Sunday 15 April 2012

Just Like Starting Over

Again with the John Lennon thing? What's up with that? Well it seems that at least some of what JL thought and wrote has meaning to me in my current situation. Let's dispense with the factual stuff first:
  • I'm settling in well at the office
  • Nuremberg has a very good public transportation system (with a few amusing glitches) that I'm figuring out
  • Since I've mastered Germany I flew to Italy on Friday just for the day. My first business trip since the posting to Europe. I was in Parma. The Parma of the ham and the cheese. Maxed out on the ham, the cheese will have to wait till a later visit
  • My boss for the duration of my stay in Europe invited me to join him and his girlfriend for dinner at his place here in town. Great people, beautiful apartment and way too much insanely delicious food. The wine and beer did not disappoint either.
  • I finally started running. Yay. About 1:40 Saturday and 1:55 on Sunday. I think I'm over my jet lag for real.
So what does any of this have to do with John Lennon. Surprisingly, very little. The song just popped into my head during the first of my two trips to date to the local supermarket (more on this at a later date). It's just that I'm approaching age 55 and for the first time in 32 years I'm having to outfit an apartment from scratch. OK, so it's not as hard as it was in 1980. This place did come furnished and had things like a shower curtain which my original Montreal apartment did not. Besides, I didn't know anything back then. But think about it. On my first trip to the market I bought bread and jam and eggs and butter and milk, I thought I'd enjoy some eggs for my weekend breakfast. And I would have. But do you know what scrambled eggs taste like without herbs or Tabasco or pepper or salt? Of course you don't. I don't recommend that you try either. So my second trip was a little more organized. I haven't got it fully dialled in yet but now I have condiments, spices and even coffee, tea and sugar. Now this doesn't quite rank with Archimedes discoverng the principal of positive displacement (although there may have been some clothing optional running around the apartment the day I discovered the water heater) but it has made my life away from home that little bit more comfortable.

And for my friend Ryan, I am slightly atoning for the lack of photos to this point. It's horribly clumsy as I am still waiting for some of my technology items to arrive (like a phone!). But here's my nemesis the water heater:
It no longer holds any power over me. Ha!
Again, thanks so much for reading
Tom




1 comment:

  1. Has anyone seen a posted picture from Germany yet? So far, this could be Main Street, Winnipeg. Hmm...

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