Not much of a weekend.

Which is why I haven't had too danged much to say.

 Saturday was OK weather wise,  but Sunday kind of sucked.

Travelling Companion had to work both days.   I volunteered to chauffeur,   since there's not too much else I can do to lessen the burden.  Turns out I had to turn right around and head back out to her office with our printer,  since none of the printers there were working.
 See,  she's way more tolerant of this kind of thing than I would be,  since I'd want to know who it is that's responsible for the printers,  and how they could be reached on the weekend.  If I'm working,  and your equipment doesn't work,  then you're working.  Simple.

 Oh,  I did save a whole heap of money on air fare.   Forgot to mention.
OK,  that's really a stretch,  but let me explain.

Since I really didn't feel like going out much after my little excursion to the dentist on Friday morning,  that meant that I had to bolster my courage and go to the Naschmarkt on Saturday.  I really didn't want to,  since the place is just a zoo on a Saturday,  but I  wanted to pick up some salmon,  and it's always fresher at the market.
 Since parking was absolutely out of the question,  (I swung by after I dropped off Travelling Companion)  and it was even too nuts out to take the bike,  I figured I'd get there by subway.  It's can be done,  but means taking three different trains.  Well,  there could be a certain amount of walking in there, if I decided not to take the third one,  but I always figure that once I've ponied up the dough for the trip,  I'll take as many modes of public transit I can to get me as close as possible.
So fine,  I can more or less handle the usual hoards of shoppers and tourists,  and got my fish and a few select vegetable type things,  but then had this sudden impulse to walk through the fleamarket and go down to the subway at the far entrance.  I really should have just thought about that impulse for a couple seconds,  since there's really nothing in the flea market that would remotely be of any interest to me.

I've never been to Calcutta,  but I'm pretty sure that scene came close. It was kind of like some sort of "virtual slum"  computer game.  Only I was actually there.
  I had the small camera with me,  but I think I was actually so overwhelmed that it just never occurred to me to take pictures.     There were beggars with crazy backwards ostrich legs,  there were beggars with NO legs.   There were heaps of old clothes that the people at the Goodwill wouldn't want.   Thankfully it was a cool breezy day.
I've actually pitched out better looking crap.

I've heard of towns in places like the Yukon or Alaska that have town dumps where people can go and browse through the stuff others have thrown away.   It was kind of like that.
It was....amazing in a very underwhelming sort of way.
So...if I ever in my wildest dreams thought I wanted to go to some place like Calcutta well,  now I don't have to.
See the savings?
I'm good.


 Sunday was pretty much a repeat on the chauffeuring end of things with a bit of an exception.
 The parking garage where we keep the car is a public garage that can be really crowded at certain times in the week.  Sunday morning is not one of those times,  and there are usually no more than a half dozen or so of the cars there from those who park long term.  So we were a little surprised to see a young lad run up to us as we approached our car blathering away about something or other (hadn't tuned my ear trumpet to German yet that morning)  and come to find out,  their car wouldn't start,  and by the looks of things,  they had been there for a while.  My guess was that from the arm bands,  the three of them (two guys and a girl) had come into the big city for some late night revelry,  and when they got back to the car,  there wasn't enough juice in the battery to get the car started.

 Hm.  What to do?  We don't carry cables,  and they had none.

 Well first of all,  let me tell you a little story.   "Been there...done that".   And that's about all I need to say,  except I do recall on one particular occasion many,  many years ago asking someone for a boost (and I had the cables in my hand!)  and that person said something to the effect that she had been told never to give anyone a boost with her car.  Huh?  Because it's what?  Special?  Didn't look too damned special to me.   Of course,  it was broad daylight,  we were out doors in a very public place,  but there's no arguing with "stupid",  so I didn't bother.   However,  I made a little mental note to never turn into that person.
Since virtually all cars here in Yurp are standards,  we made an attempt at a running start,  but since the thing was a diesel (also very common in Yurp)  that wasn't going to work,  and I really needed to take Travelling Companion to her office.
I had to leave.
I promised to come back.
Not sure they believed me.

 When I left I really had no clue what I was going to do, but I noticed that the garage where we keep our winter/summer tires was open,  and thought I'd stop by on the way back and see if they'd lend me some cables.  Of course,  they barely know me,  so I made sure to mention that I'd leave behind a card of some sort as collateral.
That worked.

 To start with,  the kids were pretty darned happy that I showed up in the first place,  but then I think they pooed just a little when I hauled the cables out of the back seat.
 The only mystery after that was where to hook up the cables on the BMW.   I knew that the battery was in the back,  but it was under cover and I wasn't the one who got the debriefing when the car was delivered.
Just the same,  with a little hunting around we found the positive and negative posts under the hood.   At first it was mostly a guess,  but after confirming it in the manual we were good to go.  Never a good idea to be wrong in these situations.
 And that was pretty much it.   Their car started up right away.  I did offer a couple words about battery life and how a car battery isn't much good after about five years,  (the car was an 04 and had the original battery...)  and there was a promise to go and buy a set of cables....
and then they were sent on their way back home to Wiener Neustadt


Pretty sure I'm not going to rush out and buy a set of cables.  If the BMW won't start,  we just call somebody.   Besides,  I already have two sets hanging in the shed back home.


Other than calling that very same garage this morning to set up a time to have the tires changed,  there's not much else going on.

 Travelling Companion will be working late again tonight.



 Today makes it 53.





.