Der Bürgerentscheid/ The Referendum

I got to vote today.  We had a referendum about building a tram line from Bad Schwalbach through Wiesbaden and on to the centre of Mainz.

Now, I lived in Edinburgh before moving here, and I remember how flawlessly the tram line plan there was implemented.  Huge budget overrun, massively late, and half a line delivered.  To say nothing of the disruption to the city.  Or the fact that this modern, green transport miracle runs from the airport - which itself is a terminal for transport devices renowned for their green credentials.

And call me cynical, but large building projects here tend to run into problems all the time - Berlin Airport anyone? a mere 9 years late but no matter.  The Stuttgart 21 project?  That's going swimmingly... Or indeed, nearer to home the Schierstein Bridge project that has been lurching from one Oops to the next for years - including completely closing for a couple of months when they discovered quite a big structural oops...

But I'm sure it'll be different this time and they'll manage to implement a massive infrastructure change in a city that can barely cope with normal traffic on a weekday.  And it'll be on time.  And on budget.  And the people here will notice no difference in their normal lives.

And let's face it, who wouldn't relish travelling from Wiesbaden Hbf to Mainz Hbf in a modern tram in a journey that only takes 30 minutes - compare that to the stupid 10 minutes it takes on the S-Bahn.

But that's just my old-fashioned, hidebound way of thinking.

Welcome to Wiesbaden - Home Of The Flying Pig.