Ok, time to catch up on a few things.

The Operation

Having the operation was quite an experience. It was a serious crash course in medical German for one thing. I also got to experience the German healthcare system, which I think is ranked second best in Europe. It's pretty good. I was on a ward with just two other people, and there was an urn for free tea and coffee just outside. If you pressed the button for a nurse, one would come pretty fast, but they did have a habit of promising to do something, and then never coming back, which happens a lot in the NHS too. It took ages to actually leave, since there was only one doctor left in the evening and she was called to assist in an emergency operation. Eventually she came and passed me fit to fly the next day, then I had to wait another half hour before a nurse could come to take the tap out of my arm that they'd use to put the anaesthetic and the drip in. I was glad to see the back of that, it didn't hurt but it makes you feel odd to have something sticking out of your veins.

Today I got a letter from my health insurance company asking me to describe the accident so they can decide if they want to sue somebody..

Bank So Postbank finally sent me a card one month after I opened my account. They have machines here that you put your card in, and then they print you off a statement, without you having to type your PIN in. So, if you find a card on the street and want to decide if it's worth nicking, it's very convenient. However, they don't really seem to have debit cards here, so a stolen card is not as useful as you might think. Instead they have a strange electronic cash payment system. You take some money out of your account, charge it to your card (the same card), and then you can pay from that cash in shops etc. It strikes me as very inconvenient, you have to go back to a cash machine to charge your card (so you might as well just get some money out) and you then have to remember how much money is in your account and how much money is on your card. There's also no danger of getting any credit interest when you move the money to your card, not that you seem to get any while it's in your account either. Once you have the money on your card, it's more secure though, since when you pay you must enter your PIN, which is harder to get right than a signature.

Ryanair Germans haven't got used to budget airlines yet. The flight back here was 90% Germans, and they formed a slightly disorderly queue in front of the boarding gate about half an hour before the plane we were going to take had even touched down. Clearly the prospect of having to find your own seat is still causing some concern. They all took ages choosing where to sit, despite it only being a one hour flight in the dark, and ages stowing their hand luggage, causing the flight to take ages to get ready. This was in contrast to the easyjet flight from Edinburgh to Stanstead, where nobody even stood up until the flight was called and then they boarded up the front and rear steps at considerable speed.

I'm sure this naivete won't last. There is a German budget airline operating out of Cologne now, and they will probably come up with some ruthlessly efficient way of reducing turnaround time before you know it.

I was the only passenger on the bus back from the airport to Karlsruhe, which meant I got to talk to the driver about Ryanair, Edinburgh, Germany and the latest revelations about Princess Diana. I had to feign interest in this, since I didn't know how to politely say I didn't give a damn about Princess Diana, and I don't even know what this butler chap has been saying about her. When I got back to Karlsruhe, I couldn't see my bike, and thought it might have been half inched, but it turned out that while I was away about 200 leaves had fallen on it from the tree next to where I locked it up. They had camouflaged it against the leafy background. There are now leaves stuck in the bearings, the chain, the dynamo, the mudguards.. it looks like I just drove through a tree.

Clothes I bought some clothes today, exactly the same kinds of things that I would buy at home, but inexplicably I now look German. I am being assimilated.