pip, yes, I was disappointed. Very. But trying to make the best of it I enjoyed a few sunny days here in Bavaria and had time to rest, think. Very calm days...
DeleteAs to the "fat cats": is it an accompanying fact of getting older that one gets more critical of the behaviour of them? Is it true that in my youth words like "honour" were more weighty, and shamelessness less? Maybe we only weren't informed in "the good ol' times" - but I have a nagging feeling that society awards people who are greedy and egoists (and show it) - when earlier the society would have "closed the ranks" - they wouldn't have been invited any more, would have been ignored - while nowadays they get a little celebration show in tv.
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