My Love-Hate View Of DHL

 DHL is the German postal-delivery service....mostly for packages/bulk stuff.  For me....it is the alternative to Amazon-delivery.  I'm not saying I hate Amazon-delivery....but I have had enough poor situations....that I'm willing to accept DHL.

In my village, they added the 'boxes'....about 3 minutes walking from the house....there's a pick-up point.  You show your smart-phone screen....a barcode, and a door pops open.  It was advertised in the beginning....as easy.  On my first trip over....it failed.  My delivery eventually got reversed, and sent back.  

I went to the local post office to quiz the gal there.  She (being German)...admitted she knew almost nothing about the 'boxes', the barcode crap, or the tech involved. Not to openly be critical over German women, but I get the impression that 75-percent of them are tech-limited....meaning tech-crap barely works.

I would eventually find a YouTube video that explained everything in simplicity....oddly done by a Indian-guy.

So for a year or two....things worked with the 'boxes'.  Then the next issue came up.  They upgraded the App, and I wasted two-to-three hours....getting it to sync-up with the 'boxes'.  

This past week, the wife (German) came to me....her packages are being sent to the 'boxes' and NO email comes from DHL to get her to pick up the stuff.

I thought....simple enough...log in and check on the account.  Well...the App won't allow a log-in, without a pin number, and it refuses to send to the wife's email address.

Me?  I thought....send a customer complaint.  After three days....they (DHL) responded. Basically, they wanted her to call in....request a delete on her account, and start from scratch....whole new DHL account.

Yeah....as much as they convey this should be a simple task.....a simple App.....they prove over and over that it's prone to fail.  

This Starlink-EU Chatter

 Starlink....a Elon-'monster'....has basically carved out one-party only business.  So in the last week or two....the EU stood up and said 'no-more'.  They intend to fast-track Project Bromo, a joint venture by Airbus, Thales, and Leonardo....compete against Starlink.

Problems?  I gazed at the agenda.

There's to be arguments within the EU over where the build will occur, and jobs are divided up. 

Then there's a funding problem....where Airbus will probably ask for direct EU funding for several years.

Will European folks be given a decent rate for the Bromo-product (cheaper than Starlink)?  Some folks laugh over that idea.

Will some mandate force you into using Bromo....instead of Starlink?  So far....no one suggests that.

After pondering this a while....I asked myself....how long before a Chinese version of Starlink is parked over Europe, and cheap rates to Bromo or Starlink?

16 Oct 2026: Germany: 8 Stories

 1.  AfD Party....locally in Berlin-City.....have set up a party headquarters in a structure on Köllnischer Park 1.  So the neighbors?  Well....a German language school for non-Germans, a sex-fetish 'club', and a college alternate site.

Yeah....odd mix of folks renting in the same structure area.

2.  Some belief that the SPD Party meeting in early January....will reset the leadership of the party....with Klingbeil unlikely to still be party-'boss' (he will still be Finance Minister).  

Party needs a 'reboot'....lingering around 13-to-14 percent in national polls. If you go back 30-to-40 years...the SPD were the party of the working-class union-guy/gal.  You can't really ID them as such today.

3.  With the new increase on the smokes tax....you can figure a pack of 20....at twelve Euro in cost ($13, single pack).  So if you were a pack a day smoker....you'd need 360 Euro ($400) a month for the habit.  At some point, a massive drop in smokers will occur, and the tax folks will be in shock...missing funds.

I worked with a German in 1978....who smoked through 1.5 packs a day.  Doubt if he could finance his habit today. 

4.  Within VW....the ID E-car group....is preparing a recall for the vehicle....concerning the batteries.  What apparently exists...under certain rare conditions....the battery can catch on fire.

5.  WELT piece: Some school in Berlin had to go to court....ordering students not to engage in prayer....mostly because it was a 'risk' to school peace/safety.  Judge apparently agrees....it sets some people (juveniles) off.  

6.  This France-chatter over  softening EU car CO₂ emission rules?

For the Germans....it's basically relaxation of CO2 targets for cars.  For the French....it's a win because Germany now has to accept a carefully written definition of “Made in Europe.”

7.  Federal Minister of Construction (SPD).....announcing some serious control/limits on expropriation (where you use legal methods to seize property/buildings and later pay for 'acquisition').  

8.  Term 'd-you' refers to the new digital 'wallet' that the German gov't has approved....where you'd have your national ID card....digitally placed.

UK Poll

 I read through a Telegraph piece this AM.....some group did a poll....asking folks (men/women) if they would enlist to defend the UK....if a invasion occurred.  36-percent said 'YES'....rest said no (figure two-thirds of the public).

For an hour, I've been pondering this.

I've come to two thoughts.

First, why bother financing a military?  I'd shut down the Army, Navy and Air Force.  It's waste of spending.

Second, if I were President Trump....after the Greenland chatter success....I'd announce that the US (giving them no timetable) will be invading the UK. I'd lay out the plan....no more driving on the left-side of the road....the King can stay....Harry and Meghan can stay but need a real job....dissolve the BBC....and make Bond a gin guy.

Half of the folks willing to sign-up and defend the isle....will be pro-Trump anyway.  Remainder will just accept the fact.  

My question....how did this character of the Kingdom...dissolve away?

German Train Stations, Drinking, and Booze

 When I arrived in West Germany in 1978....one of the top hundred things that fascinated me....were train stations (bahnhofs).

First time upon stepping into the Frankfurt station....I probably spent an hour just standing there and admiring the landscape.

Over the course of the next two years....I traveled around the country and probably admired at least thirty different train stations.  I got to a point of rating them....with Frankfurt usually set at the top....closely followed by Munich and Hamburg. 

The Frankfurt station had probably three or four bars at the time.  If you stood around, yeah....there were probably forty-odd guys usually in some state of drunkenness.  They'd find their way to a platform, and catch the train out.  

Around 1990....as the wall came down....drugs increased around almost all German train stations.  If you walk out the eastern end of Hamburg....for a block....there's a four-star drug zone.  Frankfurt?  If you walk out the eastern side....for about a block....there's a junkie/dealer-zone.  Locals know of the issue....complaining to the city and police....with occasional raids to show 'something' got done.

I'd generally say from 2010 on....most of the metro stations have a boozing problem.   If you confronted the Bahn executive management (country-level)...they'd tell you the safety/security around the big stations is now a top-three problem.  So going to a dry-station concept....is the only option left.

Will it change much?  I'm of the mind that shops around the Bahnhofs....will get increased business...selling beer/booze to the same crowd, and the station security folks will be mostly monitoring consumption within the station....either kicking the boozers out, or detaining them for a dozen hours (to dry out). 

The next target?  I'd suggest the druggies being selected by the end of 2027.

'Path' of Things

I noticed yesterday....out of a suburb area of Paris....Saint-Denis....they had a 'ban' started up....signed by the mayor of the district (Bally Bagayoko).

Booze sales....banned.

Yeah, it is a Muslim-majority suburb.

Concerned?  If you were a resident of the area....you'd drive an extra five minutes into a non-controlled area, and buy booze.

Big deal?  I doubt it.....but people will sit there and converse about how things evolved.

15 Oct 2026: Germany: 6 Stories

 1. This Nord Stream II bomb case in Hamburg.

Basically, the prosecution has evidence to show the Ukrainian guy reserved the boat, paid for the boat, picked-up the boat, went to location at the site, and there's bomb-residue on the vessel (collected by the police).  

What the defense attorney said yesterday....the Ukrainian guy was under orders to blow up the LNG pipe...by the Ukrainian government.  

Judges in this case.....in a strange mess.  They'd probably like to agree....war-is-war.  But if you say this was OK....wouldn't that open the door for more Ukrainian attacks on German soil?  

Lengthy case?  It's hard to see how it'd be any longer than four weeks.

My guess....some guilty situation will occur....with the guy spending three to five years in a prison.  

2.  Odd jet-fuel problem in Frankfurt....there is a shortage being reported.  

3.  Business report via Focus....China is improving it's production of heat-pumps.  Just guessing...in five years....majority of sales would lean toward Chinese-made pumps...instead of EU-produced.

4.  Talks in Berlin-City over a Linke Party-led coalition....have restarted (with Greens/SPD).

5.  Alcohol-consumption/sales at train stations....now banned.  What the path was?  I'd say over the past twenty years....stations became a magnet to 'hang-out', and guys/gals got 'stupid'.  

There was always a drinking problem around the train stations (when I arrived in 1978)...but it mostly involved transit-passengers.  You had two hours to waste at some leg of a trip....you sat and had two or three beers.  

There's simply more homeless folks using the stations, and the added burden of drug sales/use around the stations.  

6.  If you view Berlin-City bickering/discussions.....the local Greens and the national Greens....aren't really reading off the same 'script'.  

7.  Sugar-tax profits in Germany?  Once implemented, mid-2027....the federal government estimates it will collect 690 million Euro next year, with projected revenues of 925 million Euro for 2028 and between €875 and €890 million for later years.  

If you do the math, for a 1-liter bottle of Coke, it will be around 32 cents extra on cost.  Sugar-free sodas?  No added burden.

I'll just say...if you asked a hundred German adults....no one much thinks consumption will lessen. Most will suggest that this is the beginning of a long-path....to tax all 'evil' things.  Chewing gum, chocolate, and chips....likely to be next.

Odd French Poll

 IFOP did a poll with French Islamic folks....asking what happens if next year's election occurs, and Le Pen wins.

46-percent of those polled....said they'd 'leave'.  

First, how many people would fit into this 'threat'?  I researched it....5.5-to-6 million (presently).  

Second....a realistic reaction?  I'm not so sure that bulk of the 46-percent are serious.  

But lets carry this to May 2027....Le Pen wins, and then what?  Maybe realistically....around 1-million to 1.5-million start to think 'exit'....where exactly would they go?  The only French-speaking country for a exit-plan...would be Belgium.  Some might consider Spain or Germany.  

Reaction in Belgium, Spain or Germany?  Probably negative, but since the folks have EU residency....they are free to move anywhere within the EU.

Curiosity?  Well...over half of the Islamic folks polled....said they weren't likely to move/exit, and obviously weren't too worried about Le Pen or changes coming.  That might be worth thinking about.