On Saturday I was having a nice, lazy weekend day, on which I did a very small amount of work and then did my shopping, and was just looking forward to getting home and having something nice to eat when I realised that I couldn't get home at all because I didn't have my keys with me. I left my keys in my apartment and then left the apartment, for the first time in all the time that I have lived here, and my flatmate is away in Italy. And it has become winter here all of a sudden so at 6 pm the daylight is beginning to disappear. Not to mention it kept raining and the people in the bars were starting to come out into the smoking area - a.k.a. the lane that I live on. I didn't have the landlord's number either. Luckily my friends were at a nearby pub having an early dinner so I stopped in to join them and use somebody's smartphone (perhaps I should get one of those after all?) to check my email and hunt down my landlord's number. After trying to call and not getting through I finally got a message from him, in which he said he was away and couldn't help. So I ask if there is a caretaker or some other person from his company that can get the keys and let me in. No, it seems, there is nobody. Apparently this landlord takes the keys to all of his establishments with him when he goes on holiday. He said I should call a locksmith if I was stuck. Well duh, what did he think I was going to do, hang around in the street for three weeks until my flatmate gets back?
So I walked back into work (with my groceries) so that I could use the internet and the phone and find a locksmith that didn't charge an arm and a leg. I actually have a friend who is a locksmith, but of course he is also away on holiday at the moment. The first locksmith I called was going to charge 75 euro. The next one beat that and told me 70 euro. Then another told me 95! I was about to face up to handing 70 euro over to somebody who would take at least an hour to get to me when I called one last place. Luckily, despite the hour, the guy was there and he told me he would only charge 50! So I took that one and went back to wait outside my apartment again, because he said he'd just be 15 minutes. However, for some reason all of the roads were blocked off and there was a random parade of very noisy race cars going down the main street. So there I was, in the lane, with lots of noisy cars going past on the main street and half-drunk people hang around smoking outside the bar next door and it was starting to get dark. Finally the guy manages to arrive and he takes all of 5 minutes to get me in both the main door and my apartment door, using a bendy piece of plastic. I should probably get one of those just in case (and learn how to use it). Then, after already being the best deal in town, he gave me the poor-student discount because his own children are at university and being ripped-off left, right and centre. So how great is that, it only cost me 40 euro. Of course, it would have cost me nothing if I had not forgotten my keys. But I was all worried that I would have to fork out 100 euro or something like that so it was by far the best outcome.
By the time I got home it was nearly 8 pm and I was so exhausted. I finally got to have nice food (I made pasta carbonara with sauteed courgette and peas) and then I was so tired I just put on a movie. I watched both of the new Snow-White movies and it turns out that the more adult one, with that actress from Twilight, was awful. It was so terrible, the storyline was all over the place and the ending was absolutely crappy. The other one, Mirror Mirror, was far better, though still not very good, and it also had an awful ending. After an entire kids movie with absolutely no song and dance there was a completely random bollywood-like number at the end, which did not go with the movie at all and was just cringeworthy. So to top it off, I recently read a book also called Mirror Mirror, also about Snow-White, by the author that wrote Wicked. It was not good. It was worse than Wicked - it was just a rather lame story that was confusing and hard to get into. By far the best book by that author that I have read is his version of Cinderella.
So the next morning I had to get up at a decent hour because I was going on a dog-walk with my friend and her dog, and about 20 other dogs, because it was a charity fundraiser dog walk, raising money for the association that rescues and re-homes unwanted dogs. And there were so many adorable dogs there! Can't wait to get one for myself. Of course, halfway through it rained on us. And not just a little rain. The shower lasted for no more than 5 minutes but we were soaked to the skin in seconds. After that the walk wasn't so much fun.
Now it is Monday - the weekend has passed very quickly and my schedule at work is so busy that I barely have time to think, let alone sit down and have a bite to eat. So after work I decided to go for a run, seeing as the tag-rugby season is finally all over. First I had to hunt out my running shoes - it's always amazing what you can find under your bed. Finally I found them and what would you know, but I found a pair of socks inside them. Have no idea when the last time that I wore them was, but I assume they were dirty socks. Anyway, I was finally ready and off I went, trying to take it easy because I don't want to get shin-splints again. I ran on grass as much as I could, but the grass was sort of long and wet, so next thing I know my legs are all stinging and itchy - I think I ran through stinging nettle. Not fun. Plus for all that stinging and itching there aren't even marks to show that I was in pain. I hope that the next time I go for a run I remember to watch out for what turned out to be a big, rather obvious patch of stinging nettle.
So I walked back into work (with my groceries) so that I could use the internet and the phone and find a locksmith that didn't charge an arm and a leg. I actually have a friend who is a locksmith, but of course he is also away on holiday at the moment. The first locksmith I called was going to charge 75 euro. The next one beat that and told me 70 euro. Then another told me 95! I was about to face up to handing 70 euro over to somebody who would take at least an hour to get to me when I called one last place. Luckily, despite the hour, the guy was there and he told me he would only charge 50! So I took that one and went back to wait outside my apartment again, because he said he'd just be 15 minutes. However, for some reason all of the roads were blocked off and there was a random parade of very noisy race cars going down the main street. So there I was, in the lane, with lots of noisy cars going past on the main street and half-drunk people hang around smoking outside the bar next door and it was starting to get dark. Finally the guy manages to arrive and he takes all of 5 minutes to get me in both the main door and my apartment door, using a bendy piece of plastic. I should probably get one of those just in case (and learn how to use it). Then, after already being the best deal in town, he gave me the poor-student discount because his own children are at university and being ripped-off left, right and centre. So how great is that, it only cost me 40 euro. Of course, it would have cost me nothing if I had not forgotten my keys. But I was all worried that I would have to fork out 100 euro or something like that so it was by far the best outcome.
By the time I got home it was nearly 8 pm and I was so exhausted. I finally got to have nice food (I made pasta carbonara with sauteed courgette and peas) and then I was so tired I just put on a movie. I watched both of the new Snow-White movies and it turns out that the more adult one, with that actress from Twilight, was awful. It was so terrible, the storyline was all over the place and the ending was absolutely crappy. The other one, Mirror Mirror, was far better, though still not very good, and it also had an awful ending. After an entire kids movie with absolutely no song and dance there was a completely random bollywood-like number at the end, which did not go with the movie at all and was just cringeworthy. So to top it off, I recently read a book also called Mirror Mirror, also about Snow-White, by the author that wrote Wicked. It was not good. It was worse than Wicked - it was just a rather lame story that was confusing and hard to get into. By far the best book by that author that I have read is his version of Cinderella.
So the next morning I had to get up at a decent hour because I was going on a dog-walk with my friend and her dog, and about 20 other dogs, because it was a charity fundraiser dog walk, raising money for the association that rescues and re-homes unwanted dogs. And there were so many adorable dogs there! Can't wait to get one for myself. Of course, halfway through it rained on us. And not just a little rain. The shower lasted for no more than 5 minutes but we were soaked to the skin in seconds. After that the walk wasn't so much fun.
Now it is Monday - the weekend has passed very quickly and my schedule at work is so busy that I barely have time to think, let alone sit down and have a bite to eat. So after work I decided to go for a run, seeing as the tag-rugby season is finally all over. First I had to hunt out my running shoes - it's always amazing what you can find under your bed. Finally I found them and what would you know, but I found a pair of socks inside them. Have no idea when the last time that I wore them was, but I assume they were dirty socks. Anyway, I was finally ready and off I went, trying to take it easy because I don't want to get shin-splints again. I ran on grass as much as I could, but the grass was sort of long and wet, so next thing I know my legs are all stinging and itchy - I think I ran through stinging nettle. Not fun. Plus for all that stinging and itching there aren't even marks to show that I was in pain. I hope that the next time I go for a run I remember to watch out for what turned out to be a big, rather obvious patch of stinging nettle.
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