Can you Get Any Border?New rule![Scene: A news anchor behind desk] ANCHOR: And, of course, today is January 1st,2005, the day that the expansion of the European Union goes into effect. [Scene: Reporter at border] REPORTER: Thanks, Jane. I am here at the border, just moments away from the closing of the border posts and the opening of a new era. Let’s go talk to one of the Polish border guards. BORDER GUARD: [folding up the Polish flag and putting it ina cardboard box] Well, everyone is expecting an influx of German tourists to buy our wares and improve the economy. Perogi? [offers perogi] REPORTER: God no. Well,it looks like they’re opening the border right now! [Border guards remove roadblock from road, leave scene] REPORTER: O.K., it looks like here comes the first German tourist, crossing the border into Poland, the newest member of the E.U. GERMAN: [carrying something behind his back, trying to lookcasual]. Ja? REPORTER: How does it feel to be able to freely cross the border into Poland? GERMAN: Sehr gut! Sehr gut! Thank-you, please. I must to be going. REPORTER: What’s that behind your back? GERMAN: Oh, nothing, nothing! Auf Wiedersehen! REPORTER: Here come some more tourists now. [More GERMANS enter, all with something behind their backs,trying to be nonchalant. Some are whistling innocently] REPORTER: Would you mind answering a few questions? GERMANS: Es tut mir leid, ve must be going! REPORTER: What are you going to be doing while you’re in Poland? GERMANS: Ahh, ve shall be, ahhh… shopping! Ja! REPORTER: You seem to be in quite a hurry to be shopping. GERMANS: Ja, es ist new kind of shopping. Ve call it, uhhh, blitzshopping. REPORTER: I see. GERMANS: OK, ve go now. REPORTER: Let’s head over to the duty free shops along the border to see what all these tourists are buying. Here we have a Polish Sausagecounter. Excuse me, have you beenswamped with new German tourists? SAUSAGEMAKER: [in an empty stall] No, no, not yet. REPORTER: And beside the Sausage counter, we have an Armaments manufacturer. ARMS MANUFACTURER: [in a crowded stall] Very good! Very popular today! REPORTER: All right,as you can see, there are now quite a few people crossing the border into Poland. Let’s see if we can talk to some of them. Excuse me, sir? GUNTHER: Gunther. REPORTER: You are entering Poland as a tourist? GUNTHER: Ja, ja. REPORTER: Why are you wearing a trenchcoat and helmet? GUNTHER: I, uhhh, heard it would rain today. REPORTER: What are you hoping to buy? GUNTHER: I am hoping to buy…. a…. chair…. For my living room. [realizes mistake] No! Not living room! Kitchen! Kitchen! OK, to go now. Tchuss! [Behind Gunther, a whole line of GERMAN TOURISTS, all wearing identical trenchcoats and helmets, marching together, singing in background] GERMAN TOURISTS: Deutschland,Deutschland über alles! REPORTER: As you can see, thousands of Germans are [does quotation marks sign with hands] “invading” Poland on this historic day, the first day that there has been an open border between Poland and Germany since 1939. [Armored cars cross border in background, behind reporter] REPORTER: Marc Wombat,CTV news, on the Germany-Poland border. FIN. |