Firyar

I can’t believe it is still Monday, this day seems like a week long. I am still very sleepy and my watch confirms that I didn’t get enough deep sleep. And then the morning was exhausting because Panka had licked her bandages and band-aid, they needed to be removed and changed quickly. And a part of her wound was a bit red, but the strings seemed to be all still there. I made an appointment at the vet for Wednesday morning. I hope that then her strings will be pulled. Every time Panka moves she checks her legs because then the wound and strings are probably itching. It’s exhausting for all of us.

At work a hellfire was awaiting me. More exams to be put into the systems, more people asking where their contracts are, mistakes and this and that. My colleague said again that I should call in sick if I am too exhausted and don’t feel well. Ugh, but I will keep going, next week I have the whole week off.

At least I finished today my audio book Neurotribes by Steve Silberman. It was okay but I expected something else and not a (too long) historical account of autism. Well, next book is Untypical by Pete Wharmby. I currently have not enough spoons to listen to any other audio than non-fictional books.

And good news: Noel Gallagher finally announced a gig in Germany, yaaaay! I was getting nervous because there were gigs announced for Paris and Amsterdam. Again he will play in Düsseldorf, like last year. I would prefer Cologne, of course, but the venues are probably too small? Back in the olden days, Oasis used to play in Düsseldorf, too. When I was living only 10min walk away from it, that was convenient. So, finally after 5 years he will be back in Germany and I have another concert on my list, yay!

Although at home again, I didn’t sleep so good last night. No surprise, sometimes I am too tired to sleep properly. I know this sounds ridiculous but it happens. And two time-changes certainly don’t help to get into my old rhythm. But it doesn’t matter, I don’t have to go anywhere.

Today I did some cleaning: bed, floors, washing machine and having a look into my paypal account. Nothing shocking there. I also checked my library account, paid some fees and directly made new fees by preordering stuff. They have Octopath Traveler II! I want to play it but I‘ probably won’t buy it. I still didn’t finish Part I because I was annoyed of the hard end game. I generally try to buy less (permanent) stuff and the library helps for sure.

The dogs are bored because it is raining all day. Panka has no bandages anymore but she still has to wear a band-aid over her wound. And to prevent her from licking it, we have to put some bandages around it. With the wet weather this is really inconvienent. But the strings from her wound can be pulled 10-14 days after the operation. This means from Monday on. I think I’m gonna ask for an appointment on Wednesday. I have a rain prediction app on my phone, at least it helped to have a quick walk without rain.

I started to watch Sharp Objects yesterday. I must admit I have a hard time following the audio because there are not subtitles. I can listen to podcasts and audiobooks perfectly fine but with tv shows and movies the audio is often so overthrown by other sound that I have a hard time processing the audio. Urgh. At least there are episode summaries on wikipedia.

I already uploaded my selection of pictures from London. I guess they don’t look very London-y besides having two pictures of a grey squirrel (we only have red ones in Germany) and a picture of Covent Garden. But I already have done all the tourist stuff and don’t bother with it anymore. To give you a story with the pics from the zoo: The little yellowish monkeys live in an area without cages. A man was going with his phone right up the the monkey’s nose (like phones have no zoom), the monkey grabbed his phone and then bit the man. It must have been very hurtful. Well done, little monkey! And if you’re asking about the lions: yes, they are doing what you think they are.

Now off to reading. I have so many books in my reading queue, I need to keep going a bit faster if I want to read all those books soon.

Home again. I am so glad. Travelling was exhausting today. At least, I had English breakfast I was longing for my whole vacation long, at the airport. I had one on Thursday, too, but it was trying to be hipster-y, which I didn’t want. I live in Cologne West, I breathe hipster food. So, today I had a fine greasy English breakfast with Heinz beans, a sausage, bacon (there was no veggi options), a hash brown and some toast. Not sourdough bread (English people have finally discovered real bread and you can get it at the supermarket, wow), but just plain white bread which we in Germany call Toast. Good, that I had plenty of food before my flight, because it was delayed. This happens. But what really annoys me is when nobody tells what is going on, even when boarding is supposed to start and nothing happens. Well, at some point I landed in Düsseldorf and then continued on my very German adventure to try to buy a train ticket online/via app. Three apps failed, luckly the train was late so I had time to buy a ticket on the ticket machine. Getting tickets for public transport is such a pain, especially when you cross The Real German Borders which we call Verkehrsverbünde. My single ticket for 30km between Düsseldorf and Cologne was12 Euros. In London I paid for an all day ticket 9 Euros. It’s crazy. Well, at least we have better health care here.

My vacation was very nice and I am happy I went. I liked the Zoo, Covent Garden and the musical. I have been so many times in London that I don’t feel the need to do any tourist stuff like seeing The Tower. But the city is still loud, big and nothing I will ever love, I think I even liked Glasgow better. But London has the musicals and museum (didn’t make it to the Science Museum, next time then). I got home a day earlier because my partner was having trouble with Panka. She is fine but she doesn’t have bandages anymore but still we need to keep her from licking the wound…. with home-made bandages that are hard to put on without a second person.
And I was really tired. Not from walking around, it wasn’t that much more than I sometimes do here, but from lack of sleep. My friend was really understanding and tried everything to make me comfy. But her appartment had a permanent buzz. I could’t find the source. I don’t know if it was an electronical device or something outside the building, but it was sooo annoying and my ear wax couldn’t prevent me from hearing it. My brain wasn’t able to get used to it, I heard it permanently and even with a sleeping pill it took a long time for me to fall asleep. And since I don’t sleep in – I always wake up at around 6 and can’t sleep any longer – I didn’t get enough sleep. I couldn’t bear the thought of having a third night without proper sleep and with this buzzing sound.

In summer, I plan to visit my friend again, so it was no big deal to leave earlier. She will then have another appartment, I hope that one won’t have annoying sounds. Or maybe I’ll get a cheap hotel room. She was very understanding with my sleeping issues but I know that people will get annoyed at some point and think that I am making a fuss and being a princess. (And being anxious about annoying others encourages my sleeping problems…)

Oh and some good news for the end: Pankas growth was no cancer. But since it was still growing over time, it was good that we removed it early. Now off to my bed, with no sounds, enough pillows, blankets and everything as it should be.