Went Friday evening to the city street fest.
Spent? Roughly 95 Euro over 2 hours, for 2 people. Yeah....hefty. A family of four? You would have spent easily 160 Euro.
Pork-on-a-stick? 12 Euro each....a tad too salty.
Large crowd? If I compared against 2019 (before Covid)....probably 20-percent fewer people.
Safety-factor? From 1-to-10.....easily a '10'. Each avenue had blocks up to prevent attacks.
French cheese/bread? Probably ten vendors from France.
It came out this week....the Bremen Job-Center facility....went to spend around 900k Euro on a 100 square meter room.....to be a "creative space".
I tried to imagine such a project.
First, you'd hire a consultant....probably in the range of 40,000 Euro. Hopefully, it's not a friend or relative of the Job-Center director.
You'd install fresh new quality carpet....not the cheap stuff...for around 5,000 Euro.
Even though it's only a 100 sq meter area....you probably installed a 30,000 Euro sound system.
The furniture? High quality crap.....figure in the range of 80,000 Euro.
Special lighting? Figure 100,000 Euro.
Audio-visual stuff....the four TVs....tied into a display-control unit...installed for 100,000 Euro. Cameras included? Another 30,000 Euro.
Sound-proofing? 40,000 Euro.
Fancy painting/art-crap? 50,000 Euro.
All of this....to give you a creative space?
Some German news service used the hype of 'desert days' to describe what is coming in five days....temperatures of 33 to 36 C (91.4 F to 96.8). There's the hint that this will last for a week minimum.
I grew up in Alabama (knowing summer heat)....lived three years in Panama (tropical heat), and four years in Tucson (one day....it got up to 47 C (117 F). So I know heat.
First, if you take precautions....no hard labor after 12-noon....hydrate regularly, and wear loose clothing....you survive.
Second, close your shutters and windows at 11 AM (keeping some cool morning air in).....and reopen only after the sun goes down....the inside temps aren't that bad.
Third, remember......the Romans came when it was even worse heat, and survived.
Fourth, the news media seems intent on making hot-weather into a demon or 'dragon'. It's not rocket science....fronts move in....stall for a while....then new fronts come to replace them.
Fifth, drinking hot coffee for breakfast in a heat wave.....is probably not smart.
Sixth, the true death rate? Well....more folks die in winter months....than summer months. Don't bring this up to a German.
So my advice....suck it up for 80 more days....then we get to fall.
1. Switzerland to hold a vote....keeping population at a limit (10-million is the number)....once at it....no more acceptance of asylum folks. Anyone's guess how this will go.
Making some Germans ask....why can't we have a limit deal.
2. Watched the Qatar/Switzerland World Cup game (SF stadium, 19 C - 66 F).
So....all the way through the game....it was the Swiss ahead 1-0....then in the final minute or two....Qatar tied....game ended. Shocker for some Swiss folks.
Temp issue? German 'talking-heads' tried to suggest 'heat'.....I conveyed to my German wife....you can't get heat-stroke at 19 C.
Stadium empty seats? Camera angles were careful....but I'd take a guess...minimum of 5,000 seats empty.
3. Survey done on young Germans (2,000)....ages 14 to 29....presented by N-TV.
"49 percent of respondents report experiencing stress, 36 percent exhaustion, and 29 percent indicate a need for psychological support."
Yeah....overwhelming number....can't handle life..
4. Berlin police buildings in need of renovation.....they say it's currently in the range of 5.5-billlion Euro needed.
5. Couple of days ago...evening update on ZDF (Channel 2, public TV)....news-moderator....up and claimed that Elon Musk and Tommy Robinson called for the "hunt for migrants" and for "civil war."
I asked Grok/AI to find the quotes.....after about 3 minutes.....Grok admitted....neither said either quote.
So I'm left with two thoughts....either the news gal is English-less (meaning she can't speak/read/write/understand English....or she's drugged-up. Well....a 3rd option is that she's just blowing hot-air and manipulating viewers.
6. My thoughts on 'Freddy' (the German transiting America for World Cup games)....to be honest, I've noted about a hundred Italians, Japanese, Greeks, Brits, French folks, and Swedes.....on the same type of 'adventure'.
Most seem destined for the biggest 14 days of their life....living in some fantasy.
I watched the Bosnia-Canada game last night...ending around 1130.....1-1.
FIFA claims only 30-to-50 odd seats unfilled.....I'd say nearly 5,000 seats (it was a 43k seat arena) that were empty (mostly in blocks). Just a guess....some folks bought bulk tickets to resell, and people weren't willing to pay into the thousands for the seats.
1. First German complaints over World Cup action? Mostly that games are played at times when folks are asleep. Saturday's first game with Germany (against the Ivory Coast) starts at 10 PM. If you did hangout at some sports-bar....it'd only conclude around 1 PM. Getting bus-action to return home....in most cases....would be a problem.
2 . From that firing of the Bremen Jobcenter employee (Fred Göcken) for voiced criticism of his agency's working dealing with welfare receiving folks....it appears now that various other employees (across the nation) are now talking about similar sentiments.
They use a term for the Bürgergeld (welfare payment)....."worry-free all-inclusive package." (like on holiday somewhere)
3. Heat wave returning next week? In my valley....temp of 32 C predicted by next Thursday.
About six to eight months ago....there was a German bank 'break-in'. They got into the safe deposit box area of the Sparkasse Bank....of Gelsenkirchen. They didn't really rob the bank.....they robbed the safe deposit boxes.
So this past week....one client opened up a legal case....saying that while he had 10k Euro of insurance.....he actually had a value of 391,000 in 'cash'. He wants the bank to cover the 381,000 Euro.
I posed this to the wife (German in nature).....she just started laughing. First, he'd have to prove the 391k and she seriously doubted he had proof. Second, why keep this in cash....it should have been invested....unless it was non-taxed funds. Finally, she had doubts that the insurance company would even pay the 10k level.....unless there was absolute proof.
Secret cash? I would wonder about this. He'd probably been accumulating this over 20 years....never reporting it as income (my guess).
The first of many cases like this? Yeah, that's also my bet.
I watch around five different Russian economist podcasts per week. One covers strictly grocery sales, and pricing. Two cover banks....the other two....general business trends.
I would suggest since late 2025....the five have reached a stage where they talk of the impending collapse.
Some elements involve the lack of cash funds....some zero infrastructure projects going on....some talk of manpower shortages...some elements involve zero loan opportunities exiting.
Since April? Fairly dismal.
No one (even China)....has any faith in the problem resolving.
Putin unable to give up the war? That's pretty much the weight of the problem.
Three things I believe will happen over the remainder of 2026.
First, the Crimea will collapse entirely....with Russian troops escaping to the east. A massive retreat....unauthorized by Putin, and troops refusing orders.....mostly over the lack of food.
Second, several eastern districts are likely to collapse and seek some framework to engage with China.
Third, the remaining oligarch members....'walking' out and giving up on ever returning to 'power'.
