The day after the weekend

I still have one more day to prepare my speech for the Jehovah's witnesses ladies.

But what I wanted to write about today is still related to religion.

Long story short - I came to be owner of a very large icon which sadly has no place in my home. I thought of going to the church and giving it away to someone who might appreciate it better. Which I did. I got sidetracked (as I usually do) and instead of giving it to an older and rather poorer lady, the icon ended up in the hands of a horrendous lady whose daughter is both a dentist and a princess (I kid you not, I have her business card, which reads First Name - PRINZESSIN - Last Name, the last name having a posh sound about it), and she wanted to thank me by getting me to be  her dentist daughter's client. I managed to dodge that one quite swiftly (that is only because I was completely unaware of her intention), but when she asked for my phone number, I could find no reason to refuse her. So I gave it to her.

As you may suspect, the hag called me. She interrogated me for some ten minutes.

Here I must explain something to you: I am getting more and more like my grannie every day. If you ask my grandmother a question, she feels compelled to provide you with practically every little detail she can think of related to the subject matter. For example, the phone rings and someone asks to talk to my dad. Instead of saying simply 'He is not at home', my gran starts giving full details about his daily routine, his job, his office, the car he drives and when he actually left that morning, blah, blah. You get the picture. I used to get pissed when she would give me away on certain occasions, but mostly I was very amused by this habit of hers. Now, I find myself being more and more like her! Count on me to share most unusal and often inappropriate details, the difference between me and gran being only that I have to be asked for such details, I (for the moment) do not offer them unprompted for.

So, coming back to the hag. She first mistook me for my mother, because I only said 'Alo?' - it is what is most often said in Romania and I consider it quite appropriate to continue to do so. Obviously, since I said 'alo', I had to be my mother. Then she proceeded to ask me about the icon, not without first telling me the current whereabouts of said icon, if you must know it is located in the 'children's room', she had three grandsons and they come sometimes and sleep over and there it where the icon hangs now. So, what she wanted to know was a) when it was given the holy rite by the priest (says so on the back); b) where (still on the back, really, just take a look); c) how long have I had it for (sorry, WHA'??).

Then she wanted to know (stream of conscience following) how long have we been here in Germany, have we been to the church before, 'cause the priest there does not know us, she asked him if he gave the holy rites to the icon, he said no (I wonder if it was before asking him if he knew us...), he gave such rites to some icons before, but those were sold for the benefit of an orphans' shelter in Romania, don't we go to church (you might think we met at the pub), that was her first time she went to the church after two months spent back in Romania (I SO wanted to know that, it was vital for my well being), where did we come from, do I have a job, why not, what is my profession, don't I want to get a job (she was not interested in offering me tips to get a job, no, she was just curious to know if I like being a lousy Hausfrau or if I intend to finally work for a living)... And THIS is where I finally caught a brake and said good bye.

Typical old nosey parker behaviour!

I resisted bravely to giving away to many details and I am very impressed by myself. It was also helpful to have some ten little bells ringing viciously in my head at each of her questions and I think it has something to do with her, she was the one who got the bells ringing, she is the busybody pushing all buttons at once.

But this got me thinking - why, oh, why do older ladies have such an effect on me? I feel like a 6 year old all over again! They inspire me the same disgruntled respect and need to tell the truth when asked, but only when I think it is what they want to hear. Sheesh...

Aaanywho. The shops started hanging Christmas decorations two weeks ago. We had the first snow last week. I guess next week it's time for ol' Christmas radio to start playing again. But the iTunes are conspiring against it. Have no fear, I will find a way.

And for the musical end, I leave you with a newly discovered band HURT and their heartfelt 'World Ain't Right'.