General Discussion

Yesterday, i had to run down to Zürich, so I caught the first plane down there. For that I had to get at 4:00 AM. Since I love a rare kind of apple juice made there, I bought 6 liters of it. That meant I had to take the train back up here to Germany due to all the liquid. I did, and of course it was late, and I had to wait for the next commuter train up to the airport to retrieve my car. My adrenaline level was temporarily brought up by some crazy guy in a Mercedes racing through the parking garage at 100 KpH (60 MPH) who nearly smashed right into me. I got home at 10:30 PM.

I used to maintain this kind of schedule for 21 days in a row thirty years ago. Now I find that three hardship schedules a week knock me out. I must be getting old. Or something.

But maybe I’m just getting soft. My Swiss colleague drove up from Geneva to meet me yesterday. It used to be a three hour drive, but due to increasing traffic (that’s what you get for joining Schengen), it now takes four or more each way, and he is 78, been with us since he was 37, so 41 years now. This is my fiftieth year with my outfit! We were twelve twenty-somethings when I joined. Now we’re nine hundred people worldwide, and the top guy now is the same one who recruited me in 1975! The thought takes some getting used to.