I do not miss at all in Oz. One of them: the Viennese weather.

The vacation has started reasonably well; Cornelia is very happy with me and my attention and I've already finished the one official task I had to get done: renewing my passport.

Now that went really quick; a mere half-hour effort with the walk over to the office. I even managed to convince the bureaucrat in charce not to destroy my Oz visa in the old passport and got the new one immediately. My respects: certaing bureaucratic things have improved quite a bit.

Getting the unaccompanied baggage was more like my expectations: Kafka-eske. It cost EU21 (in "turnover charges") to get the bag out of the clutches of the greedy customs people, and half a dead tree was spent on the stack of paper one had to carry between three different offices at the airport and back...

And now it rains. Or rather, it pours. Today Conny got me to go to the movies with her ("Herbie Fully Loaded" - don't ask), and on the way back we had to walk 2 minutes worth between the underground station and my parents' place. We were absolutely drenched...

Thus there hasn't been any flying so far; but there is still some hope for the week in the mountains.