Decisions for the Future

We sat together and discussed what we would do back in Europe. We talked for ages, we looked at websites and worked really hard on getting an idea of what the relative-unknown would be like. I am a bit of a magpie and as we sold off the contents of our home, I retained piles of Macintosh-related books, tools and bits and pieces. We had traded extensively on eBay and I had all I needed. I figured that starting off in Germany was going to be difficult with no language skills. But I thought, using a room in a flat as a workshop and a few ads in windows/papers and I could keep busy repairing the basic hardware and software issues that required minimal German skills. Of all the tea-chests that came to Europe, about half were filled with everything I needed to have a functional mac repair facility and the complete reference library to go with it. Done, I was sorted and ready for a new life in Germany.
We had thought of settling in Hamburg. As a reader of the Economist, I had followed and become a little concerned as I read of the deterioration of the German economy, especially as it looked like we were about to become part of it. Hamburg was, however, in the one state that had the lowest unemployment and highest growth. It would be the place to go and it was where our stuff went.

We left Australia separately, Claudia went to Thailand and I met her there ten days later. I got rid of the last few things, handed back keys, settled bills, dispatched our last boxes and sold dear, sweet, faithful old Helga. I was gutted. We had done 85000km together and she had been so reliable along the most treacherous of routes where we were away from human contact for days on end. Stinky, slow, smoky and noisy, Helga would always get us where we were going. No vehicle stirs emotion in me like an old Nissan MQ Patrol! You can shove your grand old Rolls, your old Holdens or Fords or fancy crap that you might have had on a poster when you were a kid. Helga was the mutt's nuts. I have never been so sad to see a car go, but that may also be because it was the end of so much more too.