Legs just will not do the job

Cate is embarking on one of her global expeditions next week – the last for the year – and will be going to Moscow and Istanbul and Mumbai - so has been spending most of the weekend working to prepare for this – although we did manage to squeeze in a bike ride on Sunday morning.

But she also decided that she would like to cook on Saturday night and perhaps on Sunday night and this is a great idea as far as I am concerned because she is a good cook and while we usually go out on Saturday nights I am happy to have her potter about in the kitchen.

I usually do something very simple for Sunday nights – like leftovers from a meal during the week - or soup, so I am happy for her to cook.

The problem is that she makes these decisions very late – say on Friday nights – because she thinks that you can go over to Spar and buy the ingredients you need to cook a meal.

Well you can if you want something very simple – like cheese on toast or a tin of tomato soup.

The second mistake she makes is to leave it until after lunch on Saturday to go shopping.

Vienna is full of little shops they call ‘Supermarkets’. They are just little stores that really have the bare necessities of life. Our Spar for example stocks mainly alcohol, chocolate and rotten vegetables.

I wondered for a long time where Spar could get vegetables that old and I finally figured that they must wait until the Naschmarkt closes and then collect the stuff that the store holders there have thrown away.

It really is amazing. I bought some potatoes there a while ago that were fossilised and should have been in the Museum of Natural History.

However – one of them looked like Jesus so I have it on eBay and am hoping to get enough to fix the tooth I broke on one of their prehistoric Zucchinis.

Yes it’s my fault and I should go down to the markets in Landstrasser Haupstrasse where they have wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables every day but crushed as I am by the burden of my daily chores I do not always get the time.

Indeed I could cycle down to the Naschmarkt – which is a veritable paradise – but there you are.

Anyway – I have warned Cate before about last minute shopping expeditions to Spar but she takes little notice of what I say – indeed few people ever have – so we set off late on Saturday – she with a shopping list and me with a heavy heart because Cate hates shopping - and markets generally – and Spar in particular – and I was preparing myself for the worst. 

Which – of course - happened.

Now both dishes were chicken dishes. The chicken refrigerator was bare – well there were a few legs but we wanted breasts – so it then did not really matter that they had no limes, spinach or coriander. 

I knew there was no point in asking about breasts – I have trodden that path before – what you see is what you get until the next delivery.

So it was an urgent trip in the car to the much bigger Spar at Simmering where our needs were met – after a fashion. You do what you can and we made some accommodations.

Cate has learned her lesson. If she decides to cook she needs to make a decision on Thursday so that I can do the shopping on Friday. 

What type of person would do that?

Kinderdijk

Over the last couple of days I spent a lot of time downloading and installing OSX Lion which is the new operating system for the iMac and Mac Air and - when you also upgrade your iPhone and iPad to their new operating system - you can use iCloud which stores all your stuff in one place and every time you change anything on anything it gets changed everywhere by something. How cool is that.

It is supposed to be simple and for a normal person using their native language it would be, but as the only store I can use is the Austrian one it always turns out to be one of those goat things and it took me almost two days to get everything working because nothing is ever as it seems and it would almost be worthwhile me paying Mr. esbboston to come over here because I am sure he could do it in a jiffy if I made him one of my special toasted chicken sandwiches with my special Australian bush spices.

In the process I finally realised that I would have to do something about my photo library which is growing like topsy and has many problems – not the least of which is that when I upgraded from iPhoto to Aperture I did not do it effectively and for some time was running two photo libraries concurrently.

This is a problem that will only get worse – we took more than 1,000 photos on our last trip – mainly of windmills – so I have to get rid of the iPhoto library.

At various times I have added photos to both libraries so the only way to make sure that I do not lose any photos is to merge the two libraries and then delete the iPhoto library – after backing it up to an external hard drive – and I can tell you that at the thought of all this taking place the goats are having a barn dance.

So this has occupied me for days because I have about 35,000 photos in each library and first I had to merge them and then I have to run a software program to identify the duplicates and then I have to delete them manually. Yes manually. This will take a month. 

In the meantime Sissi is going through a sleepless stage and is leaping and bounding about the bedroom and house at various times throughout the night.

Muffin – before she departed – did not teach her much – but she did teach her to leap – in the dead of the night – from the ledge behind the bed – onto on our almost lifeless forms – so as to wake us with a with a startled shriek. Us not her. 

And Monika – who rarely does anything at all – has started dragging around the apartment a piece of cord that came from a cosmetics bag that Cate had – and which the cats now use for a toy. Their only toy. 

Of all the things which we have bought them – this is the only one they treasure. We have wasted money on any manner of things – balls, furry mice, scratching poles, lined baskets, rugs, trinkets, knick knacks –whatever. The only thing in which they have evinced a sliver of interest is this scruffy piece of cord – approximately one metre long. They play with it constantly.

So each morning at about 4:00 AM Monika drags this into the bedroom squeaking like a demented bat. She does not meow – she squeaks. For some reason she has never learned to meow.

What can we do. It is her only toy. A piece of frayed cord. What type of person would take a piece of frayed cord from a cat that cannot meow. Her only toy. 

If you come to Vienna I will take you

Friedhof der Namenlosen and my daughter Molly

It’s a public holiday today for All Saints Day – as it is in many countries – and as christians Cate and I are taking a well deserved day off. Well I am – Cate is working – and is not happy about it. Some people just never give her a break.

When I say we are christian – we have a christian view of the world in that we generally wish people no harm (there are a few exceptions), are fond of animals (mainly cats – although Cate always has an apple in her bag in case she sees a horse) and always recycle our bottles.

Now we don’t worship any particular deities but we don’t think that should deny us the benefit of days off - because we have so many other redeeming features. Besides – we believe in so many other things – that should count for something. And we are really good people.

On this particular day the Viennese swarm all over the cemeteries with flowers and candles. A particularly popular spot is the Friedhof der Namenlosen  which is a tiny and very obscure cemetery hidden away on the outskirts of Vienna. I have been there many times.

It is not more than about 100 square metres and contains only about (I am guessing – 100 graves) most of which – as the name of the cemetery implies – are of persons unknown. It is a must see if you come to Vienna – but it is not easy to get to. But I will take you.

 

And here are the photos of the Delft pottery and German crystal. The Delft jar is 27cm tall and the largest candlestick is 31cm tall.