SUMMER HOLIDAYS, day 03: drip and plop

wednesday, 16 august. the weather gods do not share my view of all that rain being nonsense. the austrian weather forecast does not share my view of rainrainrain not exactly being the triumphant return of summer. by ten thirty it's getting a bit annoying to hear the radio announcer talking about grabbing your swimming gear and enjoying the sunshine, when all we see is clouds hanging low over the lake, and great big puddles of rain!

there is not much to do around the lake in that kind of weather, so i suggest driving to spittal for some tennis. we stop by my parents', but they have gone hiking, because the weather was better that morning, and they made the mistake of believing the forecast. (turns out they should have stayed at home, they get themselves into a bit of a dangerous situation there along the way.)

sepp and i play for two hours. indoors of course. on the court next to ours, two men in wheelchairs. i've never seen that live before, and now it turns out i actually know one of them - herr podbelsek was a geography and PE teacher at my high school, and his daughter iris was in my class. i briefly talk to him on court, but we have a longer chat afterwards. i know he has been in a bad car accident some years ago, and now he can barely walk, but he is still very much into sports. he is in constant pain too. it's either sports or morphine, he says, and he has never been one to sit around somewhere. in the end he even remembers my brother martin whom he taught for a couple of years.

sepp and i take said martin out to dinner that evening, and he entertains us with stories and anecdotes of student life at the department of history at klagenfurt university. then it's back to our tent for sepp and me. wet wet wet, the world around us.

no photos of day 03. puddles aren't that interesting after all ...