Friday, July 20

Good News, Bad News

If someone comes to you and tells you he he has good news and bad news for you, which one would you like to hear first? Me, I would like to hear the bad news first, get it over with and head on to the good news which could hopefully ease the damage of that bad news that just came my way. So here goes the bad news -

Vlado's car was parked along the main street of our neighborhood when a car hit it some time probably in the evening. It damaged the side mirror totally and left a lot of scratch on the left side of the car. Here you can see the proof from this picture. I was just so glad that this happened during the weekend, despite the hectic and stress it gave us on a nice sunny Saturday. I wouldn't know how to deal with all the bureaucratic blah blahs that Vlado did right after discovering the whole thing. So now you might be wondering what the good news is about finding your car like this? Well someone saw the whole thing and left a kind note to us - he wrote down the car plate number and left a note in the car with his contact details. Isn't that really nice? I used to stereotyped some germans (sorry for my german friends and readers, I know you understand me on this - i hope :) ) that they are so good at scolding and reprimanding people anywhere. I know someone who reprimands the drunken man in the bus, or some friends of us who got notice from the mayor (thanks to the neighbors!!!) that their grass is starting to grow outside their fence and that their hedges are starting to grow longer than that allowed length. We were once reprimanded not to park in a public area because the woman living there can't sweep that road when our car is parked. One time a man scolded me, because I was walking on the wrong side of that sidewalk( I asked my colleagues about which way is the proper way to walk on the sidewalk and they all thought I was crazy to come up with such ideas!!). Of course this proves not all locals here think like this crazy man! So now after getting this note and realizing the positive side to all those nosy and complaining people , I won't be anymore irritated the next time I see our neighbor in front looking through his binoculars directly into our house - who knows he might just catch a burglar in action here!

7 comments:

Gattina said...

Sorry I am laughing (and very loud)about your description of my compatriotes ! abd sorry for your car that happens often and then people drive away because they don't want to pay for it of course. But you are sooo right it also gets on my nerves when I am in Germany and everybody keeps an eye on things which really are none of their business. Especially the front gardens and the side way cleaning ! These old housewives have nothing else to do then keeping an eye on their neighbors !
Next time somebody askes you why you are walking on the wrong side just tell him there are no cars on the sidewalk and that he is on the wrong side ! But these people are so narrow minded they wouldn't understand a joke. Fortunately they are not all this way ! In Belgium you grass can grow until waistline in you front garden and nobody bothers about that, me included !
BTW nobody (or very few) people are hanging flags on their window here, now with the European spirit coming up flags are only used for football games, not in windows anymore. And the Belgium flag usually has always the European hanging besides.

Anonymous said...

huhuhu gud news and bad news...huuhuhu!!! guess you're right, better hear the bad news first before the good one! huhuhu!!!! am soooh sad!!!!! i don't how to get over this...... am just telling myself..."this too shall pass"!

Anonymous said...

Hi Gattina, I'm glad you found that post hilarious and understood what I'm talking about .. well i have more hilarious examples but I think I should make a separate post about that next time so we can have a good laugh about it.
Hi Jenny, why so sad? Yup you're right about it.. that too shall pass. you just need time and don't be too hard on yourself. Thanks for the visit.

Anonymous said...

u're right...well, the reason behind my 'huhuhu' thing is that.... i found out that one of my friend here in the office has resigned already... his last working day was last friday...and am too apathetic coz he was like giving me a hint that it's gonna be his last day... huhuhu... di ko nabigay yun remembrance ko na mini-buddha... nwei, i promised myself not to get too affected if someone close to me is leaving...pero malungkot parin diba... but the 'huhuhu' thing lasted only for 8 hours... (hahaha) after office hours, naibsan na ang lungkot ko.... napalitan na kasi ng pagod at antok kya nakatulog agad ako.

haaay... dami ko na nakwento... nwei, thanks sobra for listening to me! goodluck on your travel, u're definitely right, we only live once... Godbless always!

Anonymous said...

good thing there was a good samaritan! :)
minsan kasi hahayaan nalang ng iba yan kasi di naman sa kanila, diba? well, at least dito sa Pinas usually ganyan nangyayari. LOL

Anonymous said...

Aw, that hit-and-runner sucks! But wait till s/he hears from you hahaha. Thanks to the nosy neighbor.
You were reprimanded for walking on the wrong side of the street??
Alam mo ba, yung boss ko dating aleman (tagalog para di nila maintindihan), nagbabasa ng computer ng iba pag wala dun yung may-ari! As in pinakikialaman yung emails, chinicheck yung pages na binobrowse! haha. From that time I saw him do that, I created a password sa laptop ko haha

Anonymous said...

as of this moment there's still no improvement about our case. vlado had the side mirror replaced but the authorities haven't given us any report yet - they're probably having their vacation somewhere. *sigh* so we have to wait till summer vacation is over -
chats... bwahahaha.. i can imagine your boss doing his thing there. naku, you should see my neighbor when he checks on us (i think i should make a picture of him next time and post it here) yup, unbelievable but true i got reprimanded on that sidwalk thing-so now to be on the safe side, i just follow the right of way rule on the sidewalk too, not just on the street :)