I have to write somone. There's a law I need repealed.
Namely Murphy's law.
Wednesday morning, I got up at 4:30 so I would be ready to run out of the house at 5:20 to get the 5:34 train down to Düsseldorf. At 5:32, they announce the train is canceled.
I grab my stuff and run to the taxi stand. NO taxis. At 5:30 in the morning, there are ALWAYS taxis. Except Wednesday. I call the dispatch comp0any. Yes, ell their taxis are taking passengers to the Düsseldorf train station because the 5:34 was canceled. Well, crap.
"Wait!" she says, "I got one that's almost back. I'll send him to the train station right now!" Sure enough, a taxi soon races up, but now it is 5:47, and my train leaves Düsseldorf at 6:10, and it's a 25 minute drive down there. I tell the guy I need to be at the door of the station in 17 minutes. "I've never done THAT," he says. "But I'm willing to try!" Wham, we zap down to the Autobahn, and he drives like a maniac, and gets me there in EXACTLY 17 minutes. I make the 6:10, which takes me as far as Frankfurt airport. Underway, it has technical difficulties, and gets in 20 minutes late. But wait! The train I was supposed to connect with to get to Karlsruhe is half an hour late! So I make that. In Karlsruhe, the train to Paris is on time, zaps along at 300 KPH. I get to Paris right on time, and they forgot to send the cops to check people coming in, so no waiting.
I get my stuff done in Paris, even had time for tea (pas de citron, désolé), and run back to the station. The train back to Karlsruhe in Germany is, again, right on time (vive la France!)--then things fell apart again. The train from Karlsruhe up to Köln (Cologne) spurted and stopped, and they told us that anyone wanting to get to Düsseödorf should get off in Siegburg/Bonn and get a train in 20 minutes that was stopping in Düsseldorf. We did, and then THAT train stopped and sputtered, and we got into Düsseldorf half an hour late. I got the last commuter train to my town at half past midnight, and was home by 1 AM.
But that's not all. I have to get up again in two and a half hours to run over to Belgium for the day. The only reason I'm not in bed already is because I'm so f***ing mad at the German railway system, I need fifteen minutes to cool down. I think I'm there. Get a glass of cold water, brush teeth, sleep for two and a half hours, and it's off to Sprout City for the day.
Don't try this at home, boys and girls. It's not recommended. If anyone out there thinks this James Bond schedule is "exciting," I have a condo on the top floor of the Trump Atlantic City Casino to sell ya.
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Sorry to hear. 
On the up side, you are surrounded by Belgian chocolate. 
(Almost impossible to get here.) 
