I had a thought

[hawkwing_lb]

I did, I had a whole thought.

But I lost it.

Traveling is, I would like to say, quite tiring. Particularly if one wakes up every hour on the hour in one's cold, hard, deeply uncomfortable hotel bed, wondering it's quiet, what the hell woke me up?

I spent 35 euro on a taxi to the airport, because I couldn't hack the thought of hoofing it to the underground and negotiating the trains to get to the airport in time to check in properly. In the airport, paid too much for a bad muffin and coca-cola (seriously, three forty for .5l? Are you shitting me?) and wrote up a draft of a post for the column while sitting in an airport café.

On the way to the boarding gate, I dropped some of my crap, squatted down to pick it up, and suffered a Captain Tightpants incident, the second of the trip. And with me only having two pairs of trousers in tow! Berlin's final act of grudgery: I think it's safe to say it really didn't like me.

In a shocking twist, no sooner had I got on the aeroplane than I was surprised by smiling faces and when I stumbled, friendly inquiries into my health. I do not wish to insult all Germany, but seriously, Berlin? I did not realise how unfriendly you were to me until I saw the friendliness of strangers again.

Arrived back in Dublin with no further mishaps, and caught a convenient bus home. Did normal home-coming things, like throw all clothes into wash, shower, find out what's come in the post... only to have one final blow to my ego this week.

See, I have a bunch of trousers that fit me with 36in waist. So I ordered three more 36in waist men's trousers online. Tried them all on. None of them fit, and they misfit in varying degrees of badness. How is this possible? I do not know. I strongly suspect someone is doing something wrong... and it ain't me, folks. If two sets of 36in waist trousers fit a person, the rest should too - or at least fail to fit by rather less than two inches of Lack Of Closure.

Hey, who knows, maybe I'm Grosse and Rotund and Fat - after all, I do weigh in at over 100kg - and try as I might to believe in Fitness over Weight as a measure of my ego and well-being, I've internalised sufficient cultural shame-triggers that having a larger waist size than I had ordered for is somewhat of a blow to my self-esteem, coming on top of the week I just had. (Family health issues coming out the arse just lately. STRESS CAN HAS.)

So I accomplished one further column post, dispatched my funding progress report, sent a couple of reviews to the Ideo reviews editor, updated my booklog, updated my catalogue, corralled mes emails, made motions towards arranging a thing, ordered a second-hand copy of a Useful Book and a new copy of a Potentially Useful Book, and basically did as much as is humanly possible to do on too little sleep for Acute Insight And Wit.

Is good to be home. I will try to stay awake another hour, in order not to wake up too early. Tomorrow must contain Many More Things, including trouser-repair.

Comments

[green_knight]

The point when I decided I would never ever, regardless of what happened, move to Germany again was many years back when I was briefly stopping over in [city I used to live]. I had a backpack, shorts, and a battered hat, so I was not immediately recognisable as a local, and I have never in my life had so many dirty looks from complete strangers as I did that day. And I speak the language, so I *know*, rather than merely suspect that they Did Not Like Strangers.

And sympathies on the trouser repair thing, I had that kind of wardrobe malfunction in autumn, and it sent me into the nearest shops wishing for trousers, any trousers (but not the £100 jeans).

(I wear three different sizes right now. Blech.)

[hawkwing_lb]

Okay, so it's not just me. That's ...a relief, I guess?

Never going back to Germany if'n I don't have to, though.

[aamcnamara.livejournal.com]

Shortly after discovering that men's jeans actually say their waist and inseam on them as the size (as opposed to random numbers in the women's jeans section, which I still do not understand), I discovered that the waist/inseam numbers are frequently deliberately incorrect. By a large margin. In one direction or the other.

It's like they actually want us to get shopping fatigue from trying on a million pairs of pants (and then not actually end up buying anything and instead just use our two pairs of pants that actually fit until they are obviously unwearable and then spend a desperate hour at the thrift store)!

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

Yeah - place no trust at all in the accuracy of trouser sizes...

I have grown tired of sending the same pair of trousers in different sizes back to to M&S, and will stick to charity shops in future.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Sigh...

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

So, you are saying it is an evil conspiracy, yes?

[aamcnamara.livejournal.com]

Yes, albeit one that makes no sense. (I guess they get more money if we buy several pairs of pants that don't quite fit than one pair that fits exactly? But I usually get exhausted and give up and buy nothing long before that, so see above re: not making sense.)