Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Redefining "Nice Day"

It was balmy today- in the mid-40s. The kicker was that there was no rain. Everything was still wet and muddy, since I don't think anything will dry out for months. The air had a warm quality to it- almost like springtime. I went out for a ride and was surprised how close we live to open farmland. I took a bike path to avoid a nasty intersection, and again another biker insisted on passing me to my right (the wrong side of the path). I really don't get it. She went way out of her way to make certain she passed me on the "wrong" side. Anyway, the fact that it was not raining made my day.

I applied for a few more jobs today. I phoned one of the companies, a Canadian aviation company. I was encouraged to apply, since English is the universal language of aviation. We will see where that one goes.

Regarding my wet feet during my rainy bike rides, someone from the US suggested that I wear bread bags over my feet. What is interesting is that here, most bread is sold in bulk. It is unwrapped, usually laying out like produce. Bread bags are usually paper. If I grab a plastic bread bag, it usually has a million tiny holes to allow the bag to breathe. We purchased a box of regular bread bags. By the way, loaves here are more long and narrow, compared to bread in the US. The bread here is amazing. I have always felt that during my visits to Norway. I don't understand how or why, but there is nothing comparable, even at a store like Breadsmith. It also seems free from preservatives, yet it keeps a reasonable amount of time. In all fairness, I should mention that it uses a German recipe.

It is strange how international the food is around here. My favorite tortilla chips are made in Belgium. The Spanish oranges were on sale, but not the African oranges. Oddly, African items generally are just that- they list the entire continent rather than the country of origin. We quickly found out why those Spanish oranges were so cheap- I have tasted sweeter lemons!

We purchased some bulk candy yesterday. For some mysterious reason, gummy candies are sold everywhere. We found a great deal- I think. They were priced by the hg- which is a hectogram- which is a tenth of a kilo. I thought we were receiving a great deal- thinking they were priced by the kilo. Oh well. It must have been a decent deal judging from the mob that was surrounding the candy bins.

2 comments:

Frostbike said...

As a kid my favorite candy was Swedish Fish, a gummy fish-shaped treat. You could buy them at the candy counter in Sears. They taste different today, even if you get them at the good candy stores. So I hope for you you try some and they're just as good as I remember.

Anonymous said...

Wow, no rain, could a change in the weather be occuring on a longterm basis. Gummy bears; ah yes my fist experience of that European confection was 1974 in German class, Frau Winkels, who was an expatriate from Deutschland during WWII at the ripe old age of 13, had some to share, as we struggled with the Dative and Nomative forms of the language. They lacked any sort of real sweetness and it seemed like I was trying to masticate a piece of rubber. Now more recent experiences, due to my now having a 4 year old who has a sweet tooth, have indicated that they have infused this stuff with saccahrin or perhaps Splendow (sp?) as the vulcanized material at least tickles my taste buds. LA