Monday Again.

And with the exception of the fact that some of the stores are closed on Mondays, that's just pretty much another day here in la-la land.
It means that, although I was able to get Gabe an appointment at the Doctor's office for Thursday afternoon, the hairdressers were closed. Somehow on this side of the pond, those types of errands fall to me.
I don't mind taking the car to the tire dude tomorrow, since I'm quite used to those sorts of tasks falling to me, as they always have and always will, forever and ever, amen.
He's only going to have a look at the tires, since he needs to order a set, and the hope will be that it shouldn't take too long for them to come in.
I was a little miffed with myself that I had no clue as to their size.

This is not the norm.

Typically I could rhyme off the size of tire on any vehicle sitting in the driveway, but somehow I missed that little snippit. Of course, the fact that there's exactly 27 minutes of daylight doesn't help.
The visual acuity is gettin' a little weak, don't ya know?

(to be fair, the sun has been out all afternoon...)

Oh, forgot to mention. There's the minor issue of snow tires that need to go on the car. Could probably get away without, but after going through some of the snotty bits a couple weeks ago over in Germany, I won't mind snow tires one bit.
Ah yes...... the "fatherland", where they don't bother burdening you with the decision as the whether or not you need snows in the winter...they just change the law, since you're now legally required to be driving with snows if the roads are showing wintry conditions.
(winterliche Fahrverhältnisse)
Chances are you can get away with not having them on, but if there's any kind of mishap whatsoever, the insurance company simply won't pay. Even if someone hits you from behind.
There's some interesting reading on the subject here.
AND...even if you manage to keep it between the guard rails, you can still get fined.


Ok so, it's maybe not that interesting, just go to the bottom of the link.

The scuttlebutt is that we'll be heading up to Denmark some time in January. There just might be some wintry conditions.

Boy am I ever looking forward to that.

Now I readily admit, over the last several years, I've become a firm believer in snow tires. Beauty is, since it's a legal requirement, and we have to travel there, Eaton will have to pony up the dough.
Hey! That works.
And lets face it, how many nitwits in the GTA go sliding off the road at the first hint of snow because they "don't need snow tires".
But none of the provinces in Canada* would ever pass such a draconian law, since that might infringe on our right to kill ourselves.

Survival of the fittest I say!!

* On Edit, I have to mention that one of our readers has pointed out to me that La Belle Province de Québec has indeed passed a similar law, with the emphasis only on the similar part, since the knobs at the National Assembly (just what nation they're referring to is another mystery) decided to make it mandatory for everyone to have snows from Nov. 15th until March 15th, whether there were "wintry conditions" or not. Proving that they are bigger nitwits than we've been giving them credit for.


But I digress.


This.....

....is the church in Arnhem, where we went shopping on Saturday.
Really though, Gabe went shopping and I spent about four hours out of my life in a state of semi-consciousness, schlepping from store to store, dodging the crowds and wondering how much longer it would take.
I do so love shopping!
Managed to get to Hengelo in time to stop at the Albert Heijn, even though it was getting close to five o'clock.
Had we not made it to some sort of grocery store, pickings would have been slim in the supper department let's say.

Sunday seemed to consist of riding our bikes just long enough to realise it was way too cold for that sort of nonsense, (2°C) and then taking a car ride to get warmed up. The heater in the car is that much better than the one in the house is all.
Had this idea that IKEA would be open.

It wasn't.

That will be on my list for tomorrow, right after tire dude.