Let me present to you the vending machine facilities of my tiny Bavarian village:
I was so surprised to still find them there, side by side, after almost four decades(!). I’m especially tickled by the gumball machine – it’s seemingly the very same one I cranked my plastic rings and other choking hazards out of in the 70’s. Oh, happy childhood memories… Luckily, I never graduated to its sinister big brother 😉
How amazing they are still both there and working!
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they don’t make them like that anymore…! 😉
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The bubblegum packaging’s pretty whacky-cool, but what’s with that little girl’s teeth (extreme right)? That’s kinda disturbing…
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Let it be a warning to you….!
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Oi. So not EVERYTHING germans do is healthy?
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Yes, it is. As healthy as all those sausages…
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A big sausage never hurt anyone
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No, but a few thousand of them over a lifetime can make quite a dent… in your arteries
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One can only hope 😉
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Kind of want to reply to Anna on this one but can’t – here’s to big sausages 😉 And the freakin’ weekend and whatever the hell a gumball is 😉
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What do you call these machines, just for interest…?
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Vending machines, I guess?
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But… that would be all vending machines. I was specifically referring to those that dispense chewing gum and toys packaged in plastic spheres. Gumball machines!
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Yeah, you’re probably right! I haven’t seen those in years!
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Me neither…. I feel like I’ve travelled back in time 😉
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Good girl! Smoking is a nasty habit.
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I just wish I’d not got hooked on the other thing either 😦
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Chewing gum isn’t that bad, isn’t it?
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SUGAR! Chewing gum’s certainly an ‘entry drug’ 😉
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Ahh, so you attribute your current proclivity for cake eating to early life gum chewing… 🙂
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It’s a bit of a stretch, I know 😉 Causality, I mean!
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I have not seen a cigarette vending machine for a very long time!
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They are all over Germany, and have been for as long as I can remember… our little village (of around 700 people) has at least three.
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I couldn’t believe it, when I saw those cigarette vending machines. There is still something EU hasn’t put their claws on?!!
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I know… why can’t they manage to ban something that smells so bad?!
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I was shocked – let me repeat – SHOCKED, to find a cigarette vending machine at a swimming pool when we were in Hilpoltstein. There is just something very, very wrong about that.
When, or when, will cigarettes finally be banned? – if for no other reason than they smell really badly!!
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I can’t see it happening. Smoking is still really popular in Germany, and also in Spain (and many other countries). AND it’s big, big business.
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*sigh* I know …. *cough*
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Does anyone ever still use those gumball machines? There are some in Karlsruhe that look ancient… I’d be scared to eat anything that came out of there!
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I was wondering the same thing… who refills them..?? How can that be a profitable business? When we were kids, we were more interested in the ‘toys’ than the chewables.
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Only in Bavaria do they have shockingly cute vending machines. And maybe also in Japan…
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I don’t think Bavaria is any match for Japan in the weird and wonderful vending machine department, lol.
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Thomas Wolfe said, “You can’t go home again.” Apparently you can! Nostalgia at its best 🙂
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He does have a point… it’s never the same after you’ve left.
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I always get warm fuzzies when I go home and see things that haven’t changed since I was little. Of course, I come back wiser each time (no, Jenna, you CANNOT eat that 2 lb burger by yourself), but there’s something about being in such a familiar place that makes me happy.
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Same here, to some degree… and radical changes provoke the opposite response. For example, the house in which I grew up has been torn down and a community centre was built its place. I feel a bit weird every time I look at the spot!
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Awww, that would break my heart 😦
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Cigarette vending machines were banned in the US when they decided to make a ban on selling cigarettes to minors. (I was no longer a minor – but I had availed myself of the vending machines on occasion at age 14 up – though I could by them just as easily from the gas station “They’re for my dad.” – yeah, right!) I agree – NASTY HABIT! Hard to kick, too. Anyway – my question – doesn’t Germany have a ban on sale of tobacco to minors?
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It does. The machine asks you for identification – I think you’ve got to insert your ID card or something…
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Wow – that’s interesting! Did it always have an ID card slot? (No problem, we’d have used the same phony ID we used for getting beer. ha ha)
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Not back in my day it didn’t… not sure when they started doing that. And yes, your older brother’s ID will do just nicely.
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They just need a third vending machine for condoms.
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I must admit, that thought had crossed my mind… but I don’t think there’s much call for that in such a tiny village. Especially as they want the birth rate to go up 😉
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Oh right!
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There are vending machines for condoms in the US in gas stations. Surprise.
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Well, that makes sense.
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