2 Legit

We finally received our official 'Legitimacy Cards' for the Grand Duchy!  A mere six months after arriving, our cards are now in hand. For what it's worth, we are now actual legal residents of Luxembourg. What I find fascinating about living here is how so many things are strictly enforced (recall our episode at Contrôle Technique w/ Miss Vicki - see also snow tires), and yet other items official are as flimsy as a balsa wood airplane. So...our official Luxembourg ID cards are tri-fold paper that I could probably manufacture in the basement of any elementary school library! 

Exhibit A:

I should have probably pixelated the card number, but...

...I must remind you, dear reader, that this ID card is rather feeble. Yes, those are staples holding my photo onto a legal document!

Apparently the rest of the European Union is getting on our case for these cards. Currently Luxembourg driver's licenses are also printed on paper with no lamination! I hear due to the outside pressure the new licenses are to be laminated with a magnetic strip readable by other nations within the EU.  This is a good thing. Since I am now able to get a local driver's license with the issuance of my ID card, I hope to get a proper card that will actually fit into a wallet! Again, you can clearly see that this card was officially stamped on April 10...just over six months - to the day - after of our arrival here. I was required to have dogs registered within 90 days for crying out loud! I think we will be traveling with our passports.

While we're on the subject of things not really adding up, I'd like to share with you the scene transpiring across the street from us. There are two major happenings taking place. The first is that the snooker hall has re-opened under new management! Hooray! They've done a nice job in refurbishing an older pool hall, and they do show international soccer games, etc. If they would install a dart board, I may never leave the place. 

...and Leo's was his Name-O!

The second major construction site is a new school they've been working on since before we moved into the neighborhood. Progress on the school has been laboriously slow, and I really don't claim to understand how the trades work in the Grand Duchy. Nor do I know how the permitting process is vetted here, but this...this has got to break some sort of work place safety code!

Oh yeah, that's a dude suspended from a crane without a safety harness!!

THIS CRANE!!!

The good news is that you can see the cherry trees and wild pear are in bloom! Even the beech and horse-chestnut trees are starting to leaf out finally! I sure hope that guy is OK.