Close shave

By the time this post goes live, I will hopefully already have landed in Tokyo. The days before leaving I was very anxious that I would catch some kind of cold or flu virus shortly before leaving and believe me, flying with blocked sinuses is no joke (I am speaking from experience). My paranoia was not unfounded as I spent 3 full days with groups of semi-sick people snivelling and coughing away plus squeezed myself into full buses, trams and subways in rush hour. As a precaution, I "doped" myself with vitamin cocktails all week. On my last work day I facilitated a workshop for a team whose manager nonchalantly told me the day before that I was his only (online) meeting that day because he was actually off sick, but confident he would be back to normal the next day despite having had a fever and shivers only the day before. Um. Kayyy. Needless to say, I was not too thrilled and told him he should not take it personally, but I would definitely try and keep a safe distance from him the next day, which I did. Nonetheless, I woke up on Friday with a strange feeling at the back of my throat and raspy voice and thought "nooooo, pleeease not". I upped the vitamin game, sucked several propolis lozenges and drank one of those Paracetamol-spiked hot lemonades before going to bed, chances being 50:50 that I'd wake up with an even worse sore throat and runny nose, or feel normal again. Thankfully the latter was the case, but it was a close shave indeed. 

As I am not taking my laptop with me on vacation there won't be any posts for the next 2 weeks at least. See you!

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.

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.