Viral Spain 9th December 2021.
I have just been looking at the calendar to see if I could work out why I did not write a Blog last week. I can't, so then I looked at Facebook to see if I had written one; NO. My memory is not as good as I would like!
Yesterday I got a letter from the bank asking for me to log on to internet banking to give them an up to date email address. Unfortunately I cannot find the little code maker they supply for getting into internet banking. I guess my next step is to see if I can satisfy the requirements for phone banking!
Inconsequential happenings I suppose, but they feel significant to me because this Summer when we were in the UK I went into the bank to sort this all out and promised myself I would log on once a month so I would remember the numbers or where I keep them, where the codifier is, etc. Next thought I had about internet banking; yesterday.
This would all matter less if the bank would give Sarah and I (joint account holders)
equal access. They won't.
Makes me wonder how even older, even less competent people manage? I guess they do not have internet banking.
Anyway, gripe over, lets talk about my canoeing last Friday. I remember that!
It was a cold but sunny day, temperature just climbing to 18'c by the sea. (Yes that is quite warm for you Brit dwellers.) The forecast showed a gap in the windy weather with much of the coastal sea conditions 'rizada'. That means 'curly' but having just looked it up in the dictionary, to be sure of my facts, I am f-cked, or my story is. It also means slightly choppy. That is exactly how it was. I find a slight chop really uncomfortable in the canoe. I thought 'rizada' meant smooth and curly, which is how it usually is when the forecast says 'rizada'. Anyway despite hints of nausea I was able to enjoy being afloat, the sun, the sea, the dark cliffs and the tiny beaches.
And when I got in I remembered the steep beach-side steps. I wheeled the canoe on its rickety home made trolley up to the steps and was beginning the lift when a man walking past offered help. Wonderful, we had the canoe up the steps and onto the roof of the car in one smooth movement. What I wondered though is why this happens so rarely. The man was Belgium. Are the 'helping people' norms different with different nationalities? Do I normally look so competent? Is it a man thing? We men are supposedly bad at asking for help. I think that is the one! Ask Chris, ask. And maybe look less confident?
This is in danger of becoming a gripe piece: maybe if I ask questions it is not a gripe. Why do hearing aids cost SO much? For the price I have been quoted I could buy three electric mountain bikes, or four modular canoes ( a new direction planned to reduce lifting problems) or nine pairs of glasses with graduated lenses. I could even get a similar micro electronic device, a mobile phone for 11% of the price of audiofonos.
The man in the shop tried to baffle me with science talking of miniature processors and complex interlinking of the two units. I actually think he was talking b----cks! Surely even if you are a bit deaf the brain still does the processing to determine sound direction. Okay they have to be high quality mini-amplifiers with an exceptionally good selectivity and boosting of certain frequencies but 2000 euros each?
Anyway, I hope not too much of a gripe piece and that you are all lining yourselves up for a great festive season.
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