http://www.one.org Dixie Peach: Plan for One Thing, Another Happens

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Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Plan for One Thing, Another Happens

It was my intention to show y'all some pictures of Hannover from my Saturday spent there with Christina, Claire, and Claire's husband and son - popularly known as the German and the Dude. Unfortunately I realized today that the camera was set to take photos by lamplight and I was in the bright sunshine so the photos look as though they were taken with a blue filter over the lens. Maybe I can clean them up but I don't have the time or desire at the moment. Instead, let me entertain you with this beauty:

Wouldn't I like to know how this happened. The silver Audi is in a street parking space so perhaps the truck was backing out of the loading zone and smacked into it. Or the Audi became impatient with the truck, tried to drive around it and got smacked. I just happened to look out the window while I was in the kitchen getting a glass of water and when I saw it I had to grab the camera so I could later show it to B. He's so easily entertained.

So I have no photos of Hannover but let me assure you that we had a wonderful time. Other folks were expected to join us but kids and life in general got in the way and they ended up having to beg off so us five made do. It was a great day - warm but with a good breeze and enough sunshine to give me a mild sunburn. We met up at the train station and walked over to the new city hall which, despite it's name, is not particularly new but all the same quite pretty. Being as we're a trio of smart alecks, Christina, Claire and I would say "Don't do it! Don't do it! Back out before it's too late!" when we'd pass couples who were getting married and having their photos taken before the small lake in front of city hall. Lunch was at the Block Haus and I enjoyed it thoroughly, especially it was the first beef steak I've eaten since Bill Clinton was president. After our lunch we headed over to the Marschsee, a large man-made lake in the city. The sun was about to bake us alive so we parked ourselves under some shade trees at a beer garden and chatted and drank and refreshed ourselves before starting back for the train station. By then we'd walked a good ways so our trip back was at a slower pace but it gave us the opportunity to chat more, discuss the delicious scent of linden trees, read some Latin and see a pro democracy-in-Iran march.

More refreshment was needed by then so we stopped at a ice cream cafe - and that's when I noticed we had a problem. When I reached into my handbag to get out my wallet I noticed that my cell phone wasn't in it's little pocket inside my bag. Normally I'm positively anal about putting things in their proper place in my handbag so my cell phone being gone could only mean that I'd left it somewhere. While we were at the Marschsee I called B and that was the last time I remembered seeing it. Christina called my number to see if we could hear it ring and I wish someone had taken me a picture of with my handbag up to my ear trying to hear it ring so I could locate where it was - except none of us could hear it ring. Claire and I dug through my bag and couldn't find it. A second call to my phone didn't help either. All I could think is that after I'd called B I'd set the phone down on the bench instead of putting it back in my bag. It was hard to be upset about it though because I've been very disappointed in that phone since about two weeks after buying it and it's a pre-paid phone so I didn't have to worry about someone racking up a bill. I was dreading telling B though because I knew it wouldn't be very enthusiastic about having to replace a seldom used cell phone because I'd layed it down on a park bench in Hannover. Still it was worth the loss of a phone to be able to spend the day with Christina, Claire, the German and the Dude - who just may be the most well-behaved and charming toddler in the world. I was sweaty, hot, tired and my feet were swollen by the time I reached home but it was a well spent 4th of July holiday.

By Saturday night I'd ordered another cell phone. A fairly basic Nokia flip phone that I got for under 60€ and I'd planned on going to buy another SIM card come Monday morning. Sunday afternoon, just on a whim, I called my cell number again just to see if someone would answer and that's when I heard my handbag ring. I found the phone wedged under one of the inner pockets of my bag. Uhhh honey! About that phone we ordered for me...

It's red. And I like it way better than that crap Sony I lost and then found.

9Comments:

Blogger Significant Snail said...

'And I like it way better than that crap Sony I lost and then found.' and subsequently lost again? Did you tell B you found it or did you just let it remain lost?

Also - I wish we had a beer garden around here for hot days!

12:24 AM  
Blogger Dixie said...

Oh sure I told him I found my Sony again. He couldn't miss hearing it ring anyway. Still he knew I hated that phone so we kept the Nokia I'd ordered when it was delivered today.

12:27 AM  
Anonymous Lisa said...

Well then. Why don't you find someone, some teenager or so who can't afford a phone of their own and would put it to good use, and let them have it?

Or more romantic, 'lose' it again with a small note attached, ie - 'please take me home and love me', preferably in an area whose inhabitants you know will appreciate it. :)

I'm a big fan of sending useful things out into the universe since on a very hot day downtown someone lost a pair of nice although slightly scratched sunglasses, which have since saved me from squinting and headache many a day.

9:44 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Oh my goodness! I cannot believe that you found it? How did we miss it??

2:05 PM  
Blogger Dixie said...

Lisa, that's a lovely idea. I'm sure to find someone who needs a handy and can't afford one.

Claire - I know! I said to B "We looked for it! Both Claire and I looked all over my bag for it! Christina called my phone twice and we didn't hear it ring!". Even when I heard it ring the next day I had to really dig around in my bag to find it. I think it was wedged under one of the sections in the purse.

10:30 PM  
Blogger Hilda said...

Two things:

1) You wrote: "it was the first beef steak I've eaten since Bill Clinton was president."

Were you protesting George W. Bush by refusing to eat meat? Because I could totally understand that if you did.

2) In the US there's a program where you can donate cell phones you no longer want to women's shelters, since often women arrive there with very little. And also if they wind up going back to their husbands they have a telephone to call for help.

7:28 PM  
Blogger Dixie said...

Hilda -

1. No - it's just that when I moved to Germany Bill Clinton was still president and since I've moved here I haven't eaten steak. I don't grill myself, I don't generally go to restaurants that serve steak (German cuisine isn't beef based) and when I've gone to grill parties we've always had bratwurst and chicken and pork steaks.

2. The church I attend works with new immigrants and asylum seekers and they said they'd be glad to donate it to an immigrant family in need of a free cell phone.

9:16 PM  
Anonymous Dee said...

I feel for you. I can't tell you how many times I've lost things in my purse. I now have an enormous purse with many pockets and I still lose things. Aaaargh....

8:57 PM  
Blogger christina said...

It was so nice seeing you again and I can't believe you found your phone after all! Too funny.

2:32 PM  

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