The wind howled over the infinite white plain, hurtling the thin snowflakes hither and thither. A dazzling white from one horizon to another, and in the middle of this too white landscape, three small dots, struggling against the wind.

"Leutnant Schwanzenstolz," the biggest of the dots panted. "Ist es noch weit?"

The man in front of him turned around, happy to have his face out of the snow for a moment. "Nein, Sergeant, es ist nicht weit mehr."

The man up front sighed, and the three men struggled on again in silence.

"Leutnant Schwanzenstolz," the biggest man panted after a while again. "Ist es noch weit?"

"Nein, Sergeant, es ist nicht weit mehr."

He sighed, and the man in front of him grunted. And on they struggled, through the too white landscape. It may be late March by now, but the sixty hour snowstorm from last weekend was nothing one tends to associate with a beginning spring. They'd had to huddle it out in a deserted farmer's hut - freezing, with teeth chattering, and very little to eat. But at least they were out of the storm and out of the snow for a while.

Now they were on their way again. Hopefully still in the right direction, but with the sun glaring in the hardblue sky, at least they could orientate themselves reasonably well. Westwards they wanted - back home, back to Germany!

"Leutnant Schwanzenstolz?" the fat sergeant interrupted his train of thought again. "Ist es noch weit?"

He sighed. "Nein, nicht weit mehr, Sergeant." And the Kommandant in front of him rolled his eyes. In truth, they had no idea. They could be anywhere between Belorussia, Poland, the Ukraine - or maybe already in Germany? No... these kind of weather conditions were extremely rare in their beloved Germany - even in midwinter. Surely sixty hour blizzards did not occur in Germany this late in the year?

"Leutnant Schwanzenstolz?" the sergeant began again. "Ist es noch weit?"

Suddenly, the Kommandant up front snapped. "Ja! Noch sehr weit!"

With that, he stomped on, leaving the lieutenant to hide his chuckle, and the sergeant with a sad puppy-dog look on his face...


.

Okay, I know I'm going to get comments about the language, so first: the whole conversation pretty much boils down to: "Is it still much further?" "No, it's not much further." Ending in, "Yes, it's still very much further!" This discussion is a classic from the Smurfs cartoons, and I'm sorry, but it just doesn't sound right in English :-p Oh well, at least you'll have learned a few useful phrases in German while reading this snippet!

Anyway, just a reminder: the deadline for your votes for our PBA is this upcoming Friday - the 5th of April. So don't forget to send in your votes, alternatively to go to the yahoo polls and vote there! We know from earlier years that every new set of votes can change the entire outcome in some categories, so don't rely on others to decide for you - your votes can really make a difference!

And a general excuse: work has been murder these past weeks, so I don't think I've actually sent out a single confirmation of received votes... I'm sorry! I'll see if I'll get around to it this week, so that at least you know for sure that they arrived safe and sound. (No, not Easter holiday. For some reason we don't have Easter holiday here - not even Easter Monday off! Instead we have a week off two weeks from now. Which suited me fine for other reasons :-)