Automatic Reply

This is my OOO: not taking my laptop on vacation with me, so back to regular programming in September.

 

Ferragosto

Some annual rituals only affect you if you belong to the same demographic, others have a noticeable impact on you even though - in theory - it's actually none of your business. Case in point: those 2 month of summer vacation that students and teachers get to enjoy. Parents of younger children struggle to organise those weeks, juggling their remaining annual leave allowance to spend quality time with them, registering them for camps that fit the interests of their offspring and, if they're lucky, dropping them at grandparents. Neither do I have children of my own, nor am I a teacher by profession and yet, the summer months of July and August affect me in a variety of ways. A positive side-effect is also catching some of that "school's out" mood yourself, emptier buses and subways in the morning (then the tourists get up), more spaces to park your car in your own neighbourhood and longer opening hours of public pools, etc. The more negative annual "traditions" are massive construction works on several public transport lines as well as longer intervals. At work, nothing of major importance can be scheduled for either July or August because the assumption (and also reality) is that "everybody is on vacation). You might be in the office, but the colleague whom you wanted to send a meeting invite is not, and vice versa. It would make sense not to take one's main vacation when prices are highest if one is more flexible, but then again it is super hot and at a certain point you just want to go somewhere more bearable, preferably somewhere by the sea and also the expectation is that you use up at least some of your annual leave in the summer and not save it all up to go on a 5-week-trip to Asia in November, say. If you work in an (Austrian) office, the beginning of Q4 is busy because "everybody is back from vacation" and you'd better be around for that important meeting or else come across as a bit selfish.

 

Just Chilling

 

Like the Instagram vs. Reality meme, other people's reality and comfort is often not what it seems like from the outside. You might see a couple sitting next to one another, playing on their phone and assume that they don't have anything to say to one another. This couple might be us, however, each person happily engrossed in a virtual passion of their own (him: either playing online chess or commenting in a newspaper forum, her: refreshing Instagram or checking her Vinted purchases) and still - hopefully - a very long way from having run out of things to talk about. I really love our slow weekends and the fact that unlike many men his age, Highflyer is just as happy to spend hours on end by (and in) a pool, lake or the sea as I am. It's great to have somebody to share your passions and to actively things together, which we do, but it's equally great to have a chill-partner running on the same wavelength that does not pester you to put down your book or stop scrolling brain-rot when you want to just want to continue what you've been doing for the next hour or so. 10/10!