‘Don’t cry for me. I’ll be alright. I’ll be by your side, your precious guiding light.’ – Modern Error
Well, I’m just suggesting that you use these powers within for good, not evil! Come on… let’s do it! Let’s combine to conquer all those little Everests. Let’s move Australia closer to the rest of the world!
WHY:
- While 22 hours of flying is a thrilling and exhilarating experience for everyone involved… it’s just not enough time to get the important things done anyway. I know because I tried! I watched six different movies and sections of two of them twice (sometimes thrice) to catch the important storyline bits during in which I’d fallen asleep. I followed this up with three rerun TV shows including the riveting doco ‘Design: The Lego Story’. But… I was so disappointed to have missed three epics: a) When Rome Ruled Egypt b) Euro News Specials c) History of the Open Championship… my favourite… yes people, I missed watching golf being played. My most exciting thing to do right before watching grass grow or paint dry… or that other great pastime… scrutinising a dripping tap!
- I need more practice, more regularly, speaking the German language. This has been blatantly obvious to every German I’ve encountered since arriving. It doesn’t seem to matter how clearly I point at objects or even how slowly and clearly I express myself in English… they just don’t get it! So I pay for the most expensive choice because it has a picture next to it and I am falsely secure in my purchase.
- I feel small…ish and maybe petite…ish! Yes, my German ancestors have a lot to answer for. They plonked me smack in the middle of
Duck and dumplings... yummm! multicultural Australia where everybody is naturally smaller than me and I’ve had a lifetime of dieting to fit into jeans made in Asian sweatshops. Not so here in this land of taller poppies, this land of giants where size 14 and 16 (Aussie) are the minnows swimming amongst these large trout. Yes, this country sanctions the pear shaped and sanctifies a woman’s child bearing hips. I have come home to where I belong! - The coffee is flavoursome and fabulous!
- The cars are fabulous and mine would fit right in!
- The bike paths are fabulous! Well, now I know that’s not part of the footpath and that bell sound I hear is someone telling me to “get out of the way, you idiot”.
- The food is fabulous! Good comfort foods and so easily pronounced when ordering eg: stollen, kohlrouade, hassenpfeffer, breze, sesambreze, marzipan, mohnbreze, bratwurst and weihnachtsgans… and then there are the dumplings… oh, bring on that minnow size 14!
- The trains are fabulous! Efficient, clean, cheap and colour coded. And yes, we did learn on our last trip years ago that after purchasing a ticket it must always be stamped at a little insignificant hidden unsigned blue box… and yet, Rob allowed it to happened again! Will he never learn? Although both of us were lulled into a false sense of security when we bought the ticket this time, I should have known there was more. I mean really, where in the world do you ever just buy a ticket from A to B and then sit in the train? Ahhh, so blonde… and so easily fooled!
- It snows in Germany in our street. Well, not yet. At the moment it just rains… but it will snow in winter… and we all know how much Fiona loves snow! Who doesn’t dream of seeing just one white Christmas outside their own window?
-
Rob Last but by no means least… if Australia was moved closer to Europe… then I wouldn’t miss my family
Me and Lynne and friends quite as much as I’m suspecting will happen once the novelty of holidaying wears off.
“But,” I hear you ask, “Isn’t that part of the whole growing experience… the adventure?” Yes, it is… and I will draw upon what the enlightened gurus have spruiked. I will think creatively to handle the daily challenges that need solving. I will look within to enjoy all the new experiences that I will see without…. and I probably won’t change anyone else’s world but it will make a difference to mine. So, once again, I invite you to join me on my new adventure and maybe then we both won’t feel quite so alone.
- Two blondes
