How many years have you been living in , Rob?

I’ve been living in German speaking areas for about seven years. seven years. Erm..I spent…erm..about four years living in the first time in..in..Frankfurt, or Giessen rather, and…near Cologne. And then we moved down to Basel for a couple of years, and now I live back up not from Cologne again.

How does life in compare with life in the UK?

It’s more . It’s more organised. Streets are cleaner. Erm…the bureaucracy is a system that….i..it’s one people laugh about a lot; bureaucracy and and organisation…but the system does work.

So you can get things done. If you have t..to go to the local government to get some papers, you can do it quite easily.

, yeah. To in a new area is something that takes a half an hour. It’s very simple, very easy. You take along the papers you need, they get stamped and you again. It’s easy.

Sounds fantastic! Erm..what about the weather, the food?

Heh…heh..heh..erm..it depends on the area of . The area I keep landing in is grey, relatively cold. It never gets really cold in winter, it never gets really hot in summer. Erm..i..it’s quite like England, . But..erm..but southern is..is really warm..i..it’s beautiful and they have good heavy winters…lots of snow, degrees in summer…

Lot’s of skiing presumably..

They have..yeah.. lots of skiing in Schwarzwald….yeah, it’s…er..there’s a big across .

How’s the food?

Heh..heh..heavy! Heh…the food is very heavy..erm..lots of pork, lots of cream sauces..on..on foods..erm…lots of… Bratkartoffeln …these fried potatoes, very fatty. Erm… sauerkraut..this pickled cabbage that’s cooked..sauerkraut..it’s terrible..

Heh..heh…heh..you haven’t for it?

No, and I don’t intent to.

How would you describe German people..erm.. the Spanish and the Italians...Mediterranean people. How would they compare?

More . It takes a long time to get to know..erm..German people in comparison, I would say, to..to..Mediterranean peoples. They’re very direct. If you ask a..a direct question, however personal, you might be told ‘that’s none of your business’, or you might be given a fairly complete answer. They won’t go…they won’t talk around the subject. They’ll tell you what they think.

So, quite direct.

Very direct. Erm..and that can be…as a Brit moving to that can be quite to start with.

But you obviously feel comfortable with that.

I like it because you know exactly where you . And..there’s..there’s no bullshit, you get exactly what..what the person thinks.

Is it easy to get to..to get to know…to meet people if you go out socially. Are they and friendly and open?

It depends. You move into a new village, then it will take a good six months or so before people start to speak to you. They want to , they want to come to their own decision about you first. Erm..once they decide that actually you're not too bad, erm..then.. once..once they decide they like you then they mean it..erm…and then you’re really there.