Xmas shopping blah

[tubeswell]

I've almost done mine. I can't sum up the way I feel more concisely than what I said above.

[Arneb]

I did a number of last-minute forays into teh webz, having the stuff delivered to my parents' in law because I wasn't at home for even the weekend. Yesterday, I threw myself into the last hour of Sunday shopping after 10 hours at the hospital in order to get sweets and coffee for the hospital staff.

Today, I'll bang down the autobahn for 450 km to reach Nuremberg in time for Christmas Eve.

Peace, love and quiet Besinnlichkeit. Yeah, right.

[tubeswell]

Peace, love and quiet Besinnlichkeit. Yeah, right.

You heard about this kiwi beer company?

[Мастер]

Today, I'll bang down the autobahn for 450 km to reach Nuremberg in time for Christmas Eve.

So 1 hour 45 minutes, right?

I'm going to take the train into town, and then back again. Probably 30km return trip.

[Arneb]

You heard about this kiwi beer company?

Pure coincidence.

So 1 hour 45 minutes, right?

I make use of the German non-speed limit, but this...

[Heid the Ba]

Like the good doctor most of mine was done on teh webz, just the odd item in meatspace.

Yesterday was 150 mile round trip to see my mother, and co-incidentally one of my brothers who happened to be there.
Tomorrow is 300 mile south to the in-laws, storms be damned.
Friday will be 50 miles to the airport, a flight to Milan and then a c100 mile drive into the mountains.
Next friday, same but in reverse. The journey, not the driving.
Next Sunday 300 miles back north.

Not the most travelling I've done over the festive period, but close.

[Arneb]

So 1 hour 45 minutes, right?

OK. Two hours 58 min...

[Мастер]

So 1 hour 45 minutes, right?

OK. Two hours 58 min...

I felt I was really cruising a few weeks ago in Ireland when I hit 150km/h for short distances. You averaged that

[Heid the Ba]

So 1 hour 45 minutes, right?

OK. Two hours 58 min...

Arneb everybody, he'll be there all week!

[tubeswell]

We'll I'm driving around the entire province of New Munster in 2 weeks, for two weeks, staying in a different hotel each night, and catching 2 ferries in the process. In the pursuit of of relaxation while on holiday.

[Arneb]

OK. Two hours 58 min...

Arneb everybody, he'll be there all week!

Well I won't. I have to go back Boxing Day evening because I gottawork on Friday

And, a correction: While it is true that I sometimes averaged 150 km/h during my year and a half as a crosscountry commuter, this time, the actual distance travelled was 418, not 450 km, so I got a bit less.

[tubeswell]

Merry xmas Arneb.

[tubeswell]

2013 xmas trawl:

2 x $20 iTunes cards (one from each son - Yay!)

2 x classy business shirts (from daughter)

A book about Geronimo and 2 x pairs of beach baggies (from Mrs t)

Far too much home cooking

Total cost of supplying the family with the resources, money, etc - runs into the thousands.

Benefit to GDP: incalculable

[Arneb]

Seems OK to me.

For me, it was staying withe my parents in law over the (three) holidays. Always excellent hospitality, lots of prime home cooking, relaxing, playing chess with the son and the slightly uneasy feeling you get when you are admitted into a family, with all its nooks and crannies, without having been part of it all your life, as the others have.

The kids had a blast - specifically, my son had a blast-off because he got a set of two model solid fuel-powered rockets. We assembled one of them on Christmas day (well, I did, which makes the success all the more astonishing) and had three launches today. Amazing. Twice, the parachute didn't deploy, whicht the rocket took remarkably well, while the second flight was a beautiful total mission success, the rocket touching down in a dogshit-sprinkled meadow meters away from where it had blasted off in a big blue cloud of rocket exhaust moments earlier.

Speaking of blasts: 432 km back to Potsdam, 2 h 55 min...