Michael Surely you have heard in the news about the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles in January. What you might not know is that we were on vacation there just three days before. We had rented a place in Venice Beach over New Year's and were doing our typical L.A. activities, like dining out, biking along the beach to Santa Monica, and I got to surf. After the waves at Manhattan Beach were too high for me one day, we drove up to just before Malibu to Will Rogers Park, and I paddled out at the pier and caught a few waves. We had no idea that just three days later, the entire area, including my surf beach, would burn down!

Angelika In March, I had my birthday. As is well known, birthdays come with cake. However, since eggs are currently in short supply in the USA, we actually had to ration our eggs before my birthday. We skipped our weekend breakfast eggs so that there would be enough left for baking the cake. In the supermarkets here, customers are currently allowed to buy only a certain number of egg cartons. At "Trader Joe's," for example, that's only one carton with 12 eggs per customer per day. However, if customers don't show up first thing in the morning, all they find is empty egg shelves.

Michael Whenever I drive through Germany on vacation, I immediately switch to Defcon One, because it's important to spot all those speed traps in time. Often, an inconspicuous village in the middle of nowhere has installed a stationary camera to cash in on us tourists, and cities like Munich or Augsburg are practically plastered with speed cameras. Not to mention the mobile units that set up speed traps in the most unlikely places.

Angelika Did you know that in San Francisco, the coastal road along Ocean Beach has recently been closed to cars? Here's how it happened: During COVID, the city's transportation department in San Francisco came up with the brilliant idea of establishing so-called "Slow Streets," which are traffic-calmed roads where pedestrians and children on bicycles could spread out ( Rundbrief 09/2020 ), so you didn't feel so confined. "Slow Streets" still allowed access for residents and delivery people. They were not completely closed to cars. The program was so popular in San Francisco that some "Slow Streets" were kept that way even after the pandemic, such as Sanchez Street around the corner from us, which we still frequently use for our walks.

Michael I have often expressed in this publication that there is no equivalent to the German TÜV (Technical Inspection Association) in America. Some states really allow any vehicle on four wheels to drive on the highways, but California tends to overregulate in this area as well. Every registered motor vehicle must pass the so-called smog test every two years (older vehicles even every year).

Angelika We already know that you are eagerly waiting to hear how things are going for us in Trumphausen. As expected, there is such a mess and chaos that it's hard to keep up. Tariffs up and down. Stock market up and down. Visas are revoked and then reinstated. People in government agencies are fired and then rehired because it turns out that certain positions cannot be left vacant. The speed at which changes are being introduced and pushed through with brute force is surprising and surely intentional, as so many things are happening simultaneously that even seasoned journalists and political observers can't keep up. Meanwhile, as an ordinary citizen, you still have to manage your daily life.

Michael Who hasn't noticed that nowadays even older grandpas are zipping through city streets on e-bikes as if they've been stung by a tarantula, and turning even remote forest trails into death traps?