Holy Grail

I have been a Beatles fan for 44 years now (since December 8, 1980 to be precise when John Lennon was shot, radio stations played Beatles songs all day long and my Dad explained to me who he was) but being born after the band split up of course made it impossible to ever see them perform life as a unit. I didn't actually have it on my radar that Paul McCartney still toured until Highflyer mentioned that he saw him perform in Vienna about 20 years ago. While we were on vacation in Norway this June the topic came up in conversation and just out of interest I googled whether Paul McC was still playing, knowing that he had already celebrated his 80th a couple years ago. It turned out he would end his Got Back tour in the UK just before Christmas and tickets were about to go on presale that very week. Well, I put a reminder in my calendar and successfully bought two tickets from a reseller website. I could not believe my luck until I mentioned this to an intern over lunch when I got back. She more or less pitied me for my naiveté and made me believe it was almost 100% certain I had been scammed and would never actually receive those - not exactly cheap- tickets. The fact that I was supposed to only receive the tickets the day of the event, i.e. last Saturday, when I would obviously have sorted out flights and accommodation did not make me incredibly hopeful. In the end I received the tickets 10 days before and everything worked out fine. I also had a mean cold just before flying out and ticking off the usual pre-Christmas commitments, but the concert was just as magical as I had hoped for and it was essentially one massive Beatles singalong consisting of 20.000 fans directed by the legend himself. This really was something I had on my bucket list and was not sure was even possible to tick off so I ended up giving the most wonderful Christmas gift to myself, even more valuable because I got to experience it with someone who appreciated it at least as much as I did.

Positive Stress

 

I finished my Christmas baking earlier than usual this year, mostly as I hosted my annual Advent get-together earlier than I normally would since we're going away the following weekend. I ended up slaving away on two weekends in a row, pretty much all day as work foiled my plans of getting some baking done during the week. I had more office quality time than I would have opted for, but in the end I managed to finish everything as I knew I would. Was I exhausted and somewhat sleep-deprived? Yes. Did I mind? No. Since I am one of these annoying people who tend to have their Christmas presents organised weeks if not months before I am not affected by gift-buying stress, but by baking and socialising induced stress even though I have long since refused to play the game of "but we MUST meet one more time this year". It's a positive kind of stress that makes me enjoy the lazy days between Christmas and New Year's Eve even more.

Honey, Pack Your Bags...

For some people the sexiest sentence somebody could say to them might be something along the lines of "Let's go shopping to Cartier!" (Ngl, I DO like this one, too...), or "I'm ninety, have a heart condition and no heirs" (joking). For me it's: "pack your bags, we're going away!". Last weekend, not working on Fridays really paid off as I got the opportunity to join Highflyer on a flight to Hamburg around lunchtime, spend the night in his crew hotel and fly back early on Saturday morning. I had never flown with him in the cockpit since he moved to the Airbus fleet and this was my opportunity. Plus I had not been in Hamburg since I left the Firm when I would be there pretty regularly on business trips. Being picked up by taxi directly from the plane like a Hon Circle member also was pretty cool and saved a lot of time. I briefly contemplated whether this spontaneous adventure would upset my Christmas baking plans, but then decided that the rest of the weekend would be long enough. It was beyond exciting and we both were so happy that these flights came up on his standby roster and coincided with my day off.

 

The Invisible Neighbour

On the second (I think) "Pandemic Christmas" my mum gifted us one of those hotel voucher packages where you can pick one among a selection of hotels. It was valid until the end of this year, which seemed a really long time in the future and so we first prioritised other vacation projects that had got cancelled or postponed because of lockdown restrictions. About a year ago I reminded Highflyer to choose a time and hotel in order for the voucher not to expire. Once we had settled for one (in Czechia) it was no longer available so we decided to change the strategy and decide on a date and then check on the booking platform which hotels were available then. We could choose among hotels in Austria, Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Czechia, Hungary and Poland. We didn't want to spend more than 4 hours max in the car and the locations in Austria didn't look too interesting. The Czech Republic was our favourite, but the really interesting places like Carlsbad where too far away for a weekend and the others in rather boring parts of the country and or with really bad reviews as were the Slovak ones. Highflyer didn't want to go to Hungary on account if its political climate so that was ruled out. Poland meant two hotels in Krakow which we both wouldn't have minded revisiting, but which would have required flying, i.e. considerable travel time, not mentioning the extra cost, and the offer for Italy consisted of 2 places in South Tyrol (where I've always wanted to go) that were a really long drive from the east of Austria. For some reason, Germany never really seemed an option until we had run out of other ideas and I started looking into the hotels there. We ended up selecting one in Bad Füssing, just behind the Austrian border and a mere 3-hour-drive away from where we live. From there we made a day trip to nearby Passau (see above) which I'd always wanted to visit and it ended up being really nice. I was really happy that we picked that particular hotel, but my husband's initial reaction was also "Germany?" For some reason, deliberately visiting Germany (unless it's a business trip or you have relatives there) beyond cities like Berlin, Munich or Hamburg is not really something that would occur to your average Austrian. I guess we work under the arrogant assumption that it is just like a less colourful, humour-less version of our own little country. I remember when at the Firm our DACH ski trip was zo Germany as well, many of us Austrians found it a strange idea. Eventually it turned out to be one of the best ski days I ever had (Zugspitze in glorious sunshine and perfect snow) and we all ate our words....even though I still remember getting krapfen with cherry (!) jam...the sacrilege. Even though this was years ago and I should know better, our neighbour to the North doesn't seem to be in my relevant set of vacation destinations.

The Rain in Spain...

 

A few days before we flew to Málaga, horrible floods that caused more than 200 deaths happened in other parts of Spain. I checked the weather forecast and was reassured to only see sun symbols with occasional clouds for the duration of our stay. We did have lovely weather and overall a great holiday. Less than a week after our return similar torrential rain hit the city and its surroundings, only people were better prepared this time thanks to the authorities reacting faster.

Travelling in times of climate change is becoming a bit of (Russian) roulette, it seems. When Vienna experienced unusually heavy rain in September I also pitied the many tourists who were more or less confined to their rooms unless they had arrived with gum boots and water repellant hooded jackets in their suitcases. Needless to say being able to travel is a privilege and cancelled plans or being stuck at some airport sucks, but is not to be compared with the loss of crops, livestock or your house.

It is a rather scary thought, however, to be caught unawares by some natural disaster while you're in a foreign country (whose language you might not speak or whose infrastructure and processes might be completely unknown to you) while you're on happy hedonistic tourist autopilot mode, ticking off your list of must-see attractions and things to do. I never watch TV when I'm in a hotel and the bookmarked news sites on my phone that I regularly visit might not chose to make a headline of what could affect me unless it has already become a catastrophe of sorts. Food for thought, to say the least...

Teenage Angst vs. Adult Indifference

When I was in my mid-teens news headlines were dominated by the nuclear arms race and who (i.e. USA or USSR) was more likely to "press the red button" and initiate a third world war. I did not take those news well and it really was the stuff of my worries and nightmares. Films like "the Day After" that were screened at school did not help, either and I developed a deep dislike for the evening news on primetime TV. Only doom-scrolling in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic came close to this feeling of being overwhelmed by bad news. 

These days, however, when election results could not be any bleaker both globally and locally, and the protagonists in the USA and Russia objectively pose much more danger than their predecessors in power in the 1980s ever did, I am comparatively chill. I'm not even sure why this is exactly. It definitely is not because I have a crystal ball that allows me a glimpse into a 100% rainbows and unicorns future. It might be because I am happy and content otherwise, it might be because decades of experience have made me more than a little fatalistic and jaded, or because there still is a glimmer of hope that these 70+years old me might not be in this position forever...like, not even until the end of their respective terms of office.

Autumn Blues

 

Autum seems to be everyone's favourite season. It definitely is not mine and I am reminded why every time we switch back to "normal" time. If it were for me, I'd vote for daylight saving time all year round. Those endless summer days are my absolute favourite and I find it super depressing to wake up when it is still pitch black outside and to finish work when it's dark again. I'm like a plant that needs light for growth and energy. Sure, colourful foliage is a pretty sight, but the shorter days (minus snow and everything I love about winter) are really not my vibe.