Sometimes I complain.

And you're thinking,  "Sometimes?"
 Well,  I try not to but I'll readily admit that I might gripe a little about this or that.   Mostly having to do with people getting in my way or something of that nature.
 On the other hand though,  I feel compelled to point out that there are some things about living in Europe that, for lack of any other way of putting it, simply "kick ass!".

 Let me explain.

 First of all,  I'm pretty sure I've mentioned the fact that beer and wine are considerably cheaper here than in North America.  Actually,  I just might have mentioned this more than once.  Sorry.
Certainly cheaper than in Canada.   And I'm not talking about crap here,  I'm talking about half decent wine that you'd be willing to serve to guests.
When it comes to beer, if I'm feeling really outlandishly extravagant*, I might actually cough up the €.99 for some "premium" beer such as Budweiser,  instead of the run of the mill stuff I have in the cupboard which,  if you buy a case of 24,  works out to something like €.55 a piece.  That would be for a half a litre of beer by the way,  not the puny 341ml available in Canada.

Ya,  that's pretty damned reasonable.  Just doesn't help in the beer belly avoidance end of things though.

mmmmmm.  Budweiser.

Oh,  and that bottle of "Valpolicella"  that you see off on one side of the photo?   That was something like €4,00.     So with the Euro being worth about a buck thirty five Canadian,  that's what?  five and a half bucks??
Oh,  and let's not forget the lack of speed limits on the Autobahn in Germany,  but that's a whole other story.
I think you see what I'm talking about.   There are some things....

Well,  today I'd just like to point out one other thing in Europe that kicks ass,  and that is the postal system.
 Now,  I realise that it has declined over the years,  but you have to understand the starting point from which this "decline" originated.   When I was living in the little village of Opfingen in Germany way,  way back in 1979,  the idea of having a telephone was pretty much out of the question,   but I could put a post card in the mail in the morning before nine a.m.  and it would get delivered to my brother's place up in Baden-Söllingen that night!
 
Nope.  I'm not kidding.

Did it many times.   The note would be something like,  "meet you in front of so and so tomorrow morning at 10".

Couldn't afford a phone,  but didn't really need one.

There was even postal delivery on Saturday.


I'd just like to also mention,  on the "not complaining front",  that it snowed last night,  several inches in fact,  and I'm OK with that.   Used to be I'd start to stress about those kinds of things on a Sunday in my former job,  due to that whole opening the school the next morning kind of thing.
I had eleven entrances to shovel.   Preferably done with a good dose of ice melter before seven a.m.   Such fun.
Sometimes I'd wake up in the middle of the night and look out in the hopes that it was still snowing and blowing enough to warrant a "snow day",  but that happened about as often as a lunar eclipse.

So, even when Travelling Companion very meekly asked if I'd mind driving her to work?  Hey,  no problem.   The car is parked underground,  so no snow to clean off,  and it has a decent set of snow tires.   I sat in traffic a little,  but meh,  no big deal.   Plus,  that gave me a chance to stop by Merkur on Prager Strasse and pick up a couple things that we can only find at that store.
 The only thing is,  I didn't quite suspect that the order that I had placed on Thursday night from Media Markt would already be here this morning at nine!  The tracking number thingie they sent me said it had been shipped out on Friday afternoon,  so I'm thinking maybe I should start wondering by about what? Wednesday?   Even that would seem fast.  Certainly by Canadian standards.
From Friday afternoon to Monday morning isn't even an actual whole day when it comes to shipping time,  now that I think of it.
I'm kind of at a loss for words.


See, the thing about driving Travelling Companion to work is that,  in the best of all possible worlds I can't really make it back here until eight thirty or quarter to nine.   If I also unknowingly stop for groceries,  then that tends to make it a bit longer.  The traffic getting back into the city is usually pretty nasty,  so spending some time picking up groceries is at least more productive than sitting in stop and go traffic in the blinding sun.   So when I came strolling in our front door downstairs at about quarter after nine and happened to notice this box sitting with a few others on a dolly...

I had to convince myself that it was actually for me.
It is only Monday,  right?
I caught up with Postal Dude, after playing a little "elevator tag",  and all I had to do was prove who I was,  and "Bob's yer Uncle",    we now have more space to store media!

I think I kinda like this whole "on-line ordering" thing!

*Please refer to my earlier mention of "extravagance",  and you'll quickly realise "on-line shopping" isn't going to become any kind of a problem for me.   Just so you know.


That pretty well takes care of today's activities.




.