bergblicksteuer

3 friends and 1 mother were heading down to the christmas markets in Innsbruck. The two semi knowledgable german ish people were explaining to the mother about taxation in Germany. Two great examples

  • Kirchensteuer – Church Tax
  • Luftsteuer – An Object Tax when an object you hang outside your property extends into public space (i.e. a sign over a pavement or a cigarette vending machine)

The drive continues and we notice that we cant see the mountains.
oh – you mean someone forgot to pay their mountain view tax? hence the phrase – bergblicksteuer was started in our group.

Living in Munich – its not hard to see some mountains – but the weather doesnt always play ball you forgotten to pay your bergblicksteuer.

Instagram has a small growing collection of photos tagged with #bergblicksteuer

instagram #bergblicksteuer screenshot
instagram #bergblicksteuer screenshot

my first time abroad

I guess it was 1995 or 1996 when some friends of mine at Uni declared they wanted to go via Eurotunnel to EuroDisney (now DisneyLand Paris) for the day. I didnt have a passport – so had the joy of getting quickly a British Visitors Passport from the postoffice to be able to join them. The old British Visitors Passport was a simple booklet with a picture, no where near the security standards we have in our passports today.

Why remember this now? Well I just managed to secure a Starbucks YouAreHere mug for DisneyLand Paris. My collection of mugs brings back so many memories from friends and places visited.

15 years

Last week – before I could present my latest project update at work I got presented with my golden pointee for 15 years of service at the company.

I never really I thought I would be in a company that long – but the work, the challenges and the fun have kept me going. 15 sits pretty well alongside 10 & 5 right?

finally getting the terrace sorted…

if you have visited chez phil since I moved in – the terrace has been nothing I concentrated on. this was the year to get this sorted. New sichtschutz, chairs, lights & plants! (the fresh herbs were great with breakfast this morning)

Its now a great place to unwind after work and people are taking bets if the plants will survive.

hello blogging, my old friend

I’ve come to blog with you again

So I stopped blogging when social media exploded. I got used to writing 140 characters and then getting a bit frustrated when I ended up with a -4 and still had to remove grammar and punctuation (not that I could ever use either properly).

So now we’re back again. I guess it wont be daily posts, but there will be at least some thoughts shared at least a few times a month.

Enlightening, thought provoking – don’t get your hopes too high.