It's been one drama after another at work since I got back to Germany and I'm caught in the middle of all of them. On the one hand is a boss who can be extremely nasty to the staff and on the other, said staff who are left wondering what the heck they did to deserve her scorn. Then there's me, who's started to refer to herself as Switzerland. I'll say one thing for this experience, it's taught me to be a diplomat and I didn't think that was possible. While in my free time I still say whatever thing comes into my head, at work I need to be delicacy itself and walk a fine line between keeping both employer and staff happy. Never a dull moment here although I wish there was.

The weather is appalling here. It's hard to believe it's almost summer when it's only about 15 degrees, windy, wet and miserable. It's not just Germany though, it's all over northern Europe. I miss sunny, warm Perth and Paris. Never thought I'd put those two cities in the same sentence. I'm obsessively checking the weather forecast everyday in the hopes it won't say 'rain'. How I've changed. I used to love this kind of weather but 11 months of it have turned me right off. I need some warmth in my bones!!!!! At least I can look forward to Friday which is 'warm water day' at the pool. I'm hoping the pool is open on Thursday too as we have a public holiday. We've had a lot of those recently all due to some religious day or other. I think that's the only positive thing I can say about religion, you get public holidays. This is the last one for awhile though. Business as usual next week.

I have a question for US readers. Why is it people refer to themselves as African American, Italian American etc? Why not just American? Surely if you´re born in America then you are American. We don´t use such terms in Australia, to my knowledge, at best people will say ´my family came from/comes from...´ I think the Brits are now getting into the British Asian / Black / two headed green thing from outer space stuff. Shame really. Either you´re from the country you´re born in or you´re not.

I´m still trying to get the Germans to relax their attitude to the pool. In the region where I live, the locals are ´famous´for their unthinking obedience to every rule imaginable. And then they seem to have added a few of their own. Here´s an example. There seems to be an unwritten rule amongst the swimmers that they must sit and chat until it´s quarter to the hour. Then they all get up, walk to the stairs which go up to the cash desk, line up at the foot of the stairs and stay there until it´s 2 minutes to the hour when they climb up. Not a second before do they do this. I, of course, ignore this. I simply walk in, say ´good moaning´ (fans of Állo Allo will understand this), then go up the stairs to a chorus of ´nein´. Today a new person came to the pool, someone who didn´t know the `rule`. She walked straight up to the cash desk and waited. I allowed the 2 people who were at the pool before me to go ahead of me in the queue (I can be polite if I want to be). The cashier opened her little window and there was a tense discussion between the newcomer and the old hand about who should put their money in first. The oldie insisted she had precedence because she was at the pool first, the newbie insisted it didn´t really matter but because she had waited at the cash desk while the older one sat downstairs, she should pay first. The oldie really complained about this to anyone who would listen. I just bit my lip trying not to laugh. What the newbie didn´t know was, before her arrival, the two oldies had been complaining about the youth of today. The usual gripes, no respect, no aptitute for learning, never amount to anything. Aristotle said the same things about the youth of his day.

Another interesting new character arrived today. Hands up who´s seen the Pam Anderson Tommy Lee tape? I´ve only seen the part where he uses his manhood to blow the horn on the boat. There was a guy today who was hung like Tommy Lee. And he was wearing Speedos. AND he emerged from the cold water pool - definitely no shrinkage factor, or if that was shrinkage, god knows what it would look like normally. Everyone, men and women, had their mouths hanging open. He was impressive, so say the least. Hope he comes again next week.  

One thing I noticed while I was in Paris was the lack of the famous Parisian elegance. They are supposed to be the best dressed people in the world but I guess they were all on holiday! The people I saw were dressed just like you and me. I think the Parisians could learn a lot from the Milanese about how to dress. Even the police there are immaculate. Milan could be the only place in the world where the female officers wear high heels. Did you know their uniforms were designed by Armani? At least that´s what I was told. But back to Paris.

Gypsies are as prevalent in Paris as just about any other European city. Their modus operandi in France is simply to haunt the railway stations either asking people for money or they sit underneath the ticket machines holding up a cup until moved on by the police. At least we´re spared the singing a la Italy. Every train seems to have at least one gypsy complete with accordian moving up and down the carriages. In Kiev it was slightly different. They sent 4 and 5 year olds onto the trains. The kids were trained to drop to their knees, cross themselves, then repeat their spiel about being hungry, homeless etc before asking for money.

African women. These women are proud of their curves and they dress to show them off. They´re not slender women either. Their men really appreciate the fact these women have flesh on their bones.

Baby oil. Couldn´t find it at all anywhere. I use it to take off make-up but bought a fabulous French product instead. I thought about taking it to Italy with me next month but then remembered it´s a liquid and I can´t be bothered dealing with the security issues that would entail. Luckily Italy has baby oil. I wonder what the French put on their babies bums?

I can´t say I tried any French food but I did have McDonald´s. I firmly believe you should try this in whatever country you´re in because it tastes differently everywhere you go. I had some Chinese which was OK but nothing special.

The Metro. Hot, crowded, confusing but it was very cool to be able to open the door before the train stopped. That would NEVER happen in Germany.

It was great watching people cross the street whenever they felt like it and not just when the little man was green. Ah, free thinking, the Germans should try it, they might like it.