One more great lost this year. Of course, his soccer playing was incomparable, but I will miss most his smile, his humanity, and his humanitarian efforts. I’ll never forget that the day David Beckham arrived in Los Angeles with great fanfare, Pele was playing in a match to benefit UNICEF. The article in the NYT reminded me of the beauty of Rob Hughes’s (essentially philosophical) writing about soccer and introduced me to that side of Pelé’s greatness.
Archive | December, 2022
How refreshing
10 DecI have just bought replacements for my hiking boots, which served long and well until the bottoms dropped off. (We could get up to 5 cms of snow tomorrow so this seemed like a good moment.)
What was refreshing about this experience? When I asked if they had already been waterproofed, I was told yes, they were ready to go so I didn’t need to buy the waterproofing spray I had in my hand. Even in Vienna, many businesses have succumbed to what I call the McDonald’s mentality. You know, if you only order a hamburger, they ask if you want fries with it; and if you order the hamburger with fries, they ask if you want an apple pie with it. In German, you could call it the “Dazu-Mentalität” because the phrase is “Pommes dazu?” or “Apfeltascherl dazu?”
I was really grateful that Jack Wolfskin, the shop where I bought my boots, has not succumbed.
ecbinvienna 