Crazy drivers

The roads are full of people who should be banned from getting closer than 50m from a car, let alone drive it. And while it’s true that the amount of idiots driving around is far smaller here than on the romanian roads, we have our fair share of them. Unfortunately.

I was driving on this 2-lane national road, a “Bundesstraße” how they call them. I was on the speed lane and I was driving at some distance behind a Smart 4Four, everything was fine. Ahead of both of us, there was a slow driving truck on the right lane and behind it, a Mercedes A-Klasse. The speed limit on this road as 120km/h, them two were driving at most 100km/h, if not slower.

As the guy in front of me approaches them, the A-Klasse suddenly pulls out, cuts the guy off and starts to overpass the truck.  I personally didn’t see any signaling. The 4Four had to break rather hard in order not to smash into the A-Klasse. I was some way back so I didn’t have to break that hard.

The guy in the 4Four got very pissed, and with good reason. He honked the idiot in the A-Klasse, flashed him too I think. After the A-Klasse finally passed the truck, with less than 120km/h, the 4Four pulled next to him and the driver started to wave his hands at the idiot, his screams being probably less than kind.  I guess he could not let it go ’cause he went on the right lane in front of the A-Klasse and hit his breaks. By now I  was also next to the A-Klasse and I looked inside. There I could see one of those old retards who should’ve been banned from driving like 15 years ago. He was just showing the finger to the guy in the 4Four .

I do not really condone what the 4Four’s driver did, getting in front of the other guy and breaking, but I can certainly understand him. I would’ve been probably just as pissed. I imaging this is how most accidents happen, not so much because of high-speed driving but because some people are just idiots and endanger everyone else. I really think that after a certain age, people should be called and re-tested, to see if then can continue to drive or if they should be put into an asylum and fed intravenously.

I have to say though that this is the first time I saw such violent behavior since I am in Germany. As opposed to Romania, where my blood pressure starts rising already 30km after passing the border.

Unprepared

Every now and then I come upon a song which makes me listen to it over and over again. I can’t explain it. It strikes something within me, makes want to hear it again, each time trying to understand why and each time I fail.

Each time I come close but never close enough. It’s like something you see in the corner of your eye and when you turn your head, it’s gone.  The mind is a tricky thing, eh ? I present you ‘Unprepared” (click the little play icon below):

Do you still dream ?

There is a place of extraordinary beauty that I know. It’s a lake somewhere deep in the mountains. It’s not big and the water is incredibly blue. The sky is always blue there. There are mountains overlooking the small lake and there are deep pristine forests all around it. Tall, ancient trees guard the lake since the beginning of time. On one shore of the lake there is a small beach, covered in gravel. The waters wash it gently with crystal-clear waves. The air is crisp and clear. There are two moons in the sky above the lake and a bright sun shines above the mountains. I often sit on the beach and just soak up the sun and the fresh air, let the light breeze wash away all my worries.

This is a place in my dreams. In this post, dear reader, I will make you remember about dreams.

Have you ever dreamed that you can fly ? Have you ever felt completely free as you soar through the clouds to the blue sky ? Have you ever ran faster than anybody ever did ? Have you ever been on top of the highest mountains on this Earth ? Have you ever walked on clouds ? Have you ever felt that you can do anything, that there are no limits and no boundaries ? Have you ever felt the world is yours ? Have you ever felt immortal ?

Have you ever felt that place deep inside of you which gives you strength when you have none left, which makes you go on when there is nowhere to go, which gives you hope where there is none ? Have you ever seen our planet from space ? What about our galaxy ? Have you ever walked on the surface of the sun ? Have you ever touched the stars ? Have you ever been a star ?

Have you ever seen yourself sleeping ? Have you ever touched the face of the person you love from half around the world ? Have you ever been inside the mind of a happy smiling child ? Have you felt the pure joy in there ? Have you ever dreamt the impossible ?

I did.

I still dream, I never stopped dreaming ever since I was a kid. Not during the night when I have no control but during the day, when I can conjure anything in my mind. We all live our daily lives, going to work, going to school, coming home, doing our chores, going to bed only to start all over the next day. Day after day, year after year. Many of us stopped dreaming and just became drones of our society.

We must not do that! The day we stop dreaming is the day we die. Our mind, our imagination, our dreams, these are the very things that makes us human. They are our most precious qualities.

Do you still dream ? Do you have your own wonderful world where everything is possible ? Do you have your own secret place where nothing can touch you, where nobody can hurt you and where you feel safe ? Do you want to know what’s it like to be a child again ?

It’s all within your grasp, just dream it and make it true.

The deal with the Coffee Cups

In our house we drink a lot of coffee, especially Freya who is already an addict, I would say ;-) While at home, everything is fine since we have quite a lot of cups (one day I will count them all). But when we are in the car we need a different kind of cup with specific requirements. So far we got to cup type number 4 but it seems we are far from finding the Holy Grail of the Coffee Cups, as you can see below:

1. We have this cup since some time now, don’t recall exactly where I bought it from. It’s not good. The lid does not close the way it should most of the time and if you don’t notice: coffee on your clothes. Not to mention you can taste the plastic in your coffee after a while. Bleh.
2. Next, I saw some “nice looking” cups at some online store. They looked good and they were not expensive at all. So I ordered two of them and they were delivered in a short while. Total catastrophe ! The slit used to sip coffee can’t be closed or covered so it’s a permanent danger. The lid does not close through screwing but just by pressure and most of the times it does not close tight. As a result, see point 1. : coffee on your clothes. And on top of that the cup is too fat and it wont fit in the car’s coffee holder.

   Total failure. The saying “You get what you pay for” applies perfectly.

   
3. One day we were walking through the town (where we lived before) and we passed one of those shops with all kind of things for your kitchen and house: glases, cups, pots, cuttlery and so on. Very expensive, I have no idea whatsoever how such shops can survive.

   Outside they had some things “on sale”, which means they were no longer “obscenely expensive” but just “very expensive”. Among them we saw a cup which looked good, the lid was closing tight, it was metal, the handle seemed solid. Going on the principle “expensive but good”, we bought the cup. It worked ok for a while but in the end it messed up too.

   The handle is getting loose since a while, I keep having to tighten that screw. The lid has a sliding thing which … umm, slides back and forth, covering the slit as needed. Good idea in theory but after a while that thing slides shut by itself when you try to drink. NOT amusing.

   Bottom line: expensive is not always good!

   
4. The last find is a cup which I bought from Kaufland a couple of days ago. I must’ve had an error in judgment because I failed to apply the principle from point 1 and I bought something cheap. It seemed ok, the shape is good, it keeps the coffee hot, there is no handle so there is nothing to break, it closes real tight and that red button really works.

   Thing is, yesterday I noticed that after we put it through the dishwasher couple of times, water somehow gets between the green plastic and the metal interior. Not much but enough to hear it if you shake the empty cup. And that water slowly pours out around the screw on the bottom, which holds the plastic and the metal together. Result: water in the car or on your clothes.

   Bottom lime: expensive is not always good but cheap is most likely crappy !

   

   
   

The search for the perfect coffee cup continues!