Category: Advices

"It’s a surprise every time – we don’t know who is coming and why. Sometimes people line up in front of the door, sometimes no one comes at all." Walter mackert knows what he is talking about . For the past two years, he has been sitting in the office of the "quartiersmanagement und beratungsstutzpunkt" on the second wednesday of every month at viktor-von- scheffel strabe 10.

He advises elderly citizens, helps them fill out forms, and arranges contacts. Before he moved into this new room on the first floor, seniors seeking advice could not be supported in the best possible way. "There was no possibility to talk in an undisturbed and confidential way, moreover barrier-free", he remembers. Often the discussions took place by telephone, in exceptional cases the seniors visited him at home or he took the time to make "home visits" himself to make. Now it fits.

Lively response

In the bright, well-equipped office, he regularly receives people seeking advice between 2 and 3 p.M. Since 2007, walter mackert has been the city’s commissioner for seniors and people with disabilities. He also sees his task as being a link between seniors and the city council and city administration. And that this is not a useless pastime, but a necessity, shows the lively response.

They taste good in salads, they can be used in pesto, they can refine salt or they can be used as a medicine. Native wild herbs have an incredible number of uses. Petra uhl and sabine blab know quite a few of them.

Herb hike through sommerach: past a few houses in the direction of vineyards. Everywhere the two women from mainsondheim and sommerach, respectively, find plants worth showing and explaining. "Bird’s chickweed helps with stomach and intestinal problems," says petra uhl, holding a few inconspicuous green bushes aloft. In pesto or in homemade herb salt it unfolds its flavors particularly well. "But be careful," uhl warns the 40 or so local women farmers who met in sommerach on tuesday for the spring meeting. "Take only the upper part. Further down it becomes musty."

The two herb experts, who completed their training 14 years ago, give vivid and lively accounts of native plants and their active ingredients.

The district chimney sweep checks the smoke detectors every month. Safe is safe. "The smoke detectors don't cost the earth – and they have prevented many a fire in our house", groh openly admits. The chimney sweep didn't want to wait until smoke detectors were legal.

"Our son once made a milk pudding, but turned on the wrong plate at the stove – and there was a cake on it that was covered with a tea towel. The cloth was already on fire when the smoke alarm went off", tells christine groh (44). The fire was quickly extinguished – no damage other than a charred dishcloth.
Of course, the mother of four knows that smoke detectors in the kitchen are controversial. But this incident was not the only one that triggered a fire by a hair's breadth. Therefore she accepts possible false alarms. "Especially in the kitchen is important for us a smoke detector. We don't want an alarm when the ceiling is already on fire", also says stefan groh.

A feeling of security