Memories fade, but this is ridiculous. I’ve been bitten yet again by a mobile German holiday.

In 2018 there were a few mornings when I headed to the grocery store, only to find it closed for a holiday I wasn’t aware of. In Canada stores post holiday hours a week or so beforehand. In Germany everyone knows when the stores are closed. Except newcomers and tourists.

Today is Ascension Day (and also Father’s Day), a holiday celebrated on a different date each year. The stores are closed.

Today though is also the day I had planned on doing some shopping, picking up some things at better-than-Canadian prices. I should have remembered the holiday, but after more than two years back in Canada I no longer think like a German.

Someone casually mentioned Father’s Day to me on in a conversation a couple of days ago, so at least I had a chance to prepare. There is food for the day in the place we are staying. (I had been buying the day’s food each morning.)

I’m visiting Lippstadt, my wife’s ancestral home town. Shopping is not a high priority for me these days, though when we lived in Sulzburg I used to love coming here. Sulzburg had no stores at all – I bought a lot of necessities here. (My mind still hasn’t accepted that we no longer live in Germany. Yesterday I kept having to stop myself from purchasing things for our apartment here.)

In Canada our holidays are almost always on a Friday or Monday, to automatically give most people a long weekend. Christmas and New Year’s are the only exceptions that come immediately to mind.

In Germany, where so many of the holidays are religious, you are more likely to find things shut down in the middle of the week. Like today.

On Wednesday I bought what I needed. Today I’ll go to a church service in a neighboring village, and then perhaps take a walking tour of Lippstadt, see some sights I haven’t visited for a long time.

I still prefer my holidays on weekends though..