Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Miscalculation

I really think the people who run REAL (the German answer to Wal-Mart) may have made an error in traffic flow judgment. In the middle of one of the wide front-to-back aisles of the store, they have placed a series of bins featuring items for a mere 1 euro. It's a traffic nightmare. Germans love a good deal, but they will not purchase items they deem to be of poor quality at any price. So you have a bunch of people drawn to the deal, but who block the aisles as they carefully examine the items. And there are quite a few items! I think it may be time for some rearranging of the store.

Have I mentioned the "Walking" family in our neighborhood? There is the family of a mother, father and two teenage sons who walk every where. Often in pairs or as a whole family. They are all tall and painfully thin (probably from all the walking) and one of the sons has hair down to his shoulders and looks just like the mother from behind, so it is often difficult to tell who is who. Neither Skip nor I have ever seen any of them in a car, but I did spot the dad on a bike the other day. The sad thing about the walking family is that they always look so sad--as if they don't really want to be walking, but must due to some economic or ecologic necessity. If they were Americans and we were in America, I would probably just approach them and ask them about their walking, but that would terribly rude here. We don't know them, and their walking habits are really none of our business. I'd just like to know.

Do you have Pomelo's in the States now? They come from Israel and they are like a grapefruit, only the fruit inside is firmer and less juicy. It makes it easier to peel and eat in pieces. We really like them, but they must be new here as well because a woman in the store asked me about them. My general German is not good, but my grocery store German is excellent. I was able to tell her all about the pomelo. Even Skip didn't know how to say grapefruit in German.

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