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Current events in Australia make the recent flooding in my new neighborhood look like a minor inconvenience.

Australia. Where everything is bigger and wants to kill you.™

Wer sich zu Weihnachten einen neuen "Full HD"-Fernseher zugelegt hat, steht schnell vor einem Problem: So richtig ausnutzen lässt sich das Gerät erst mit entsprechend hochauflösendem Videomaterial. Zwar sieht auch die DVD-Sammlung dank "intelligenter" Hochskalierung besser aus als früher, für den ultimativen Filmgenuß muss es aber eine Blu-ray Disc sein.

Bei den in Deutschland verlangten Preisen zahlt man für diese Filme allerdings schnell mehr als für die Hardware. Dass es auch anders geht, zeigen die Angebote auf amazon.co.uk*. Einige besonders krasse Beispiele (Stand 07.01.11):

Bei der zuletzt aufgeführten, grandiosen Naturdokumentation lohnt sich evtl. auch der Griff zu der teureren 2010er Auflage, da dort die sehenswerten "Production Diaries" enthalten sind (allerdings nicht in HD-Qualität).

Die aufgeführten Preise ändern sich zwar ständig, ein Vergleich lohnt sich aber auf jeden Fall. Wer auf die deutsche Synchronisation verzichten kann, kommt so mit einer Bestellung in Großbritannien deutlich günstiger zum Full-HD-Filmgenuß.

Bonus für alle Leser mit Lieferadresse in Luxemburg: Seit einiger Zeit fallen ab £25 Bestellwert bei amazon.co.uk keine Versandkosten mehr an (gilt leider nicht für Deutschland).

* Alles hier sind Affiliate-Links. Ich brauche das Geld. Für mehr Blu-ray Discs!

Plus, you can support several charities, end the economic crisis and save the polar bears. Or something like that, I'm a bit tired and haven't had a lot of time to play most of the games which came with the first Humble Indie Bumble. However, this is opportunity is too good to miss.*

Get it on www.humblebundle.com.

* Think about it, you can't lose: Even if you never play the games you'll have supported several good causes (future game development, an innovative sales model and charity).

The weather forecast yesterday morning said it would start snowing in the afternoon. It did. Traffic totally collapsed almost everywhere. The airport had to be closed. Trips that usually take minutes took hours. Some drivers abandoned their cars. Cita.lu (the traffic camera website) couldn't handle the load. Mobile phone networks were unable to cope with the number of people trying to tell their loved ones that they had no idea at all when they would be home. Schools remained closed today, a decision that was made this morning when lots of children were already on their way. Most parcel services could not make any deliveries today (with the notable exception of GLS and P&T).

As far as traffic and communications are concerned, Luxembourg - by some measures, one of the richest countries in the world - is just a few centimeters of snow away from chaos.

Looking for a place to live in Luxembourg can be very frustrating, after spending 5 weeks searching I certainly understand why almost 150.000 frontaliers prefer to live in neighboring countries. Among my worst experiences:

• An apartment that was said to be 100m² big but turned out to be no larger than 75m². The tenant also advised me that the landlord would show up unannounced several times per month and liked to bill an unpredictable amount of hours for "gardening work".
• A large, modern and affordable house in the north that - judging from the pictures - seemed to have a lot of free space around it, but in fact was located in a crowded, almost inaccessible dark valley. The location perfectly combined the worst of city and country living.
• Unresponsive and unmotivated real estate agents who'd call me back 10 days after receiving my inquiry (if they reacted at all), tended to leave me hanging while they went on vacation or simply refused to let me see a place because it was reserved for someone else (for 7 weeks!).

Anyhow, I managed to find a suitable home and I hope the websites and tips below will help you, too:

Most useful websites (IMHO):

• http://www.athome.lu - Luxembourg's largest real estate website, also used by many real estate agents to run their own sites. Note: No matter what your sorting order is, premium ads (with a red background) are always shown first! Keep going until you reach the standard ads (gray background).
• http://www.immofinder.lu - contains scanned print ads from the Luxemburger Wort and La Voix (in addition to web ads).

Other sites in alphabetical order:

• http://www.habiter.lu
• http://www.immofinder.lu
• http://www.immostar.lu/
• http://www.immtop.lu
• http://www.luxbazar.lu
• http://www.macoquille.lu

Some tips:

• The best deals get snapped up very quickly. Many websites let you set up alerts by email or even SMS (immostar), use these functions to stay informed or return frequently to check for new ads.
• If something isn't mentioned or pictured, expect the worst (e.g.: the ad doesn't say the apartment is bright and sunny => it's a dark hole with no windows).
• I've had far better experiences dealing with self-employed real estate agents (like Mr. Carlo Reinert) than with larger companies.
• Sharing a house with several other people can be much cheaper than renting a tiny studio or room (which have the highest prices per m²). The are also some companies in Lux. offering "house sharing" deals.

Good luck! Feel free to add your experiences or other useful sites in the comments (no SPAM please).