House of Cards

Today’s Blip is of one of the four houses being built in the last lot of plots sold by the council. I bliped the house in the early stages of construction on 8th August. It is, according to my village spies, a somewhat “price conscious” build – no cellar, little and uninsulated foundations. But there again it could be being built for price conscious First Time Buyers and Germans do sometimes seem to overdo the “Massiv-Haus" building style, looking down at off the peg "Fertig.Haus" types. As far as I know, all new builds have to fulfil all the energy saving standards. MrB would like the simple wood outside cladding painted in Swedish red. He likes a bit of Swedish red.
 
The next door plot looks to be the more sturdy type. The large cellar complex under the garage and house have now been completed and it may be that was that, until Spring. New green field housing plots are controlled by the council. They buy the land, put in the infrastructure and then sell the plots to individuals, local inhabitants having priority. Each plot is then built, within certain planning rules, by the individual according to taste and pocket. Next week they are holding  an information evening for interested potential house builders for the planned 25 house plots planned on the other side of the village.

Today there had been a distinct lack of work on the site. None whatsoever. It’s a holiday – All Saints Day - in our Catholic parish, as it is in most of Bavaria and other predominantly catholic states. The Protestants have to work especially since we Catholics were forced to abstain from working yesterday simply to abide by an edict of Mrs Merkel’s forcing us to acknowledge her dictate that the 31.10.2017 was to be a one-off national holiday to commemorate 500 years since a fly-poster desecrated the door of a church somewhere north east of here. The lout went on to get Henry VIII out of a jam and probably spurred him on to colonise his catholic neighbours and pronounce himself King of Ireland. All just History now!

Being a law abiding refugee in this country I did my best by doing nothing of any use to nobody  - how many positive negatives make a positive black zero on a balance sheet?. Did manage a pleasant  evening walk with Flash and get my Blip done.

Later on MrB popped by to return my soldering iron which he had very kindly repaired when he had to work on Monday. He showed us a mobile phone video he had hurriedly taken of what appears to be a 2017 born albino fawn deer in his hunting patch. He hasn’t been able to tell what sex it is but he's quite excited at having such a rare guest. I can assure everyone that "Whitey" will enjoy exceptional treatment and protection so long as she remains with mum on his territory. MrB takes conservation of the animals, flora and fauna on his patch at least as seriously as his duties and obligations as official hunter. He also mentioned a wild wolf had been spotted a few kilometres from here. They are beginning to move more and more in to “western” Germany following the removal of their safe havens around the East German wall/fence and it’s wide “green band” and army only areas which gave so much protection to wildlife. They are also crossing over from the neighbouring Czech Republic because of the lack of border patrols and controls.

Wolves are a very important part of the natural eco system and can easily influence such things as rivers. I won't bore you today trying to explain that one. (OK for those who want to be bored, here a Video) It was disheartening that recently "animal protection" people broke open a fenced enclosure in a Bavarian national park and allowed 6 of the 9 wolves to escape. Two were killed almost straight away by a train and a car, one had to be shot, one has been recaptured and the search is still on to trap the remaining two. The wolves have liitle chance of surviving in the wild having been born or orphaned in captivity and used to getting their daily meal from humans. This makes them far more dangerous than wild wolves who are extremely shy and avoid, quite sensibly, humans.

Talking of borders, MrB asked me for some assistance with obtaining some goods from the UK. Can be a bit confusing with things like clothing sizes but nowadays that’s the most difficult thing. The rest is a piece of cake. Order on the internet, pay using one of the European banking normed systems and that’s it. The £/€ is no more than a minor irritation but taken care of automatically. Safe and secure knowing it’s all protected by one set of laws. Even better for business customers – no VAT to be paid, no customs, no certificates to get, no import regulation masterpieces to wade through, no messy currency/ bank forms to complete. A doddle. And the goods flit around Europe at the speed of a jet and get delivered to your doorstep within days and not to some customs office 50 miles away where you have to attend an official opening up and check by customs before arranging another transport business to collect the goods and deliver to your base.

I am already dreading the thought of sending son J’s 2019 Christmas parcel. Perhaps by then the pain won’t to be as bad as it will probably be sent via the Red Cross Relief Agency. Just wait until the London Symphony Orchestra wants to play on the mainland and every bit of kit has to have it's own customs "Carnet" (passport). I have done enough Carnet documentation to know it's not fun. The same will apply to every demonstration bit of kit a  company wants to display at an exhibition etc etc. Ask any American or Indian or Chinese business person who wants to show off their newest gadget at a tradeshow in Europe or anywhere outside their own country. And let's not even start on the horrendous process of sending a part to the UK (or vice-versa) for repair.

I doubt Jonathan Lynn and the late Sir Anthony Jay could have dreamed up such a farce.