Sandwich Gabi

A Square Meal - Pencil drawing by Nigel A. JAMES

Sandwiches Are More Than Just Fillings!

Just the other day, I was taking a coffee with an acquaintance of mine, Maria Brieber, a woman of note in the city of Vienna. And, by and by, as the way things normally go, she got around to telling me about a friend of hers, a certain Gabi.

It happened just three or four years ago. Gabi, just after leaving her 50th behind, was looking forward to a soft ride home towards retirement. She was good at her job. She was popular with the customers, and her bosses in the shoe retailing world were happy with her more than just a few years of profitable sales experience. Then came the shock!

The blue letter arrived. Gabi was no longer needed; she had been “reorganized” out of the system. She was redundant! Quicker than a wink of an eye, her life turned from colour to darkness.

But, when it gets dark the morning always comes; and, bit by bit and little by little, the dawn of a new beginning started to rise and to shine. From somewhere within her a certain strength was beginning to stir; and, with the passing of time, it came to her that being fifty was, in terms of modern day life, a half-way stage - not the beginning of the end.

Having made up her mind to act, things, too, started to happen in her favour. Whilst having an Italian meal with an old friend, she discovered that a friend of this friend was in the sandwich business; and further, this sandwich person had a sandwich bar in a local school that she would be giving up in about a year.

The sandwich business? Why not? Gabi moved quickly. Soon she was working at the sandwich bar, earning whilst learning, and, within the year, the sandwich bar had become her own!

Gabi’s life has changed completely. Retirement is no longer an issue. Why should it be? Her own business, because of the way that she is with people, has become extremely successful; and the rewards are the direct results of her own making.

Work is no longer 6 days a work, she no longer has an anonymous boss, and she is no longer restricted to a pay cheque that is not of her making. Life, for Gabi, has taken off, not crashed as maybe it could have done!

Life is like a sandwich! It is as good as its filling.

Language Aid/English - German

Acquaintance – Bekannten
A certain – ein gewisse.
Retirement – Pension.
Reorganized – umstrukturiert.
Redundant – arbeitslos.
Dawn – Morgendämmerung.
To rise – steigen.
To stir – sich bewegen
In her favour – zu ihrer Vorteil
Earning – verdienen

ps. I called the above picture A Square Meal because everything that's in it is round. There is a round bottle, a round cheese roll, two round glasses and two round plates! Can you find them all? A "square meal" is another way of saying a satisfying or substantial meal.