Control control control control, the EU will drown in its information gathering

[DFW]

Today, due to my train between Brussels and Liège breaking down, and a 50 minute trip taking 2 hours, I missed my booked train back to Germany. The only train left (it was late in the evening) was a private train (Thalys) that needed a new ticket. I wasn't looking forward to spending the night in some dingy hotel in Liège, Belgium, without so much as a toothbrush, so I paid up.

But, oh, no, it's not enough to be willing to buy the expensive ticket on the private train. To buy it, I had to give my name, phone number and date of birth. To buy a f***ing TRAIN ticket? I said sure, but what in the world for? The man at the SNCB ticket window said, "we have to catch terrorists."

You need my telephone number and date of birth to catch terrorists? As if a terrorist is going to give you his real name, DOB and telephone number! I asked him how many terrorists they had caught since they had started doing this.

Uhhhh......... (in other words, NONE. DUH!!!)

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

1. Good reply to that guy. I usually give my old disconnected phone number.

Sorry about that train-pain.

[DFW]

3. I could have given him the number of a dry cleaner in Oberammagau

He would not have known the difference (or cared).

[steve2470]

2. bummer! but I'm glad you caught the correct train

All the best to you and your family

[DFW]

4. Thanks, Steve!

Our eldest one just got engaged, and we just buried one of our best friends in Holland yesterday.

There are more important things in the big picture, and crap like this becomes just one more funny story to pass on after the initial frustration of the day has past. A mini Belgian version of Alice's Restaurant.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. I take it you don't often use Thalys trains. Are they worth the extra money?

I think I was on one from Paris to Brussels once.

[DFW]

6. Only several times a week

But I usually have my travel agency issue the tix. I don't have time for this.

As for if they are worth the extra money: no, but there is often no choice. They have a virtual monopoly on the Paris-Brussels route, and the only through trains from Paris to Amsterdam, Köln, Düsseldorf and Essen. If you pay the full tariff, you may land a first class car where they serve a cold meal. They are (usually) OK, but recently they have been charging extra to be in the cars where meals are served. They do have a snack car where you can buy food and drink, but the quality is such that it has been deemed unhealthy by the Albanian Medical Association, and probably every medical organization of higher competence.

When they arrive on time (usually happens at least once a week) and don't break down somewhere along the way, they are fast, although the seats are narrow and very uncomfortable.

[malthaussen]

8. Wow, sounds like a lovely travel experience.

How I long for the days of the 20th Century Limited and le Train Bleu.

-- Mal

[DFW]

10. The time saved (IF any is saved) is not to be sniffed at

But when they go sour, they REALLY go sour.

As fate would have it, I was looking forward to a leisurely Friday, maybe a quick trip over to Holland, but back in time to greet my younger daughter, her boyfriend and the new baby for a weekend visit. But there is no rest for the weary. I got a panicked call from Brussels this afternoon, and they ABSOLUTELY need me back there tomorrow.

So much for sleeping off my jet lag. I hope this is the end of it until Tuesday, when I will feel the Bern. Well, not "the" Bern, just Bern. I have been called down to the beautiful, sleepy capital of Switzerland, and except that it involves nearly 5 hours of car/plane/train travel in each direction, Switzerland is rarely hardship duty.

[malthaussen]

14. Hmmm, what was that earlier about an "unboring" life?

-- Mal

[DFW]

15. Well........

It's routine to ME anyway! As it turned out, the panicky tone of the request for my presence was, for once, sorta justified.

In the meantime, I am now on my way back to Germany from Sprout City, and have heard that my wife's mom, who was finally home from the dreadful hospital she was in, had a fall in her bathtub, and was now sedated and under a 24/7 watch. My wife canceled plans to be home over the weekend and drove in a panic back up to northern Germany (2½ hours) AGAIN to arrange round the clock care so she could cut out this 3 times a week 5 hour round trip she has been subjecting herself to since she got back (once a social worker, always a social worker, especially when it's Mama). My daughter canceled her visit, and I will be in for a tranquil but lonely weekend until it's time to run down to gnomeland. Dallas, of course, has Monday off, since it's a holiday back in the States. No such luck for us peons.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. Oh my dear DFW.........they sure will drown!

And you bet it's about control!

For all the good it will do them.....that is to say: ZERO.

Glad you got home, finally.

[DFW]

16. 'Twas all quite temporary, my dear Watson

I got a call yesterday afternoon requesting that I drop everything and haul ass back there again this morning. I am finally on my way home again--and THIS time, I will be making full use of my right to sleep in tomorrow--for once!

[Thyla]

9. You wouldn't do well in Spain then...

It's 'papers please' at every turn and you just about need permission to sneeze.
Definitely stuck in old ways here and they don't care either.

[DFW]

11. That's odd. I am there once a month, and speak two of their four major languages

I have had a much easier time of it, even with the 2½ hour super fast express train from Madrid to Barcelona. They do have a security check now for the express trains, but nothing like the circus at the Gare du Nord in Paris. I used to live and go to school in Spain, but that was in a another era.

[Thyla]

12. Well RENFE Madrid to Barcelona

Requires you to supply phone number, email and passport(or Spanish resident card no.) to buy a internal ticket so not much difference there.
And I guess I am talking about nearly every facet of normal daily life here as opposed to security concerns.

The post or courier deliveries require one to show their passport or DNI/NIE number and have it recorded. To get a mobile phone you need to give that information too. If you use a credit card at the supermarket out comes your passport or card. To buy things online you need your NIE or passport if you are not Spanish. Want to stay at an airbnb? Well not only do you have to give your passport details but that also then gets filed with the police for each visitor. We just bought a car and needed to show a passport, NIE number and a bill from electricity, water, etc...

When we lived in Brussels I found it odd that the police had to show up to verify your residency, my French wife found this astounding. Well the same and more applies here, the policia rock up with your local councils renewal forms as needed.

I can't even repair our fence, paint the house or tile a kitchen backsplash without first getting permission and paying tax for doing so although such requirements vary with each municipality.

It's probably not noticeable when visiting but when you live here and have responsibilities you have days when it seems like a never ending battle against kafkaesque bureaucracy.
Today may just be one of those for me.

[DFW]

13. Quite a difference from the days when I lived there

The laissez-faire attitude of the late Franco era must have evaporated completely over the years.

But this whole tendency of the control freak state is ever increasing in the EU for sure. It differs in intensity from country to country, but like the former East Germany, the state will know every single movement, action, transaction and thought of everyone living here. Like the former East Germany, they will find themselves in possession of such a huge mountain of information that they will never be able to mount an apparatus big enough or efficient enough to have a positive effect on the citizens or catch bad guys. It will serve to harass people with nothing to hide, because we are sitting ducks for every bored, corrupt or mean-spirited bureaucrat looking to fill his day with something other than coffee breaks and cigarettes. But if you are willing and able to circumvent the rules, the authorities are so buried in useless information supplied by honest, compliant citizens, they seldom get around to finding the rotten eggs. This is supremely ironic, as they insist that the reason that they need all this information is so that they can catch the rotten eggs.

Like you noted, as I am only a visitor these days, I haven't had to confront all the useless bureaucracy imposed on residents. But it is both increasing and increasingly unpleasant. Quite the contrast from the EU that some seem to think is some kind of socialist paradise with hot and cold running free everything.