Disappointment, disillusionment, disgust...
To the point. The fact is, I have now spent at least 2 weeks shivering in expectant fear, waiting for the famous Austrian snow. As dark clouds continue to dissolve in unpleasant wetness, I have now reached my conclusions.
It does not exist.
It's all a calculated gimmick to get the tourists in. Once they arrive they are overwhelmed with strudel and Sturm and forced to spend so much time in pubs staring at Ski posters that they end up convinced that the Goesser beer advert is their holiday photo.
Or perhaps British rain is just too attached to me and has followed me across Europe to shower me with love. Either way, cloud after cloud has dissolved in disappointing wetness and my bike is hindered not by sparkling snowdrifts but by their poor relative, the rather more prosaic muddy puddle. Bleh.
Still, am nonetheless enjoying the whole coming home, peeling off wet things, making a nice cup of tea and munching Lebkuchen thing. A perfect cultural mix, I feel! Kapfenberg persists in the winter-is-coming charade. Christmas lights have gone up in the town centre, so sneakily that I’m still in two minds as to whether they weren’t there all along. They haven’t been turned on as yet, which seems nicely restrained, and another milestone to look forward to.
A quiet week (ended with a lovely visit from Nicola and Otto, Austrian Car extraordinaire!), so will find some small things of note…
- they really do eat sweet pancakes for lunch in Austria. Indeed, it’s normal enough for them to serve it for school dinner. Can’t say I’m as big a fan as you might expect.
- have become fed up of getting odd looks every time I walk everywhere. Maybe I’m paranoid, [EDIT I am paranoid - noone else has this problem!] but it seems to me that drivers give you most bewildered and rather cross looks if you‘re anywhere near a main road, even when you’re just strolling along a pavement. However, joggers are accepted as perfectly normal, anywhere and everywhere, even when jogging ON the road with no pavement in sight! Have therefore taken to running to and from places instead, particularly in the dark.
- attempts to plan a lesson on ‘British culture’, which would involve defining ‘British culture’ and indeed ‘Britishness’ resulted in brain implosion. Having visited various websites on the subject, most of which were far too busy being politically correct to actually address the question, came to my personal conclusion that the only thing that defines ‘Britishness’ is worrying about what Britishness is.
- first attempt at Green shopping. My list was comical, including such lovelies as ’green broccoli substitute’. Trip was fairly successful: a bit more time-consuming than usual since I had to scrutinise the label of all the veg, but quite fun, and I discovered lots of completely unknown vegetables that come from Austria, and will be experimented with. Cabbage has become a passable broccoli-replacement, and it turns out that Austrians have their own bumpier brand of cucumber, so I needn’t give that up.
Tschuss - here's to a white week! And after I went all the way to Bruck for a Fair trade woolly jumper...
It does not exist.
It's all a calculated gimmick to get the tourists in. Once they arrive they are overwhelmed with strudel and Sturm and forced to spend so much time in pubs staring at Ski posters that they end up convinced that the Goesser beer advert is their holiday photo.
Or perhaps British rain is just too attached to me and has followed me across Europe to shower me with love. Either way, cloud after cloud has dissolved in disappointing wetness and my bike is hindered not by sparkling snowdrifts but by their poor relative, the rather more prosaic muddy puddle. Bleh.
Still, am nonetheless enjoying the whole coming home, peeling off wet things, making a nice cup of tea and munching Lebkuchen thing. A perfect cultural mix, I feel! Kapfenberg persists in the winter-is-coming charade. Christmas lights have gone up in the town centre, so sneakily that I’m still in two minds as to whether they weren’t there all along. They haven’t been turned on as yet, which seems nicely restrained, and another milestone to look forward to.
A quiet week (ended with a lovely visit from Nicola and Otto, Austrian Car extraordinaire!), so will find some small things of note…
- they really do eat sweet pancakes for lunch in Austria. Indeed, it’s normal enough for them to serve it for school dinner. Can’t say I’m as big a fan as you might expect.
- have become fed up of getting odd looks every time I walk everywhere. Maybe I’m paranoid, [EDIT I am paranoid - noone else has this problem!] but it seems to me that drivers give you most bewildered and rather cross looks if you‘re anywhere near a main road, even when you’re just strolling along a pavement. However, joggers are accepted as perfectly normal, anywhere and everywhere, even when jogging ON the road with no pavement in sight! Have therefore taken to running to and from places instead, particularly in the dark.
- attempts to plan a lesson on ‘British culture’, which would involve defining ‘British culture’ and indeed ‘Britishness’ resulted in brain implosion. Having visited various websites on the subject, most of which were far too busy being politically correct to actually address the question, came to my personal conclusion that the only thing that defines ‘Britishness’ is worrying about what Britishness is.
- first attempt at Green shopping. My list was comical, including such lovelies as ’green broccoli substitute’. Trip was fairly successful: a bit more time-consuming than usual since I had to scrutinise the label of all the veg, but quite fun, and I discovered lots of completely unknown vegetables that come from Austria, and will be experimented with. Cabbage has become a passable broccoli-replacement, and it turns out that Austrians have their own bumpier brand of cucumber, so I needn’t give that up.
Tschuss - here's to a white week! And after I went all the way to Bruck for a Fair trade woolly jumper...
posted by Little Fi | 9:22 AM
4 Comments:
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Nah, I think it's more likely that I am paranoid. Have edited the post to reflect this!
By the way, how did you find me??
Lovely to read the weather postings. Do tell when the big fall arrives, have faith, it will. I've seen it!
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