Hello there! It’s Friday again, and after today I only have one more week at work before the Christmas holidays. I’m very much looking forward to not having to get up at 6 a.m. for a couple of weeks! We’re visiting Jan’s parents for Christmas then for New Year… well, as of right now we’re doing nothing! Iceland is out because flights were too espensive. Bruges was on the table, but other than me looking up train prices and letting Jan know nothing has been done about it and by now it may be too late to even book somewhere to stay. So we may end up staying in Karlsruhe and having fireworks thrown at us all night. We’ll see… Anyway, Friday letters!
Dear final Christmas present. Please hurry up and arrive so I can finally finish wrapping stuff!
Dear post office. I think I’m only going to have to visit you one more time this year (unless I end up having . Yippee!
Dear Deutsche Post. I can’t believe stamp prices are going up again in January! I still have some left over from last year when it cost 58 cents to send a letter within Germany… now it’s going up from 60 to 62 cents. It isn’t even that long since said stamps only cost 55 cents! And as for putting the price of an international letter up from 75 to 80 cents… well, I don’t even know what to say to that!
Dear Speyer. We’re coming to visit your Christmas market tomorrow! 🙂
That’s all I can think of this week, so here are some links:
- I love this comic about a freelance translator and her mouse (a computer mouse that she talks to).
- I need to get to the Fête des Lumieres (festival of lights) in Lyon some day. Just look how pretty!
- 22 Welsh words and phrases you definitely need this Christmas. Love it!! Although a pronunciation guide would have been nice.
- Red pandas!! So cuuuute.
- OKCupid have introduced new categories for gender and sexual orientation, including asexual, heterosexual and pansexual. And about time too!
- For my UK readers, apparently these are the top 10 UK Christmas markets. It says there’s one in Alnwick… who knew?!
- This one’s for anyone who was ever a fan of the Babysitter’s Club. Claudia Keeshi:Middel Skol Mamma. So funny!
Confuzzledom 
Honestly I have no idea where the time goes these days – only one more week left at work for me too – 3 of those days being half days. Not that I dont have loads to finish off by then!!
oh my goodness, red pandas! that 3rd gif! aaaaaah!
I know!!
I love your Friday letters!
I didnt know about the stamp prices going high.. ohhh noo!! I also still have some old stamps here 😦
I only found out because I ordered some stamps from the Internet and there was a little note saying “caution: these are only valid til the end of the year!”
Ohh my!!! 😦
I have to tell my hubby because he always needs to use them!!
Yay for it almost being the Christmas holiday! I can’t wait for a little vacation from work.
A few years ago, someone here had the bright idea of printing stamps which just say 1st or 2nd on them. Of all the things the Royal Mail has done, this is one that I actually think is good -if the stamp price goes up, the old stamps can still be used. 🙂
I love 1st/2nd class stamps! There’s no such thing here. There’s s tamp for letters, a stamp for “big letters” and a stam for “maxi letters”, then the same three categories again for international letters. They seem to put the prices up every year lately! Then they sell “supplement stamps” for like 2p for you to make up the difference of any old stamps you still have lying around.
I’m sure it’s all a big rouse to get us to spend more money! I wonder how long it will be before we stop being able to get the 1st/2nd stamps.
Stamp prices are just horrendous!! I’ve lost the plot as to how much posting anything is by now. Although I’m always pleasantly surprised when posting parcels.
Is it bad that for the Welsh words link I actually didn’t know what some of them meant! I can honestly say that I would never say “Araith Y Frenhines” – we’d just say Queen’s Speach with a Welsh accent! I think the reason I didn’t actually know some of the words is because it’s South Wales dialect which is completely different to North Wales dialect.
Anyway, I’ll stop rambling… enjoy yoru visit to the Christmas Market!!
Yeah, in one of them it says “In North Wales it’s different”.
You are so on top of the Christmas gift thing!! Aaah I am slacking so far behind!
I can’t believe that sending letters will become even more expensive. Again. Stupid Deutsche Post.
I know… they literally JUST put up the prices!
Is Deutsche Post bleeding money the way the US postal service is? That is why our stamp prices get raised…and I always have to laugh when Americans complain. Right now it costs 49 cents to mail a letter within the US – which, mind you, is 9.1 million sq km large. I pulled up the handy currency converters – the 62 euro cent stamp = 71 US cents. Of course, Germany is a fraction the size – only 357,000 sq km.
How much does an overseas stamp (say, to North America) cost in Germany today? Here I just paid $1.15 for some stamps for my overseas Christmas cards. Ouch. But that is only 92 Euro cents; I’m betting overseas stamps in Western Europe are quite a bit pricier.
It’s currently 75 cents for a normal-sized letter to anywhere in the world – going up to 80 in January. But for anything that they don’t consider “normal” sized it leaps up to €3.45!
I’m surprised it’s so inexpensive, although the price increase for something irregularly shaped is insane!
Wow, I haven’t even started Christmas shopping yet haha. I’m a little jealous that you only have one gift left to wrap. And yay for almost being on holidays — I’m a week away as well!
I’ve got more than one left to wrap, but I’m hoping to get some of the others done tonight. But I can’t even think about wrapping that one last one until it arrives!
ugh stamps seem to go up all the time! i am thankfully done with my christmas shopping, although i did just buy an extra present because i couldn’t help myself lol
LOL, I think I may have gone overboard for my godson… had to send his mum & dad’s presents in a separate box because I didn’t have one big enough for everything!
I don’t blame you for looking forward to not having to get up at 6am thats a crazy time to have to get up ! I hope you can find yourself a little getaway and a place to stay 🙂
We’ll see… Jan was on about staying here for a change but that honestly doesn’t appeal to me.
Oh that sucks that stamp prices are going up! But good for you for being almost done with Christmas shopping. I’m sadly not doing too well on that this year.
And thanks for featuring my post 🙂 Much appreciated.
Ahhh those Germans and their fireworks!! It was crazy last year in Frankfurt!
I can imagine – the Austrians are just as bad! I spent New Year in Vienna once and basically spent the entire night cowering behind a Glühwein stand.
Yes – postage! argh! I used to send lots of cards due to postcrossing, and back then it was cheap.. now, not so much…