Because I realize that my fights with the insurance company are small beans compared to what others are going through right now: please donate to help the people and to help the animals. And don't forget to use matching-gift power, if your company offers it.
Totally unrelated: I've had German Joys in my blogroll for a while now, but have never given it a formal introduction. It's another expat-in-Germany blog (in this case, a law professor in Düsseldorf, with some collaborators), with a literate, informed take on German life and culture. Recent items that I've enjoyed: an entry on the Sie and du torture-chamber, the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (their wierd retrograde posters also lined the streets in Hamburg), and your chance to pick Andrew's religion.
Andrew also seems to be the only person other than me who likes the Deutsche Bahn.
Posted by Kevin at September 8, 2005 09:37 AMDB is overpriced and the trains are usually late. If I have to pay an extortionately high amount of money, I expect the service to be on time.
Posted by: J at September 13, 2005 08:53 PMI think that life is better, train-wise, if you're living in a big city: my DB trips from Hamburg were almost always on-time and flawless (any HH residents who may read this: feel free to tell me that I'm either extremely lucky or insane).
Expensive, though ... yeah.
I think it's also a matter of perspective: Andrew wrote his paean to DB after spending time attempting to ride the trains in England. Now I live in a place where any attempt to bolster rail (you could be spending that money on freeways!) is regarded as the creeping hand of the social-ist monster. If all other things were equal, I'd love to have DB-level service -- even at DB-level prices -- over here.
[Word search! Strange hypenation inserted into 'social-ist' because of my own comment-spam software ... kids, can you find the name of the major prescription medication that's hidden inside the word?]
Posted by: Kevin at September 14, 2005 12:25 PM