Inspired by @Lucylin who was inspired by @erh.germany who also egged me on I too have decided to write down some snippets of my life in no particular order:
In 1979 I was tripping around Europe with another au-pair I met in Vienna. I'd arranged to meet her in Venice before the time of mobile phones so scant guarantee we would find each other. After spending a cheap night in a nunnery she found me and we got down to having fun with her new found friends. When it came time to go back to Vienna and our jobs, tired and a bit jaded by all the male attention we seemed to attract we discussed how to avoid getting 'chatted up' on our journey back.
I decided we were far too attractive and needed to make ourselves as undesirable as possible.
At that time the 'gypsy' look was all the rage and I had some clothes that would fit the occasion. So we dressed up like gypsies, even rubbed dirt on our faces and mussed up our hair to achieve the 'dragged through a bush' look.
Well it worked a treat, we found we had a whole compartment to ourselves the whole way back. Slept like babes in the wood.
This next snippet shocks even me now that I am grown up and have had kids of my own -
1979 again, I am au-pairing two Austrian kids 2 and 5. Living in an old Hoirigan/winery which is a one level building where all the rooms lead into each other in a row. My room was 2nd from the end between the two childrens' rooms (this becomes important later).
Being 19 and outgoing I'd already made friends and had a hot date one night but was told at the last minute I had to stay in as the parents also had a hot last minute date.
Being 19 and totally selfish and thoughtless I rebelled and decided I would go anyway, get the kids in bed asleep (they never woke up in the night) and sneak out. (I even built a fake me in the bed just in case they looked in when the parents got back.) Out I went and met whoever it was I don't even remember THAT bit anymore, and also got very drunk.
On arriving back in the middle of the night with 1ft of snow on the ground I realised I couldn't get back in through the front door without waking up the parents because of the dog. Yeh I forgot to mention the dog who is in the rooms before mine so even if I walked along the outside and entered through my own door he would bark like mad and wake them up.
So I walked around the block and found a house level with the end of our garden hopefully and snuck burglar-style through it. Scaled a ten foot wall into another garden to find more high fences and walls like a maze, drunk, bruised and cold and falling about in snow I somehow managed to eventually end up in the right garden. By now I was really feeling I was ridiculous.
It worked tho, from this direction the dog did not hear or spot me and I got into my room without waking a soul.
Everything was as it should be. No harm done. Only years later did I realise what a stupid and dangerous thing I had done which leads me to warn never to trust an au-pair with your kids.
Just 2 snippets for now as they are longer than the 'snippets' that inspired me and a bit like confession so I'll leave it at that for today.
Good thing they didn't look in the garden and see all the prints you made. They would have perhaps thought someone was trying to break in. I always check around windows and doors outside when it snows to look for any evidence of anything fishy.
I'm glad the gypsy thing worked for you. Here in the States many of the men don't seem to discerning on the woman. Back in the mid to early 80's I had an overnight job at a full service gas station (which are long gone now) and there was a truck stop up the road. And a motel across the street.
There was a pimp running three of the ugliest overweight women as prostitutes at that truck stop. I realized then that most men were never taught what the idea of having standards is.
Thanks for sharing. If we ever get thrown into concentration camps for not being entranced by the current propaganda I hope they will ship me where your is at. I'll follow you out on the concentration camp break out once we drink our prison wine to get you in the proper daredevil mood.
haha. We're gonna end up a snippet-chain here.
This reminds me of going to a conference in the UK. Was all highly academic, indeed, some of our recommendations were supposed to go to the ministry, who would no doubt ignore them - which they did!
Anyway, the organiser assured us that she'd found the cheapest possible accommodation for us - all looked nice and quiet... except she obviously hadn't scouted the place at night! I'm sure you can guess the rest.
;-)
HaHa! I can guess, yes.
It seems to be a widespread phenomenon how often in life one takes part in conferences and meetings in order to work out some recommendations or workshop results that are of no interest to anyone afterwards. LOL. Well, it's also clear that in working life you experience not necessarily being paid for doing refreshingly different work, but for being present.
I like to hear everyones snippets of that kind. Let's open up a reality bites channel.
Reminds me of the one interesting conversation at that meeting, with a guy who worked on the new maths curriculum. He seemed resigned to being paid to add his name to add legitimacy to a horrible document designed to confuse the majority. Mathematics at school really is quite a simple subject :-)
Best online textbook for anybody who wishes to learn maths properly = https://www.cimt.org.uk/
Poor man. Was there a glint of humour in his eyes when you were talking about the curriculum?
I don't remember my maths lessons well, but I do remember my maths teachers :)
Mathematics textbooks are lost on me, I missed the moment in time to develop an abstract mind towards maths.
Sounds like the main event was the night before, hahaha.
I thought the lady under a lamp post was a cliche, but there it was - "it" being the image, rather than "she'.
I recall some delegates being less than impressed - I had to laugh - the rooms were horribly chintzy, a clash of garish patterns to mask the stains. Luckily, I sleep with my eyes wide shut.
Leave the snippets alone, for the love of god !
(wait until I get my snippet head on....)
be careful with those scissorhands!
Too late..... It's started....(no scissors involved)
https://blurt.blog/blurtlife/@bittenapple/snippets-1-one-night-in-heaven-er-ipsos
HA I KNEW someone would think of the footprints and I deliberately left it out but I did think of it too and covered my tracks with a branch. Yeh have done a lot of crazy stuff especially when we were young and immortal eh. If we were in a concentration camp I'd be planning break-outs for sure. You can be on my team any day.
Isn't that the truth. 🙈🙉🙊
Having said that I never really lost that fearlessness much and the closer death creeps in me older years the less afraid I will get.
Really up to all the tricks! :D lol
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, you aesthetically challenged fascist ! lol
Fat is fat whichever way you look at it (or around it)....
It's also scientifically proven that male hormone levels change the way the female form is viewed, at any given moment.
...Well, maybe it's more anecdotal that scientific - but I'm sticking to my story...
Change
to something more credible like
and I might buy it.
'Trust the science' !
Good stories! Never trust an au-pair with your kids. You were the norm back then?
If a teenager who wants to fly the nest to anywhere that'll have them is the norm then yes. I didn't even speak German in fact I didnt even know WHAT language they spoke until I got there. green around the gills would be an understatement.
There you go, missus - see if you can add @bittenapple now, (without blowing up your computer)...
https://blurt.blog/blurtlife/@bittenapple/snippets-1-one-night-in-heaven-er-ipsos
Done thanx. The problems seem to be coming from blurt.blog. Having to use a DAPP now.
Thank you for these bites from your life, I enjoyed reading them and imagining each scene. Dressing and styling yourself ugly to be left alone, a clever idea! What fun you must have had while performing your masquerade on yourself! I wish I could have been there! Wonderful!
Your second story is spine tingling. I can very well understand the 19 year old who absolutely does not see why she should give up her fun. The crawling in the snow at night to get into the house! HaHa! I salute your will to not give up and get into your room unnoticed.
Nothing to fret about now, because since nothing happened, the kids were asleep and the parents didn't notice, it's the stuff of "best stories". The parents will have had some kind of coolness, because parents are probably aware that young babysitters have potential for mischief. Their kids seemed relaxed too, at least that night, and some part of you took this as an opportunity to sneak out. You can positively call it trust in all directions, which has been rewarded. Sure, it could have gone wrong, but it didn't. :)
I like to hear more.
...You've inspired a literary movement ! lol
https://blurt.blog/blurtlife/@bittenapple/snippets-1-one-night-in-heaven-er-ipsos
HaHa, I just went over to your site and started reading your reality bite!
I quite enjoyed being the voyeur of your Ipsos adventure.
Oh, I so would love to see this place all over with anecdotes from real life! Hold thumbs that this is going to move!
yeh it's a fun idea. I've never really been into the whole 'blogging' thing and never really posted personal stories before. I've told them orally enough but never written them down so it's a first for me. If you enjoyed them maybe I'll do some more, I have lots sitting in my memory box. Thanx for the idea and maybe we should use 'realitybites' as a hashtag? What say you?
I say "letz do it!" I will be your happy receiver of your so far only oral given stories.
I started already a second blog post the other day and finished it a couple of minutes ago.
"reality bites" it shall be :)
Looking forward also to have others join the "movement"
Yay it's ok if no-one joins in, I'm enjoying our little threesome so far hahahaah
You little devil , you! ...I approve.