Saftladen

I am horribly behind on Blips caused by a serious bout of depression, some of it global events that are simply impossible to understand, some family events that I don't want to accept and the straw that broke the camel's back my incompetence after writing a 2,000 word account for today's Blip which disappeared just as I went to hit the "Publish" button.
 
So will keep this short and try to leave out some of the more personal observations that I had wanted to keep simply as a record of events.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let’s kick off with the Blip:
 
The German word “Saftladen” literally means “Juice (as in fruit)  Shop”. Every German will know the word but 95% would never have been in one, let alone know where there was one. If you want to buy fruit juice you go to the supermarket for the normal Tetrapac type “industrial” juices, or one of the plethora of “Getränkemarkt” - “ Drink Market” which will have all sorts in deposit/reusable litre glass bottles with organic 100% fruit types.
When a German says “Saftladen” they will almost always be talking about a badly run business or shop – poor products, quality, service, surroundings, management ……
This morning we had a 10:20 a.m. appointment in a Saftladen but it was a great experience. They even advertise in big lettering that they are a Saftladen!  The demand for its services at this time of year that you need to book weeks in advance and if you are lucky enough you will get one of the slots given out in 5-minute intervals.
 
With a trailer filled with 250kg of apples that Angie has been collecting over the last few days from our garden but also anywhere else she could “acquire” them, we arrived at the Saftladen and joined the long queue of vehicles. To the minute of our slot, we were directed on to the carpark and a large pallet container was shoved up to the trailer. We offloaded the apples from all the boxes and buckets. We did get a bit of a telling off as we had only booked 100kg (the minimum required) and were told in future to always book more rather than less.
 
Then we stood back as the pallet was collected and placed at the start of the process. Washed, chopped, pressed, heated, filled, boxed and we stood at the end of the conveyor belt to load a trolley with 20 boxes of 10-litre  vacuumed plastic bag containers of freshly pressed apple juice – our apple juice.  Like the “Wine Boxes” that came on the UK shelves in the 70’s complete with tap and the contents will keep, even after opening, for a year.
 
Cost per 10-litre bag is €4 and if you haven’t brought along last years to be reused, €0.50 for the cardboard dispenser box. i.e. €0.40 per litre. If you buy a 10-litre box of apple juice from their shop it costs €10.
 
The business is what they call a “Contract Fruit Presser” and will do this for private persons or any business. They will also “buy” your fruit and pay in the form of giving you juice. Normally they will only press apple, pear and quince (you can bring and mix your own combination). Their shop has many other fruits but I guess they are not suitable for mass production like work.
On the family front, it was not a good day, Angie disappearing to her father’s bedside in the afternoon and she laid into the two doctors she could round up, directly accusing them of lack of action (not for the illness). She arrived home very depressed but determined to get something done. Interestlingly later that night, the message came through that some of the measures she had been demanding were suddenly being taken!