About a week ago, I spotted all these Nikoläuse (plural for Nikolaus) in our local supermarket.

Either the Nikolaus’s  early appearance had lapsed into oblivion over the years, or sales are getting more aggressive. It’s probably a combination of both.

Nikolaus at the German supermarket

These Stiefelgeschenke (stocking fillers) are meant for the morning of December 6, when Nikolaus comes around, and rewards the good children by stuffing goodies into their boots left outside the home.

Even though Nikolaus might resemble Santa, they are two different traditions . Nikolaus was a Greek bishop (4th century) and Santa, well, he is from the Northpole.

I do miss the 60s for our innocence. We children did not expect anything and there was nothing whatsoever, resembling Nikolaus (Dec 6) or Christkind (Dec 24), in any village grocery store. Our parents left us behind with an aunt, when they did their Christmas shopping in the nearby town.

I have to admit I had my first taste of Lebkuchen and Zimtsterne (traditional Christmas cookies). The other day though, I refused a cup of hot Glühwein (mulled wine), as I don’t want to have it too early, because I might get tired of it even before the Christmarket season begins.
At Allthingsgerman, you can read more on Der Niklaustag.

Yesterday, on facebook, I asked my friends the question which other countries would leave goods out on the road for sale.

Not only is payment based on trust, but there is also the risk to have the whole lot stolen at the same time. This got quite a few responses, but only from areas and countries, where this kind of sale is still part of the rural norm (except for the contribution from Tokyo).

*  West coast of Ireland. Both are great places.

*  Switzerland was the same!

*  Michigan, but rarely.

* oh it happens in the countryside in England, yes. A lot. I think it’s more universal than you realise!!

* Certainly plenty of honesty boxes in the Niederrhein…. (Lower Rhine region)

* We have a place out by the ranch that sells fruit like that… (California)

* Here in south-central Pennsylvania, you see many of these. It’s nice.

* Common thing here in Japan!!

* I’ve seen many of these in Japan. (even in Tokyo!)

*  Country roads all over Canada, too.

*  In Kent…

*  In NZ on almost every corner too

* Here in the US in the country on the way to …. College.

What I thought was mostly unique to a handful of countries, seems to be common practice around the world. Interestingly enough, there were no contributions from friends where this is not done.

Roadside sale of firewood

The world seems to be a good and honest place, in many parts.

Roadside sale of pumpkins

Based on my own experience, I had seen these kinds of sale in Japan and in parts of France. Other than that, I thought it had mostly gone out of style. Good to know I was wrong. When I read about other areas of the world where people kill each other over a handful of rice, I tend to forget the normal life.

In my last post  from 18 June, I had reported about the difficulties in finding an investor to take on the Officers’ Club. All that has changed within the last two weeks – after 17 years of lying idle.

The Taunuszeitung, dated 30 June 2010, had the following article Luxus hinterm Fachwerk (extravagance behind the half-timber). The Oberurseler Woche, date 01 July 2010, also carried an article titled  Im Offizierskasino entstehen Wohnungen (The Officers’ Club will change into apartments).

Over the years, several investors had been interested in the Officers’ Club, but none of their plans of turning it into any kind of business got approved. The residents of this Villenviertel (exclusive residential area) had enough say-so to put any type of business plans to rest.

This has come to an end with the current investor’s proposal for turning the building into privately owned apartments. To do that, the investor set up his own corporation, Mountain Lodge Grundstücks-GmbH, and bought the areal of 1200 qm (close to three acres) from the city of Oberursel.

The Officers’ Club (also called Mountain Lodge around here) has found a new purpose, and the previous hope of getting the basement to house the Camp King archives is lost. Manfred Kopp, the Camp King archivist, is still without a permanent home for the Camp King archives, but we will continue looking for an appropriate location.