Wow.
Here’s a story to remind you all to do one simple thing that will make your life MUCH happier.
LIVE IN THE MOMENT!
Here I am, writing away as I travel back on the train from Vienna to Prague.
I’m in one of those classy European cars, by myself. You know the kind – the ones you always see in the movies, but never actually experience in North America. With the long hallway…
And the six seat compartments…
Anyway, like I said, I’m by myself. And I like it that way.
Quiet, so I can write.
No distractions.
And, when we stop at a station, a bunch of loud people get on. I can’t see them, but I can hear them.
And then – SHIT!
They come into my oasis of silence. My compartment. My solitude.
They ask if they can stay here, and I say, “Sure.”
But I’m really thinking, “Why don’t you fuck off and go bug someone else!”
They are loud. They are half in the bag. And they are speaking loudly.
In Czech. Which I don’t understand.
Grrrr.
So I move all of my crap, which is (of course) spread all over the car in a deliberately territorial sentiment. And I am… to put it mildly… annoyed.
I try to go back to writing. I think., “Okay. I can do this. It’s a lesson in working while being distracted.”
And then I realize that they are trying to talk to me.
But they don’t know what language I speak.
Me: “I don’t speak Czech. Only English”
And this begins a conversation that has me, in about 3 minutes, go from Mr. Grumpy to Mr. Happy.
I wish I was more enlightened and didn’t have to tell you that my newly acquired Mr. Happy persona was partially created by the answer to my first question:
Me: So… you’re heading into Prague to party for tonight?
Blonde Czech Dude: No. Ve go only to Brno.
This was my turning point… cause I’m thinking, “Brno! That’s like ½ hour from here! AWESOME! I’ll actually be able to get back to writing in no time!!!”
And, thankfully, I loosen up and pull the pickle out of my ass.
Because they start to tell me the story of where they’ve been all day.
They’ve spent the day at a number of small Czech wineries. They were out for a special weekend festival, in which the wineries open their basements to the locals.
Now, I didn’t quite understand exactly how it all works, but the gist of it is this: about a week after wine has been started (in the process from squished grape to actual wine), it becomes very gassy and very sweet. After this point, the wine will go deeper into the fermentation process, and become undrinkable – until it’s ready a long time later.
But at this perfect time, one week after the wine starts, it’s quite tasty and good – gassy and sweet, like I said. And this point only lasts for about two days. Because even if you pull the wine out of the fermenting process, it will continue to ferment on its own.
So… one weekend per yearly harvest, the wine is fully, fizzily drinkable.
And this weekend is that weekend.
A weekend of open winery basements and festive drinking. Where Czech people go and taste many a gassy, sweet wine.
Now, these four folks had many bottles FULL of this gassy, sweet wine that they were bringing home to Brno. MANY different kinds.
Which they insisted that I try.
Every variety they had.
If you look closely at the photo above, you will see 3 mostly consumed bottles of gassy wine. That was about half of their many bottles.
In addition, they also had some very fresh apricot schnapps…
Which was quite tasty!
Needless to say, my newfound Brno friends were a ton of fun!
I returned the favour of the wine by telling them my story of the Viennese Opera. They were suitably impressed by my 3.5 Euro extravaganza.
And, when we pulled into Brno about 20 minutes later, I was quite sad to see them go.
An unexpected treat.
And now, I’m a little drunk.
And too busy to write, because I’m smelling the roses.
My advice? Maybe you should do the same!
Good night!
M