Bits and Pieces

Part One

I’ve had a lazy time in the mountains, my existence punctuated by the odd walk with Wally and dinner. Climbing the hill behind the Ginger Monkey and looping around takes an hour if I dawdle, which I often do to throw planks of wood and rocks - Wally has odd tastes. There have been only six guests other than me, and only four at one time. This means I have had a room to myself, an unexpected pleasure.

My hosts, Sean and Jess, are unusual. You would swear that Sean is Irish, but his pronounced accent is a by-product of learning English in the company of Irish folk. His passport says he’s Israeli, but while I was there his mum received a letter that might change this. Because he’s been away travelling for five years, the government want to take away his citizenship. We live in a world, a time, fixated with borders. So where does a person with no borders fit in? He’s still puzzling this over.

Jess, an Oxford graduate, works for a company called Oxbridge, which employs Cambridge and Oxford alumni to write essays for students. They produce ‘model essays’ and there’s some contract the students sign to keep it above board, but basically it’s a service enabling people to buy degrees. You wouldn’t believe the pay, though, or the scope Jess writes about. She says she hardly retains any of it, but after hearing her talk, I think she’s just being modest.

I see the other hostellers during the day. We watch movies together, episodes of the Office always seem to be running, but it’s at dinner when everyone is about. The first three evenings Sean cooked, but the last two nights we spent down the road at two of the two local restaurants. Thursday night it was goulash in a small wooden hut where we were served by a tight-lipped Slovakian man through a dirty window. Friday night it was pizza. Though Sean and Jess had heaped praise on this place I was sceptical. After all, we’re in the Slovakian outback. But I was wrong to be wary - Slovakian sheep’s cheese and sausage are marvellous pizza toppings. The cheese is amazing; tasty beyond belief and thick without being chewy.

Meals are advertised in weight, so you know exactly what you’re paying for and how much you are eating. The hostel has a pizza-eating challenge. Eat the XXL - 50 cm in diameter - and you get a chalk mark next to your country. It might please you to note that Australia is in the lead, but not by much. I did not contribute to our tally but I watched an Irish attempt fail at the last two pieces.

It snowed my last night in Zdiar, after I was so sure we’d seen the last cold weather.

Part Two

Back to Vienna for Easter, which was fun and familiar, though everything, except restaurants and cinemas and Easter markets, was closed. I went to Schobrunn Palace on Sunday, grabbed a chocolate waffle from the market in the courtyard, and strolled around the grounds. Sighted first European flowers and pushed the Slovakian snow out of my mind.

I met an English girl at the hostel who shared her gingerbread cake with me, and made me think of English boarding school stories. Discovered that Mum had got her dates mixed up and would be arriving on the Wednesday and not Tuesday morning, which, though disappointing, meant I didn’t have to get up in the middle of the night to meet her in Salzburg.

Sorry to be brief and behind, but I've been terribly busy and unfairly, I think, sick with my third cold in three months. Mum and I are now in Munich after spending two days in sunny Salzburg, which I'll tell you about soon.

xxx