For the past several days I have been doing my best to fight off a cold. It's been a struggle, but I am getting through.
Like most people, I do not enjoy the experience of having a cold. I get really frustrated, irritated, and absolutely don't want to be around others. Part of me feels a little pitiful, but most of me is simply angry. And stobbed ub.
I had been really relieved so far in the season to avoid any real ailment. My father was snorting a bit for a few days over Christmas, and my nephew and brother-in-law also suffered through colds during the holiday break. I managed to skip all of that, and figured all my efforts to stay healthy were paying off.
By mid-week, I was rather congested. It's unrealistic to believe that I wouldn't catch a little something at some point, and I was grateful that I was not feeling completely wiped out like I have endured with past colds. I checked my medicine cabinet, and found my little jar of Vick's vaporub, which was almost empty, and seemed to have expired sometime in 2016 or 2017.
I will make a small comment about expiration dates, here. With food, I tend to get pretty antsy when the expiry date is nearing, particularly with things like milk and eggs. Still, I usually allow for a couple of extra days in the fridge, and know pretty much that I could even extend that time further. It's more of a conditioning thing, and we always tend to remember when we drink sour milk. God help us in the event that we eat some eggs that were past their edible moments.
Over the holidays, my father said, "it will be fine," when I protested about using butter that seemed to have an expiration date from quite a while back. (I'll spare anyone's blushes by not specifying the date itself.)
And he was right.
For the longest time, I never even realized that certain medications and over the counter drugs had any sort of expiration. In fact, I probably would not have thought anything about it, but a few months ago, my nephew was unwell and took an ibuprofen or something from the medicine cabinet at my Dad's. Somehow my sister noticed the sell by date was "quite a while back," which sent my nephew off the rails. He truly thought he would suffer some horrible fate for having taken a pill that was as old as he was.
Of course, my father said, "it will be fine."
And he was right.
Since my little container of vaporub was empty, the expiration date was irrelevant. I went to the Apotheke in my neighborhood to pick up another little jar, which made for an interesting exchange.
In Germany, the brand name Vick's is Wick. I assume that this is because of how W is pronounced in German. And how V is pronounced, come to think of it.
This still creates just a little bit of momentary confusion for me when I have to say either of these letters out loud. But, the lady at the shop understood what I wanted, and offered me one of two sizes: small or large.
The largest size was double the physical amount of the small size, but not really double the price. That was fine, because the price for the container was already on the high side, at least in my opinion. Not that I had any other options, and it's not as if people run around and say, "Dang, they've got a special price on for Vick's Vaporub right now at the local shops!"
You just pay for the product and go on your way. Which is exactly what I did.
Later that afternoon, I was speaking with my father and I asked him what the going rate was for Vaporub in the states, and he went and got his container from his nightstand. The container looked like it was from 1959, and my father confirmed that he had purchased the jar quite a while back...
And for the interested stateside reader, the going rate for Wick Vaporub in Germany is about 50% higher than you will find at your local Walgreen's. Whatever.
So, I have spent my mornings this weekend with a pot of water boiling on my stove top, with a scoop of Vicks making for quite the vapors. To add to the fun, I have been listening to the entire catalog of the Psychedelic Furs. I am not sure if Richard Butler would approve, but he is not the one that has the cold, is he?
And, I am feeling better.
Whatever works, right?
see you out there
bryan
