Almost Legal Again.

Not that we were getting anywhere close or anything,   but this morning we were off to the “Magistrats Amt 35”,  or MA 35 for short.   Believe me,  the first time I heard someone talk about the MA 35,  I had no clue what they were talking about either.   Should I just come out and tell you what it is,  or do the long winded version?

Oh,  let’s go “long winded”,  since you’re just dying to know all about Austrian Bureaucracy.   And besides,  if you ever move to Austria,  some of this gibberish will be invaluable.  That works for me anyway.

 

I’ve been searching for a nice tidy Wiki article to link you to,  but I’ve struck out.   Put it this way,  all of the various authorities are divided up into different “Magistrates”,  and whether that makes sense in English or not,  I’m not sure.  “MA 48” for example,  looks after garbage removal,  and all the street sweeper types.   “MA 36” is the parking authority.  “MA 68” is the Fire Department.   And so on.  If you’re a complete glutton for punishment,  I did find a list here,  but it’s all in German of course.  Go about half way down the page,  and you can check my work…because it matters to you.

So,  if you haven’t figured it out by now,  MA 35 looks after the immigrants.  That would be yours truly and his lovely wife.  Even though we’re by no stretch of the imagination about to immigrate or anything,  the ordeal is pretty much the same.  Same deal with the work permit.

OK,  I see you’re starting to nod off there,  so let’s press on.

Today was the day Travelling Companion had to do her trip to the MA 35.   I only went along as Chauffeur.

Unlike when I went a couple weeks ago,  we remembered to get pictures taken for T.C.,  and now of course we each have enough photos to last for ever and ever,  amen.   Why do they think you’ll need eight?

I just realised I’ve used the term “ordeal” unfairly.   Each and every time we’ve gone to either the MA 35,  or the “gemeentehuis”  a few kilometres from the place we rented in the Netherlands,  the civil servants have for the most part been very nice.   “Civil”,  would be the appropriate term.  

This is in sharp contrast to the procedure you go through if you want to work in the US.   I’m not sure what the thinking is,  but you have to go in front of some border guard,  and answer all his/her stupid questions.   I mean,  if the company you’re employed by wants you to work somewhere,  then who cares?   But unfortunately,  there’s either some paranoia there,  or what,  I don’t know.   Maybe it’s the same for an American who wants to work in Canada?  I don’t know,  and I’m sure I’ll never find out.  I suppose they figure once you cross that border,  they could very well lose track of you.  Can’t see that happening here.

Here,  all they’re concerned with is if your passport is current,   you have a recent photo,  and you’ve brought all the relevant paper work.   You need to prove you’re employed,  and have a place to live.  There’s a couple more things in there too,  but my memory’s dim.

At that point there’s no real need for questions.  If you’ve managed to come up with all that,  then you probably didn’t just wander over the border and suddenly find yourself looking after a huge division that did a billion in sales.  

I’m just saying.

Now,  along with that,  you do get a little credit card type of thingy,  with all the relevant information on it,  with the aforementioned mug shot.  You need to keep that with you at all times,  and only turn it in when you leave the country for good,  or when you get a new one.

 

Both of ours will be ready next week.

 

That,  by the way,  is pretty damned exceptional.

 

And here’s why.   See,  the lawyer who met with us this morning was the same young lady who went along with me a couple weeks ago.  She just happens to be buds with one of the clerks,  and we just sort of sashayed in.

Sweet.

It goes pretty quickly once you’re in there anyway,  but we didn’t have to wait out in the big room with all the poor huddled masses for very long at all.   I can dig it.  It’s bad enough that you have to stand in line for just a wee bit too long to get the number in the first place,  but now I’m just starting to sound like a whiner.

T.C.  has other things to do besides sit around waiting for some number to come up on a tote board.  Of course,  I resisted the temptation to in any way shape or form mock any of the poor huddled masses.  That would just be mean.  So there was no, “Smell ya later!”  or anything else that popped into my head. 

If anyone ever figures out how to read a person’s mind,  I’m so dead.  I’m not kidding.

 

 

So that was that.   I actually felt a bit bad for the young lady who was processing our paperwork,  since she was WORKING.  I mean,  there were heaps of files on her desk,  with what I would term “runners” coming in and dropping off or picking up folders or files the whole time she was looking after us.

And in spite of the fact that they were obviously short staffed (one of her colleagues was on vacation) and she was working furiously,  she was still very pleasant with us.  Didn’t hurt that I was admiring the photo of her motorbike and asking her about her upcoming trip to Miami and Key West.

Never hurts to chat up the staff.

 

 

I think that’s it for today’s missive.  Hope you enjoyed the peek into the workings of Austria’s bureaucracy.   Like that’s possible.

There were no photo ops,  since I’m sure none of the huddled masses were really up for it.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

.

Back to Blogging.

Odd to think that "blogging"  has become a verb.  I can just imagine mentioning the word to someone like say,  my father? and then see the look on his face.  Blogging?  Somehow sounds like something to be done with a team of horses.  Sledding.  Logging.  Blogging.   So would that be logging those really BIG logs?


 Was I saying something?

  Right.

 We're back in Wienerland.  Travelling Companion has to go to Switzerland already next week.  Just going back to Canada and coming back here is enough travelling for me for a while.  Quite enough for her too,  but she has no choice.
 The trip was perfectly fine,  in spite of the somewhat long layover in Schiphol.   You may recall that we went with KLM this time around.

 Having some extra space can make a world of difference on a long flight.

We might try Lufthansa for the next go.   We're pretty convinced we'd rather continue to avoid Austrian Airlines if at all possible.   There's even such a thing as "Economy Plus"  on KLM that looks like an option. 

We had a couple little surprises when we got back here.   It's always fun to get a couple Christmas cards waiting for us in the mail.  Received one from our former neighbours in the Netherlands.   Seems the folks who owned the house where we lived are going to move back in.
My guess is there were no takers on the sales front.  It was a cute looking house,  but needed some serious work and they were asking way too much money for the place.

In case you forgot what it looked like.

     The other little surprise was that the heat was still on "vacation mode" when we got here yesterday afternoon, so the place was a wee bit chilly.  By that I mean somewhere in the neighbourhood of 12°C.   Took forever to get the place warmed up again.  That will be the first and last time I do that.   Considering that this place is quite well insulated and was buttoned up the whole time,  there was no real need to put the thermostat on any kind of set back.
The next series of chores will involve setting up one of the new gadgets we got for Christmas.

The Goflex gismo.

 (click the link,  not the lame picture)

  Since we don't have access to cable,  we tend to watch a lot of movies and TV series.   This is presently being accomplished with an ageing laptop and an external hard drive.   The new gismo will avoid the use of a computer altogether and hooks directly to a TV.   Since laptops have a nasty habit of crashing at the most inconvenient times,  this is rather good insurance against that eventuality.

 So,  if I'm going to hook this thing up today,  I need to get at it soon.   The days are in fact getting longer but I'm not fooling myself that I'll have daylight much past five p.m.

I'll be back here when I think I have something to say.


 Keep it between the ditches.



 .

One more sleep.

And I think I'll be ready for it.

Feels like I've been going right out straight today,  but thought I'd put up a short blurb for the peeps.
I hope the movers aren't going to be freaked out when they see the stuff I've accumulated in the garage.  It's all very orderly,  even though it might not look that way.

In spite of some of the minor issues we've had with the very smart lawyers in Belgium,  most everything else seems to be going along OK.
Well,  let's not forget the whole kitchen issue,  but I digress.

 Got a call from the moving company to firm up tomorrow.  Once again,  confidence is high that they'll show up here at 8:00.   The lady even asked if I could keep the phone hooked up so she could call back mid-morning and check up on them.
Now that I think of it,  that wouldn't have worked in Puerto Rico,  since the nitwits at the phone company there shut off the phone within seconds of Gabe telling them that we were planning on leaving.  Silly buggers.  I'm pretty sure I'll have both internet and phone here right up to the minute I unhook.   The modem gets sent back to KPN and I've kept the box for just such an eventuality.

Oh,  and it's prepaid!


We get so used to paying for everything,  that this kind of thing comes as a bit of a shocker.   


We also sent a letter to the relocation lady in Vienna so she has authorisation to give the apartment the once over in our absence on Friday. 
She's once again willing to meet with us on the weekend to give us our keys.  I think the Dutch relocation company needs to wake up on that one.

"We don't work weekends".

Well,  truth be told,  they don't do enough to break the Sabbath during the week either,  but don't get me started.
I'd best leave that alone until I'm safely out of the country.

Meanwhile,  after packing up the BBQ,  I stopped at the place where I had bought each of the propane tanks to ask about what to do with them,  and went back there later in the morning to drop them off.  Same deal as in Canada,  one doesn't simply "dispose" of them.  I told the guy there was some gas left in the one,  and he was welcome to take it home or whatever.
I know I had said something about taking a tank with me to Austria,  but transporting a tank of propane all that way doesn't sit well with me in the fist place and secondly,  it doesn't even have that much left to make it worth while. 
I'll find a supplier when I get there.  Done it before,  I'll do it again.

I made sure I stopped by the landlord's place in Delden under the pretence of dropping off some mail (mostly junk mail)  just to do the polite thing and thank them for the house and all that.
The Dutch comes considerably easier a year later.

Since I have the car I'll be heading out shortly to fetch my travelling companion.  We're already booked in to Het Witte Paard for tomorrow night.  I called them just now to make sure we had a table for dinner,  but Natalie (one of the owners)  had already looked after that when I booked the room last week.

Another nice surprise. 

Friday night we're booked in to the Sheraton Carlton in Nürnberg,  and I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to get online.  Gabe wanted to start building up her Starwood points once again so we can maybe treat ourselves to a nice room some time in the future.

That's it for now.

Keep yer sticks on the ice.

Everyone needs a "Magda".

Well,  I've been mulling this over pretty much all day,  and even after mucking around in the garden for an hour or so,  a brief trip to Ikea, where once again the place was mobbed (seriously,  we need to open a franchise!...)  and then a trip into town on the bike,  (need that bit of exercise) I simply have to pipe up about this.


See,  when my wife was a little girl,  she thought every family unit consisted of a "Mom,  Dad and a Magda",  and was quite surprised to hear that none of her school mates had such an arrangement.  "What do you mean,  you don't have a Magda?"
Madga you see,  is one of my sisters-in-law,  and when Gabe was just at that impressionable age,  Madga was just that much older that she had a job.  With the job came the things that kids love to have,  such as colouring books and treats.  These were not items in the family budget at the time.  So having a "Magda"  was pretty darned nice.

To this day, even though our kids are really no longer kids,  we know that if it comes right down to it,  they can always count on heading to Magda's if there were ever to be any kind of issue that would require assistance.   Anything.

After all,  their parents are a half a world away.

So here's where I'm going with this.

Yesterday there were many many Birthday greetings from far and wide,  and I'm sure I thanked each and every person.
Later in the day,  at the time when I could likely expect a call from Gabe in Vienna,  the phone rang,  but it wasn't Gabe at all,  but Magda.  Just calling from Canada to wish me a Happy Birthday and asking if I'm OK?

Now I ask you? 

Who does that?

Only Magda.


 I'm sure glad we have our Magda.

............../..............

Now for some fun.

You recall no doubt that I had made mention of a mysterious piece of paper we received in the mail last week some time?  Well,  I just can't let this go,  and I'll try and not go on and on....but really,  I can't help it.
See,  the envelope had no return address,  and the part that got the thing to our mail box was hand written.  I could only tell by the post mark that it had come from somewhere in Delden....

So I just want to show you this thing,  just so you know I'm not making any of this up.
You'll see the piece of paper below.
Now,  I'd call it an "invoice",  except how can that be?  There's no hint as to who gets the money,   or where it's from.

Well,  you can see for yourself:

Now,  I'm not really the sharpest knife in the drawer,  but I know that once upon a time when I used to do a little job now and again,  I made sure that it was well understood just who was supposed to get the money.
It's kind of important.  Otherwise,  what are ya doing??

 And yes,  I realise it's all in Dutch but really,  would it make a difference if it were in English?

I think all that business at the bottom is because the person responsible was moving some items around in a Word document and screwed it all up,  but decided it was fine the way it was,  (or panicked) and printed it off.  Wow.

The long and the short of it is,   I took this bit of info to OUR bank,   with the post-it note of the account into which the money was supposed to go,  and the lady at the bank was able to do something on line or whatever.   All I know is,  she figured it out and I have a signed receipt.  We're reasonably certain they got their €12.40 but frankly,  if they didn't,  I really doubt Interpol is really going to care.....and I could care less.

So now let's think about this.   The "Mrs Doctor",  whoever she is,  has decided to do the billing for the practise.   What would make her think she's remotely qualified?   If you marry a doctor does that mean you can suddenly do things about which you have no clue?

Apparently.

And really,  there are books you can buy,  and if you're an "el cheapo"  like me,  just look it up on the internet!  There are hosts of people out there who are all too happy to share their knowledge,  even if it's only enough knowledge to tell you to put a return address on an envelope! 



Seriously!

(and just for fun...click that link)

Just another Monday

I think what I need to get into the habit of doing, is to compose entries in text format and then put that into blogger in one fell swoop.

Or at least I need to practise once in a while.

Now, the trouble with that is, I wouldn't be able to do any HTML editing or put in links, but for those times that I have limited connectivity, which I foresee as being a problem in Vienna,  it will be the way to go...

I tried to do this very activity last year some time in Bonn, but discovered that the text didn't work in Blogger. Turns out all I needed to do was dump all my goofy Microsoft products and download Open Office. I highly recommend it. I'm not able to open the wonderful slide shows that get sent to me from time to time in Powerpoint, but I don't care, since I can simply open the individual slides one at a time anyway....and sometimes skip to the end if it looks a tad boring. I've never taken the time to figure out Powerpoint probably because I've never had to use it.

(on edit,  I've also noticed that I have some type size issues that I'll have to sort out at some point....)

So I spent about half the morning answering birthday greetings. Thanks everyone. Nice that there are those who remember.

I have no huge desire to pig out on cake or anything, since most every day it's more a matter of restraint than anything else, since the scales do tend to be a bit malicious from time to time.

I'm afraid to say, it's the beer. Gotta take it easy, and I have gone days without cracking a cold one, just in order to approach some semblence of restraint.

If it wasn't for the method of getting around being the bike, I'm sure I'd be in some serious trouble. Even with the car sitting in the driveway, which it has been for a few days now, I still take the bike into Delden. I mean, getting through that place by car is a serious challenge and I sometimes wonder at the folks who decide to attempt it on market day.

It's just madness.

So even though I really didn't need to go out for much this morning, since I don't seem to ever need too much when by myself, I did hit the baker and the butcher, and then went over to the Dr's office with a mysterious letter that we received last week....

It looked to me as though we owed someone €12.40. But for the life of me I could not figure out whom. There was no return address, only a hand written address on the front, but it had that look about it (where Gabe's maiden name was also used) that led me to think it had somehow come from the Doctor's office.

Gave it the receptionist Amelie, and she had to study it for about a minute there, before she concluded that it had come from the Mrs. (doctor's wife) who had taken over the billing.
Pretty good detective work on my part I must say.

Seems she's still in training.

Aparently the outfit that had been doing the billing was no more, or something to that effect.  Whatever,  just put yer flippin' name on stuff.  That goes back to elementary school!

Now, I've been pretty patient up to now with the Dutch way of doing things, but I'm starting to come to the end.....

Amelie took a photo copy, and wrote down a bank account number on a post-it note for the Rabo-bank, which is just up the street. Now, this isn't “our” bank, which I know for a fact doesn't open until 1:00 most days, so I figured I'd give them a try.

Well no, they were closed, even though the doors were open and someone came out to speak to me. I guess they have to have the doors open for their bank machines. Not sure. We'll see how this goes, since the nice lady was pretty sure they couldn't take cash, and there's no such thing as cheques in the Netherlands.

Judging by the current time,  I think I'll head in to our bank, and see if they can figure this out.  I might just take €12.40 over to Amelie with a preprinted receipt,  hand over the cash,  have her sign it,  and be done with it.   

Now, if I could only figure out what that text was that I just used, I'd go with it.......(getting slightly frustrated here...)

Stay tuned.

The Thatched roof project.

Back in July we happened to take a little detour into one of the side streets here not far from the house. Just thought you'd like a little update on the finished product.


This pile of straw.....Ended up on this house....

....which then ended up looking like this....
Can't really come up with a price just by looking at the house, but the story goes that a thatched roof is more expensive than tile, but there's no additional cost of eavestroughing or roof ventilation. I started out trying to sort out the difference between the cost of a square meter, versus a "square", which is 100 square feet, and decided I wasn't going to go there.
Too many variables.
Suffice to say putting any kind of roof on a house that size is going to set you back a pretty penny. We don't really need to know.

Nice job though, innit?

The things you see.

Even though the Netherlands is developed to the max. There do seem to be enough trees to go around, which might also explain why there are boatloads of birds in our neighbourhood.

Like....to the point where you think you're in the flippin' jungle.

Then every so often, I see that someone has decided to cut down a tree for some reason or other, like this one.

Not sure what species it is, but it looked to be over a meter at the base. Perfectly healthy, and the only reason that I can see that it was cut down was that it was a little close to the side of the road. I later saw the stump on the other side of the roadway, but didn't take a picture. Sorry.



It stayed in that spot for over a month. My guess it was waiting for some serious equipment to get it out of there and over to the saw mill.

Now, speaking of equipment, I saw this yesterday in Delden and couldn't help myself. When I first spotted this thing I tried not to stare, or drool, or leave my mouth open too long.

I just think it's cool.

The trim on the building was getting a paint job, and these guys were not using any ladders.
My kind of painting. (not a big ladder fan)
Man! The work I could do on the house with that thing.

I don't mean this house,


but this one....



....back in Canada.

If you squint ever so slightly, you can see there's some work that needs to be done on the overhanging "veranda".
There's a very good chance I'll be hiring someone to do that work anyway, since it's a bigger job than I'd like to tackle.

And if you believe there's snow on the ground year 'round in Canada....well, now that I think of it, you're probably too dim to actually be able to read anyway, so nevermind.

Snow in Delden, part two.

I decided to try uploading a smaller version, and even though it took a good twenty minutes, it finally appeared.
Not for those with dial-up.

Click To Play