As if I had not spent enough time in Pontevedra recently, today I went back there to have lunch with a friend. Walking around the old quarter, inevitably we ran into my friend Colin in Plaza de Verdura. Where else would he be? He was accompanied by a collection of young visitors. We had a little comment on the smallness of the world; you turn a corner on Pontevedra and come across someone you know.
Apart from that my visit to Pontevedra was pretty much without incident. We ate in an Italian restaurant which, in my opinion, was slightly overpriced for the rather ordinary fare they offered. A nice enough risotto but I have eaten better food in Pontevedra.
It was quite pleasing, however, that before lunch, as we sat in the Savoy Café having a little refresco, my phone chirruped to let me know it had connected automatically to the cafe's wifi. It's always good when technology works.
Yesterday we tried to make our technology work again, in other words our mobile internet connection. We wanted to do this on Saturday after returning to Vigo on the Friday. We were prevented from doing so by the bank holiday "puente".
So off we went on Monday, hoping to get it sorted before the day grew too hot. Fat chance.
Our intention was to recharge our "dongle" in the usual way with one giga for one month for €25 (IVA / VAT included) but when we got to the shop we found an advert for a new special offer system that would give us 1.5 giga for three months for €15. Who could resist it? So we asked about it. It was a matter of getting a new SIM card and putting it in our gadget.
The only problem was that the shop we were in had run out of the SIM card packs. "Estamos rodeados de extranjeros" (We are surrounded by foreigners - more like overrun or overwhelmed!!) the shop assistant told us. And everyone tells us that foreign tourists don't often come to Vigo!
He suggested we should go to The Phone House, a mobile phone shop, in the A Laxe shopping centre. They were almost sure to have one. No, they didn't. They had never had them but suggested that we should try in the MediaMarkt store where there was a "stand de Vodaphone". (Note the use of "stand" creeping into everyday Spanish.)
But they couldn't help either because they don't have the right kind of license. I think they could only sell Vodaphone accessories. For anything else you need a proper Vodaphone shop.
They sent us to the town centre. So off we went, hoping against hope that there was one on Príncipe. Well, not quite but there was one on one of the side roads off the shopping street. Hooray!! We queued for a while and eventually purchased a new SIM card.
Mind you, it's not yet working perfectly. It connects us to the internet just long enough to check your email but not quite long enough to reply to everything. If we don't find a solution soon, we'll be taking it back.
Such a lot of running around for precious little result! And by the time we had stopped off in the Nuevo Derby to check our email using their wifi, we ended up walking home in the heat of the day. Not our plan at all.
Other stuff.
A volcano in Iceland, with the preposterous name of Bárðarbunga is said to be about to erupt, prompting fears of a repeat of the ash cloud crisis of 2010!! Most Icelandic volcanoes seem to have odd names but this one could have been chosen by Berlusconi.
An old chap in California, backing into or out of his garage, drove his car into his swimming pool. He managed to get out of the vehicle and there was no-one in the pool. Good result! This is what happens when you try to drive in flip flops. Maybe he should give up driving.
Another elderly man, Pope Francis, is talking about the possibility of retiring if he finds he can't do the job properly. Goodness! he's not been in the job five minutes and he's talking of giving up. OK, so he is talking about his deteriorating health but even so! He seemed to be doing very well. I blame it all on his predecessor, a certain Benedict who has been going round setting precedents!
Whatever next?
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