I love the fact that in Austria there are four distinct seasons. Over the next few weeks I’ll be publishing creative pieces on the sights, sounds and smells of the four seasons. This is the first week, beginning with winter. Enjoy!
Winter
I last visited Bratislava in 2007. It was high summer, stinking hot and my friend and I, backpacking at the time, arrived rather reluctantly. Not that it was Bratislava’s fault. Bratislava is a beautiful town – was then – is still. The problem is that Bratislava was tainted with a string of uneasy events that occurred prior to us arriving. And it was too soon after the shortcomings of Budapest (also not Budapest’s fault). So my friend and I found ourselves unenthusiastic, and we only stayed two nights, skipping the third in favour of Vienna.
This is a photography project, four years in the making. Now, I’m no photographer, I have no patience – I stand and I shoot. With this project I exhibited persistence rather than skill. I went back to the same places, in the middle of each season, to see what the differences between the four seasons really were. The results, for all my amateur skills, are pretty cool. Have a look – Wolfsberg – four seasons – enjoy!
It’s finally coming to the end of winter. Thank goodness, since it has been an exceptionally cold and snowy one. Yet as much as I prefer the warmer months, I still managed to rack my brain and come up with 10 reasons why winter is not all bad.
Damn I love aeroplane food.
I always have.
Admittedly, the taste isn’t always the best and the offering isn’t always what I’d choose. But somehow, just the fact that I’m going to have a small tray of goods delivered, each in their own separate compartments, direct to my chair, is too good to be true. Not only that, usually there’s a choice of two different mains, and there’s drinks, often alcoholic, to go with it. Now, I know I’ve paid through the nose for the flight, but somehow it still feels like free food and drink, and it gets me every time!
Short and bitter.
This post is dedicated to those times I thought I had everything under control, those times I thought that I understood the German conversation flowing around me perfectly.
And then BANG – I suddenly realise I’ve accidentally agreed to a second schnapps, or a third, on top of all that other alcohol.
So here comes the schnapps. And I smile, like it was my plan all along. Just like that time I ordered the wrong sav – the cab instead of the blanc.
And I drink it down, and I sigh appreciatively like a good Austrian-in-training should.
Prost!
I am no stranger to exercise and work out classes. I have attended many – I know what to expect, I know what to wear and for the most part I know I can handle it. The first time at a new class is usually a bit daunting but never really caused me any major stress.
Late last year, I received a flyer in the mail advertising a Pilates class in my local area. And I thought – well that’s a good idea! I’d done some Pilates before and knew it was great for your back. And my back desperately needed some low impact strengthening as it continued onto its journey back to 100%.
So off I went.
Ok, it wasn’t as simple as that.
