The German Lounge

[Kilana2]

My home village is under a complete lockdown/curfew because people didn't follow instructions and walked around in groups and kids played in the streets as usual, happy that the schools are closed, like as if nothing had happened and they were on vacation. So, because of irresponsible people, we are now ALL forced to stay inside unless we have a REALLY good reason to go outside. (And this IS being enforced, I've seen more police cars in this little village in the past two days than I've seen in the past two YEARS.)

I have to go to work. Three days per week now. I'm wondering if there are still trains going....

 

[ThreeEdgedSword]

According to dpa, contacts outside will be limited to 2 people (unless family/ roommates).

 

[Alexander Corrino]

I have to go to work. Three days per week now. I'm wondering if there are still trains going....

As far as I'm aware they're making less and less trains run but want to keep up some kind of "basic" train timetable. Which is really NOT wise because those who still have to go to work and need the trains are going to have to squeeze themselves into the few remaining trains that do run while at the same time everyone is required to "keep a distance of 1.5 meters"... umm... whoever had this idea wasn't thinking this one through.

 

[Nakita Akita]

In the USA where I live, all of the grocery stores are open. They close at night instead of the usual 24 hours a day of being open for some of them.
Some restaurants are still open, mainly ones that are considered "fast-food".
My cousin has a deli, and she is still
Open. And people are allowed outside, I walk my dogs every day or every other day and there are people out with dogs who I have never even seen before.
A lot of people are staying in. A lot of businesses are closed.
I think it all is so sad.
Depressing sad

 

[rhubarbodendron]

^that's pretty much like here in Bavaria.
Corona has one advantage: wonderfully quiet nights =)

 

[Nakita Akita]

^that's pretty much like here in Bavaria.
Corona has one advantage: wonderfully quiet nights =)

Lol!
I'm deaf as a stone so once the hearing aids are out, it's always quiet to me

 

[Alexander Corrino]

^that's pretty much like here in Bavaria.
Corona has one advantage: wonderfully quiet nights =)

For me this is rather eerie, my village is quiet already most of the time, but these days it's even MORE quiet. It's somewhat unsettling, but I am glad that people seem to finally follow instructions, of course.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

today the police published that the number of road accidents has dropped to figures unheard of since Messrs. Otto and Diesel. Cool! =)

 

[ThreeEdgedSword]

Seriously, if this goes on for a while, we might even meet our Tokyo climate change goals!

 

[rhubarbodendron]

lol indeed as my great-grandma used to say: "selten a Schaden, wo ned a Nutzen dabei is" (there's rarely a harm without its advantages / rarely a cloud without a silver lining).

I seem to have caught a cold in the icy wind we've had the last 4 days: I have a slight cough today. No Corona virus - the symptoms are all wrong - but I might have to call in sick on Tuesday (home office on Monday) because right now people get overly nervous when you cough in their vicinity and I have no desire to get lynched by an hysterical mob.

 

[Kilana2]

Big events have been canceled until the end of August in Germany. I think, we won't see any concerts, parties, Oktoberfest or other celebrations this year. No travelling to foreign countries. For at least the next 12 month or even longer. Poor lazy young people won't have any Ballerman drinking sprees. Government discusses to prolong the school vacation. Lazy kids getting a reward so that their parents can travel with them and they get their 'well-deserved' recreation? WTF. Their are people in the world who are currently working until they drop dead without any vacation in sight...... The kids will survive without any vacation this year. And they shouldn't be given their graduation without exams....It would mean governmental promoted lazyness and a feast for helicopter-parents.

 

[Nakita Akita]

Big events have been canceled until the end of August in Germany. I think, we won't see any concerts, parties, Oktoberfest or other celebrations this year. No travelling to foreign countries. For at least the next 12 month or even longer. Poor lazy young people won't have any Ballerman drinking sprees. Government discusses to prolong the school vacation. Lazy kids getting a reward so that their parents can travel with them and they get their 'well-deserved' recreation? WTF. Their are people in the world who are currently working until they drop dead without any vacation in sight...... The kids will survive without any vacation this year. And they shouldn't be given their graduation without exams....It would mean governmental promoted lazyness and a feast for helicopter-parents.

In the USA, they are saying that they expect it all to start up again in October or November again.
Hopefully in the USA we are only looking at 2 more weeks of lunaciy lockdown.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

Frankly, I think that's unlikely. In China it took 3 months of extreme lockdown - far stricter than elsewhere.
In Germany we managed to slow the infection down through 1 month lockdown but we still have far more than thousand freshly infected every day. Imho the relaxation of the rules is a big mistake. We should wait till there are zero new infections since with the reopening of shops you can bet on the figures rising again.
From nthe pov of a biologist I'd say that at the current restrictions it'd take about 4-6 weeks to reduce the infection rate to zero and another 6-8 to starve the virus enough to carefully restart public life. That'd be a total of 3.5 months from now - early August.
But there will be a few hundred cases per week even after that, as long as we don't find a vaccine. So the elderly and sick people will still be at risk for the next year or so.

 

[Markonian]

Living in England, I am resigning myself now to the fact that I won't visit my Saxon homeland and taste traditional German doner this year. We gotta do the right thing.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

^ Don't despair: I have a Turkish restaurant in the neighbourhood (Döner is actually a Turkish dish) and could try to find out the exact spice mixture for a Döner. Then you can make one at home =)
It's quite simple: you arrange thin slices of turkey meat and minced meat on a skewer and grill them. Cut off the crispy outer layers and serve them in a flat bread with pickled red cabbage, cut lettuce, onions, tomato and a yoghurt sauce and sprinkle with chili flakes.
The only secret is the spice mix for the meat. It's usually well kept but I'm sure we can find a whistleblower

And as for visiting Saxonia - maybe your relatives there could send you photos?

 

[Nakita Akita]

^ Don't despair: I have a Turkish restaurant in the neighbourhood (Döner is actually a Turkish dish) and could try to find out the exact spice mixture for a Döner. Then you can make one at home =)
It's quite simple: you arrange thin slices of turkey meat and minced meat on a skewer and grill them. Cut off the crispy outer layers and serve them in a flat bread with pickled red cabbage, cut lettuce, onions, tomato and a yoghurt sauce and sprinkle with chili flakes.
The only secret is the spice mix for the meat. It's usually well kept but I'm sure we can find a whistleblower

And as for visiting Saxonia - maybe your relatives there could send you photos?

Is that similar to Shwarma?
Lamb and turkey layered on a spit.
I do t timber if we spiced it or not.
Or what about Gyros? Yummy!!
lamb and beef on a spit. Sort of compressed and definatly spiced meat.
I know, I know I'm supposed to be vegitarian but I'm not perfect

 

[Alexander Corrino]

Frankly, I think that's unlikely. In China it took 3 months of extreme lockdown - far stricter than elsewhere.
In Germany we managed to slow the infection down through 1 month lockdown but we still have far more than thousand freshly infected every day. Imho the relaxation of the rules is a big mistake. We should wait till there are zero new infections since with the reopening of shops you can bet on the figures rising again.
From nthe pov of a biologist I'd say that at the current restrictions it'd take about 4-6 weeks to reduce the infection rate to zero and another 6-8 to starve the virus enough to carefully restart public life. That'd be a total of 3.5 months from now - early August.
But there will be a few hundred cases per week even after that, as long as we don't find a vaccine. So the elderly and sick people will still be at risk for the next year or so.

I agree that it's too early to tune down the lockdown rules. But then I guess the whole BUT THE ECONOMY screams are getting too loud for our politicans to ignore. We'll see what that gets us in about two weeks.

What is also beyond me is why they all have been waiting this long to make masks mandatory in grocery stores and buses/trams and why this is - once more - the usual federalism chaos with different rules in every state. My federal state just made it mandatory from April 27th onwards. I know there aren't any masks available to buy, but homemade masks are just as okay for grocery stores/buses/trams (since the really professional masks belong in hospitals) and there have been a TON of offers of those, at least where I live. SO many people are sewing them, and there are also instructions on Youtube on how to make one without having to sew. And the alternative is a scarf, and I'm willing to bet that most people own at least one scarf. Still tho, I worry that no one is actually going to enforce those rules, and all it takes is ONE person without a mask who might be infected. (Improvised masks only do their job if everyone wears one.) And given how no one wears a mask to the grocery store at the moment (I was just there this morning, I was the only one with a scarf), I don't really have any high hopes.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

^I think they hesitated because these homesewn masks and the OP masks have almost zero efficiency if the wearer is healthy. They hold back droplets if you have to sneeze or cough, or if you spit when speaking. This way they protect the persons around you. But they have zero efficiency when it comes to protecting you from any germs flying around in your vicinity.
The distance rules make far more sense but I fear that when people wear masks they'll start to develop a false feeling of safety and won't keep the required distance any more. In my eyes that is extremely risky. I'm planning to reduce my shopping to the vital minimum for the next 4 weeks.

Is that similar to Shwarma?Lamb and turkey layered on a spit.
[...]Or what about Gyros? Yummy!!

I am not familiar with Shwama but it does sound similar. Gyros, is indeed almost the same and is a good substitute if you want to make a Döner

 

[Doctor Tiki]

Our Italian (luxury) restaurant down the street won't re-open, website and local newspaper say.

 

[Nakita Akita]

Our Italian (luxury) restaurant down the street won't re-open, website and local newspaper say.

So it has closed for good?