blinker switch even turns blinker lights on when key is off, (but they don't blink)
 

is that normal? what would cause that? I've never seen that before on any other car. Doesn't bother me, but I happen to accidentally turn on the blinker when exiting the car the other day, and if it was during daylight, I wouldn't have noticed it.

That's how it's supposed to work. It's a German thing. It is a one-sided (e.g., left side, front and back) solid parking light.

thx oldskewel and zulu, I didn't really want to add another gremlin to chase down to my list!

It's for parking on a narrow street. You can light up the side of the car away from the curb. It's in the manual.

Also: it takes about 12 w to run the two corner lights. The battery has about 1000 watt-hours so it can run the corner lights for a couple days and still start the engine.