Pre-festive/seasonal/holiday Update
19.12.03

Na ja, ein paar hecktische Wochen.

Which is to say, it's been a hectic few weeks. Weeks of German immersion,
too, as I've been either watching German children's shows or Deutsche Welle
on TV, listening to Radio Eins at work, or finishing Herr Lehmann. All part
of my cunning internal exile.

I'm really enjoying the new Janosch cartoon, Papa Löwe und seine glücklicher
Kinder. Especially the episode where the kids invade Poland.

The Great Flu of 2003 swept through the house, leaving me alone unscathed
but not inconvenienced. Maddy had it first, was home for a week, requiring
me to not be at work half the time (ergo all that German children's TV),
then Annette caught it so I was on standing daughter duty during her
(ongoing) convalescence.

It all started with a ski trip the weekend before last, two days in the
mountains this time. The first day I dropped off the crew (another full
minivanload) at Sunshine then Mads and I wandered into Banff for a bit
before heading on to Lake Louise to watch the women's world cup downhill (it
just wouldn't be a weekend if we didn't spend part of it in the company of
large, muscular lycra-clad asses). Back to the hotel for a pleasantly
claustrophobic evening (five adults and one considerably less tired child in
a small chalet) and then off to Louise in the morning. Mads did the day care
without skiing - her choice - and the rest of spent the day on the slopes.
When I picked her up at four she looked pretty grim, which we ascribed to
the lack of a nap. Then she threw up all over the snow. She slept for an
hour in Annette's lap while we had a post-ski beer, slept in the car on the
way to Banff, slept in my lap all through dinner, and only woke up as we
were finishing coffee. Shortly afterwards she projectile-vomited a litre of
apple juice a full six feet across the restaurant, hitting a (fortunately
empty) table. It was impressive as hell. We tripled the tip and slunk out
the door; we won't be going back to the Banff "Earl's" (henceforth known as
"Hurl's") again this season. By next year they will have hired a new crew of
Australian wait staff and all will be forgotten.

Apropos Australians, apparently Banff/Lake Louise boasts the country's
highest chlamydia rates thanks to it's population of largely antipodean
transient workers. This fact lead over the course of the weekend to many
mirthful remarks about "scratchies down under" etc., in the spirit of the
old Python Australian wine skit. The best I can recall were "Canberra Crab",
"Melbourne Muff Mites" and, nastily, "Prawns on the Barbie".

The skiing was great. Far fewer rocks than two weeks ago, which is a good
thing when one has new skis.

And not a hell of a lot has happened since, thanks largely to influenza.
I've one more day at work then I'm off for the rest of the year. In theory
we'll be driving back to Vancouver on Monday 22.12, though we might postpone
the trip by one day because Annette hasn't managed to do much marking for
the past five days, and we haven't even considered shopping for gifts. In
theory I should skate tonight one last time, and there's skeleton this
weekend, two runs each day, but I'm not sure if it's going to happen.