today:

- it was 38 degrees when i woke up and cooled down to 36 by noon

- i handwashed a lot of clothes and realised i get a little obsessed with clothes drying when they are on the line (or in my sunroom and throughout my kitchen when there is no line) and check them regularly to see if they are dry yet. that's what you call a touch of the ocd.

- i used the automatic stamp producing machine to post some things today. i have never seen this system before but it is brilliant. trust the germans to come up with such efficiency. the true test was if i used it probably and that mail arrives at its intended destination...

- i made a hair appointment for tomorrow with the stylist who speaks the best english in the shop. wish me luck!

- i bought a hat (not necessarily in anticipation of the hair cut, but it doesn't hurt) and a blue handbag, which i needed just slightly more than a hole in the head. but i figure that if the soldier always asks me to carry his wallet around, i should have a tool that is fit for the job.

- while caught in an afternoon shower as i walked home, i pondered how i have a teensy fear of umbrellas. and not in the way that i think they will attack me when i am sleeping but in that i fear a finger getting caught when you take it down. i realise this is totally irrational and i am blaming some adult in my childhood who probably warned me against getting my finger stuck and i have it ingrained in my head that you should be careful around umbrellas. the same way i also feel you should take care around escalators. i don't think the kids in this town get that lesson as they regularly play on the escalators and cause me great grief as they ride them up and down and up and down in BAREFEET. that is like asking to loose a toe.

- the friendly postie delivered my first piece of mail addressed to me as frau. (it was our train tickets to prague for next week, yippee!)