Nur Beschäftigung fehlte mir in der ersten Zeit

[studentfrench]

Hi, I'm trying to translate this sentence:

Nur Beschaeftigung fehlte mir in der ersten Zeit.

Would this be -

At first I was only lacking thing to do...

?

 

[ABBA Stanza]

Hi,

It means something like:

The only thing I was lacking at first was an occupation.

I've translated "Beschäftigung" as "occupation" because the latter retains the same ambiguity as the former. In other words, it's not clear whether "Beschäftigung" means a job or simply something to occupy oneself with (i.e., to pass the time). You'll have to refer to the overall context to decide for yourself which of these two possible meanings was intended.

Cheers,
Abba