Hello Blogette,
it has been positively ages, for which I apologize. But there have been quite a few good reasons for the long absence, so let me explain before you go off at me...
If you remember, most of my previous postings were, um, to say the least, rather acerbic and aimed at my former place of employment at TITS (you know, Teutonic International Transportation Service*) since working conditions there were less than ideal.
Well, almost as if there really is providence or some higher power (and being somewhat of an atheist, you know how I feel about that idea), in September the world there started to crumble. South Africa's morose and overtly anti-white government started giving TITS and other foreign companies employing non-South Africans a ton of trouble when work permits had to be renewed, and so it was with mine. I was thus spirited away from Cape Town (one of the most beautiful and most dangerous places on Earth) to Europe so they did not lose my working capacity, and thus I arrived back here in the Czech Republic to which I had first emigrated in 2006... full circle, so to speak.
After less than two weeks here, I realized that TITS here was more like what it had first been when I arrived in Cape Town - a lovely place to work which appreciates its employees and treats us with dignity and respect. And so I asked for a transfer and voila, here I am.
"Well, that's not such a big deal," I hear you objecting, Bloggymathingy.
Well, yes, it was. Even though TITS is a globally present company, they are still run on a very small-brained scale. You would think that a lateral transfer would be a simple matter, but it was not and hasn't been. Getting here was comical in and of itself:
One fine September day Big Boss came to my desk and said: "Walk with me. We need to talk." Gulp...
It was proposed that I move to the Czech Republic office on a temporary basis so they could have enough time to straighten out the work permit mess. And they would pay for the trip, accommodation would be provided, and and and... so far, so good, no?
Well, in theory, yes. In practice, no. No prep time for travel and leaving on another one of those bogus South African holidays the next evening (!) meant no laundry or clean clothes to pack, no paycheck in my account yet (holiday delay), no gas in the car to get home and back to the office, and no money with which to get to the airport, etc. As advances are unheard of at TITS in South Africa, I was even more amazed when one was swiftly arranged. And off to Europe I went...
The trip itself was grotty - I was booked on that big new airplane they all talk about, you know the double-deckered one, and was supposed to be all thrilled about its supposed luxury and superior accommodations in all classes. Bohunkus! It's a crappy big plane like any other, at least in Steerage, where they put people flying on free tickets. I was way at the back, which has the added feature of 8 toilets at the very back right behind your seat arranged in a semi-circle. The periodic odorific ambiance excluded, the flush sounds alone were enough to keep anyone from sleeping or resting on a 12-hour flight... and the seats are hard as nails, have really poor leg room and generally could be registered with terrorist organizations as potential torture devices... that is, unless you are a skinny midget.
After that flight, I got on the plane to the Czech Republic, and was bumped out of my assigned seat. Sent back to ride "jump seat" in the galley, humiliation was added in to the mix - as I am not slim or small nor a midget, the seat belts on the jump seat, those X-shaped ones like in fighter planes, didn't fit, so loud calls were made by the ultra-Teutonic bitchy head trolley-dolly (for all to hear on the P/A) telling the cockpit they needed to "swap" me with the off-duty pilot flying "jump" there. For some reason the seat belts there are bigger and so I flew the whole way in the cockpit.
"Oh, how exciting!" you say? No, not really. Pilots on modern jetliners really don't do much, since the planes more or less fly themselves. They check things on check lists, occasionally speak to towers and flight centers and otherwise don't do much of anything at all... and for that they earn the big bucks!
Once in Prague, I had to make my way here, and there was little help proffered by my "travel orders" - not even our local office address or phone number was shared! Well, intrepid traveler that I am, that didn't stop me and a comfy two hour bus ride later (sarcasm intended) I arrived. With a little further sleuthing I was able to find the office and after a few comical mistakes about where I was to be lodged, I finally was able to bed down, catch up on sleep and become human once more.
That was in September. It's January now...
Good things: My sister Marcia and her hubby Bob visited me from Ireland at the end of November and we had a blast, traveled to Bratislava together, went to a bazillion Christmas markets. Then my sister Peggy and half-sister Molly came to Vienna, so I went down and visited and went to more Christmas Markets. And I also discovered that Eric, my grad school roomie and good friend, is back in Vienna (he is from there originally), so that improved things even more.
And life just kept getting better and better. I bought a car (a Fiat Seicento, which broke down ten days after being bought and is still in the shop), I went on a few excursions, met some wonderful new friends here, threw a lovely Christmas dinner, and was having friends over on New Year's Eve when a phone call from Marcia told me my mother had died shortly before. That was, while a shock due to its suddenness, not altogether unexpected and of course engendered another tip, this time from Vienna (closer to our office than Prague and easier to fly from) to Washington, D.C.
And now I'm back home, albeit with Mom's cat, Lucille. In the meantime I have also reconnected with my last girlfriend (yes, the real kind) from high school, who actually lives in Austria, too! So, while the daily annoyances of life continue (incorrect paycheck deductions, growing older, aching joints, ice, snow, etc.) I'm here and live is actually truly getting better... (cue Mama Cass Elliott song here).
So look forward to more here after the hiatus... and don't be so bitchy about my having had to do other stuff besides blog, okay?
Ta-ta for now (TTFN).
Your friend,
(The Last) Baron
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