Someone is stealing Cate's lunch money

W inter is coming.

We were planning to go to Budapest on the weekend. Cate is going to Geneva on Thursday and I was to pick her up on Friday evening at the airport and we would hammer down the autobahn to Budapest where I had booked a very nice hotel.

To prepare for this I downloaded Eastern European maps for our GPS – which does not work too well here. It seems that all the high buildings interfere with the reception so when we start off it takes 10 minutes to get a signal. This means that you really have to start off in the right direction – which we did not do on Sunday when we went to Melk Abbey.

We ended up at Shopping City Sud. How could this be? I think the QM is just like Dobbin – you tell it to giddy up and it plods along the same road it takes every weekend. So I said – no Dobbin – we are finished with SCS – we are never, ever going there again as long as my bony ass points to the ground.

The guidebook says it is 65 kilometres from Wien. At one stage on Sunday we were 104 kilometres from Melk and were heading in the wrong direction. I know we came home the shortest way and it was about 85 kilometres – so the guide book is a bit wobbly.

The new car (if we ever get it) has an inbuilt GPS system which I hope will be a lot better that our portable one.

I am having trouble coming to grips with the fact that it takes four months to get a car delivered – and we are next to the country where they are made. Perhaps someone out there can help me with this.

Annabella has confirmed my thoughts about meat and has described it quite delightfully as ‘Vienna definitely has an eclectic assortment of what I deem as scary meat’. Today I got what I think may be beef for roasting. This is taking place while I am writing my blog. I am not confident but will report on the outcome in due course. The cats have shown no interest in the cooking processes – and this is a bad sign.

On the bright side – since I stopped giving Bill raw meat he has not had any digestive problems at all and most nights – apart from the occasional imaginary mice - are relatively peaceful.

Now Cate also has to go to Korea - leaving Sunday night – so we have postponed Budapest – and the cat sitter. This is a disappointment for the cats as they like Grizelda the cat minder and are getting sick of me being on their case all day every day. It is also a disappointment for Cate who - because of the late booking - has to fly Duckair.

Someone is stealing Cate’s lunch money. Cate gets €4 per day as a lunch allowance - this is a weird Austrian thing and may well be compensation paid by Telekom Austria to all customers just for being the way they are to their users.

When she goes to use the money at the café she discovers that someone else has been using her name/number/voucher/whatever. If this keeps up she will be reduced to a daily semmel and coke like me – but I have suggested she call in the auditors – who can have a look for our car while they are here.

Anyway I have finally got things mostly in order so have now been able to devote some time to once more doing my German lessons. I will soon start formal lessons and hope to make great progress over the next few months. Before we leave Wien I want to able to describe (and perhaps to cook) at least half of the very many different types of dead animals on display in the market.

Tell Anna I have received her latest letter and am having it translated – and it’s bad luck about Reg.