22 - 28 March 2010

This week Justine endured the bi-annual public humiliation that is the Maria Alm second hand clothing sale. Under operating theatre light intensity, any item you would like to sell is scrutinised by a panel of prominent mums, the guardians of quality. All familiar faces, which rather than putting you at ease just magnifies the humiliation. With shouts of 'Flecken!' (Stained!), and the crushing blow of the occasional 'Schmutzig!' (Dirty!), about 50% of what Justine had hoped to sell was flung across the hall into the box of stuff deemed only good enough to be sent straight to charity. The rest of it was accepted with a considerable amount of tutting and raised eyebrows on learning that Justine doesn't do ironing. That said, we made as much money as we spent, kitting the kids out for another summer, and ate some very delicious cake.

15 - 21 March 2010

The dawn chorus wakes us at about 6.00am these spring mornings, and amongst the bird song we can hear the whirr of a huge crane, busy building what we hope will be our nest. Work on the long promised new apartment block, to house people who live and work year round in Maria Alm, has finally started and is expected to be finished by December. The spring building frenzy has started all over the village and everything must be finished before next winter, so they start early, work late and build quick. Since it took so long for work to start, we didn't expect it to be so quick to finish, and have committed ourselves in our current accommodation until December 2011. It would suit us if all animals and machines would stop being quite so busy.

8 - 14 March 2010

Until two years ago, houses in Maria Alm were addressed as Dorf (meaning Village) and numbered 1 - 215, the newer the house the greater the number. Absolute chaos navigationally. Most of the houses here are built up around an old farm - extended family members build on nearby plots and small hamlets develop. For navigation purposes, everywhere was described in relation to the farms. Caspar is currently learning, as countless generations of school children before him have done, the Maria Alm equivalent of the London cabbies 'knowledge'. He must know, off by heart, the name, location and family owners of about 30 farms. Now that the village has been conventionally readdressed with street names and house numbers, perhaps it's time the school readdressed the need for such a learning exercise.

1 - 7 March 2010

Elizabeth has a wobbly tooth. Our youngest child has reached the age of decay. Speaking of which, the copious amount of sweets that the children receive every time they so much as sneeze, is taking its toll. When Mary was invited by the dentist to choose her favourite colour from a colour chart, it didn't occur to us that she would end up with a bright blue filling that dazzles whenever she opens her mouth. Thank heavens it will eventually fall out, and we will be so much the wiser for our next dental appointment, and the tooth fairy may or may not visit. According to Mary's perplexed class-mates, she is only meant to visit for the first tooth. Ours must be an English tooth fairy, and unreliable too, since she forgot to visit two nights running and eventually got her act together after tears and a sincerely heartfelt begging letter from Mary.