Even in the UK they're finally being aggressively phased out. When I moved here in 2000 was the first time I'd had a cheque book - in Norway where I'm from, I believe my parents last used cheques in the 80's.

Like Germany, Norway have/had giros in widespread use, though. The UK technically had a giro system, but actual giros are rarely used here. The big difference between a giro and a cheque is that with a giro it is the payer rather than the payee that instigates the transaction - either directly to the recipients bank account, or by effectively registering an approval with the bank and sending something similar to a cheque to the recipient (but with the difference that the sender has first directly confirmed the transaction to the bank).

So to me cheques have always seemed backwards from the logical flow.