So I spent my birthday in the car, driving from Prague to Maribor. It wasn’t so bad; I had planned a little in advance, so I had 6 CD compilations of my favourite songs to listen to, which was fun - I got to sing along to most of them; I also got to go shopping in German for the first time in my life. I finally got to say, “Haben sie …?” That was fun. I successfully managed to buy a motorway sticker in German!
Maybe my best birthday gift was the sunset over the snowy Austrian hills. This picture does not do it justice:
I also had a little adventure on the back roads to Vienna - memo to self, never divert from the motorway! I made the mistake of following the signs, and ended up going at 30mph on snow-gripped roads. Spectacular, but not recommended on a 6hr car journey!
So, I’ve managed to make it to Maribor, and I’m settling into the New Times New Models conference on independent cultural centres. It’s a wonderful gathering of people, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out. We had fun last night, to start with! :)
I’m also very much looking forward to speaking in Lubljana on Monday and Tuesday nights. I hope I do the topics justice!
