Offline

Do you know those internet junkies running blind on the street, only their cell phones in their eyes and nothing else? They, with their "head down walk", who the rest of the world has to watch out for, so that nothing happens to them in the open. If Darwin is right, Shakespeare's portrayal of "The Seven Phases of a Man" can be reduced to the last, because the upright gait will no longer exist in a few decades.

How bad must it be for such a person if he suddenly no longer has the Internet? We know that now, because that's exactly what happened to us, suddenly we were "offline". In Loano we bought a 100GByt data sim card from Vodafone. Cost 30€ plus 10€ the sim card plus 10€ activation fees. It was called rechargeable and so it was also registered on the website, after we had finally set up an access on the site, is not always so easy with a foreign language, but that just by the way. The data volume is available for 3 months and can then, as I said, be recharged. What the nice gentleman in the Vodafone shop didn't tell us was that this offer only exists for two months and will then be deleted without replacement. So one evening it made "pink" and nothing worked anymore. A loading was also not possible over the Internet side. Of course you can use the pub and the WLAN every evening to check your emails. But since we also have to maintain our homepage and upload videos, it is simply more comfortable from home. That meant for us to go to the next Vodafone store. Do you speake English, no. Also well, it just has to go like that. We tried to explain to him what the problem was. Numero? By that he meant the phone number we gave him and which he entered into his computer. Promptly he found us and explained to us that this card is not rechargeable, because as already described, the offer had expired. New offer 35GByt for one month 11,99€ plus 10€ the card, plus 15€ activation fees. Note the inflation in the activation fees. Therefore we can now make 1000min calls to Albania. I already thought about using an endless loop to send the same question "Do you speak English" to the Vodafone shop in Tirana, provided there is one at all, until the 1000min are used up. Anyway, compliments to Vodafone, excellent business model, could be from me. You put an offer on the market, let it run for a limited time, of course only until the limit is not used up and when the customer then wants to top up it is not possible, of course, because the offer is no longer available. Instead you sell him a new offer with a new card and a new activation fee. For us it's simply a mess, but dear Vodafone, we will advertise this business model and tell everyone about it. That is not yet everything, arrived at home the Internet side was meanwhile fast furnished and see there, instead of the promised 35GByt only 15GByte are to us at the disposal. Where are the remaining 20Gbyte "Who knows"? Let's see how Vodafone explains this to us again. We will report after our new visit to the Vodafone shop.

In the meantime, our "The paint is off project" is making further progress. After scraping off the antifouling, the sanding process took longer than planned, because the Tarepoxy sticked quite stubbornly to the surface. Nevertheless we managed to get the stuff down somehow. Unfortunately the Gelcoat was strongly affected, so that now nevertheless a primer becomes necessary. Before we apply the Coppercoat, we will apply two layers of High Protect as additional osmosis protection.

But not only our boat project keeps us on our toes, also such profane things as washing laundry are on the agenda again and again. In my life so far, this topic had affected me only marginally. After all, I knew where the laundry bag was, but today I am much deeper into the details. Well, how to operate such a high-tech device will probably always cause me difficulties and in which compartment the detergent has to be put I never learn, but for the laundry transport to the wash salon and back I can be used quite well. After all, I learned very quickly when not to wash the laundry, i.e. when everyone else wants to wash their laundry. Just like the Germans block the deck chairs on the beach with their towels, the Italians put their laundry bag in front of the machine. We don't find both sexy, but nobody asks us. Then we either have to wait two hours or come back another time. We decided to come back and went for a beer. After the motto "The early bird catches the worm", Gaby set off for the second time the next morning and see how people can be relied on, because before nine o'clock almost nothing moves in Italy, not even in a launderette. I love these cultural differences. Once you recognize them, they help you plan your everyday life.

What we continue to plan and what we have experienced this week, we will tell you next week, in this sense always Fair winds and keep your ears stiff.