Doping. The Legal Kind

 

It's that time of the year again when pretty much everybody seems to be sick. Be it the latest strain of Coronavirus or just the seasonal flu, the sniffling and coughing is REAL and it is omnipresent. Not that I am ever keen to get sick, but I feel I had my fair (?) share of multiple back-to-back throat aches this spring and I am not ready to join in yet. Also, I have some in-person meetings at work that I "need" to make an appearance at. So...precautions it is. Vitamin C in fruit and vegetable form, as much sleep as I can get (still working on that one), Berocca and hot baths in particular after a day spent in rooms full of (semi-) sick colleagues or on public transport where people are coughing so dramatically all around you that you expect to see blood on the floor any second. A good reminder to stay home if you're not feeling well if there ever was one...

It's All Relative

This past weekend Highflyer and I attended two 50th birthday parties, one being for a uni friend (and her husband) of his, the other for a colleague of mine. It was interesting to observe the guests, many of whom were in the same age group. I am used to hanging out with my friends who I think have mostly aged very well in mind and body, but strangers' age is often hard to guess. Some who seem almost a generation older and Boomer jokes would seem appropriate for some things they say turn out to be not even 50 yet, others are closer to 60 but seem so much more active and clued up to latest trends than some people in their mid-forties. I really find it fascinating and wonder what the most critical factor for this gap is. Is it hanging out with old(er) people that makes you act (and look?) older than your age? Is it your background or the field you work in? I often gravitate towards considerably younger people in social settings, but I have now reached an age where I sometimes wonder if this is actually rather cringe to them. Well, let's see what the vibe at 60s parties (8 years to go for me) will be. One thing is certain: I shall have the coolest playlist and best DJ for my own party. I had referred our wedding DJ to my colleague for Saturday's party and chatted with him there. He (a year younger than Highflyer and me) told us he would probably die at the turntables, so we might end up hiring him for our 70th and 80th, too. Keep on partying!

And Just Like That

 

...seemingly endless summer heat has been replaced by torrential rain and gale-force winds. I definitely don't mind cooler temperatures and am sure that it will be warm again at the beginning of October at the latest, but right now it seems like winter has come and the weather forecast with likely flooding in several parts of Austria is pretty scary. My parents still have not been able to repair the water damage in their basement from heavy summer rain last August so I am mostly relieved that their area is being spared (for now) and less concerned about myself. I saw a cartoon last year that showed a family watching the weather forecast with hands partially shielding their eyes like you would watch a horror film. Yep, it definitely seems like that these days and this - man-made- volatile weather is not likely to go away anytime soon.

The Challenge

 

I've never been one to make New Year's resolutions and yet I have already decided what I would like to try next year: I will set myself the challenge ideally not to buy ANY new clothes or shoes for as long as possible, ideally the whole year. Every month without buying anything (other than replacing things that break where I don't have a backup) will be a success. I don't actually think that it is that difficult and am already looking forward to a) rediscovering things in my substantial "archive(s)" and b) finally tackling all those sewing projects that I've been meaning to get around to for, ahem, years actually.

This idea is a "byproduct" of my recent e-mail purge when I unsubscribed from so many marketing newsletters. I do most of my shopping online and it is often triggered by nothing more than boredom and attractive offers that feel too good to pass by. I will try to resist the urge and not seeing those e-mails will definitely help.

I mentioned my plan to a colleague who is less than half my age recently and she told me she could never do that herself because "I can only wear my clothes 3 times max. There is this energy that prevents me from wearing them more often". Erm, okay. I definitely don't have this type of problem and actually love combining things I have had for decades with more recent acquisitions. 

And, no, I am NOT planning to stock up on things before January first, either, like a friend thought I might do ;-)

OMGEEE

 

They say that mothers immediately forget the pain related to childbirth once they hold their newborn baby in their arms. Maybe this is the case with all painful/disturbing/uncomfortable experiences? On my recent e-mail-folder-purge I came across newsletters by retailers promoting their clever ways to provide a comfortable and seamless online shopping experience during lockdown and also many e-mails reminding me (as a ticket holder for an event for example) what "G-rules" were in place at the venue. In Austria, the Gs stood for "genesen" (recovered from the virus, i.e. you got naturally infected) "geimpft" (vaccinated) and "getested" (able to show a recent antigen or PCR test, depending on which was required). 2G meant it sufficed to be recovered or vaccinated, 3G meant that on top you also had to have a valid negative test result.

I actually had to google what the difference between "G and 3G was again (wasn't sure if the test or the vaccination were the critical third element) and also couldn't remember for a hot minute what those more accurate tests that I took dozens of were called again. How can this be when it dominated my life a little over two years ago?!? Last week was Highflyer's and my second wedding anniversary and we were still a little anxious that our wedding with around 100 attendees would cause a Covid cluster. Luckily quite a few people had Coronavirus shortly before and we don't know of a single infection in the aftermath, phew.

I decided to keep a handful of those e-mails as a reminder of those crazy times anyway.

Expectation Management

Last Saturday I saw Coldplay at the stadium in Vienna where Taylor Swift was supposed to play 3 weeks earlier when all her shows got cancelled due to an attempted, but thankfully foiled, terrorist attack. I felt for all those people (in particular those who travelled from other countries or who returned from their summer vacation abroad earlier just for the concert) who had tickets and were disappointed despite the fact that saved lives are the most important thing, obviously. It made me realise once more that ever since the Pandemic when so many events got cancelled at short notice I always have the possibility at the back of my mind that what I am looking for might not take place in the end. I still consider myself a very optimistic "glass half full" type of person and don't see this as something negative at all. It has just made me more resilient to disappointment, I would say and this, for me, is definitely something positive.

 

Unlocking New Memories

I spent the greater part of last week at the house that my grandparents lived in when they retired and where I spent many summer and winter holidays and most Sundays as long as I lived with my parents. When my grandparents bought the half finished two-family house it became our holiday and weekend home and my parents finished and furnished the top floor. I have fond memories of quality time with my grandparents and other relatives and of summers cycling to nearby lake Ossiach with my mum and winters with cross-country slopes right in front of the house. These days are long gone and the house has been empty ever since my grandparents died. My mother inherited the house and tries to visit at least once a week, but she stopped staying overnight since my father's health deteriorated considerably this February. Since 2020, I have spent part of my summer vacation with Highflyer and his teenage sons there and we started new routines, such as eating our meals on the large terrace that we hardly ever used when I was a child. We even got new lounge furniture for it and it has become quite cosy. Overall, there is a bit of a "camping vibe" as the stove is old and there is no dishwasher in the house anymore ever since mum got rid of granny's old one. My parents didn't cook much in our apartment's kitchen back in the days as granny insisted on cooking for us and we enjoyed spending time with my grandparents. It was quite a novel sensation for me to be the "woman of the house" there and to see the village and its surrounding tourist attractions with the eyes of, well, tourists. In the past 4 years I visited places I had never been to before and developed new routines. Part of me misses spending my summer break exclusively in Klagenfurt as I used to as an adult, but at the same time I enjoy this new family life at the old - happy- place of my youth.