Late nights.

Not my cup of tea.  Not for a long time.

So when Travelling Companion hadn’t made an appearance by the time I was starting to nod off while sitting up,  I had to simply give in and go to bed.   She finally came in around 11:30 I guess it was.   I was sort of awake,  since I was trying to be at that stage of being in bed,  but not quite “out”.    Lights on.  Pretending to read.  That kind of thing.

Well,  not really “pretending”,  but more like reading until my eyes wouldn’t stay open any more.  Usually when whatever I’m reading falls over and bonks me on the nose,  that’s enough to wake me up for a few more minutes.   Until it happens again.  Or I decide enough is enough.

I didn’t think it would be prudent to try and read a book,  but fortunately I had a copy of the most recent Lee Valley catalogue.   Even though many companies have websites with on line shopping,  there’s something to be said about leafing through a glossy catalogue.  Just looking at all the “stuff”  that looks so enticing,  or the other stuff that you can’t for the life of you figure out why anyone would want.  They have some of that too.  Gadgets for those who try to replace skill with yet another gadget. 

 

So T.C’s last words to me before passing out last night were,  “Do you think you can wake me up at 5:30?”  

Yikes.  OK then.

Due to some sort of “old man alarm clock”  phenomenon,  that’s not that big a deal.   Sure enough,  my eyes popped open at 5:15 a.m.   As convenient as that might sound,  this “old man alarm clock”  thing really gets in the way of something which is now only a dim distant memory.  It’s called, “sleeping in”.  What is that anyway?  I don’t seem to recall.

I mean,  I can sometimes go back to sleep at some point later on around 7:00 if I haven’t bolted out of bed by then,  but it doesn’t seem to be the same.   And truth be told,  it’s more like some sort of slumber.  I’m just lying there because I refuse to get up.  There’s no real sleeping going on.

 

So,  since I was up anyway,  I offered to chauffeur this morning.  You can either attribute that to some sort of act of solidarity,  or guilt.   Take your pick.   I certainly could drive every day,  but since muddling my way through the traffic each and every morning just to get back home again,  (and to go to the bathroom!)  gets to be a bit of a chore after a time,  I would just as soon not.   This morning’s jaunt was different,  since we were so Dad gum early.  There was a bit of traffic on the North Bridge coming back in,  since it’s just about the only way to get into Vienna if you’re coming down along the Danube,  but other than that,  piece of cake.

I was pretty sure there weren’t going to be any more of these “late nights”,  and so was T.C.,  but it seems there were a couple “Cheeses”  of the big kind that were coming in today for a bit of a ‘look see’.  

I’m sure you’re aware that,  from time to time Travelling Companion jets off to some other country somewhere to do some sort of accounting “hokus-pokus”?   It’s kind of like that,  only on a slightly higher level,  the notable difference being that these guys get to use one of the corporate jets.   Plus, they call it an “Operations Review”.   Whatever.  

I think the late night had something to do with trying to make these sow’s ears look somewhat more similar to silk purses,  but that’s only a guess.  Specifics are somewhat elusive at this point,  and shall remain that way.  Even though she’s on the “controlling” end of things,  she somehow has to be there to prop up the “operations” end of things.   Swell.  Nice to be “needed”,  but bleepin’ annoying just the same.

 

******

 

You may recall we had a little snippet of info about licence plates the other day? Last week?  Whenever?  I happened to spot this one on the way back to the hive:

 

I couldn’t for the life of me think of where this one was from,  and at first thought it might be from Moldova,  but Moldova isn’t a part of the EU.  It turns out these folks are from Malta.  

Alrighty then. 

This was on the Ring.  Here in Vienna.  I’m not kidding.

Thought you’d drive up to Vienna?     Google Maps doesn’t seem to want to give me “driving directions”  from Malta.  I guess they would have taken a ferry over to Italy and driven from there. 

I’m putting in these links for anyone whose geography might be a little weak.   And yes,  I’ll admit that I’ve had to brush up on my European geography over the last four years.  Even if I had studied it more than in a cursory fashion in high school,  that was a long,  long time ago.    Besides,  a few things have changed in the mean time.  I do own a wooden hand plane that says “Made in West Germany”,  since it wasn’t that long ago that there was such a thing.   Now it’s just plain old Germany.

 

That’s just about it for today I’m afraid.   Maybe tomorrow we’ll hint about some guest we’re going to be receiving some time in April.   Long story.  You’ll see.

 

Keep those sticks on the ice.

 

Thanks for stopping by.