Oh deary me!
Emily read an earlier posting on the country of "Ostrichia" and metered out swift punishment. She demanded in unmistakable terms that I fulfil a promise two years old, to take her to the tribes of Ostrichia and show her Vindobona and Iuvavum. Grudgingly I agreed, and we are set for 25-30 June, combining it with a long planned trip to Switzerland.
The posting (on Facebook) that caught her attention and alarm:
Austrians are world champions when it comes to denial, ostrich behavour (head-in-the-sand), self-absolution and blame (preferably Germans).
One of the exemplary icons of Ostrichia's infamy was Kurt Waldheim ("I wasn't a member of the SS, my horse was!"), who made a distinctly Ostrichian career: from SS lieutenant to the Alpine entity's foreign minister, to become UN Secretary General by freak coincidences and ending up as - chieftain amongst kinship - Ostrichian president. In his flawless English, accentuated by the typical accent of his homeland, he once said, "Ciss iss all ce same, vee arr oll frrrientz now." 
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