Long weekends.....

First long weekend
Well the weekend was a well-deserved 4 days, but unfortunately mainly spent doing the usual DIY. The patio was grouted, although there a few white shades of concrete, which adds to the aged effect. Most of Friday was spent on the roof, with both Ian and I balancing over the remaining 10 glass windows sticking film to stop the sun from heating our house up to above 30c. A lot of cursing, and a few squirts of water at each other took place, but a successful job done. New plants were potted in the window boxes and our house plants are making a miraculous recovery after moving them outside and spraying them with the hose pipe.

Second long weekend
A three-day weekend, this time. Saturday was spent searching Vienna’s outlet village for bargains. But much to our disappointment there wasn’t any. I should learn my lesson and firstly never go there on a Saturday, and secondly don’t bother and wait until I go to the UK for shopping. We then proceeded to explore Vienna woods. We drove to a town and then got a bit lost, and ended up using Ian’s hidden ability to find a small road to park on and take a walk in the woods. We did start to follow the marked trees (saying what colour trail you were on), but soon got bored and went onto to different paths. Luckily as it was getting late, we made it back to our car with just our skills of ‘let’s go left, and then take this path, then right….’.

Sunday was spent relaxing – me reading, and Ian shooting Xboxers online. Oh and with what was supposed to be a little nap, I fell asleep for 3 hours in the afternoon. Sunday was also a belated chat with my nephew, Sam, to say happy 7th birthday. He had been on holiday and opened his presents late. I must admit I love buying him presents (Ian can vouch for that too), plus I love putting play Mobil together as well.

Monday was a national holiday in Austria, and so we took the opportunity to venture into the Czech Republic. The perks of living in central Europe and in Retz, is that one country has a national holiday, so we drive 10 minutes and you are in another country that doesn’t. We drove to the city of Brno, and went to the 2 large shopping malls. Fortunately for our bank account there was nothing exciting to buy, apart from a pair of jeans for Ian (his clothes are too big for him now after losing so much weight). We did have a quick look in Marks and Spencer’s and managed to spend 40 Euros on food. They only have a small corner with non-perishables – but we bought some biscuits, canned food and sweets, and a bottle of bucks fizz (I know I can make it myself, but there is nothing like a glass of M&S bucks fizz). We also went to the Czech Tesco’s, and bought a few things they don’t have in Austria.
I love the way this shop isn't prejudice with its shop display.

And guess what? Yes next week is another 4 day weekend. It helps to explain that at the UN our daily hours drop 30 minutes in summer, from 8 hours to 7.5 hours excluding lunch. With that in mind and the fact that I have opted for 30 minute lunch breaks, I am gaining far too many hours (we have flexi-time), and so keep taking days off using my spare hours (it’s ace!)
And finally it was bedtime…..with the addition of Morpheus!
PS – For the English people – the weather is usually hot, sunny and in the late 20’s to 30’s……Hahahahaha

I want a crisp!

Neo wants a crisp!

Don’t Dremel my cat!….

After a four day week last, last week, I decided to take Friday off just because I could, although a vet’s trip was planned, and after a fantastic week of weather, it decided to rain on Friday. So my day was spent watching TV, a quick trip to the Czech Republic, and trying to be quiet when Ian had a teleconference (he worked from home). Later in the afternoon, we took a trip to the vets, where we saw the eye specialist with Neo. He still has herpes in his eye, so another supply of pills, and cream. What shocked us the most, and I wished I had my IPhone with me, was she put some numbing drops in his eye, and then started to tweeze a bit of ‘skin’ from his eyeball. So that’s not bad…I am fine with poking my eye with contact lenses etc., but then came the miniature instrument, which I can only describe as a baby Dremel, and she started it up and started filing his eye ball with it…..blurghhhhh. Ian and I were obviously shocked by this, and by the fact Neo was tolerating it!

Anyway on our way out we saw the other 2 vets, that we have seemed to struck a friendship with (seen them so many times), who wanted a quick stroke with Neo, and with that we see them all in 3 weeks’ time. A nice welcomed break for Neo.

Saturday was another lazy day, but with a little accident – I had folded the large rug over and managed to trip over the folded edge and catch my toe, which we presume is broken with an awful purple colour. A few tears came and went, and to be honest it only hurts if I walk in heels, or go onto tiptoes. As you can see I am very proud of my toe, and have been posting photos everywhere!

Sunday was hiking day – we started hiking uphill past the windmill and beyond, until my legs started to hurt, and then turned around and walked back down the hill (just under 2 hours). It was a beautiful day and I managed to get a little red patch on my neck from the sun. Needless to say, my legs are now aching.