Undercover Agent

This past weekend we had planned to be in Innsbruck, but as Friday drew closer, the afternoon plane we wanted to take showed up as increasingly overbooked and chances were slim that we would have any chance to make it onboard as passengers with standby tickets. So Highflyer made the executive decision that we'd postpone the trip and rather invest some time towards getting "next door" ready for future tenants. Initially, I was a bit disappointed as I had looked forward to Innsbruck, where I had last been in January, but then I was also secretly relieved as I could also invest some time into preparations for our upcoming Japan trip and get some things done I would otherwise have had no time for. In the end, we also seized the good weather to chill in the sun in between domestic chores and more or less did not leave the neighbourhood all weekend. I felt a bit like an undercover agent, also because I had already told several people that I'd be away for the weekend. It was a bit similar to when you visit City A, but don't tell your friends B and C, who live there (even though you might not have seen them for a long time and do feel a bit guilty about it), because you don't really have much time there anyway and therefore don't want to cram your calendar full with social obligations. 

 

Doubletake

If you follow me on Instagram, you will no doubt be tired of my pool spam already. I have always been a water baby and seriously do not understand people who choose to go hiking or cycling on a hot summer day when they could be in a lake, pool or the sea instead...unless the cycling part is a means to get to said lake, pool or the sea, of course. My obsession with my Mum's pool is fuelled by something else entirely for the main part. It simply feels UNREAL to look out of the windows on the first floor landing in the morning or to step out into the garden from the terrace door and see the pool where only this spring (!) there were still flower beds and the old chain-link fence to the neighbouring public park. I literally do a double-take every time I look and it feels like somebody else's garden or a hotel. I love everything about it and it is basically a dream (that I did not even know I had) come true. I am already looking forward to next summer!

The Perfect Mix

In recent weeks we had several overnight visitors in the country house, some (Highflyer's sons) for several nights, others (like his daughter and the Australian, who had an unexpected stopover in Vienna) for individual nights only. While I absolutely love entertaining guests, thoughtfully setting up rooms for them, cooking, baking, joining them on activities, I do prefer my weekends - unless I'm on vacation anyway - to include at least one half-day of quiet and uneventful me-time/us-time. Arguably this yearning has become stronger with age, but I vividly remember the occasional Sunday in my Thirties and Forties, realising on a Sunday evening that I had spent the whole weekend (back then it was just ordinary 2-day-weekends) "running" from one appointment to the next and wishing for an extra day before the work week started again. Thankfully I have the luxury now of an extra day each weekend that I can theoretically reserve for a slow reset. To me, it's a privilege you could not put a price-tag on and that I am determined not to give up again.

Commuter

There are currently more construction sites, obstructions and diversions on Vienna's public transport network than I can remember off the top of my head and people living in outer districts or commuters from the suburbs are affected by it the most. Since I split my time between my flat in Vienna and the country house and am not keen on driving by car if I can avoid it, the 14 months (!) long interruption of the regular local train line that connects the centre with the airport definitely is a nuisance for me. I don't want to complain too much about it as after all, it's a privilege to live in a country where infrastructure is being improved and invested in. Last weekend I tried out alternative routes to and from the city and, Friday having been the seventh anniversary of Highflyer's and my first date once more, I could not help but think how WILD it was to have "ended up" a part-time commuter, something I would never in a million years have imagined had you asked me back in 2019.