night

 An evening walk through the town, people after work, all the street cafés busy. They have strange new electric heaters in the street cafés, since the gas heaters were forbidden. All the customers faces turn a deep ruby red, it is really rather strange.

The aim is to get to Lidl in the Stetthaimerstrasse in time to buy some cat food and then to see what kind of a package is waiting there in the package depot. Why the post people chose that depot and not another one that is closer, is unclear.

On the way, a traffic light that quite clearly favours cars and not pedestrians. It seems as if the pedestrian light turns green only every second cycle. Standing still in the dark dilates time too, it seems to take an age before the lights change. Finally, they do, and it is possible to cross half the junction. Then one has to wait again until the lights change to cross the street. It is a slightly complex junction with two main roads meeting in a tee shape. Still, it feels very much as if pedestrians are discriminated by the system.

Enter the supermarket and buy cat food and apples. The woman at the till is impatient, she is probably tired. It is seven in the evening, she has probably been working all day. And so many people are buying large amounts, filling their trollies with all kinds of things.

With a cloth bag full of tins of cat food and a net bag of apples walk around the corner to the package depot. This is a large yellow structure with many small doors. Show the collection docket to the scanner, type the name onto the monitor, and use the finger to sign on the monitor. With a click a door opens and the package is there for collection. The package contains a modem, a device neither ordered nor required, which is supposed to replace the perfectly good device at home. The son had explained that these new devices give the telecommunications firm more control over their clients. The whole walk turns out to have been a waste of time.

But it was nice to see the town at night.