During the holiday season, a good friend of mine was burning a Laura Mercier sugar cookie scented candle in her home. We both thought that it just smelled like home. Warm and buttery and sugary. Maybe even a little bit gooey on the inside if it just came out of the oven. Anyway, the day I flew over here she gave me one of the candles so that wherever I was I could smell the candle and I would feel at home.
A sweet thought and heartwarming gift, to be sure. The only problem is I, of course, could not carry matches on the plane with TSA restrictions and all. Probably could have put some in the checked baggage, but there are tons of smokers in Europe so it should be so very easy to get some matches, right? Um, not so much. Note that I arrived on 3 January and it was not until today, 3 February, that I finally was successful in obtaining an incendiary device. And not for lack of trying.
No matches at the front desk of the hotel. None at the few restaurants I have visited. The closest I came was at Aldi one day a woman was buying a three-pack of cigarette lighters that were on sale. I certainly didn't need three, right? Well, the next time I went back those were gone, too. Doh! So I checked in the household supplies section at the grocery store. In the candle sections of IKEA and the grocery store. I even checked out at the "make your own smokes" aisle (it wasn't actually called that, but it was rolling papers and tobacco and other carcinogen-enhancing products) but still no matches. And, of course, what I REALLY want (particularly since there are seven tea lights in each of these five IKEA candle strips things, which would require quite a lot of matches to complete the lighting ceremony) is one of those long lighter things with the finger trigger so there is plenty of distance between you and the open flame. Safety first and all....
Now, you may be wondering why I didn't simply ask someone where the matches were. Valid question. There's just something about asking where to buy fire that strikes me as a bit odd and that people might think this foreigner was trying to burn down the house. And my excuse of "I just want to smell sugar cookies" would only have added to their perception that I was a little crazy in the head. A pyro in the making.
So this afternoon walking back from lunch, my assistant asked if I minded if she had a cigarette while I went into the bank. "On one condition. Will you help me buy matches?!" Now, I realize that sounds even more bizarre than asking where to buy fire. It's like I'm asking her to contribute to the delinquency of a nascent pyromaniac. Fortunately for me, she is used to me being a little unusual and asked what matches were and why I wanted to buy them. Well, long story short, we went to the convenience store next to the office as she was sure they would have lighters there. Which they did. Right besides the long trigger lighter I was craving. All that goodness for €4,99, which might normally seem overpriced but seemed quite reasonable today.
So all is good. I am typing this in my first night in my new digs, sitting on a garden chair I picked up at IKEA tonight (where I also ate dinner because I, you know, don't have a kitchen), with the strips of IKEA candles light up (quite nice), the iPod in its computer speaker and subwoofer docking contraption, latching onto an unsecured WiFi network, with the smell of sugar cookies in the air. I'm home!!
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