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Escape Goat

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Loved today’s urban word of the day ‘Escape goat’ as it may go some way to explain why people flirt etc (beyond the fact that they’re ‘bored’):

“Someone flirted with, obsessed over and generally courted by a person in a relationship they want to get out of in the hope that it will give them the courage and will to leave. Jennifer was John’s escape goat when he couldn’t bring himself to leave Caroline.”

Yep, come to think of that I recall being on the receiving end of that from a pretty lady when working for the Ministry of Agriculture in Cambridge as an assistant scientific officer (counting aphids in fields of crops, yeah). She got friendly with me, and came round for dinner, only to be interrupted by a knock at the door – her boyfriend had come to pick her up. So maybe there I was more like a ‘sacrificial lamb’. Shame as I liked what she said about how Poland was a really spiritual place when she was there in 1988 or something.

Staking a claim in Austria’s little goldmine

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Well looks like Jamie’s made his stake, and put down a reserve for a property in Rauris.I’m glad I had the opportunity to stay there a few times, and enjoyed the irony that this was a former industrial centre (yes, it really was once a goldmine), turned tourist attraction having myself done the ‘industrial archaeology’ thing.

But with the recent building of the neon-centric Spa supermarket in the town (I even emailed the local green MEP in protest), and now the new properties to fund new chair lift build I wonder if the secluded Rauris charm people are buying into hasn’t already started to fade? Hey, don’t get me wrong I loved Zakopane with its tourist side as well as old world charm, so maybe Rauris will get the balance right?