Must be funny, in a rich man's world

We found a house we want to buy! It's in a great, family-oriented neighbourhood, right off the main (pedestrian) street, very close to my workplace and the metro, and about 70 square metres for the both of us. Yes, it's very exciting but it is yet another disheartening anecdote which proves that intentions are not always matched with ability. Of course we would love to buy the place - the banks do not exactly share our enthusiasm, or confidence in our financial situation. Apparently, to be trustworthy in the eyes of a recessionary bank, you have to be working in the same job on a long term contract for two years. Just moved to Spain? Fuggedabadit. So we are busting our chops to prove (via email and internet forms) to the Risk department of several Spanish (and English) banks that we are really reliable people who make plenty of money and will not be losing our jobs any time soon. This is even more difficult than it sounds. It is so much easier to say "No, we won't help you take the first step into the property market" to someone whose face you have never seen, and so much harder to convince someone you are reliable, hard-working and trustworthy when your disarming smile and likeable manner cannot be used as persuasion tools.

That said, should everything work out, I will finally have a good comeback for all those annoying "So, when is the wedding?" comments. 'Cause in my eyes, a mortgage is a way more binding commitment than a marriage. Who needs to trade shiny rings when you share a "think about it too much and you'll break into a cold sweat"-size debt?

The Poland trip is coming along too. I have a vague itinerary, you can look at it here. I have 16 days to squeeze all that in! Anyone who has been to Poland, tell me which of these I can leave out... I would leave out Krakow for fear of multitudes of tourists but cannot resist the lure of the Tartars or miss a chance to visit Auschwitz. I wasn't going to go, after having experienced Dachau and the subsequent depression, but I think it's something one should see and dwell on for a while. Most of all, I'm looking forward to travelling by myself; I haven't done that since the Americas in 2005/2006 and that was one of the best trips of my life. No compromises, suckah! Erik will be rallying it up in Asia, so I don't have to worry about him. Well, I don't have to worry about him being lonely, I still have to worry that he will get arrested in Glormenistan (or something) for making fun of a police officer (or similar "crime") and given a life sentence with no conjugal visits. And that he will have left me to pay the mortgage, which is clearly the important thing here.