Viking ways, a millennium later

Viktor was shivering as he walked to the busstop in his unbuttoned jacket. His Spanish colleague Ramon wrapped his woolen scarf closer round his neck and beamed at the frost-covered trees and all the Christmas illuminations. "Isn't it beautiful! I love winter! But I'm sure this is nothing for you, compared to Sweden. Didn't you say that it was thirteen degrees minus last year?" Viktor tried to relax his stiff jaws enough to let a few words slip out. "Thirty," he said. "So this is like summer for me."

Ramon took a silly-looking hat and a pair of furry gloves from his briefcase. "Wow! Let's walk into town then! For me, this is like a polar expedition! But I enjoy it!"

Viktor would have liked to say no, but he was afraid his clattering teeth would drown the sound. Silently he trudged on along rue de la Gare, through the snowdrifts, sliding on the icy patches.

The thermometer at the railway station showed -1, and spring in Luxemburg was only four months away.

Unfinished business

Ulrich was a great optimist. His efforts made colleages and superiors smile in silence. Somehow, Ulrich's attitude took the sharpest edges off the terrible difficulties the company was facing. At times, Ulrich's unfaltering optimism was the only thing that kept the general sense of despair from completely taking over everybody's minds.
Every piece of really bad news was carefully saved and nurtured until it could be fed to Ulrich, preferably at a time when everybody could share the moment when Ulrich's face grew serious and closed, while the severity of the bad news sunk in. They knew he was racking his brain furiously for a glimpse of hope that could save him a little bit longer. And he never failed them. Ulrich's optimism was the running joke that saved also his cynical workmates.
- Ulrich, did you hear that our credit at the bank will no longer be prolonged - they ask us to pay back one million by Wednesday next week.
Ulrich stared out the window in silence. Then he smiled and said: Good, then we can look for better conditions in another bank, I was getting sick and tired of that manager.
- Ulrich, did you hear that we'll have to let the cleaners go?
- Good, that will give us an opportunity to get together in weekends and clean. It will foster a sense of responsiblity, in addition we could make a barbeque and play football afterwards.
- Ulrich did you hear that Carl is quitting, now all the designers have left.
- Good, that should open new creative opportunities; I've had some concerns that Carl's professionalism stifles our lateral thinking.

But there was an end even to Ulrich's optimism. The fire in the main building coincided with the letter from the only remaining client, in which he stated that he had found another solution that better corresponded to his corporate profile.
- There is no hope, the executive director sighed.
Ulrich looked out of the window in silence. Then he sighed.
- Well, in that case we'll just have to soldier on, without hope, he said in a barely audible voice.
The director just stared at him, saddened and surprised.
- You've never noticed that that is what we have always done? he said.

That day, Ulrich called his insurance agent, to check whether all his policies were up to date and whether there was some insurable area that had not been covered. One cannot be too careful, he tried to say in a lighthearted way, but his voice came out all hollow and broken.