Stormy weather
Hmm. Seeing as I don't have that many chances to communicate with my husband who has just been sent to California for eight months (until end of August), I really should go back to using this journal. 8 hours (-) time difference to Japan didn't make a problem, 9 hours to California (+) very much do. Funny, that.
Entries will be open, since he can't see or comment on friends-locked entries.
There's also a chance that I will be writing partly in German. I'll try to remember cutting those passages. The following is cut for length and details, though - not for German language.
Let's start with the weather - there's been quite a bit of wind lately.
Some stroke of genius (previously unheard of, I know) made me quit the office early around twenty past three p.m. yesterday. Normally I rarely leave before half past five or six. So, using one of the fast Intercity trains, I reached OS main station at around four, took a bus and was safely back home (warm, but not necessarily dry since it was raining wolves and tigers ;-)) ) around half past four.
Around that time, a part of the roof of our main station cracked under the storm and crashed down on the upper floor tracks. On the lower floor platforms, the electric wires were ripped apart and fell down. Must have been quite an … electrifying view down on the platforms. The whole station was blocked and secured by the police, no train allowed to leave or enter ALL NIGHT LONG.
About a quarter past five, Stadtwerke OS decided to call back all busses to the main bus station for passenger and driver security reasons, too.
At around half past five, a quarter to six the CEO of Deutsche Bahn decided to stop the entire rail travel all over Germany.
Good thing I was back before that happened. *wipes sweat drops*
Today, first thing I heard on the radio in the morning: Still no trains. Half an hour later a spokesman of Deutsche Bahn announced that at least the local trains were given permission to start traffic as good as they could.
Which, as I learnt, when I did arrive at the station meant: "We’ll let them leave if the connection is free from fallen trees and branches, AND if the electric lines work, AND if there is no oncoming traffic on the same track, because really, you don’t expect us to free two tracks for the same connection, do you?"
It also means that trains waiting in the station will be left on minimum energy in order to save batteries - only every other light working, no heating and ... no electric flushing for the toilets. Ain't it appetizing...
On the other hand, I still don't feel like I have the right to complain. After all, I didn't have to enjoy these comfortable conditions after having to rest in a train waiting for permission to ENTER the station all night before. And I only had to accept two and a half hours of connection time (which normally are 38 minutes) to reach my DESTINATION - as opposed to another station where I have to look for the next possible connection to wherever I REALLY want to go to.
I'm quite exited to go back, as you can imagine. On Deutsche Bahn homepage it seems that trains are running close to schedule by now - but then, the very same site claimed that there were trains leaving OS to MS up until half past ten p.m. - at which point the station had been complete closed for more than five hours already.
The weather right now?
Still stormy, wind at about 80 km per hours, but the rain did stop and the sky is blue. I hope it lasts a while.
Entries will be open, since he can't see or comment on friends-locked entries.
There's also a chance that I will be writing partly in German. I'll try to remember cutting those passages. The following is cut for length and details, though - not for German language.
Let's start with the weather - there's been quite a bit of wind lately.
Some stroke of genius (previously unheard of, I know) made me quit the office early around twenty past three p.m. yesterday. Normally I rarely leave before half past five or six. So, using one of the fast Intercity trains, I reached OS main station at around four, took a bus and was safely back home (warm, but not necessarily dry since it was raining wolves and tigers ;-)) ) around half past four.
Around that time, a part of the roof of our main station cracked under the storm and crashed down on the upper floor tracks. On the lower floor platforms, the electric wires were ripped apart and fell down. Must have been quite an … electrifying view down on the platforms. The whole station was blocked and secured by the police, no train allowed to leave or enter ALL NIGHT LONG.
About a quarter past five, Stadtwerke OS decided to call back all busses to the main bus station for passenger and driver security reasons, too.
At around half past five, a quarter to six the CEO of Deutsche Bahn decided to stop the entire rail travel all over Germany.
Good thing I was back before that happened. *wipes sweat drops*
Today, first thing I heard on the radio in the morning: Still no trains. Half an hour later a spokesman of Deutsche Bahn announced that at least the local trains were given permission to start traffic as good as they could.
Which, as I learnt, when I did arrive at the station meant: "We’ll let them leave if the connection is free from fallen trees and branches, AND if the electric lines work, AND if there is no oncoming traffic on the same track, because really, you don’t expect us to free two tracks for the same connection, do you?"
It also means that trains waiting in the station will be left on minimum energy in order to save batteries - only every other light working, no heating and ... no electric flushing for the toilets. Ain't it appetizing...
On the other hand, I still don't feel like I have the right to complain. After all, I didn't have to enjoy these comfortable conditions after having to rest in a train waiting for permission to ENTER the station all night before. And I only had to accept two and a half hours of connection time (which normally are 38 minutes) to reach my DESTINATION - as opposed to another station where I have to look for the next possible connection to wherever I REALLY want to go to.
I'm quite exited to go back, as you can imagine. On Deutsche Bahn homepage it seems that trains are running close to schedule by now - but then, the very same site claimed that there were trains leaving OS to MS up until half past ten p.m. - at which point the station had been complete closed for more than five hours already.
The weather right now?
Still stormy, wind at about 80 km per hours, but the rain did stop and the sky is blue. I hope it lasts a while.