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 |  | GEIST : Grand English speaking International other
      Stammtisch,DMF : Deutsch Mit Feinden,
 GEA : German Elderly Association
A [grim] fairy story inspired by clubs we know ;-)Once upon a time, a long Long time ago ... there was a
    club called GEA = German English
    Association... It was young, lively, & Very successful,
    & they all met in a cellar ...
      Full of mainly youngish English speaking engineer chaps,
      sinking beers after a hard week & mainly German girl
      students practising their English, they got on famously,
      & all brought more friends.Lots of beer got sold; parties & weekend trips got
      arranged, mountains got climbed & skied, lakes got
      sailed. Some even married each other. In fact ... but that's
      a story over another beer ;-)
        The Stammtisch cellar was so full
        you couldn't even get down the stairs ! 
        
          Aside:Sometimes they sneaked down the side stairs direct to
          the bar to order a beer before stopping to speak to
          friends... Cos otherwise it took 30 thirsty minutes from
          the 6th step on the main staircase, the few yards to the
          bar.The bar was manned by 2. occasionally 3 very busy
          quite attractive bar maids often in Dirndls - (not one
          very bored bar man with virtually no customers
          later). The Boom Years passed ... Ronnie Ray
        Gun across the big Pond declared a "Peace Dividend"
        (for tax payers & society, not for Engineers ;-) which
        tidal wave swept a whole lot of engineers out of Munich,
        who used to be well paid to design things with sharp front
        ends that could whiz through the air incredibly fast &
        go Bang! ;-) They didn't come any more, nor their girl friends. The
        GEA shrank. More Time Passed ... Some dinosaurs fossilised but
        stayed, Some dinosaurs passed on. ... Then ... Surprise!
        ... A new dinosaur joined, & recruited more pre-aged
        older dinosaurs for company, & forced words "Young
        thinking" off the programme !(Ageing was partly intrinsic, & partly imposed &
        accelerated by one `Pushy' members who forced the words
        "Young Thinking" off the programme despite 60% + against
        removal. ( Guess who "Pushy" was, who shoved that
        through. A clue ) The GEA's Cellar Bar
        Stammtisch got labelled by one disappointed young German
        girl (one of many disappointed a prospective new members -
        leaving permanently after one visit) as a " Rentner
        Verein". The GEA struggled on, ... & still
        had some lively activities, including Skiing & Walking
        etc, (even though the Stammtisch
        was an emptying ghost of its vibrant past). Then one day a silly old devil (GEA had
    reprobates to spare ;-) started massive ongoing damage to the
    GEA, increasing already copious existing
    internal tensions:`Mike Cock' first created :
 "DMF - Deutsch Mit Feinden"
      DMF didn't seem Friendly, as it parasiticly used the same
      venue as GEA  Stammtisch venue, but arrived
      first, drew on those GEA  who could also
      speak German, & scared off younger newcomers &/ or
      those looking to speak English at the GEA 's
      Stammtisch. 
       Mike Cock's militant DMF attitude to force innocent GEA Stammtisch early comers to speak German,
      even if they couldn't, (& could for example only speak eg
      English, Swedish & Arabic etc), did a hatchet job on the
      GEA, deterring new English speaking
      recruits to GEA. Deutsch Mit Feinden, got to be recognised as a
      parasite on the GEA, & Mike Cock
      got called the Black Spider for pouncing on GEA newcomers. He built more protective camouflage, while he continued to
      poach on the GEA, he created a parallel
      disguise to pretend there were also lots of English speaking
      people with his DMF, he created:GEIST = Grand English speaking International other
    Stammtisch" ;-)
      ( ... Grand name; Shame about the reality. ;-) ) 
       Later Mike Cock `graciously' announced to his
      `Friends' 
        He would allow GEA  people to individually
        return to their old venue he'd taken over, provided GEA  could not operate under its own name
        anymore, & that 3 GEA  people: {the
        Chair of the GEA  committee 
        ,
        + The guy who'd run the parties the last 20 years os so 
        , + She'd who'd done the bonfire tent for
        decades }, were all banned. 
         (A tellingly eclectic Ban list of people who didn't
        agree on lots of other things, but all agreed with many
        others, that DMF was probably the worst thing ever to to
        damage the GEA.& They All Lived Happily Ever After ... Or did they
      ?In Reality
        The GEA did not return to boost DMF's
        lack of people & lack of single remaining bar man's
        turnover/ trade.Weekly GEA Stammtisch died, remnants
        meet once a month.DMF & GEIST were under constant threat of closure
        from barman with insufficient turnover.GEA dinosaurs who revolted, & killed GEA democracy, & degraded GEA to German Elderly Association, became so so
        desperate they rehabilitated Mike Cock, (the one guy they
        & others had previously all agreed was the most
        troublesome), & he starred filling out the GEA programme with Deutsch Mit Feinden
        events.Mike Cock, showing his ingratitude to the full,
        continued to parasitise GEA: was last
        heard refusing to move to let the GEA tent woman do
        announcements.Most English speakers & many Germans legged it from
        GEA:Plenty of lively International speakers of English
        still in the Beer
        Gardeners Group ( inside in winter, every week in a new
        place).Many are also on activities like walking & skiing
        & mail listsSome left MunichSome went to other groups such as ToyTown
Some Beer
        Gardeners further split,There was a global recession (or was that out of
        chronological order ? & some foreign ie English
        speaking Engineers again left MunichSome people got older, & less people skied & did water sportsNumerous still hiked & BikedThen there was Brexit, (harder for
        new Brits to find employment in MunichAll reducing total number of English
        speakers in Munich, (but there's still quite a
        lot @ 2020-08: Almost 5,000 Brits + 6,647 Americans etc
        )Then Corona
        hitBut that's a whole lot of of other stories, yours to hear over a beer
        best at at a Beer
        Gardeners, but possible also at some other events
        announced on a subset of these
        lists |