Messing with Biology.

No no,  I’m not talking about genetics.  It’s heaps stupider* than that. 
Apparently,  I’ve been working on a little biology experiment in the fridge over the last little while.  I would like to enter a specific time frame at this particular juncture,  but therein lies the problem. 
A couple weekends ago,  as a result of our little sojourn down to Slovenia,  we came back with some garden fresh tomatoes and cucumbers.   Man,  I wanna tell ya!  Nothing like vine ripened tomatoes! 

This is Slovenian Cousin’s garden. Over yonder, underneath the plastic “canopy” are tomato plants.  The use of the plastic canopy is a bit of a mystery to me,  but the tomatoes are damned good,  so it must be working.



So what that meant was,  the perfectly serviceable cucumber that was already in the fridge got summarily over looked.

Until this morning. 

The thing is,  that plastic wrap they put on those English cucumbers I quite often will buy here in Wienerland,  does a really good job of hiding just how gross and disgusting a rotten cucumber can get over the course of what?  a few weeks?  No way of knowing, really.
Mind you,  it’s a fairly expeditious way of getting the fridge cleaned.   Along with the floor,  not to mention the garbage can.    Didn’t get any slime on my person,  thankfully.  Maybe that somehow comes from all those years as a Caretaker?   I mean,  if a soldier walking down the street hears a loud pop,  he’s just as likely to hit the deck.  In my case,  getting a slimy green thing to the garbage without getting any of it on me comes as second nature. 
So now I’m thinking,  if the motto for the U.S. Marine core is “Semper Fi”,  does that mean for Caretakers it should be, “Hasta Lasagna,  don’t get any on ya”?

Just a thought.

*all mistakes are intentional.

Now on to part two of things I’d rather not do.  This is something I’ve touched on in the past,  and has to do with booking stuff on line.   Can’t say I’m thrilled.
Just let me explain.   Most times it’s easy peasy.  If you want to go to a certain concert or opera at a certain time,  and have a pretty good idea of where you want to sit,  then it’s a no brainer.   Somehow I think this is going to all tie in with the biology experiment,  with the key words being, “no” and “brains”.   But that’s just a hunch.
We’ve already booked our flight home,  and as of this morning, we have nine more sleeps and a “wakie”.   To be honest,  I’m never sure if the “wakie” is supposed to be the last night or not,  since this was a goofy term that I learned from my oldest brother.  He got moved around a lot when he was in the Air Force,  and I forgot to ask him to explain the subtleties of the term.

Doesn’t matter.   All I know is,  Saturday morning August 20th,  we’re outta here.
The thing is,  we don’t have any kind of motor vehicle at all over home.  That means muggins here has to rent something.   *groan*
So I figured,  since we have all kinds of “reward” cards,  it would be prudent to try and get some points some way or another.   Let me give you my little list.  I have “Miles and More”,  “Flying Blue”,  “Aeroplan”  “One Pass”,  not to mention,  an actual “Air Miles” card, which I can’t even find.    I think that’s it. 
So…”Aeroplan” usually means flying Air Canada,  and I don’t.   “One Pass” used to be OK,  but then Continental Airlines entered into an unholy alliance with United,  so that puts that one out the window.   That leaves “Flying Blue”  and “Miles and More”.   Don’t even bother with “Flying Blue”,  since it’s associated with KLM,  and that would be fine,  except that it’s managed by Air France.   Nope,  I think maybe the air would be blue,  so best to stay away from Flying Blue?  Hey, I like France,  and I like to visit France,  but I’m certainly not going to intentionally deal with the French if I can help it.   I’m just saying.
That leaves “Miles and More”.   See how we boiled it down there?   Um,  I hope you don’t have to get back to work right away,  ‘cause this could take a couple minutes.

So fine,  I go to the website,  finally remember what my log in name and password happens to be (argh!)  and then discover that the rental car outfit they’re associated with is Avis.  Just Avis.  That’s cosy.  Fine,  whatever.   Getting a pretty average car from Avis is going to run something like 1500 bucks.  Wow.  Really? 

But just hang on a sec.  Let’s have a look around.  There’s a site called “Travelocity”,  and lo and behold,  they have a wonderful search engine.   You don’t get any points,  but it turns out that Alamo (and a couple others on the list there)  have the same or better car for about HALF.   Well,  a little more than half,  but close.  

Holy Cow!  I don’t even have to get the midget clown car either!  I might not have to wind it up or anything!



But just hold on now,  we already know that Enterprise isn’t exactly on the airport property.  We found that out last year.  Whenever it was,  it was hot,  so that must have been in June.   You have to take a van.  I’d say “shuttle bus”, but that would imply comfort.  No,  this was a big ole Ford van,  which would have been great for loading up with tools and such,  but not necessarily for anyone who has just been sitting on an airplane for over eight hours.   I realise I just called it and “old” van,  when in fact my guess is that it was new.  It just rattled and banged like an old one.
And fine,  maybe I’m being fussy,  but I’d sooner DRIVE MYSELF or,  if I’m being taken off airport property,  then it needs to be in taxi or limo or something.   Not a van.  That’s all.
So,  we can rule out Enterprise,  and I won’t be pulling the trigger on this until I’ve looked for the address for each and every one of these outfits.  I suspect there’s sneakiness going on when it comes to divulging their actual locations.  
I don’t want to be driven half way home,  just to pick up our rental car. 

Who knows,  maybe that’s why the cheap ones are cheap,  since they don’t have to pay “airport rent”?  
I guess we’ll find out.


In addition to it being “nine more sleeps”,  today’s date has one other significance.
Today is August 11th.   Just so happens to be our Anniversary. 
Twenty-one years married. 
Thirty-one years living together.  (hey,  it was 10 years before we could afford to get married,  ease up!)
Travelling Companion also pointed out this morning that we’ve actually known each other since 1978!


Holy cr*p on a cracker! 

We’ll see how the next thirty-one goes.


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