Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Day 1.145: Post on coypus

My daily 'commute' takes me across this footbridge between my hotel and the site. The first time I did this journey (in 2002 I think) we saw a family of coypu (I suspect that is the correct plural) swimming here. For those who don't know, the coypu is a large (15 lbs) rodent - resembling a huge rat. Unlike its smaller cousins however, it is a herbivore. It was imported from South America for its fur (giant-rat-coat ladies?) but is now considered a pest.

Of course, six years ago I knew none of this but - ominously - after that first day, I never saw them here again.

I have been wondering how long I could keep functioning despite going to sleep on US time (albeit a bit early) and getting up on German time (albeit a bit late). The answer was that I made it through an afternoon of meetings today, but then fell asleep as soon as I got back to my hotel room and nearly missed the hotel restaurant opening hours. However, I made it down in time for the seasonal speciality - white asparagus - with some Schweineschnitzel of course.
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4 comments:

  1. I have a stuffed coypu - or at least it's now living with friends (well, not exactly living) because we didn't think US Customs would let us bring it into the States.

    I'm always tempted to spell it 'copyu' - but of course that would be a tpyo.

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  2. Perhaps with a nice sage and onion stuffing? (Sorry - couldn't resist!)

    A

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  3. A - sometimes when I read your comments I suspect that I have the same confused look on my face that Exile #2 often has when she reads my posts (especially the pop puns)...but I like to think you were making a reference to I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue and to the closing comments from Birmingham in December 1998 when Humph intoned:
    "...and so, as the red-red-robin of time goes bob-bob-bobbing under the snowplough of eternity, and the sage and onion stuffing mixture of fate is rammed up the eternally unfrozen turkey of damnation..."

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  4. Something like that!

    My thoughts do have a tendancy to go off on tangents sometimes, which coupled with an innate inability to keep my mouth shut can lead to confusion! Sorry.

    A

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