(no subject)

A professional beekeeper and hobby weather prophet predicted in October that this Christmas in Middle Europe would be one with temperatures of 15 degrees Celsius. We all had a good laugh. December is a month of extremes, cold in the beginning, until it gets warmer towards Christmas, but 15 degrees seemed unrealistic. It´s winter, it can´t be that warm. The beekeeper has been wrong. We had 16.5 degrees on Tuesday, and 20 degrees on Christmas day. A lot of folks came in short sleeved, in a region where people usually run around wearing anoraks and skiing suits. So pills against the cold and the chinook headaches it was for me. Now I´m curious what weather New Year´s Eve will bring, because my family intends to spend this turn of the year in Vienna. Highly likely it will pour down, so that one can´t see the fireworks!

(no subject)

It´s after eight in the evening, and son has invited some friends of him, to conclude the Christmas holidays teenage style, with beverages, lots of chips and other snacks. Only that there are no more chips and snacks available, because son number three has packed the goodies into his suitcase, to have a fete of his own with colleagues, 300 kilometres away in good old Vienna, where he should have arrived by now. Problem is: in our rural area even the service stations close at eight on statutory holidays, let alone the food stores which have been closed all day through because of the day after Christmas, so no chance of last minute shopping for me. Currently the boys are ransacking the fridge to find something edible. They made off with what was left of the cheese and the ham, and, of course, the bread. I suppose I´ll have to do an early trip to the bakery, to feed my own family and those who did not make it back home. Why are teenagers able to eat that much without gaining weight? Not fair at all! I put on weight by opening the fridge door, no eating involved.