All good things must come to an end...

Finally and thankfully this weeks is closing. Remember me saying that I had a bad week? There’s an earlier post titles ‘Annoying things that annoy me’, which describes the week I’ve had. 

Anyway, did the week get any better since? That question could really be used as a joke, too. Of course it didn’t get any better.

Well, on the Friday, Rob came to visit from Worms, even though he was an hour and a bit late due to fallen trees on the line. The plan was to go to a football game in Bochum with a couple of others. And then later in the evening, go to Dortmund to meet more other people and have a night out!

So, originally, we were to take the train to Bochum as it’s only about 6 miles away. But for some reason, we had to spend an hour on the trains because of a train to Essen. So, in good ol’ Deutsche Bahn style, it bypasses a place to somewhere else, for a train to go back to that place. Pointless and confusing. Therefore, we decided it would be much quicker and easier by Autobahn.

However, recently the weather has gone really cold and a lot of snow has been falling. And my car does not like the cold at all. And due to this, it failed to start again (the first instance was in Bad Bodendorf, also described in an earlier post). Again, the normal attempts were made by jump-starting it, by rolling to down the street. But to no avail.

There is something that my car doesn’t have which these German cars do. Maybe a block heater or something. So at the moment, my car is parked a couple of street away and covered in snow. I have to do something about it, as it’s only getting colder. But no garage was open over the weekend. So, for the weekend, and for how much longer it takes, I’ll be without a car.

But at least I have a bike for some means of transport. It just would have to do. When it was time for Rob to leave, we walked to the station, and I took my bike so I could get back quicker. So, after he left, I rode to the Subway near the market square in town. And as I got on my bike to go home, the rear tyre decided it didn’t like where it was and separated itself from the wheel. And being cold, dark, windy, snowing and annoying, I did not bother to try and fix it. I didn’t have to right stuff to even attempt to put it back together.

By now, my only means of transport were my shoes, which only the day before I noticed there’s a hole in one of the soles. So, cursing everything over recent days, I managed to push my bike back home, which could just about move.

With only about four and a half hours to go before the next week, surely nothing bad could happen again? I hope not… but anything can and does happen…

However, there have been highlights this weekend. We didn’t manage to make it to the football, but we did manage to make it to Dortmund (after missing the first train due to a drunk in the station shop who wanted Jägermeister when there was none there, and a girl at the till who didn’t know where the ‘Pfand’ button was).

But we did have a really good night at Dortmund. After a few beverages at Dan’s flat with other assistants in the area, we went to a nightclub called Nightrooms, which was very much like the Oceana clubs back home… with a number of rooms and lounges which play different kinds of musique. We left there at about 5 in the morning, and then went to the station for the train.

At the station, we had a bit of time to spare and decided to get something at the bakeries, which were open. I discovered a ‘Bobby’. Which is basically a sausage roll covered in cheese. It was good!

We eventually got home at half past seven in the morning, after encounters with drunk people on the train, after talking to a couple of girls at the (warm) waiting room of Wänne-Eickel station, who have been there for the past three hours waiting for a train, and a taxi ride back to the house. I wasn’t sure how to say goodbye to the driver either. Was it ‘Gute Nacht’, ‘Guten Tag’ or ‘Guten Morgen’? At that time, it was morning, yet still dark… one of those weird times when greetings become neutral.

But, that’s about it for this week. I really do hope the next is more positive and proves much better than the one just gone.

I guess I’ll have to see!