"robobass" wrote in message
...

JSW,

I already have the Westfalia MD150, or at least a version which I got
cheap from an Aldi type store. 2 inch wide belt. Very useful. And
still works well after 10 years regular use! I couldn't pin down your
other suggestions, but "Ferm" is a brand which was sold through the
now defunct "Max Bahr". Based on my experience with their biscuit
joiner, I would never buy anything with this mark. I think that it is
also true in the USA that the machines sold in the big box stores are
intentionally made crappy. I don't get it. Do the big retailers want
to frustrate you and force you to hire contractors? It's sort of like
restaurants. In Europe, at least, the closer you are to a major train
hub, the worse the food is. I want to ask sometimes, "would it have
cost you any more money to serve me a pizza which didn't taste like
poop?" I just don't get it...

==================

I avoided large cities if possible. The Army bases I visited to work
on comm gear were either on the edge of town or in remote areas like
Vilseck. Generally I could find a good meal in a small to medium
town's Gasthaus, or a restored castle's restaurant. I stumbled onto an
excellent pig roast in the banquet hall of a castle far off the
tourist track where an American GI like me was still a curiosity.

I had a set of the Shell road maps that showed contour lines,
buildings, ruins etc in enough detail to plot artillery fire. I bet
the Russians had them too.

The exception was when my parents came over to visit. As neither knew
German I took them to downtown places more likely to speak English.
The Chinese restaurant near the Dom in Koeln wasn't bad. I don't think
they really appreciated JaegerSchnitzel or Spaetzle as much as I did.

jsw