schwarz gefahren!

Walnuts... fresh ones below walnut trees... sweet! 

In the area around the kids' preschool, there are plenty of chestnut, walnut and oak trees. Every autumn we see many unfamiliar faces in the neighbourhood and these people have come to gather bags and bags of chestnuts and walnuts. 

Today, being the warmest day of this week, I thought I could join the crowd and pick some nuts, when I picked the kids up at the preschool. After 5 walnuts, my handphone started to ring. It was my Polish cleaning lady. In her few words of German, I realised that I had unwittingly locked her up in my apartment when I rushed out to pick up the kids. It would have been too tedious to explain to her that I had another set of key in one of the drawers and that she could still let herself out - my Polish Putzfrau doesn't understand much German, while I can't speak any Polish! So, in the simplest sentence I could tell her, "Bitte warten. Ich komme sofort zurueck!" (Please wait, I'll be right back.) 

Luckily for me, I managed to evoke some empathy with the kids: I told them Oma Halina was trapped in our house and we had to go back to rescue her immediately. It was the fastest walk we ever made to the bus-stop and within 15 minutes, we were back home to save Oma Halina. 

In our hurry to execute our rescue mission, I forgot to pay for my bus ride home. In Germany, it's a trust system. People usually get their tickets if necessary with the bus driver at boarding. The bus driver will not question if one already has a valid ticket. Once in a while, spot checks will be conducted. And passengers caught without a valid ticket will have to pay a fine of 40 Euro. So I schwarz gefahren i.e. travelling without a valid ticket, with absolute no intention on my part. Thank goodness there was no one conducting a spot check. Else, I would have ended up paying another 40 Euro, which is the amount I pay my cleaning lady every week! 

So our walnut picking was cut short... Hopefully, Kristin and I will return to pick some more walnuts/chestnuts tomorrow, while Bryan will be heading over to his best friend's place for a playdate after school.