I’ve heard about it but on sunday I realized what it really means: the new subway trains are air conditioned! Even the new busses circling the inner city are air conditioned. There will be a time when the breathtaking stench and the intensive odour of travelling companions in public transport will be nothing but a faint memory.
Now the raise in prices for tickets is okay with me. Especially with a long, hot summer waiting on us.
My mother visited us on saturday, the day before mother’s day, and we went to a restaurant for dinner. It was almost completely empty. We figured that because of mother’s day the next day, everybody was staying home - due to the common rationale going out for dinner two days in a row is probably luxury. The owner of the restaurant supported our reasoning, saying that he was completely booked out the next day.
Then my mother told us why she doesn’t like mother’s day. When I was about ten years old she wanted mother’s day to be her special celebration, ie. going out to eat with her three kids and her husband. My father asked didn’t want to because on mother’s day all the restaurants are overcrowded and it is a rather awful experience. But my mother insisted.
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On Sunday it is Mother’s Day once again.
Here are some statistics published today:
90 % of Austrians are positive towards mother’s day, only 10 % think it is an annoying duty
For 2 out of 3 Austrians the day is something special. 50 % of all Austrians do something special on the day, like visiting relatives.
That means for 1 out of 3 Austrians the is just as regular as any given sunday. Interestingly, more women tend to think this way than men.
3 out of 4 Austrians nevertheless think that mother’s day is a profit-inducer for florists and gastronomy. (70 % of those still buy presents for their mothers.)
If you think that is a little bi-polar, then get this: 5 % of all Austrians see mother’s day as a good honorary day for mothers but feel it is an annoying duty at the same time.
On Tuesday I accidentally stepped into a subway car filled with soccer fans, mostly Rapid, on the travel to the derby against Austria. Soccer fans, amassed, always fill the air with violence, power struggles, obscenity and a cocktail of testosterone, beer and cheap after shave.
Aside from the elderly couple with “Wir sind Rapid”-shirts (we are rapid) and the odd underage fan it was mostly young men with tatoos, very short hair and loud voices. This is what I learned from them:
[***beware: obscene language***]
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How fitting.
(Location: Triester Straße)
Shop window of a bakery on Mariahilferstraße.
Who knows where this picture is taken?
A hint… it’s on a hill.
Picture taken in the office of radio station FM4.
(Translation: Sticker for a Eating Disorders hotline)
Book store, shop window installation.
(Location: Wienzeile, 1st district.)
To be more precise: I get the right wing blah blah message, but I don’t get the typo-thingy…
Why [ ] ?
