Unlucky August

August has not been a good month for me on the whole. Even my company's receptionist remarked on that.
I used to be quite blessed with luck. Or that's what I'd think. Maybe I've become too complacent, maybe it was just time that my luck should run out. Maybe it was divinity shaking an admonishing finger at me so as I'd not forget faith.

Where to start?

I moved flats on 1st August, so there was the task of cleaning the new flat. Routine, I assumed. What I hadn't expected was that the previous tenant had just switched off the fridge and left it sitting there for months. When I opened it it reaked of I-don't-know-what. The rubber isolation was covered in red and black mould and some black things like seeds we lying around the shelves. Almost overcome with nausea I spent some three (3!) hours washing, scrubbing and wiping the thing. The little seeds, I found out to my horror, were no mere seeds but looked much rather like the segmented carapaces of small insects. It's beyond me how someone can tolerate that kind of decay and filth. I got rid of the insects and most of the mould but the rubber isolation remains stained and the fridge still smells bad. The landlord is now deciding whether to buy a new fridge. At least, he does seem keen to resolve that matter. It's his fridge, after all.

I also needed some new furniture. I ordered a bed and a wardrobe from a mail order company called Neckermann (one of Germany's largest). I had ordered in mid-July, the order was confirmed with delivery time of beginning of September. When I hadn't heard anything by mid August I wrote to them and found out that my order had been cancelled for "delivery-related reasons" and was going to be renewed. Imagine my annoyance - I had been sleeping on a sofa for over two weeks. To make things worse the new delivery time would be end of September now. When I checked the online account the price of the wardrobe had also increased. Now I was furious. I called and complained. The price could be corrected immediately but they didn't stock the items, so there was nothing to be done about the delivery. I was, of course, free to cancel the order at any time. Great. Of course, that would not get me any closer to getting a bed. I feel like I'll never hear the end of it.

The next thing was getting an Internet connection. In Germany, a technician actually has to come and do some wiring to your house - or if you're lucky just the next external distribution box. I wasn't so lucky. The box is in the basement. So, I needed to be present for the technician. And since the agreement between my provider (Alice) and the German Telekom, who provide the technician, is so fuzzy they can only give you a time frame of 8:00 to 16:00 hours.
I really didn't want to waste a day of annual leave for that. Then I made a cruxial mistake: I assumed intelligence or willingness to work. On the set day I went to work hoping/expecting the technician would come, ring the door, get no answer and call my mobile phone to check where I was. Then I could ask him to wait five minutes while I rode my bike back home. I had it all worked out. Just that the technician didn't call. He left me a card. I had missed him by just 15 minutes but now I needed a new appointment. The following week turned out to be the earliest. Also I would probably have to pay for all following visits.
The following week I wasn't going to make the same mistake again. I stayed at home and I waited. But nobody came. At 19:00 I called the provider and was told the technician had reported I wasn't home. I almost screamed at that blatant lie. Now I'd have to wait another week. I wrote them an angry email telling them I wouldn't pay for any further technician calls. I just got an indifferent reply from customer services saying that this was the technicians report and such was their policy and that was the only answer they could give me. We'll see! At least the following week the technician did come and early enough for me to go to work afterwards and just work the rest of the day off as overtime. It seems there are people who go through this four-odd times before they get connected. How can companies do business like that?

I also wanted to visit a friend from Beijing who's studying at Birmingham university at the moment. In July I booked a fairly cheap, direct flight with Lufthansa. She was a bit worried because the dates were around the time when she'd have to resit her exams but she was hoping to make time for me. Then only two weeks before she suddenly called and apologised but I'd have to change the booking. The university had just told her she'd have to resit one exam on the very weekend I'd be there.
I still wonder why universities cannot plan further in advance than two weeks. So, I called Lufthansa but there was no way of changing the booking. I had to cancel and forfeit all but the price of the actual ticket - a trifle these days. I lost more than half the money I had paid. Also, tickets in September seemed to be significantly more expensive. The new booking I made cost more than half the price of the original ticket again. What to do - it's the last chance to see her before she's off back to Beijing again.

Even something as trivial as signing up for electricity hasn't been easy. These things are complicated in Germany, since we like it that way. I can't actually bring myself to expand upon the matter here. It's sorted for now but I expect to hear more soon.

Finally, I'm sure you've read what happened to me at the airport when I visited my friend in London for her 30th birthday. I didn't even realise it was a big number like that. I was so upset to leave my present behind - especially after leaving work early and going through the tasting of wines and finally approving the one I bought.

Now be judge yourself. Was it bad luck? For the moment, I only wish to mercifully forget this month and move on into the next. Surely things can't get much worse. Maybe short of a fire in the flat or ... well, let's say I'll steer clear of ladders and cats the time being. And faith. Let's not forget faith.

Will we change our way of life?

Years ago, when "terrorism" started becoming the international political buzzword number one there was one sentence that politicians like George W. Bush, Tony Blair but also Angela Merkel kept repeating. It ran something like:
"Terrorists may try to intimidate us/the "free world" but they will never make us change our way of life."
Now, looking back I can only find that this was either naïve or a lie. Our way of life has changed. And I'm not even talking about all the new laws on phone tapping, government trojans on your computer, being detained without charge or watched constantly on CCTV cameras.
I'm talking about the simple fact that I wasn't allowed to take a bottle of wine onto a plane from Frankfurt to London to give it to my friend for her birthday. It's EU legislation: no liquids in the hand luggage if it's more than 100 ml. The bottle was 750 ml. I had forgotten. The friendly security officers that screened my backpack told me they couldn't let me take the bottle onboard. No exceptions made. They had already "had whiskey bottles worth some €100 thrown away". It turned out it was also too late to check it in since the plane was already fully loaded. I had the option of drinking it on the spot or trashing it. So, the bottle went in the bin. I was really upset. At least, it wasn't a really expensive wine but that's beside the point: I lost half the birthday present and something I had wanted to share with my friend.
On the flight back I even had to seal my little deodorant roll-on and toothpaste up in a plastic bag.
I can certainly remember times when the only thing to worry about when taking a bottle of wine on a flight was customs. My grandfather was even able to bring an antique dagger on the flight. Nobody would demand you to throw away your present because it made you a potential threat to air traffic safety.
So, now I ask again: Have we let terrorism change our way of life?
Think carefully before you answer.