Category: munich

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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
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oktoberfest 2020 cancelled

So with the Corona pandemic going on around the world, the question in munich was not “If oktoberfest will be cancelled?” but “When will they cancel oktoberfest?”

So on Tuesday 21.04.2020 the decision was announced. No oktoberfest in 2020. Of course the oktoberfest has been cancelled before – during World War 2 and Cholera outbreaks. Oktoberfest.de has a good historical overview of the various non events.

Of course it’s a big hit on the economy of Munich and the business & people who live from in the income it brings but I hope they are all supported from the city and state to come back in 2021.

Another view point – maybe it was a lucky escape as the poster chosen for 2020 was damn ugly!

Oktoberfest 2020 poster
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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?

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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.

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crossrail for munich

As much as I am waiting for crossrail to open in London – work has started on building the second tunnel through munich for the sbahn. Known locally as the zweite stammstrecke the new line should be ready by 2026. I really hope munich generates some fantastic new architecture around this line and not just grey boxes!

For those with BBC Iplayer access take a look at their insite into crossrail :  The fifteen billion pound railway

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kanban for home

Kanban was an idea by Taiichi Ohno from Toyota, which has adopted by Agile & Devops projects alike to manage workload.

Normally people keep this kind of method in the workplace, but has anyone used it successfully at home? Friends of mine used it on a project to build a new guest house in South Wales (The Grange) – but I wonder if its a suitable tool for me trying to organise my life here in Munich?

By Jeff.lasovski (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Thoughts or comments on the back of a postcard to the usual address please.

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that picture of me

if you are wondering who captured that picture of me at the top of the blog – thanks go out to Celticon Photography based in Munich.

Roger caught me while I dropping off Stadtkapelle Germering for the start of the Trachten- und Schützenzug during Oktoberfest 2015. (hey Phil – look at the camera before the police move our bus on).

Roger takes great pics – the majority of my facebook profile shots come via him.