Honey! I made some money!

That was the start of our dinner conversation on Thursday night, to which my dear wife’s reply was,

“Ya, right”.

“No really.  I did”.

 

OK,  I know it’s already Sunday,  I’m not that daft.  Please bear with me.  Or is that,  please “bare” with me?   I think that would only be if we thought we’d be going skinny dipping… English can be quirky sometimes.  I’ll try to stay on track.

While the boys in the back were cutting down the huge tree,  and Max (neighbour,  remember?)  was helping himself to some firewood,  I was out for my morning constitutional.   Most times I try to get out and back before it gets too hectic on the streets,  since I’m not overly keen on wading through the crowds,  but I had been whiling away my time taking pictures of the tree cutting event.   There’s always the blog to think of.

Oh,  and by the way,  Max said that the tree had been dead for a couple years,  since I had asked him just how dry it was.   I suppose it’ll burn OK.    I guess I’ll never really know.   Nor care.   And we don’t have any fireplaces up here in our Dachgeschoss. (“Penthouse”?) Unless I want to burn something out on the terrace, and that’s not happening.

I usually do a pretty good job of fending off most anyone either begging for money or whatever out on the street,   but actually stopped for a couple minutes to talk with a lady who had asked if I wouldn’t mind taking a survey.   I mean,  I had seen these same people in that spot before,  so I had a reasonable idea that there was some legitimacy in her offer.   It turns out it was a small company that does market research for one of the Austrian beer companies,  so I ended up sitting at a computer for about 20 minutes watching a couple commercials and then answering some silly questions.   I don’t remember the wording exactly,  and you’ll have to insert the sarcasm font here,  but there were questions like,  “When you see this scene,   do you feel…   1) Annoyed? 2) Inquisitive? 3) Suicidal?” 

OK fine,  those were NONE of the choices,  but it was still kind of silly I thought.   Now,  if it had been taste testing…?  Hm…

The thing is,  all they wanted was anyone who could understand,  read and write German (my written German is a tad rusty)  with about 20 minutes to kill,  and there ya go.   Bob’s yer uncle.

Oh,  and someone who does in fact consume beer.  That was important.

I told this person that taking her picture would have to be part of the deal.  Of course,  I didn’t mention anything about the blog.  Oops.

 

This brings us to the old guy with the headphones.  

There was no need for the microphone.  Thankfully.

And for my 20 minutes?  She gave me €10!

 

Alrighty then!

Yes,  that’s ten Euros.  I’ll save you the trouble of converting,  that’s $13.75 US  $13.89 Cdn.   Possibly about a million pesos?  (OK, actually 185)

 

I can dig it.

 

I still haven’t spent THAT ten Euros.   I might have to have it framed.  It’s the only money I’ve ever made in Europe.  Investment income back home doesn’t count.

 

**********

 

Yesterday,  (Saturday) the big deal was to go out and find some sort of Christmas tree.  *sigh*

We’ve managed to dodge that particular bullet for a couple years,  but since the “children”  are coming over for Christmas this year,  SOMEBODY thought we should have a Christmas tree.

In all the years that I have “observed”  Christmas,  there has never,  ever been a fake tree.   Yesterday we bought a fake tree.   Shameful,  I know.   But I can carry it home in a box,  and quite possibly ship it home when we leave and either give it away or sell it in a garage sale.  Either way,  having a real tree,  while possibly less money, (and more environmentally sound) was out of the question.  

We also bought one more string of lights.  They’ll most likely stay here when we leave.  I could lob off the end, change it and plug them into a 110 volt outlet when we get home,  but they’d end up being pretty dim I’m afraid.  

(I think I sense an additional blog post coming up)

 

So you’re probably wondering what the heck we’ll be using to decorate this fine outstanding tree?   (There’s an “outstanding in my field” joke in there somewhere)

We didn’t buy any ornaments.  No sir.

 

The thing about not moving “lock,  stock and barrel” when doing these overseas assignments,  is that you have to sort out and have the movers pack all the stuff that you want to take along.   So Travelling Companion and I (I made sure she was back in Canada with me for this one)  went through and organised everything that they were to pack up.  Pretty simple.

But some for some reason, (see one of today’s “tags”) the fellow who was working away upstairs (with not close enough supervision it turns out) ended up grabbing a couple things that were sitting in the hallway,  ready to be shoved back into the attic.  Gah!   So,  along with three brand new doorknobs, still in their packages, (upstairs renovations have been ongoing) we also have enough Christmas ornaments to decorate a whole tree!  Oh goody!

In total,  we probably have enough Christmas ornaments for about four trees,  but that’s a whole other topic.

I don’t know how he made the leap from,  “OK,  everything in this room”,  to “Oh,  and whatever you find out in on the landing”.

Whatever.  At least we don’t have to buy EVEN MORE Christmas ornaments.   So it was a fortuitous error.

 

The tree is still down in the car,  sitting in the trunk,  and I’ll probably schlep it up here tomorrow morning when I see T.C. off to work.

 

I hope everyone is having a fine weekend.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

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