Maybe I do not speak German well enough

For many of my regular readers it is old news. The old PC (vintage 2004) decided a few months ago that it wanted a rest and was not going to do anything without an overhaul.

Essentially a battery needed replacing as one of my new friends found out for me a couple of weeks ago. After 4 months living without the PC urgency was not the order of the day, but I decided today to do something about it.

Off to an electronic consumer goods store in Frankfurt with a very large computer selection. Given the range of goods, it was not an easy task to find what I wanted, so finally I had to enlist the aid of a friendly local member of staff - helped by the fact that I had brought the old battery with me!

I have this thing about speaking German - it took me long enough to become nearly fluent, and even with the Humberside drawl that will not go away when I speak the language, I insist upon using it. If they start talking to me in English without me choosing to do so, I tend to revert to South Yorkshire rather than Humberside (learned in my teaching days in Sheffield, nearly 40 years ago). When you have tossed the odd "tha' knaws that thissen, sithee" at them (perfectly good English, they should be able to understand it), they are only too happy to revert to German, even Hessisch.

Shown a not particularly major sample of what I was looking for, I checked the box for where it was made. Sure enough. "Made in China" (and written in English as such, not in German). YAWN!!!!!!!

"You have nothing that is not made in China?", I asked in perfectly good German.

The guy looked at one or two other examples closeby, shook his head and made some comment about wondering why that is so important.

I had gone to buy a battery rather than have a political discussion, but it is always difficult for me. I pointed out that I wanted to keep people in Germany working, unemployment was a scourge, unlike with Chinese imported garbage "Made in Germany" meant quality, and I would eventually accept something made somewhere else in the EU (preferably Spain or Greece) as getting people working there was vital to getting the European economy working again and getting past the banking crisis. People who don't work have no money to save in bank accounts, so the banks have more problems and more bad debts ....

Well he was only a guy working in a shop and he had a living to make. I decided to promise to think about it, and I came home without the battery.

I wondered on the way home whether I had sounded convincing enough. Maybe my German did not sound authentic, maybe the Humberside drawl got in the way ....

Or maybe I am just lousy at watching the ever-increasing deterioration that lack of choice and lack of protection of our own markets and jobs is causing us. I love Germany and its emphasis upon quality. I would hate to see it go the way of the UK and sell out to the cheapest buyer on just about everything that matters.