Wednesday 28 April 2010

Spring cleaning

It's that yellow time of year. The daffodils may be on their way out but the fields and roadsides are aglow with rape and dandelions. And on patios all over Germany and, indeed, the world, the Kärcher is out, high-pressure cleaning as only it can.

Kärcher ("makes a difference") is one of those great brands that could only be German. With a core area of expertise in pressure cleaning outdoors, now extended to indoors, this is engineering ingenuity at its best. The company was founded back in 1935 and continues to go from strength to strength, even getting involved in huge public cleaning projects such as the Brandenburg Gate or Mount Rushmore - the ultimate "expert endorsement", I suppose.

Kärcher, in a way, is Germany's Hoover. Herr Alfred Kärcher's name has not just become a household one - in every sense of the word - along with his fellow Württembergers Bosch, Daimler and Count Zeppelin, but he's also had the honour of becoming a verb. Even if some, such as the current French president, have been known to use the verb a little unwisely.

2 comments:

Max said...

I have spent many a happy hour on the Kärcher website. I particularly love the initial division into Home and Garden and Themenwelten, where the Themen are Garden watering and Water supply for the house - now isnt that Home and Garden?

But despite their somewhat lacklustre attempts to get down with the online boys, the machines are great. I had configured an entire system to pressure clean the house, our patio, the windows, to iron our shirts and steam some puddings, before Husband pointed out that it cost more than our car.

Just a good job they didnt give me a 20 Euro voucher. I would have done some serious damage then.

Love your blog as always! Take care. Max

Sue Imgrund said...

They have a children's Kärcher on offer at Lidl this week - maybe you can get your little chap into the habit early!