Three Things

Thursday 16 June 2011 – I wake up feeling awful, I only had one beer yesterday, yet feel like I’ve had a skin-full. Corn flakes soon put an end to my malaise. New Zealand duo, The Brunettes sing If You Were Alien, from their musically stripped down album Structure and Cosmetics .

I climb into my car, which for some reason today, believes itself to be usicallyan oven. I drive the dirt track way to the shops, twisting and turning on a track just wide enough for one vehicle. (Believe me, it can be a stand off situation if you meet anyone coming the other way). I pull up outside of the bank and relish the cool air in the air-conditioned Bancomat cash machine area. I punch in the code and it process my request for €50. No money appears but it spits my card out. I re-do the whole transaction, exactly as before and am rewarded with a crisp €50 note. Did it rip me off, am I €50 down or what? I’ll have to wait at least 24 hours to check online, by then it’ll be too late to complain. BUMMER.

I pop into Euronics to ask for a micro sim for my iPhone, they don’t have any, “Come Saturday back.” the assistant tells me. I nip into Eurospin and do a ‘big shop’ before driving back. I’m half way home when I think to myself, what I be doing today if I was in the UK? I came up with these three things:

1. I wouldn’t be driving up a steep snaking dirt track to get home.

2. I would be surprised to see a neighbour has a big fat sheep in their front garden, here it’s par for the course.

3. I’d not be coming home from Tesco and thinking how come I did a ‘big shop’ and it only came to €25.63.

Adam and the Ants play Press Darlings, and I finish of the ironing, I packed my washed clothes un-ironed and so they needed to be pressed and hung up. I even washed our working clothes and pressed them, no one wants to see a scruffy peasant as they tend to their land.

As the heat of the day wanes, I water my tomato plants, chat to my neighbour and round the day off with another couple of episodes of Rab C Nesbitt. I like not having the distraction of the TV at the moment. Back in the UK there was always something to watch, which meant I didn’t catch up with DVD’s very often. I never saw the complete series of Rab, so am enjoying catching up with it. (The 1980’s clothes are a hoot too).

No doubt my feelings about the lack of English speaking TV will change as time goes by.