On Vacation

All at Once!

I should have been better prepared for August in Portugal. You see it isn’t a Portuguese thing as much as “a most of Europe thing”. It seems everyone is on vacation.

Sunday on one of Cascais’ beaches.

2 Teachable Moments

My first exposure to Europe closing down in August came about when I purchased an Audi TT Roadster in June of 2000, my most favorite car ever! The car had recently hit the market. In fact, the Audi store didn’t even have one in the showroom. You literally bought it out of a catalog, placed a deposit based upon the sticker price, and waited. I was told it would be 6-8 weeks. But I was given a website on which I could track the progress of the build on my computer (pretty revolutionary for 2000). I followed the car along the conveyor belt until July 30th. It was just about to have its two seats installed, the last step before QA. The belt stopped…the factory closed…it was August. Damn those Germans!

My second experience was also with Germans. You see Siemens had purchased a company I had worked at for 14 years, a great company … that like many of Siemens’ acquisitions they totally f’ed up, lost considerable market share, and then sold years later at a loss. (If you are not 100% certain how I felt about Siemens, please add “uck” where the apostrophe in the prior sentence. But I digress…) I learned that all the German executives that had taken over the C-suite of the building were on vacation for August. All of August!

Now let me be clear…I do not begrudge anyone a vacation. I encouraged/berated my coworkers to take every day that was coming to them. I certainly did. There was a time in my life that I took off the first week of every quarter (I was in sales and making your number each quarter was a thing) and the last two weeks of December (fa-la-la). And as anyone who ever worked with me can tell you, don’t expect to find me working on a Friday afternoon during the golfing season. Since I lived in Florida for part of my career that meant every Friday.

Somehow Surprised

So I should not have been surprised when I noticed how crowded the beaches became in August! It was like suddenly the tourism faucet had been turned up to maximum. And I wasn’t surprised when my physical therapist explained that she would be gone for the next two weeks. Though I find it interesting that my physical therapist, like my surgeon and my banker, are going to the Alentejo because it is “much calmer and more peaceful there”. Calm? I thought this is calm!

And I also realize, as demonstrated by the Siemens’ executives, August vacations do not apply to the worker-bees. Someone is working in the shops and restaurants in town.

But over the past two weeks, I have gotten a bit ticked off at this “we are closed for August thing”. You see we are doing due diligence related to a property we want to purchase. The property will need renovation. But it seems every architect, engineer, surveyor, and builder take off in August. Oddly enough, our lawyer does not. But in discussing timelines with him, he also told me to expect a similar situation in December. This must be that work-life balance thing I read about. Bravo! Now how can we make it equitably apply to everyone?

Editor’s Note #1: I just want to say, once again, I love my surgeon. I was to schedule an appointment with him for a follow-up on 23 August. In viewing his schedule online I saw he wasn’t available until the 27th. Makes sense, his first day back from vacation is the 23rd. I texted him to let him know I would see him on the 27th and he actually responded. “No, I want to see you on the 23rd for another x-ray and to track your progress. Please come in between 8:30 and 10:00 and I will see you.” You got to love this guy!

Editor’s Note #2: Don’t even ask! We are not prepared to write about the location of the property or the particulars until we have everything in order. I guess I am superstitious. But stay tuned!