I'm too sober for this, get me out of here

[oloriel]

So yesterday was the annual teachers' excursion. Unlike excursions so far (which were a low-key visit to some nearby destination - such as a bowling alley, farm or - last year - handcar treck, with a barbecue afterwards) this one was a bigger affair, including a bus trip to the Moselle, a boat tour on the Moselle, a castle visit, and a fancy dinner. Accordingly, it was a lot more expensive than usual teachers' trips, and also taking up a lot more of the day (all of it, in fact - we left at 10am and returned at 10pm).
And a lot more frustrating.

I had weighed the pros and cons of going along for a while - teambuilding, fun with the colleagues, enrichment (TM), visiting a town I, personally, didn't know yet vs. giving away yet another otherwise free afternoon, sitting on the bus for a long time, the tourist-trap destination, and above all, the cost. I decided to go because it always looks slightly bad to skip the social events (no matter how full the work week, which this week included parent-teacher conferences) and the last ones were fairly fun. I figured I'd be able to do some work on the long bus journey (3 hours one direction) so I could maybe have some unexpected free time on the weekend. And let's face it, I've become fairly stationary and need to kick myself out of my remaining comfort zone occasionally. So along I went.

The bus trip was a horror. I did in fact correct a whole set of geography exams, but that was done while trying to ignore the increasingly drunk crowd (all colleagues) at the back of the bus (I was sitting in one of the front rows with the other boring people who were not in fact on the trip in order to get drunk before the bus had even reached the Autobahn). I don't mind people having fun. I do hate drunk crowds though, even (or especially) if I know them and all they're doing is being noisy, playing loud Ibiza-style music while singing along very badly, and trying to get everyone to participate in their schlager music karaoke. One (normally reasonably nice) colleague kept yelling that he needed a smoking break and when the bus driver ignored him, said very loudly that this was the worst bus driver he'd ever encountered.

The funny (not ha-ha funny, the other funny) thing is that when the students asked where we were going, they all nodded knowingly and expected us to get drunk (the Moselle valley is one of Germany's wine-growing regions) but when they heard that the principal was coming along, assumed that the trip would be boring because we'd have to behave. Instead, he was among the heaviest party-ers, which doubtlessly encouraged the bad behaviour.
Anyway.

The schlager music singing continued while running up the steep streets of Cochem to reach the castle in time for the guided tour (the Autobahn was crowded and we also eventually did take a smoking break so we were late), and during the guided tour, which was therefore heavily abridged. I tried to enjoy the nice aspects of it (pretty castle, lovely weather, nice panorama) but it was hard. Some colleagues were displaying signs of alcohol-induced dementia and it was hard to remain patient. Eventually there was a chance to leave the crowd (which wanted to go to a pub) and have some ice-cream and window-shopping with the other uncool colleagues who also didn't think getting drunk constituted a good time. We met the others again for the boat trip, which despite of cold temperatures and strong winds was very pretty. At that point the drinkers started to grow tired and a little more quiet but it was still embarrassing to have them around.
The fancy dinner was nice (and most people managed to behave themselves) and I managed to sleep a little on the bus trip back.

What remains is the feeling of some nice sights but a day otherwise wasted, and my opinion of about 70% of my colleagues (+ the boss) damaged. We will see if the damage is repairable.

In order to be not just a Negative Nelly, here are some pretty-ish pictures from the trip.


Inside Cochem Castle


View from the castle across the valley


View from the boat through the valley (castle included)


High-water marks on the wall of the restaurant (2003, 2018 and 2021 missing).
Name has nothing to do with the God of Thunder but ye olde spelling of Tor ("gate") instead because it's next to one of the old city gates.


This is where we had our fancy dinner (before everybody crowded in).

Comments

[cowboy_r]

European rivers always look so little and well-behaved to me. And they have water in them!

[oloriel]

They do, most of the time! Sometimes too much (as the marks on the wall show)...

That said, there have also been times when the Rhine looked like this (Düsseldorf, in 2017 I think):

So yeah. Most of the time.

[cowboy_r]

Hey, that looks like an Arizona river!

Climate change. It's a thing.

A big, hairy, slobbering thing.

[oloriel]

It is indeed.😞

[bunn]

Wow, that does sound tedious. And a long day with it. Still: pretty views!

[oloriel]

Yes, I'm trying to cheer myself up with those. And at least I've covered this absolute must-do of domestic tourism now...

[independence1776]

Yiiikes.

[oloriel]

Seriously.

[hhimring]

Oh dear! That looks as if it could have been a nice day out, if the circumstances had been more relaxing.

[oloriel]

Yeah, it could've been nice! That adds to the frustration.

[jane_ways]

Yikes. I like dance music and drinking but like... Not at 10 in the morning at a work function, lmao. Also, and I admit I am biased because I have a relatively strong tolerance, but I cannot stand people who get sloppy drunk at *every* opportunity. (Or, again, at 10 AM at a work thing!) IDK, that stopped being fun for me about 30 seconds after I turned 23. Reading about that behavior is honestly kind of sad. So don't feel like a party pooper. I am a "partier" and that doesn't sound fun to me, either. It sounds deeply unpleasant and I hope you don't have to go through it again (and that your colleagues grow up a bit!).

[jane_ways]

Also, do people still smoke over where you are? That was honestly probably the wildest part about it to me. People smoke here, sure, but I can't imagine getting a charter bus to pull over for a smoke break. Enough people would find it unacceptable that you couldn't get away with it. But then, people here also think having a glass of wine or beer with lunch is pushing the bounds of propriety (but "boozy brunch" isn't, somehow, so 🤷🏼‍♀️).

[oloriel]

Smoking has gotten a lot less, but smoking at parties is somewhat more tolerated (outside! not inside!), to the extent that fully grown adult human beings will go into the smokers' corner because supposedly that's where all the cool people hang out and have the best conversations. And of course, with the increasing alcohol level, inhibitions sink.

Truth be told I have NEVER in the very nearly 40 years of my life and a goodly number of charter bus journeys witnessed someone demanding that the bus pull over for a smoke break (other than perhaps the driver!). Toilet breaks, occasionally (if there's no on-board toilet), and of course those get also used as smoking breaks. But never undisguised smoking breaks. At first I genuinely thought the colleague in question was trying to make a joke that just didn't land!

[jane_ways]

Interesting! Smoking is certainly tolerated (outside, as you said) at parties here but it's still not that common, I'd say. And perhaps looked upon a little askance, depending on the company. (I have vivid memories of a friend sneaking in a very quick smoke break at a party while his girlfriend left for a couple minutes to get something from the corner store or something, because he'd promised her he'd quit. He swore us all to secrecy!) I was just curious if asking to pull over for a smoke break was more acceptable in other places. Given that it's clearly not OK where you are either, I shudder to think how obnoxious the guy who asked must have been to eventually get his way!

[oloriel]

It's the sloppy drunk aspect in the late morning/early afternoon that frustrated me so much, yeah. I'm certainly no teetotaler, but there's a time and a place for drinking and partying, and a bus trip with colleagues shouldn't be it. Not until after dinner at the very least.
I'll certainly think twice before going on another team trip with that crowd.

[jane_ways]

10 AM is early, even for boozy brunch! LOL. But like you said, it's really the behavior that's the issue--I cannot tolerate an obnoxious drunk and I think a busload full of them might be enough to push me over the edge. You exhibited considerable restraint and I must commend you! I hope their behavior at work is stellar enough that they redeem themselves.

[grundyscribbling]

Eep. Sorry, that sounds frustrating. At least the non-drinkers managed to have some fun?

Why no high water marks for the more recent flood years? (Did any of them beat 1791?)

[oloriel]

We did our best. ;)

I don't know! Maybe the house changed hands and the new owner doesn't like the custom, or didn't get around to adding them yet? 2003 and 2018 didn't beat 1781 - 2003 should be near 1983, and 2018 even further down, so perhaps they managed to block it from flowing into the street. Cochem appears to have been lucky in 2021 too. Saved by the weirs, probably...