So cold. So damp. So unbelievably windy.

The days howl and moan, the vent cover on the stove exhaust hiccups its discontent constantly, the garage doors rattle menacingly, and I feel I'm living on the set of a horror movie as the gray skies deepen and dusk falls.

It is a bad time of year not to have a car. I walked  to the pharmacy in the rain to pick up meds and then discovered I was three euros short of being able to pay for them. So I had to walk back home, holding onto my hood with one hand, bracing myself. I was nearly stopped in my tracks by the force of the wind gusts.

I raided my son's wallet and then walked all the way back to the pharmacy, looking forward to the day I have my own freakin money, can write checks, and not worry about converting dollars to euros.

It will be so nice to have a car again when I move to America. To not have to worry about the weather when I need to run errands.  To be able to go to the grocery store ANYTIME and get bread, milk, eggs, whatever. With two pre-teens in the house, I always need groceries, and I hate, hate, hate the hassles of using public transit to get them, not to mention the pain of how much everything costs here, especially with the crappy exchange rate.

Yeah, I'm crabby, and I'm bored, and I've had enough of living an empty life in an empty house. But I bet you already noticed that. 

January 31, 2008