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This section is devoted to our 2001 holiday in Austria. We had two bases. During the first week we were at Obergurgl. This is in the western Tyrol, at the head of the Oetz Valley (which runs southwards from the Inn valley up to the Italian border. Its great claim to fame is that it is the highest parish in Europe. Obergurgl itself is just over 1900m above sea level. Then we went on to Mayrhofen in the Ziller valley. This is somewhat eastwards although again the valley runs southwards from the Inn to the Italian border. Mayrhofen is somewhat lower (c650m) but its interest comes from the fact that it is the point at which 3 other valleys join the Ziller and this means that there are lots of walking options.
Philosophies of Life Three quotes heard from holiday company reps which seemed to be worth a wider audience: 1. "If you are going to miss, miss with style." This was actually said about a stupid game where you try to hit a nail into a block of wood with the wrong end of a claw hammer. However it is capable of wider application 2. "Am I suffering from TMI" Too much initiative!! 3. "The thing about walking uphill is to get into that rhythm where you feel invincible" Yeh!! My Theory on Mayrhofen It's a lovely place but there are an incredible number of women with incredibly bad haircuts (and a few men). Think of that awful perm that Kevin Keegan had during the 70s. Then think of it as being constructed of ice cream straight out of the freezer. Imagine how it would change as it gradually melted; well these haircuts were about half way through the melting process. No hairdresser could possible produce this. Someone would come in and rip up all his/her certificates displayed on the wall. Did the women chose them. They could clearly not see them properly. The only explanation I came up with was that these are alien life forms. They think that they are safely camoflaged but clearly their intelligence gathering has gone awry; only the infected person thinks this looks like a normal haircut. On a related alien theme, I am developing a theory that teenagers are being assimilated into the Borg collective. The instrumental of assimilation is the mobile phone which is establishing the connectivity for the collective. |
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