Taking My Mind Off Things
My dad left yesterday. I was trying to occupy myself on the drive back from Dusseldorf, not wanting to think about the empty house that would be there at the end of the drive. So, here is what I concentrated on:
I decided I was one of the slowest four-wheelers on the autobahn in Germany. The BMWs and Mercedes and other not-so-luxurious cars go much faster than me. But I have a mental block: when I see the speedometer hitting 100, it’s hard to make myself go faster. Nevermind that’s in kilometers per hour. At least in The Netherlads there is a speed limit of 120, so I’m not quite so pokey there, where I do most of my driving.
I did find one car that went slower than me. The driver of this car (is that really allowed on the autobahn?) must have been the bravest person on the road. I wouldn’t want to be in that car amongst trucks 27 times my size and cars going twice my speed. It didn’t even have real wheels. They were more like spare “donuts”.
Once in Holland, I started to dwell on the fact that summer construction is as rampant here as it is in the States. And then I decided it was good for my Dutch vocabulary. There are bright yellow signs everywhere saying “omleiding” and then telling us what letter to “volg” for the detour. It’s a smart system: every detour is given a letter or a number that the people on the detour should follow. Then there are signs posted every several meters with that letter or number. Since some detours cross, it’s better than just putting up a “detour” sign.
Then, I got home, and thankfully I didn’t have too long to be sad. The little girl starting singing to herself, then crawling around, then she got a bad case of the hiccups. Who can be sad when there is a crawling hiccupping baby to watch?
Later in the day, I visited the people who are vacationing next door to us. Earlier in the day, I spied a baby about Rebecca’s age. Turns out, that little girl is only 3 hours younger than Rebecca! And they were born at the same hospital!
I decided I was one of the slowest four-wheelers on the autobahn in Germany. The BMWs and Mercedes and other not-so-luxurious cars go much faster than me. But I have a mental block: when I see the speedometer hitting 100, it’s hard to make myself go faster. Nevermind that’s in kilometers per hour. At least in The Netherlads there is a speed limit of 120, so I’m not quite so pokey there, where I do most of my driving.
I did find one car that went slower than me. The driver of this car (is that really allowed on the autobahn?) must have been the bravest person on the road. I wouldn’t want to be in that car amongst trucks 27 times my size and cars going twice my speed. It didn’t even have real wheels. They were more like spare “donuts”.
Once in Holland, I started to dwell on the fact that summer construction is as rampant here as it is in the States. And then I decided it was good for my Dutch vocabulary. There are bright yellow signs everywhere saying “omleiding” and then telling us what letter to “volg” for the detour. It’s a smart system: every detour is given a letter or a number that the people on the detour should follow. Then there are signs posted every several meters with that letter or number. Since some detours cross, it’s better than just putting up a “detour” sign.
Then, I got home, and thankfully I didn’t have too long to be sad. The little girl starting singing to herself, then crawling around, then she got a bad case of the hiccups. Who can be sad when there is a crawling hiccupping baby to watch?
Later in the day, I visited the people who are vacationing next door to us. Earlier in the day, I spied a baby about Rebecca’s age. Turns out, that little girl is only 3 hours younger than Rebecca! And they were born at the same hospital!
posted by Beth at 9:04 PM
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