Day 55 in the Big Bad Ischl House….

(Saturday, 9 May 2020)

It’s 8.30 in the morning and the temperature is 18 degrees, all over Perneck you can hear lawn mowers going and there is a warm wind blowing – that can mean only one thing, the weather is due to change imminently. 😂

After the fun of last night, it’s probably no bad thing that today will be a low activity day. Neither of us is feeling particularly motivated or energetic… can’t think why… 😂

It’s quite unusual for us to both be suffering sore heads on the same day as under normal circumstances we just don’t have full days off any more. In the winter, we sometimes get weekdays off but they are also either ski days or snow clearing days, neither of which are ideal when mixed with late nights and sore heads.

The rest of the year, breakfast needs to be made and work starts at 6.30am. The solution is a combination of girls/boys nights out where one half of the couple carries the can the next day or joint nights out which start very early and finish very early so that the next morning is not quite so painful.

We’ve had a couple of exceptions to that rule. For example, Silvester (New Year’s Eve) was one of them. Silvester is quite the event, partying, food, drink, fireworks the like of which you’ve never seen in a small village and which would rival those in London 😂

We were invited to our neighbours to celebrate the arrival of 2020 and suffice to say it was an exceptional night and we got back sometime after 2am having had (ahem) a good time. Oh lordy, did we pay the price the next day, usual breakfast service, followed by a full house turnaround. That was painful. 🤢

Since we have no guests at the moment, we may have all let our hair down a little last night and are consequently suffering the after effects. I’m renowned for not being much of a drinker and today I am quite painfully reminded of why that is. 🙈

Mark, being more experienced in these matters, claimed to be a bit ‘fuzzy’ in the morning. After we’d both lazed around generally feeling sorry for ourselves and then snoozed on the sofa for a bit, he jumped up and declared he was going out for a bike ride to clear out the cobwebs. Just the thought of it had me regressing and so I waved him off with shaking of my head and mutterings of ‘how does he do it’ and the like… 😂

He returned a couple of hours later having had a good blast up to the Hoisnrad Alm and back. Technically, the Hoisnrad is our local. It is a typical mountain alm, located about 500m above us…. pretty much as the crow flies. Only reachable on foot or by bike by a more indirect route than straight up, it sits in an Alpine meadow with far reaching views out over to the Wolfgangsee.

Obviously, bars and restaurants are still closed but since the Austrians place great importance on such things, there is a water trough outside the Alm, with cool fresh spring water flowing through it. Placed inside are a quantity of beer bottles and soft drinks and an honesty box. This is not a particularly unusual practice, if a bar is not attended by staff or there isn’t even a bar, this kind of ‘pick your own’ arrangement exists in many places along hiking trails all over the mountains.

Sadly Mark forgot to take a photograph* (forgivable under the circumstance of brain fog 😆) but I’m sure you get the idea. There are some pretty amazing things about this country and this one is right up there with the best!

By the time Mark returned, the weather was definitely on the change, still hot with clear skies but the air was heavy and calm and there were storm clouds building. Friends of ours from the other side of the mountain range (only 22km as the crow flies, but 1.5hrs by road) sent a message to say there was torrential rain there. Now we knew it was definitely coming! 👍

It started with a couple of thunderclaps and a few stray drops of rain and then with no further ado, changed in a split second into a full on rain storm. My poor Mum was on facetime with me at the time and had to wait patiently listening to the rain pouring down whilst I frantically ran around collecting in cushions, throws and the expletives whilst I tripped over Aten repeatedly in the process (yes, he was trying to ‘help’ 🙄) before carrying her and the ipad back indoors to finish the conversation. 😂

An amusing end to the afternoon and quite possibly the most energetic thing I’d done all day! 😂 Hopefully, tomorrow will be a bit more productive… 😉

Stay safe everyone xx

*If anyone has any pictures of these ‘beer fridges’, please feel free to share! 👍 😁