Monday, October 22, 2012

The weekends go by.

When it comes to weekends,  I tend to suck ever so slightly in the update department.   I’m reasonably certain this situation is not going to improve much at all once we return to the home land. 

Not only will there be a host of items on an ever growing list of things to sort out at the house,  and I don’t even want to begin to write the list down since it would just be too overwhelming, but it’s come to my attention that it’s not just our place I’ll be working on.  

 

Last night Travelling Companion was on the phone with one of her sisters back home,  and the word is,  several individuals are waiting for “Bob’s Cabinet Shop” to re-open.  Of course,  it’s never actually been called “Bob’s Cabinet Shop”,  but I have managed to churn out a few ‘boxes’ of various shapes and sizes over the years. 

Now don’t misunderstand.   It’s not as though there’s going to be a hoard of zombie-like cabinet deprived relations and friends clamouring outside the walls of my garage or anything.  Some have had to go ahead and hire elsewhere,  much to their displeasure and the detriment of their bank account.  There have been some shocking numbers quoted,  and not by me.  I can’t reveal the details, since it’s not MY bank account being effected,  but wowsers,  if I even charged half that amount,  I’m sure that would be more than enough.

 

The weekend was kind of a drag.  You can see by the lack of definition in that shy there,  that it was just sort of “bleah”.   Foggy in the morning Saturday,  and foggy and misty/damp/crappy all day yesterday.

 

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Travelling Companion agreed to do some volunteer work Saturday morning,  and I offered to go along and help, but the offer was declined,  so I just drove here there and picked her up.

I never mind being told what not to do,  especially when it comes to work,  but it wouldn’t have been an imposition at all.   This couple hours of volunteer time had to do with putting together some shelves in a place over in Favoriten,  where a lady has been operating a place for refugees for a few decades now. 

If you’re not in the least familiar with the geography of Vienna by now,  suffice to say Favoriten is one of the districts.  If you’re inside the city,  it’s easier to refer to a district when describing a location or address.  If you’re outside the city, you might refer to Vienna as a whole.  Something like that.

Anyhoodle,  the whole enterprise was only a couple hours long, and the report is they had a few too many people,  so I certainly wasn’t need.  Since Travelling Companion’s knees are pretty much shot,  she was really in some serious pain by the time they were done.  I know she feels strongly about community involvement and leading by example,  but the days of standing for even a couple hours are a thing of the past I’m afraid.

I lucked out by ending up with an awesome T-shirt,  so I was happy.

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Before you ask,  it’s a play on words.  “Unbrechbar” is German for unbreakable.  The lady’s last name is “Bock”.  Get it?

 

I much prefer black T-shirts over any other colour to be honest,  and the only other T-shirt I have from a volunteer gig was from when we painted an orphanage back in 2002 in Puerto Rico.  Even though it was ‘free’,  we all earned those shirts,  since it was stifling hot by about 10:00 a.m. and we worked well into the afternoon.   It’s one thing to lounge by the pool in a Caribbean country with a smart drink in hand,  but when you’re slapping paint on concrete walls,  it gets to be hot work.  Oh, and that shirt is white. 

 

There has been one other volunteering adventure for Travelling Companion,  but that was in Barcelona,  Spain a couple years ago.  They had some sort of pow-wow with the top team from all over Europe,  and just so that their heads wouldn’t get too big or anything after a week of very important meetings,  everyone had to dress up in white suits and paint something.  

That was my interpretation anyway. 

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These people are “office types”.  I’ve never understood this. 

I mean, as a Caretaker,  I’ve done a certain amount of painting,  but when it came right down to it,  even WE would just hire painters since they,  A) Knew what they were doing and,  B) Were a helluva sight faster than any of us could ever be.   And neater.  Mostly.

I mean, considering how that person is kneeling down in front of Travelling Companion there who, by the way,  is holding a small can of paint with a loaded brush,  I can certainly understand the costumes.  I think I’d want something on my head too.

 

All else is pretty quiet here.  We’ll be heading out Friday morning some time for a little jaunt over to Salzburg once again.  Just thought we’d take a little trip on the weekend.  We booked our hotel already,  so we’re kind of committed at this point.   Hopefully we won’t need umbrellas.

I might yak a bit about that as the time approaches.

 

Keep those sticks on the ice,  and thanks for stopping by.

 

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8 comments:

  1. I am not sure I ever saw a picture of your handiwork. Be sure to post one or two when you get your next box made.

    What a wonderful problem to have when helping an organization out...too many people. You don't hear that very often.

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  2. Interesting. My least favorite color for a tee shirt is black. Just makes being outside all the hotter. :)

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  3. looking forward to seeing some of your 'handiwork boxes'...great fun volunteering...I'll wear tee shirts of any colour..as long as I'm somewhere where I don't need a hoodie or jacket over it..lol

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  4. I'm with Elaine. Color doesn't matter. Comfort does :)

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  5. I have gotten use to my better half telling me what to do or not do. I never had so much supervision in my working life:)

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  6. Being told not to do any "work" - sounds like a good deal to me.

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  7. This is fun, Bob. Looking forward to the trip to Salzburg since we declined to go there on an extension of our trip.

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Well, I've been getting too many spam comments showing up. Just a drag, so we'll go another route and hope that helps. So, we won't be hearing anything more from Mr. Nony Moose.
I guess I'll just have to do without that Gucci purse.