Smells like mean spirit

Last night, winter was officially being opened at MQ, one of my favourite haunts. When my better half - let's call him Turkish Delight, because that's what he is, after all. Turkish (all the time) and a delight to be with (most of the time) - and I finally made it there, the fashion show was already over and the Mariachi band had stopped playing. We arrived right on time for the light-show, though. The open-air-furniture that served as more or less comfortable beds/seats in the summer had been transformed into an ice-palace. Or so the newsletter claimed. Be that as it may, nice wintery images were being projected onto the sleek surface:
We didn't stay long as it was freezing and I wasn't in the mood for queuing for a mug of steaming MQ-punch or mulled wine. The mugs looked very cool, though. At most Chistkindlmärkte (Christmas markets), you pay a deposit (usually €2) for the mug. When you return it to the stall, you get back your cash. If you like the mug you take it home with you instead. Some markets change the designs of their mugs every year, making them collectables among the Christkindlmarkt-aficionados. Only the fact that I already have a veritable mug-collection at home has so far prevented me from hoarding some from Christmas markets, too (great bargain, 2 Euros only!). By the way, one of my favourite mugs (a present from FCN) shows a woman laden down with shopping bags and bears the inscription "Too many shops, too little time". SO me! Erm, I'm digressing...

Anyway, on the way home we found out that the Spittelberg Christkindlmarkt was already open. It is one of Vienna's most popular Christmas markets and generally considered to be very "authentic" and less commercialised than the others. Admittedly, it's not nearly as brutal as the biggest of them all, but personally, I prefer the one in front of Schönbrunn palace or the one on the AAKH university campus. To be completely honest, though, I'm not that big a fan of any of them unlike the rest of Vienna's inhabitants who succumb to some sort of punch-drunk Christkindlmarkt-fever at this time of the year. Forget about meeting somebody "for a coffee" or a beer, from mid-November till the end of the year, it HAS to be for a mulled wine or punch. To make people feel less guilty about sometimes getting pissed in their lunch-breaks already (apart from the big markets proper, solitary Punsch or Glühwein stalls can be found all over the city centre), lots of stalls have taken to selling their concoctions FOR CHARITY. This means that you can indulge in some charitable drinking for a variety of good causes. The more you drink, the greater the donation. I don't want to belittle the efforts of volunteers standing in the cold for hours on end, nor deny that "every little helps" but somehow feeling magnanimous about this drinking-for-a-good-cause is akin to buying fashionable rubber-bands-for-charity instead of donating a more substantial amount of money. No?

Charitable or not, I don't actually like the taste of either mulled wine or punch which in most cases is sickeningly sweet to mask the cheap wine or spirits. Last night, I needed to remind myself of that again when I tried orange-and-ginger (I LOVE ginger) punch. Well, at least it was nice and hot.

The mug was nothing to write home about, obviously and I duly claimed my deposit back.

Oh, and this is my new €14,90 jacket. Like?

Tomorrow morning, however, I will be wearing my trusty old down-coat to brave the queues for Robbie Williams tickets (for a concert in August '06). If I don't freeze to death or am suffocated by a mob of hysterical prepubescent girls, more about that on Monday. Stay tuned.

Purchase(s): A glossy mag, a pair of tights and 2 pairs of (B-quality, hence cheap, hence no bad conscience) Burlington socks.