It's a Man's World...

I consider myself an independent and self-sufficient woman who doesn't necessarily need a man to do things for her. After all I was single for years and survived just fine. However, I also have over half a decade of experience and so I choose to delegate some (admittedly very few) tasks to my better half. Such as talking business with companies who buy wrecked cars and tow them away so you don't have to. It may be sad sign that our society is backward, patriarchal and conservative, but I just know that I ultimately will get a better deal if I have Highflyer to call these men and negotiate on my behalf. So, bottom-line: I win.

Refundable

For the second time within a month I have cancelled a hotel reservation for a trip abroad. The first time was after my car accident and Covid infection, now it was because I had not booked the flight yet, but the price for tickets had gone up and travelling on a standby ticket was risky when I need to be at the office the day afterwards. Both times I had already paid the hotel room, but got a refund within minutes. Old me would have chanced the cheaper non-refundable rate and been certain that nothing would happen to prevent me on going on the planned trip. Current pandemic-proofed me has learnt that things can occur that eff up your plans. I am still itching to go on a mini trip abroad, but it probably won't happen this year.

Me Time

Last week I was in Vienna Mon-Thurs and the same will be the case this week. After several city-based days, most of which I also have evening plans on, I am longing for some downtime in the country house. Due to Highflyer's job, I am sometimes on my own for all or the greater part of my (long) weekends and much as I cherish his company, I never get bored or lonely when I'm alone there and really enjoy quiet, uneventful me time in the burbs. Time for kitchen experiments and DIY projects, no social obligations, hence no need to put on makeup. Bliss! Some people (my mother included) find it selfish to not want children and while I used to argue against that in the past, being able to enjoy several totally selfish days on end makes me see their point. Guilty as charged and very happy with my own company.

Jump Scare

random unrelated Japanese intersection

Even though I already drove my mother's car the day after our recent accident and am currently browsing potential new cars, I have noticed that the shock sits deeper than I initially thought. I have become THAT annoying passenger when sitting next to Highflyer, alerting him of every potential hazardous driver in my peripheral vision. Okay, I am exaggerating, but roundabouts are definitely a bit of a challenge as I have problems trusting others to stop and give way when they should. The moment when the other car crashed into mine keeps coming back at random moments and I hope it won't stay rent-free in my head forever. On a positive note, it definitely was a good reminder to pay more attention oneself and don't expect others to follow the rules.

 

53 Going on 14

 

Last week Pity Party was in full swing: rather than enjoying the vacation in Malta I had been looking forward to for months, I was in Klagenfurt with burns and bruises, served with a generous serving of COVID-19. I was there with my Mum, who was injured herself and had been "patient zero", infecting me, most likely. While I pitied her and could see that her back seriously hurt with every move, the subconscious is a b**** and on some level I must have resented her for "causing" me to be stuck there. Thus I behaved like a sulky pubescent teenager towards the end of my stay and we really got on each other's nerves, each blaming the other for treating her like an idiot child. I guess you do stay a child forever even if the power dynamic tends to shift as one's parents age and you also, at times, behave like one...and not always like the best version of your childhood self.

Crash Test Dummies

Only recently I borrowed an expression by QEII here and called 2025 an "Annus Horribilis", hoping that Q4 of this year at least would be uneventful in the most positive sense of the word. Not so. If you are following me on Instagram you might have seen picures of the car crash that cut short mine and Mum's plans to drive to Klagenfurt only about 15 minutes after we had left the country house. My mother had arrived on Monday night, seizing the opportunity for some change of scenery after stressful weeks of house renovation and getting to join me in the car rather than taking the train back. Well, the lady who drove the other car and claimed not to have seen us coming, sabotaged that plan and so it ended up being a Thursday night and weekend of inconvenience, expense, uncertainty and above all, also physical pain (Mum can barely move her upper body from seatbelt whiplash syndrome and I got second-degree burns on my left wrist from the airbag explosion to name just two issues). Nonetheless, we are not complaining and consider ourselves lucky we survived this crash pretty much unscathed. The other car was considerably more "massive" than ours and the speed and impact was enough to trigger all airbags so you can imagine that a different angle or the car behind me not being able to stop could have caused much more harm and possibly even fatalities. 

I was supposed to fly to Malta the day this post goes live and had been looking forward to it for weeks, but then woke up with a killer throat ache the night to Sunday, having already felt a suspicious and all too familiar itch in my throat the day before. Well, even though my mother likes to be in denial and officially never falls ill, but just "caught a cold from that breeze in the restaurant the other night" I scraped together the testing liquid of those half dried-up antigen Covid tests and: BINGO...then I tested the suspected "Patient Zero". Yep. 

So: dear Whoever-is-in-Charge-of-F***ups: can I just have a calm November and December, pretty please?

 

Switched Off

 

I normally write these posts on the weekend, scheduling them to go live on Monday at 09:00. Last weekend I straight up forgot to do so, which I take as a good sign. I sit in front of my monitor Monday through Thursday for 9+ hours and therefore mainly stay away from my computer on weekends...which, alas, does not equal being offline per se as I am still a smartphone zombie/victim to an unhealthy degree. So, in a nutshell: all good, nothing to see here.