Till we read (and shop) again

Early tomorrow morning, Turkish Delight and yours truly will hit the highway and head for the southern, erm...metropolis of Klagenfurt, provided we can fit into my car what with all the presents. The journey will include a technical stop at my great-aunt's in Burgenland (Austria's easternmost province) to leave one bag of pressies at her place and to try and squeeze in her gifts for all Carinthian relatives. Call me Sherpa Tenzing. Unless someone invites us to a cool New Year's Eve party in Vienna, we'll stay there until January 1, basically stuffing our faces 24/7, watching cheesy films on TV and doing all the other things you usually do on your Christmas holiday. I'm also planning to go skiing (with Mum or friends as our men unfortunately don't ski. TD is excused as he's not Austrian, but to have a non-skiing Dad is a rare thing in this country) and perhaps to pop over to Italy or Slovenia.

As Dad officially has the slowest (dial-up) internet connection in the Western World and is also slightly paranoid that TD and I will "download a virus" if we as much as touch his baby, you'll have to be very brave and steel yourself for silent days and silent nights from the retailtherapist. I know, I know, it'll be torture.

Until then - Merry Christmas (and a Happy New Year, too, just in case) to all of you. Be good and don't shop anything I wouldn't...

Purchases: Speaking of torture - last night I went to Mariahilfer Straße, Vienna's longest shopping street, for some more presents. The crowds! First I went into Butlers (they only very recently openened branches here) to buy some stuff. As the subway I had taken there would have given public transport in Tokyo at rush hour a run for its money, I decided to walk all the way up to Westbahnhof and get a tram home from there, (wrongly) assuming it to be less packed. Halfway up Mariahilfer, I passed the Müller flagship store, my bargain-radar picking up a sign announcing that all underwear and lingerie was dramatically reduced. Knowing that my maternal granny had requested some undies I went in and browsed the racks. While I was at it, I also picked up some (not quite the same style as for my granny, but the same make) for TD as well. At home, when I wanted to wrap his boxer briefs, I realised that the anti-theft-thingie (which had obviously not been "loaded" as there were no beebs when I left the store) was still securely fastened in the elastic. Great. I knew I did not have time to return to the shop today, neither did I want TD to do it. I eventually decided to declare the briefs a pre-Christmas-present and assist him with the pliers. In what seemed a superhuman effort we managed to destruct the plastic/metal button layer after layer. Cleptos beware - it really is not worth it. Just as well it wasn't one of those things with ink in it, in which case I definitely would have had to go back.