A Bit About Tuesday.

The self-elected Dorf Sheriff's out and about.

Living in such a small place one can't help but know people's cars from a mile away. The colour, shape, number plate and of course way of driving gives most of them away. The gentle drivers, the always-in-a-hurry drivers and the quizzies.

I was just getting back into my car after dropping off a food delivery when I noticed a delivery van ( a real one with logo and all ) driving past me up the road towards our house. Seeing that I have been waiting for a deliver for over a week I couldn't help but hasten to follow...just in case.

Well, normally there are perhaps one or two other cars on the road but today for some reason the road was teeming with activity. What on earth? The first car that  cut in front of me ( well he could have waited for me to pass ) thereby dashing my hopes of catching the delivery van was that quizzy Dorf Sheriff. He who wants to know everything and isn't above following people in their cars if he doesn't recognize them.

Darn it, and he was driving slowly also following the delivery van.  The van stopped at another neighbour and our Dorf Sheriff thought nothing of it when he suddenly stopped his car in the middle of the road in order to ask the delivery guy something. Never mind that I was right behind him! That really takes the cake and when he dared put his car into reverse, wanting me to back up, I ignored him and idled away. Eventually he drove on having to circle the block to get back to his home! Ah well, the price of information...

Look, having someone be alert isn't always a bad thing but at time it does get a bit too much. Not everyone who has taken to driving about in our village has nefarious ambitions and not everyone is happy to have their every move spied upon...

Biggi

A Monday Complete With Lumberjacks, Power-cuts & Sunshine.

 A busy Monday.

They came last week to ask whether they could go ahead and trim those trees in our back garden which are within touching distance of the electricity cables. You know, I almost hugged them because getting these tall trees trimmed is far from easy nor cheap. Thankfully our electricity provider has a revolving team of lumberjacks who travel the villages looking for stroppy and out of control trees.

As we had two power-cuts scheduled for today they chose it to have less danger from being electrified by the wires. Yikes, won't look until they are finished!

Power-cuts are becoming a habit lately. Here in Eisenberg as well as in Deutsch Schützen. A proverbial building boom has descended onto our area. Two major holiday establishments and at least three new houses for the returning youngens. A real bonus for our villages if the younger generation comes back home to settle down after a whirlwind time in Vienna, Graz or Oberwart.

Mostly the gals are pregnant and that is a good reason to settle back home where raising a child is much easier, cheaper and has a better support structure. Don't know how happy the prospective grandparents will be about their permanent baby sitting duties! No riding off into the retirement sunset on a Harley for them!

As the younger generation all know each other it comes as no surprise that they follow each other's lead. Be it about settling back home or about building big mansions. I suppose at that age one wants to impress and build big and wouldn't ever want to move back into a section of their parents' huge houses. Yes, they too built big back when they were young in the hope that when their kids were grown up they would stay and make their lives out of the collective home. 

Sadly not so. There are oodles of huge houses ( often multi-storied in the hope of the various generations living together ) in our villages in which  middle aged couples bemoan their folly. A big house that they only use a tenth of, a big house that constantly needs cleaning and a big house that needs a lot of heating. What I find the saddest part is that this pattern is repeating itself. The house being built at the moment are much too big for even a small family of four. Oh well, each to their own in that regard.

Sunshine has blessed us today despite a more than freezing morning and it does wonders for the soul. Personally I think that winter is almost done but Bob isn't so sure. Let's see what the next few months will bring. Regardless of the weather though, life is a privilege and fabulous.

Biggi