Traveling and working

, a photo by Chisa2010 on Flickr.

Today I left for my home town as there is a long weekend ahead. My parents will go to the Opera all weekend to see Wagner's "Ring" and I'll take care of the cat and dog. And I'll work. On several things all at once, which leaves me again to wonder about self management.
Well, time at the train should never be wasted, so I sat down in a free compartment on an ICE train and translated Japanese texts (for a lecture - still no paid assignment). In Frankfurt my train actually delayed 1 hour because something was wrong with the first wagon. I used the time to go on translating.
When we finally left Frankfurt all people on board were offered free drinks (non-alcohol) and a stamped form to apply for cost reimbursement.
(The law concerning cost reimbursement in case of delayed trains is fairly new! Anyone who has to travel by Deutsche Bahn knows that their trains are almost, but not quite, absolutely always not on time. Or the other way round. Give or take 10 minutes or even up to 20 minutes - that's quite normal. My japanese friends are always going nuts in Germany. And well, I'm missing the Japanese railway myself.
Anyway, a few months ago a delayed train would have made passengers angry but not the executives of Deutsche Bahn. Now, they actually have to try being punctual.
But checking out the form I realized that I wouldn't get the whole ticket price back. Only ten percent for one hour! Okay, better than nothing. And I actually worked, so I guess the delay worked out for me.)