with the heavy day-to-day thunderstorms, i kind of wonder why i didn’t try this earlier:

flashes of lightning in tirol

apart from its most popular meaning, chili is also the tunisian name for a dry wind (de) coming from the sahara desert.

salat is not just the german word for lettuce. it’s also the name of the daily prayers of muslims.

in greek mythology, ajax the great was the son of the king of salamis.

and …my two favorites: boobies are groups of birds. as are tits.
 

next time you use any of these words, please make sure you’re not completely misunderstood. ;-)

i had to see it to believe it: there’s a subway restaurant in tirol!

subway sandwiches, innsbruckerstr. 95, 6300 wörgl, austria

my tomtom gps (fully equipped with subway POI’s) didn’t know about it, and the official subway restaurant locator doesn’t even mention austria at all. i’ve never seen any ads out either.

i was in the area last week, and when i stepped in, i had a big smile on my face that reached from one ear to the other. it was like a flashback from the first time i ate there, somewhere in new zealand. back then, i was completely confused with all the choices i had to make.

mhhhh, subway!
i would post the photo of me eating the sandwich without unwrapping it, but i look like i’ve been constantly awake for …about 7 weeks. ;)

some time ago, i overheard somebody talk about how they are constantly stung by mosquitos, and she ended her story saying “i must have very sweet blood.”

at first i was amazed at the narrow field of thinking, but it got me thinking.

the process of evolution has trimmed all living things in a way that made them better adjusted to their respective environments, and more efficient in terms of survival and reproduction.
naturally, it’s a good idea to find sources of easily accessible, rich sources of energy such as carbohydrates - most notably sugars.

over millions of generations, sugar molecules have proven to be such a valuable source of energy that our tongues were equipped with specialized chemical receptors that could instantly tell us whether something contained sugars or not.
the pleasing sensation when something tastes sweet is simply a way of our tongue telling our consciousness that whatever we’re eating contains lots of energy, and that we should eat more of it while we can.

accordingly, a mosquito’s sensation¹ when it registers appealing signals² might be described as “sweet” in a way that it makes the mosquito want to get more of that sensation and will eventually lead it to a good source of food and energy - even though sugars don’t have a lot to do with that sensation.

i had to put the handbrake on today.
rather than “5 minutes to midnight”, it was “2 minutes past midnight”.
as much as i hate to not deliver what i’ve promised, i do feel relieved now.

memo to self: remember this for next time.

quite fitting, at the moment:

try to remind myself that i was happy here
before i knew that i could get on a plane and fly away
from the road where the cars never stop going through the night
to a life where i can watch the sunset
i don’t have time
i don’t have time

…i’m not even gone yet.

hahaha - we just spent 3 hours cutting back on our travel itinerary, and eventually realized that we actually had one whole week more than we thought.
now we need to find something to do ;-)