Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Junking Day

It's Junking Day in our village! It's the day when people put out their large trash items (see one of my first posts at www.jerryandbobbi.com regarding the trash process) on the street for the large trash truck to pick up. As a rule, we hang onto any odd-sized trash until we can put it out on one of two Junking Days each year. As an American I can say I'm not really used to hanging on to my trash (other than the golf clubs, etc. that I can't get Jerry to throw away!) so this has taken some re-training.

Everything starts pouring out onto the sidewalk at least a day or two early. Old bookcases, hideous couches, broken toilet bowls, stained rugs and sometimes even genuine antiques hit the street, which is why this week we are also inundated with white cargo vans, stopping suddenly at every decent-looking pile. More often than not the license plates indicate that the vans hail from Poland and they are out for anything worth saving. I hear they take these things back, clean them up and sell them as antiques. Yesterday I put out an old rug that we got second-hand at a rummage sale at Vandenberg and it was gone within hours! It's a living for these people and it seems as though the Germans are used to it. I just wish it came more often!

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Super Bowl Sleeper


The Super Bowl will air live here and the Americans are scheduling nap time for it. Naps, you say? In case you're not a math whiz, LIVE means Midnight. Yes, midnight. On a Sunday. Here's the schedule, it's not real clear, but it's there - NFL, 12AM until 4AM.

The school declared the following Monday a day off, probably after learning their lesson the year when all the teachers showed up at work wearing wrinkled jerseys stained with cheese dip.

So, we're banking our nap times, hoping it will help us make it through the night of one of the biggest Super Bowls we've ever wanted to see. Unfortunately, my usual guilty pleasure - the commercials - will not air since we don't see any American commercials. We're counting on the Patriots to make up for any disappointment with a big win! Go Pats!