(Thursday,16 April 2020)
OMG… it’s an exciting day today… we are going out!!! 😁 😁
Other than the times that we’ve walked the dogs, we haven’t actually left the house together at all. Mark does the grocery shopping run, usually every week/10 days and I’ve only left the house for the Hofer plant run in the first week and then the vets. So today heralds much excitement as we are going on this mission together! Are you ready for this… the exciting trip to end all exciting trips… (cue drum roll)… We are going to the DIY store!! 😂 😂
We had heard from our neighbours that it had reopened this week and had opted to avoid the first few days, figuring that it would be as busy as heck but we do really need a couple of things.
If we are going to re-varnish the balcony, then using the proper stuff would probably be a good idea. I had some in our ‘come in handy’ pile, but it wasn’t really the right colour – Med Oak, instead of ‘Palisander’, which I’ve always assumed was Dark Oak, but having just google translated it, discovered that it is actually Rosewood… oh well, you learn something new every day 🙄 I can’t believe I’ve only just got around to checking that!! 😆 Anyway, the stuff I had was just common or garden UK shed stain/varnish and the varnish you use here really has to withstand some pretty impressive weather and temperature changes so it would be a bit gutting to do the whole thing and then find it cracks or peels in a years time. 🤨
I couldn’t believe how uplifting and exciting the 10 minute journey to Pfandl was! We must have done this trip hundreds of times and yet, it felt so exciting and new! My eyes were here, there and everywhere, taking in all the spring blossom on the trees, the bright lime green of the new leaf colours and vibrant greens of the grass everywhere. Poor Mark was driving and probably not quite so enamoured of my squeaks to ‘Look… LOOK!’, which didn’t help him much really! 😬 😂
Down in the valley, spring is a week or so more advanced than in Perneck, as it always is. Our village is a couple hundred metres higher in altitude than the valley where Bad Ischl is located. It makes a surprising difference in many ways. In the summer, the air is just that little bit cooler and fresher up here and in winter, what falls as rain in Bad Ischl, is quite often snow in Perneck.
We were told that our village is much, much older than the town below, having evolved around the salt mining that took place in the mountains surrounding us. The mines closed some 10 years ago, but the mine entrances (Stollen) have been restored in the last few years and it is now possible to follow a marked trail to visit all 19 of them and there is a fantastic website showing the history of the village and the mines that has been produced to accompany the historic trail. There are many beautiful old photos on there, if any of you are interested in seeing them – viasalis.at/via-salis I can’t put the www bit on the front as FB won’t then let me post pictures 🙄
There are two fairly sizable rivers that converge in Bad Ischl – the Traun and the Ischl. For the most part, both rivers are fairly benign, but at times of heavy rainfall or during the spring melts, they can run very high. For many years that preceded the skills of water management, settlement was considered too dangerous, hence the many small communities situated in the higher alpine valleys which were safer and also more protected from the elements.
We had written a list so that we could be in/out of the store in quickest possible time. Just as well we did, it was busy in there! Mostly people were giving each other plenty of space. There’s always the odd few who are completely oblivious to anyone but themselves, standing in the middle of the main aisles, chatting and wandering aimlessly, but isn’t there always? For the most part it was very civilised. I’m usually the one who has to be dragged out of the store because… ‘ooh, look at that’… ‘ooh, that gives me an idea’ etc etc, but today I was more than happy to just get what we needed and get the hell out again. It’s quite strange how your whole experience of these things change and how the paranoia gets to you when you are outside of the safe confines of your own home.
Once back home again (and post furious washing of hands, items bought etc 🙄 ) Mark decided that it was time for the first lawn cut and strim of the year. Much like with the snow clearing, it is the first one of each that gets him all excited and he trots off out there with enthusiasm. Usually by about the 2nd or 3rd of each, the novelty has worn off. Particularly when the temperatures get really high in summer or the shoulders start to ache in winter 😉 But today, it was definitely in the ‘novelty’ domain.
The day ended with an unexpected and lovely surprise. Just as I’d put the oven on to make dinner, one of our lovely friends in the village came to ‘visit’ via the field outside our garden for the required social distancing. What started as a quick hello, descended into a bottle of wine, poured into a glass through the fence whilst we sat and chatted. By the time we’d finished the bottle, we realised it was completely dark and each had to find our way back to our respective houses somewhat the worse for wear 😂 😂 Dinner was abandoned and an emergency pizza sourced from the freezer in an attempt to sober up. 🙄 Needless to say the dogs could lay wherever they liked on my little bed, I slept pretty well that night!! 😂 😂
Stay safe everyone xx
