Postcard From Bielefeld, Germany

Well, we got here OK. The ferry dropped us off at Hoek van Holland (jolly obliging of them I felt) on Sunday and we cleared the drive across Holland into Germany and to Bielefeld (232 miles according to the tripometer) in under 2.75 hours. Pretty good going considering it’s our first time in a RHS drive car on the Continent.

First impressions are that European drivers are extremely polite and move over as soon as they have over taken anyone or if you begin to get a bit close to them. And that includes the BMW drivers too. No, really.

We cruised at around 110-120 mph pretty much all the way and not only did the car seem fine but the driver was pretty much in his element. I know the Germans like their speed but even they like to keep their licence in tact, whereas we don’t give a stuff. Send us your fines through the post Rozzers, we don’t live in the UK anymore. Ha, ha…

Also, don’t forget, as an ex (and soon to be current at some point) bike rider/owner, high speed is something I do for fun and having done over 160 mph on the open road on two wheels before in the UK, I reckon we can hold our own.

By the way, it is against the law to gesticulate or swear at other road users on the German highways so perhaps we may have to invest in blacked out windows, just in case… :-D

Anyhoo, worthy things of note so far:

1- First song heard on Dutch Radio: “YMCA” Village People
2- First song heard on German Radio: “Lucille” Kenny Rogers

All of a sudden England begins to become more appealing again…Just imagine if it had been David Hasslehoff though?

The food here is superb, even for vegetarians and is easily cheaper than in the UK. We reckon it’s at least like for like, ie something here for a Euro is a Pound in England so eating is not only fun here but also better value. For the slower people at the back of the class, that’s about a minimum third cheaper, all right? We haven’t had to fill the car up yet so no idea about petrol costs but I suspect it will be a tad better value here too.

This is our second day here and since then we have managed to sample the local ales already. In the interests of impartiality we drank quite a few to make absolutely sure the beer in these parts is of a reasonable quality but it has to be said, they ain’t no “Black and Tans”, that’s for sure. Still, when in Rome and all that. Although this is Germany and we’re not due to invade Poland for at least another month.


Weather? That is the stuff outside and will not be mentioned further this time as we’re now away from England and so we don’t have to make small talk about it, one’s health (good) and the football. Although Newcastle turned us over yet again and fourth spot looks well dodgy now. Mind you, Bielefeld won 1-0 away against Hannover, a local derby, so we may just avoid relegation from the Bundesliege this year. I’ve got tickets to see them play next Saturday (Frankfurt “ich bin ein Frankfurter” etc) and I hope my Jonah like qualities don’t bring their winning run to an end. Although a winning streak of one, can soon be made up again I guess.

Life as it will now be still hasn’t really dawned on us yet- at the moment it feels just like a holiday and I suspect this feeling will continue whilst we free load off the various aunts, uncles and friends of the family over the next 4-6 weeks. It will get real enough once we do go to Poland so in the meantime we’re making the most of things and having some fun.

Getting a connection to the internet is pretty straight forward here too- we’ve a free cyber café just down the block which makes life much easier. The only restriction we have is my inability to keep the readers enthralled and a weak laptop battery. Both will need to improve in the future I think.

Right, that’s enough guff from me- wifey will soon be gearing up to post which should bring the standard of this Blog right up there to semi-professional level.

And I know it’s all writing and dull stuff, but we intend to take a few photos of around the area soon so the spackers who need their fingers to read with will get a break soon enough.

Speak to you soon people. ;-)