Speed Dating with Presents, Why I Feel Naked and Other Observations

I arrived back in winter wonderland on Tuesday. My two flights (9 and 11 hours respectively) were a torturous collection of superlatives. Flight 1 included the fattest neighbour - guess who "won" the armrest - and clumsiest flight attendant (who dropped a tray three times and bumped into my elbow twice with her trolley), flight 2 boasted the baby and toddler with the most piercing squeals imaginable...

I fought against jetlag by staying up late every day and slotting in 3 to 4 dates with friends every day (Mr. TD called it speed dating, not entirely untrue). Although I had agreed on a Christmas present "non-agression pact" with my friends this year, I was surprised by several cool gifts: Mademoiselle made me another lovely advent calendar, the bonus of receiving it on the 21st being that I could rip open most of the parcels in one greedy go: hah! Amica spoilt the Vienna "chapter" of our book club with cool t-shirts with a Union Jack and "proud member of the Book of the Month club" and Frida gave me a bottle of wine the label of which she designed.

When I popped into the office on Tuesday, I was almost stifled by the hug MC gave me. I might not exactly be looking forward to work in Vienna as such, but it feels good to be reunited with the "Schatzis".

I could have inserted one or two photos here, but in my multi-tasking flurry of activities this morning I left my camera in the flat in Vienna...which I only realised on the train to KLU. Duh! As you know, I never go ANYwhere without my camera...I feel utterly naked without it and will either have to borrow one from my parents to keep up with the usual point-and-shooting or will resort to my new phone's inbuilt camera...we'll see.

Even though there is no snow in Vienna yet, it was of course considerably colder than Sydney (by about 25°) and my skin felt parched the minute I landed. I have been slapping on hand cream like mad, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. Thanks to an Australian miracle drug called "Frequent Flier" that I had already forced on my Mum and the Mermaid, who didn't get sick either, I did not catch the usual nasty plane cold. I thought I would find it difficult to adjust to the short winter days, but interestingly, that is no big deal. I find it more difficult to readjust to cars driving on the right (in both senses) side of the road and ran into one yesterday after I looked right, rather than left before crossing the street.

Despite the fact that I love buying and making presents, I really enjoyed this stress-free Christmas and actually would like to continue this new tradition of not exchanging Christmas presents with friends. I have yet to find out whether I didn't miss baking in the least just because I was away in warmer climates or - gasp - because I've grown tired of it, but I don't even have cravings for Christmas cookies, either. Well, ask me again in a few days when I might have eaten my weight in Vanillekipferln and Lebkuchen...