Good morning, dear reader,
Would you like a little quiz to wake you up? If I tell you that today the Dormouse Day then do you know what that means? Exactly, that the coming summer weeks will see the same weather as today. “The weather on Dormouse Day may stay seven weeks,” reads one pawn rule. Another prophesies rather gloomily: “If the dormouse is wet, it will rain non-stop.” If these rules are really correct (unfortunately, customs cannot be relied upon one hundred percent in this regard), we can look forward to a very fruitful summer in view of today’s weather forecast: between Flensburg and Füssen the thermometer will rise to 20 to 25 degrees, the sun will alternate with clouds, and so that it doesn’t get too dry, it also rains here and there. So far so good.
If I now ask you where the Seven Sleepers Day got its name from, do you know that too? Of course, you know it, because as a t-online reader (or readers) you are a cunning fox (or a cunning vixen): There are these cute rodents with bushy tails, black eyes, round ears and …
Ha! Caught! Wrong answer, totally wrong. But don’t worry I wouldn’t have known either, so I did a quick look as I typed these lines: The dormouse day refers to one early Christian legend, according to which seven brothers were once persecuted in Ephesus on the Aegean coast for their faith and walled in a cave. Believe it or not 195 years later, on 27. June year 446, they were discovered there – and the miracle happened: the seven sleepers came back to life and testified to their belief in the resurrection of the dead. That’s the legend.
Back to today, where there are fewer miracles but more accurate weather forecasts. The sky is pleasantly mild after the hot period, so the summer promises to be nice. There it grows anticipation of the holiday. Whether at the breakfast table, at school or in the office: all over the country people are talking about upcoming holiday activities these days. One jets to Thailand, the other cycles down the Danube. Families get ready for the trip to the Baltic Sea, the Atlantic coast or the Alps. Couples pack their backpacks for a city trip to Barcelona, Copenhagen or Amsterdam. It’s true what the saying goes: Anticipation is the greatest joy. You can already taste the Pizza Quattro Stagioni on your tongue, smell the sea salt in the air, feel the sun on your skin. Wonderful, wonderful, everyone really deserves a well-deserved holiday.
However, allow me this morning to pour a little water into the holiday wine. Because I pricked up my ears when I read a report in “Spiegel”: A quarter of Germans have no money for vacation, reports the magazine, citing a representative survey by the opinion research institute Civey among more than 10,000 respondents. People in the lower income brackets are particularly affected:
65 percent of people in households with a net monthly income of less than 1,500 euros do not have the money to travel.
It is in households with an income of 1,500 to 2,499 euros 39 percent.
Remarkable: also say among members of the middle class with a net monthly income of 2,500 to 3,499 euros 20 percent, a vacation is too expensive for them.
The percentages vary, but the reason is always the same: Given the high inflation and the sharply increased prices a quarter of Germans have to forgo their vacation for hotels, holiday apartments, flights and trains. Nothing with Quattro Stagioni in bella Italia, sea breeze or mountain sun.
Now hard-hearted contemporaries may reply: So what? It’s also nice on the balcony or in the park! However, more empathetic characters understand: It does something to people when they realize that they can no longer afford the way they used to live. That what used to work is no longer possible. Or that what you long for has never worked. That many others can enjoy what you have to deny yourself. Everyone can handle a little thrift, but when the money is no longer enough for the most beautiful moments in life, something creeps in: a feeling of disappointment. Perhaps also dissatisfaction with the general situation in the country. For some, it may also be the envy of all the others who are now chatting about their upcoming trips while you have to sit at home yourself.
I take this feeling seriously. And I thought to myself yesterday while I was writing these lines: How about as many summer vacationers as possible looking around in their own district or place of residence on the days before their departure and looking for the less well-off? And what if you make them a little happy? A day ticket to the fun pool for children, a full ice cream for a whole family, a visit to the cinema for the elderly or just an hour to have a cup of coffee with the elderly woman across the street: It is not difficult at all to make other people happy. And the best thing is that you are happier afterwards.
ear candy
Judgment against car boss
Ex-Audi boss Rupert Stadler is on trial. (Source: Matthias Schrader/AP-Pool/dpa)
Audi had deceived its customers to the letter: The car company built a technique for manipulating the emission values into its diesel engines. The former head of the company claimed for a long time Rupert Stadler, he didn’t know anything about it. But months of court proceedings in Munich exposed him. Stadler caved in and struck up a deal with the public prosecutor Deal. He made a partial confession and should now get a reduced sentence: probably around one million euros in fines and up to two years in prison on probation. With a view to the tens of thousands of car buyers who have suffered damage, this can be considered minor. Nevertheless, the judgment expected today would be groundbreaking: For the first time, a CEO was convicted in the European emissions scandal.
Tottering dictator
Vladimir Putin fights for his power: After the Wagner mercenaries attempted a coup, the Kremlin boss tried desperately to restore his authority. In a televised address, he introduced Warlord’s troops Yevgeny Prigoschin last night an ultimatum: the men should either report to the Ministry of Defense or resign or disappear to Belarus. However, the “organizers of the mutiny” would be held accountable – an unmistakable death threat against his former cronie Prigozhin. Read the speech verbatim here. And what does the warlord say about being vilified on social media? Our researcher Lars Wienand asked him – and got a remarkable answer.
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