Black and White

What a month! January 2022 was challenging in many ways.

I signed up not for one but two writing challenges, and I may refer to some of these posts throughout this one, which is the monthly Photo Blogging Challenge hosted by P.J. over at A'lil HooHaa's. As you can easily tell, the assignment is

Black and White

Which is ironic because I challenged a friend who is suffering from the winter blues throughout the gray and foggy month of January, to post a cheerful, colourful picture on Instagram every day. 

Anyway. Here are my five. 

Fasten your seatbelt and turn off all electronic devices. Well, except the one you're using to read this, of course ;-)

Christmas break included the first week of January, providing us with some extra quality time. Instead of rushing to practice directly after school, we drove leisurely before after-work traffic hit and arrived with enough time to spare. A teenager is always up for an extra snack. How about this friendly crêpe?

It's a good thing they had the opportunity to train, because already the season resumed with a game in Bellinzona, Ticino's capital. The town is famous for its three castles, Montebello, Sass Corbaro and Castelgrande (below).

They did well and won. I always like to witness how after the game they do the handshake thing, and never have I seen the losing team throw a fit or anything. 

#sportsmanlike

Unfortunately my car issues from last year seemed to recur. 

This time it was a simple headlight that caused some trouble. 

Depending on where you live you may think what's the big deal? 

In Switzerland, the land of rules and traffic tickets - read how I successfully got out of one - you better take it seriously and act fast!

A client of ours had his sports car impounded. On what grounds? It was too loud. Even though he specifically had his engine certified by the DMV, police flagged him down, and he ended up taking the bus home. 

Despite of being vaccinated twice (the booster was not recommended for kids under 16 at the time) Colin tested positive for Covid, and immediately hubby and I were forced to be working from home. 

Good thing we're in the IT field. There's always an extra screen and some adapters and cables available to set up a workstation with all the trimmings. More importantly my coworker help set up a VPN connection and the phone software via remote support.

Fortunately hubby and I tested negative, and we were allowed to go back to regular work soon after. 

Meanwhile our teenager had the time of his life! After suffering from a fever, headache and sore throat for two or three days, he was back to normal and beyond. He still had to serve a couple more days at home, giving him - and his friends who ended up quarantining as well - an opportunity to play online pretty much all day. They had the occasional class via Teams or Zoom, but I don't think they had to overwork.

And here we are, January is in the books. How was your month?

Don't forget to check out the other contributions over here.