Sounds and Smells of Deutschland

ausfart,when my mother came out to germany for her first holiday i picked her up from hanover then headed home to fally on the autobhan,after we had been driving a while i noticed she kept  looking to the right,i had to ask if she was ok,she said yes i am fine iwas just looking for that town it must be big but i can,t see anything,i said wich town she said that one when we passed the next ausfart sign,dave.

"Not sure where the village of 'Fuck' is? It often appears in the news, as people nick the road sign."

I recall a village called "Fuchtorf" (or close to that) - this could be the place you refer to.

Made me smile !

I also did the whole "Big place this Ausfahrt" thing when first arriving in BAOR in 1979 ! Doh !!

Wankum was of course a constant source of amusement - though I could never understand why the petrol station seemed to close so bloody early even with so much business from squaddies going to/from the ports !

The Imbiss across the street likewise must have missed out on a fortune as that often seemed to be closed when there was a line of BFG plated cars queueing to get into the garage !

Was there any truth in the rumour that BAOR used to send a truck weekly to the ports / ferry terminals to collect all the empty jerry cans discarded by squaddies topping their cars up prior to getting on the ferry ?

Or is this just an urban myth ?

I confess I was guilty of said crime myself - 2 x jerry cans, fill up at Wankum, top up the car at Zeebrugge and dump the cans at the quayside !

a brattie mit senf from the shnellie in zeppelin stasse in hemer after a good session of iserlohner pilsner..heaven agree with earlier post about cooking bratties over here griddle without oil and be patient..dont turn too often..let them cook till just browning...graham..

OK so what about "Einbahnstrasse" ? Every town in Deutschland had several. Took me a few days to work that one out.

Fuchtorf-isnt that "foxes village". Stop sniggering.

Used to laugh at at late ex in-laws going on holiday and having a "rundfahrt" They were a bit prim school teachers

298 HALL
Re the cans at the ports.

We had the stock of cans for filling for WMR at 4PD and I certainly never heard of the throw aways being recycled there. It would have been logical for ODA to pick them up from Zeebrugge if it happened at all.

A story from the RAOC online site says that a local scrap man picked them up from around the Hook of Holland

The few I used were odds and sods,from the other NATO forces that found their way into the Depot. We held an historical stock of jerricans,some going back to WW2. One was a double can. They were sent back to West Moors and I heard no more of them

Loose Jerry can in Cars, madness but we used to do it. Early 60's, One of my mates had a Hillman Minx and we used to do long weekends in the UK, on a local leave pass. Petrol coupons and money being in short supply we were forced, like good soldiers should, to improvise. As Regimental Signals we had a supply of petrol for static charging purposes some of which was commandeered for our purpose. Petrol paperwork having been duly falsified we would set off for the ferry port at Ostende with the boot packed full of jerrycans and a couple or 3 in the back seat. The empties were usually, in Germany or Belgium, jettisoned over the nearest hedge. In the UK a willing buyer could usually be found. Considering we would hammer along on the autobahn, flat out, 100MPH+ (indicated) which was pretty quick even for that car by 60's standards, the car shaking and vibrating so much it loosened your fillings and no seat belts. It has always been a mystery to me how we survived. At those sustained speeds it was only by divine intervention that one or more of the well worn cross ply tyres did not let go. Us along with 50+gals of loosely stowed petrol would have made a nice glow to cook the bratties on. With all the fillings shaken out ID by dental record would not have been easy either.

[quote="graham wright"]a brattie mit senf from the shnellie in zeppelin stasse in hemer after a good session of iserlohner pilsner..heaven agree with earlier post about cooking bratties over here griddle without oil and be patient..dont turn too often..let them cook till just browning...graham..[/quote)

Ahh Hemer, Iserlohner Pilsner, curry wurst, or just a brattie. You had me back there for a moment Graham.

at the moment i buy my bratties [frozen] from lidl,i have noticed recently that sainsbury have fresh ones in [not frozen],might give them a try soon,i grill mine dry till they burst open,tomato ketchup with hot curry powder is the nearest i can get to proper curry sauce,never mind its nice experimenting,dave.

bob wrote:

alan there you go...............
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fucking_Austria

My kids still snigger whenever Wankum is mentioned and the out-laws wouldn't believe me it existed...............they thought it was a squaddie joke. Same happened with AusFART. They loved that one.

I wasn't aware of the village of Fucking, Austria...that's hilarious. And only a population of 107? Clearly there isn't much fucking going on in Fucking! Or, if there is, they are not being good Catholics at all and are using rubbers! LOL

When my grandparents visited us in Germany in 1971 or so, and keep in mind my Nana was a very proper, very genteel, Englishwoman from Salisbury, they were very amused by the signs "Ausfahrt" and "Einfahrt" and Nana had her picture taken next to one in the stadtpark in Dortmund, where the TV tower is located. I think it was one of the first times I realized the dear lady was more than just my "Nana" but actually someone with a sense of humour and a personality! I just didn't think her sense of humour ran to bodily function humour, but there ya have it!

As for the town of Wankum...Canadian English doesn't employ the term "Wank" like the British English and so the town name would pretty much go unnoticed by most Canadian families, unless they had a close-in connection with British family/friends. Canadians tend to use more graphic terms like Jack-off, Jerking-off, Jerk, etc. Of course "a jerk" simply means someone who is a total idiot, but clearly is similar to someone being "bit of wanker"...I always kind of thought the Brit version to be more...uhm...colourful.

Chemist wrote:

OK so what about "Einbahnstrasse" ? Every town in Deutschland had several. Took me a few days to work that one out.

Oh yes, there is a story my parents told, and they swore it was true but it sounds a bit like an urban legend to me, about a friend of theirs who was quite proud she was mastering the German language so quickly.

She had occasion to relay her residential address to a German bureaucrat (at the post office or something, I forget now) and stated she lived at "neun und schwanzig, Einbahnstrasse, Hemer..." Well, that's what the blue and white street sign at the corner of her street said the name was!!! LOL

This puts me in mind that during our first tour, DND or someone, maybe the Americans, put out a comical little picture book of adapting to the German way of life. The army characters in it were tow-headed, stubbly-legged, not-too-bright types.

The one piece that sticks in my mind to this day is of some hapless looking soldier sitting in a bidet with his backscrub brush, his knees up around his ears, with a very bemused look on his face. Few of us, if any in 1960, had ever seen a bidet and so we had no idea what on earth these things we sometimes came across in hotel rooms were for...feet washing? Laundry? Surely not a drinking fountain??? Yechhh...

We weren't the only ones who experienced culture shock, however.

A German landlady of ours used to tell a story that when they were still living in what became East Germany, they had Soviet officers billeted with them.

One day, a Russian officer came roaring down to her front room, waving his pistol around and demanding she return his potatoes...sofort! (immediately!). She told him she didn't have his potatoes and what on earth was he talking about. He insisted she did and she was to return them immediately....

The story she finally got out of him was he had been washing his potatoes in the basin in the washroom off his room and when he pulled the chain his potatoes (which were rare and expensive at that time) disappeared down into her basement! He wanted them back.

She apparently burst out laughing and had to explain to him that what he had been washing his potatoes in was called a toilet and the chain he had pulled flushed the toilet and his potatoes were not, in fact, transported down to her basement but into the sewer. He had never seen indoor plumbing (and this was an officer!).

Do you remember those lovely German loos wherein one could (ahem) inspect the "contents" before they were flushed away.

When we were renovating our house here in Ireland we were offered what I think were called flush downs to replace the antiquated facilities.

NO WAY

The smells of Deutschland

A term that was used in BAOR right up until the 70's was ' Woofer?' I never heard the term used in later years!

Most squaddies used this word to describe the noise German HGVs made that over took them on the Autobahn whilst driving along in a military convoy.

Chemist wrote:

Do you remember those lovely German loos wherein one could (ahem) inspect the "contents" before they were flushed away.

When we were renovating our house here in Ireland we were offered what I think were called flush downs to replace the antiquated facilities.

NO WAY

The smells of Deutschland

Yes...hut orderlys loved them! Funny enough, my wife was watching one of those damn real estate shows on TV a few months back. Someone was buying a house in the Czech Republic and the real estate lady was going on and on about those toilets and why they were better than the "no see" toilets. Can't remember the reason, but I was surprised they're still around.

By the way, Gordon 719. I see you're on line. Did you get the e-mail I sent re: a bunch of names from the old 7 Sigs days?

The Ausfahrt signs on the Autobahns were always cause for a giggle only to be surpassed by the polite notice that the people of a town hoped that you have a "Gutten Fahrt". Creased us every time we saw this sign.

I think the main benefit of the inspection loos was less chance of splash back. But if you were engaged in a particularly productive visit then a mid flight flush might have been required.

Other memories of German dwellings were aerials in the roof space - why do we have ours outside in the UK ? And cellars - fantastic use of space. And best of all concrete upper floors - so no creaking floor boards. Then outside in the garden the infamous German criss cross fencing. I presume these all still exist.

alan - I too remember the "woofers" referring to trucks; though not until you mentioned it !

It was still in use up to the early 80's in that case and maybe beyond !

Gwynno wrote:

I think the main benefit of the inspection loos was less chance of splash back. But if you were engaged in a particularly productive visit then a mid flight flush might have been required.

Hmmm...I really had to think on this one and I still do not recall "inspection loos"...but then I was probably just so used to German toilets, both domestic and commercial, being as they were I didn't think anything of them. I did think having the cistern tank up on the wall near the ceiling a bit odd, though but it made sense in that German sort of way

I do remember the smell in German toilets in gasthofs and discos and other clubs, however...damp, rank, and oily. Blech.

Gwynno wrote:

Other memories of German dwellings were aerials in the roof space - why do we have ours outside in the UK ? And cellars - fantastic use of space. And best of all concrete upper floors - so no creaking floor boards. Then outside in the garden the infamous German criss cross fencing. I presume these all still exist.

Oh lord, yes! I'd forgotten about aerials being inside the attic/roof space! The tv reception seemed to be quite alright so clearly having them there was just as good as having them out on top of the roof as in UK and here. Far less unsightly, too. Good move on part of the German authorities, there.

German cellars were an excellent use of space, yes. Of course, they reflected the floor plan of the living areas (or did the living area reflect the cellar floor plan? Hmmmm....a mystery!). This, of course, was the result of the German even continental way of building houses which was,and perhaps still is, markedly different from how homes are built here and in the US. I have no idea how brick and concrete block houses were ever insulated (and most German housing was a bit chilly, but that was more to do with the lack of central heating than anything) but sturdy? No doubt there. Solid and like Gwyn says, no squeaking floor boards and no carry over noise from your neighbours either.

Of course if one was in a block of flats with a gas heater one could easily hear any conversations occurring within a certain radius of your upstairs neighbour's gas heater (the ones used to heat your tap water in the kitchen; the MQs in Soest had them).

Criss-cross fencing...yep, judging from photos submitted to a Canadian Army brat site I'm on of our old haunts and what's there today, those fences do still exist. I liked them and come across the odd one here, actually. Not sure why I liked them, but I did. Those and field stone low walls covered in moss, often with glass fragments imbedded along the top layer of cement. Nice, that! LOL

Don't recall aerials in roof space,but I do remember the guy in the top hat who came to clean the chimney. Up into the attic,out through the skylight window, walk along the roof ridge, and DOWN with the brush to clean the chimney.
In our cellar we had the boiler AND the oil tank. Fire hazard?That was a great place to do a bit of DIY.
Yes solid floors,great idea, but sound insulation? We had a Canadian couple next door who had frequent shouting matches.
The sound from the hiring I lived travelled down through the bathroom,could hear the lady upstairs sliding up and down the bath.
In the quarter we had that wire mesh in the garden with the rush type material wired to it.Another unique German thing

Yes, oil tanks are still located in cellers even in new builds today, and yes, the chimney sweep still has his top hat and typical clothing and still often uses the roof exit to the chimney, depending on fuel burnt.

Of course despite all those fancy trappings, the chimney sweeps are qualified heating engineers as well.

I well remember the loos, I was based in an ex. german army barracks in Witten-Annen and the loo doors were gigantic affairs that looked like the doors on cold freezer rooms that closed with a real thud and had slam lock handles the same as fridge doors and the loo with the inspection shelf before flushing, never seen anything like it since.

Quote :

Gordon 719. I see you're on line. Did you get the e-mail I sent re: a bunch of names from the old 7 Sigs days?

Nope

Woofer,Einbahnstrasse's,Ausfahrts bring back memories but what about my favourite,Umlitung,bloody big place it was too going by the number of signs pointing you to it.

nobby clark wrote:

Woofer,Einbahnstrasse's,Ausfahrts bring back memories but what about my favourite,Umlitung,bloody big place it was too going by the number of signs pointing you to it.

Especially in the late 50s and early 60s when an economically rejuvinated Germany seemed to be rebuilding every autobahn, highway, side road, back lane and sidewalk in the country. Getting from Werl to Soest on Highway 1, usually a comfortable hour drive (including a stop at Ampen for a precaution against dehydration) could take twice as long owing to hitting flagman after flagman waving a red flag in your face.

Anyone remember collecting big blocks of ice from the local German ice factory to preserve fresh rations on exercise?

What about 'Frostschaden!' Most side roads and some main roads suffered from this in winter. In once drove my wife to Rinteln BMH from Detmold via Lemgo -- she had a sprained shoulder and neck muscle -- took nealy 2 hours maneouvering round the pot holes.
(M.O gave her a hand full of codine and sent us back home !!!)

stayed with friends in Rinteln last year -- their bungalow has a staircase going 'Nowhere' untill you find all the facilities in the atic - same as down below-- want to expand ?-- Take the roof off and build up !!

What about the 'Hausmeister' with his ready stash of booze in the cellar -- saved nipping to the NAAFI shop when you run out !

And Fritz - the dhobi waller ---for those nice clean starched shirts for the weekend.

Remember the 'Germans' who had ciggi machines at their garden gate or even sold beer as a side line from their keller?