 Poster: A snowHead
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Picture it if you will. I am on my way to Kitzbuhel. My flight into Munich aiport is on time and I am able to make an earlier train than I had expected but with a rather tight connection in Munich. I arrive on the platform for this connection just in time to see people finishing boarding. I hesitate a moment to check the indicator board to make sure this is my train (bad move hindsight tells me), put my bag down in order to unsling my skis from my shoulder, then throw the skis through the door. As I bend down to pick up my bag, the doors close . I try to pull the door open again but the train starts moving. Definitely an oh poo-poo moment. [I didn't write poo-poo but my version must be too rude]. You know that feeling in deep snow when your skis start taking diverging tracks of their own choice instead of going in the direction you want them to? This time though it is a railway track they were taking. So there I am, standing on the platform watching this train accelerating away in a roughly southerly direction - with my skis aboard. Excuse me, you’re not laughing at me are you? That’s not kind.
Well, it was just a bit embarrassing to explain this to the helpful young woman of Deutsche Bahn I found, but with good German efficiency she phoned ahead, arranged for my skis to be taken off at Rosenheim and printed out a new set of timings for me to make my connections. I think she was fighting hard all the time not to giggle. As I left her office, I’m sure she lost her Germanic control. If it wasn’t a giggle I heard, she had bad hiccoughs.
At Rosenheim, I approached a lady in the ticket office who did not speak English but as soon as I said "My skis ......", she smiled, said “Ah ja, ja” and picked up her phone. I suspect every member of the station staff knew by this time of this daft Scottischer who had sent his skis on in advance. Ideed it was probably the topic of group e-mails circulating round the entire German rail network.
In a few moments this large, hearty fellow appeared with a smile, a bruising handshake and my skis. He looked as if he couldn’t wait to be out of his Deutsche Bahn uniform at the end of his shift and get straight down to the pub in his lederhosen to slap his thighs and bang his stein on the table in time with some cheery Bavarian drinking song (and to relate with much hearty laughter the tale of the daft Scottischer). . But he couldn’t have been friendlier and parted with good wishes for my skiing and another handshake. That was yesterday: today I have managed to separate my fingers but plan not to be separated from my skis so easily in the future. 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| ccl wrote: |
| Excuse me, you’re not laughing at me are you? |
Sorry, I was 
Glad they were returned to you.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Great, ccl, I'll try to hide my accent next time I'm passing through Rosenheim. The boss of the Deutsche Bahn has just been given the heave but I presume that wasn't related to your incident (actually, the service seems to have been good).
Hope you enjoy Kitzbühel. Great weather today!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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ccl, full marks to the Deutsche Bahn staff 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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ccl,
That's on a par with the first line of this post
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