Nose Pads

Overcast with rain all morning, housework after breakfast, then this Thursday's Morning Prayer video to complete before cooking lunch. It was gone three and had stopped raining when I set out for the University Optometrists School to get my mid-range specs repaired, and a learned a new term, 'nose pad', that's what the call the tiny pieces of plastic attached to the rim of each lens to relieve the wearer's nose from pressure due to wearing specs. 

The word is obvious when you think about it, but I had to resort to 'show and tell' with the receptionist to explain my mission, and she introduced me to the word. A quick repair wasn't possible as nobody was free to do it, so I agreed to return tomorrow to collect them. This pair dates from before my cataract operation, but they still serve their purpose well, almost as good as the newer ones, so worth the effort of getting the repair done.

I went into town on the bus as far as the bottom of Cathedral Road, and walked through Bute Park up to the main gate at the junction of North Road and Corbett Road, but returned directly to Blackweir Bridge from the gate, and then home. At Clare's suggestion, I called at Lidl's, next to the School for some packets of nuts and sunflower seeds, and was back in time for tea. I downloaded half a dozen zipped archive files of photos and deleted them from my main Gmail account. It keeps complaining that I'm running out of space, but that's because it wants me to rent more space, which I see no reason to do. It's a chore which I started doing in Fuengirola and it was terribly slow, because of the low broadband speed. Here at home the download speed is 50mbs and upload is 18mbs, so downloading big zipped files didn't take long at all.

In the evening I finished watching episodes 5 and 6 of 'Inspector Ricciardi'. That's the end of the first series. There is a second series of four episodes, eventually a few more, as the fourth only aired in Italy last month. It'll be a while before these appear on 'Walter Presents', but worth waiting for. There's a love story unfolding through the whole series, and each different episode gives you an interesting perspective on Neapolitan life and society in the twenties. 

It's great that the dialogue is so clear. All that I've learned from Spanish and knew from learning Italian fifty years ago makes the dialogue easy to follow, as the languages have so much in common. Maybe the dialect is easier to decode due to the remote influence of the period in which Sicily and Southern Italy were colonised by Spain in the 16th-18th century. My only criticism of the the production is that the streets look remarkably clean, as do the ragazzi who live in poverty on the streets.

Not dead after all

Last night when I went to bed, I forgot to unplug the dead Chromebook from the charger. This morning after breakfast, when I went to disconnect it, the charging light was on. When I opened the lid, it sprang into life again, presenting me with the new user's set-up screen. There were three hours worth of charge in the device too. Having restored it to factory settings last night, I had to go through the rigmarole of adding my email and blog accounts all over again, but that's made easier by the fact that Chrome browser's data is replicated on every device you maintain properly. Nothing is lost, only a little time. What a relief! I don't need to go shopping for a new one. 

Clare went to her study group after breakfast and I went to the phone repair shop to get the broken screen replaced, and then to the Co-op for the week's grocery shopping and cooked mussels with pasta and veg for lunch. Cooking was done just as Clare came through the door. It's satisfying to get the timing right.

After eating, I took a short siesta and read a few pages of my Spanish Civil War novel by Javier Cercas for an hour. It must be a couple of months since I was last reading it but I had no difficulty picking up where I left off. A four page of an account about of a massacre of prisoners with almost no survivors isn't the most cheering of reads, and there were lots of words I needed to look up for clarity, but I'm surprised how much of the narrative thread I can follow with intermediate Spanish. There are many more Spanish cuentas, I'd like to get around to reading.

At three, I drove down to the phone repair shop the collect my phone. It cost me seventy quid and another five for the screen protector I should have bought to avoid breaking the screen the first place. From there I drove up to the Mass Vaccination Centre in Llanishen for my fifth (or sixth?) covid jab. I arrived twenty minutes early, and was dealt with immediately. I was sitting in the car 'recovering' at the time of my actual appointment, and home in time for tea.

Clare went out to her meditation group, and on a whim, I cooked the remainder of the Fuet  brought home with me from Spain into a spicy salsa, some of which to eat on toast for supper, the rest for tomorrow. It's full of flavour and less chewy when cooked. That's the best way to use it in my opinion. It's tougher and drier even in thin slices than the average salchichon. The texture and flavour reminds me of Italian pancetta which I've also used to flavour sauces from time to time.

A message from Mother Frances arrived requesting cover for a funeral while she's away in three weeks time. So now I have two lined up for the coming weeks.

This evening, browsing on More Four Walter Presents, I found a new Italian crimmie set in 1930's Naples called 'Inspector Ricciardo', a beautifully drawn period piece with lengthy complex story lines like Inspector Montalbano, some interesting characters, but without the comic interludes, stunning palacial interiors and Neapolitan streets and people a bit too clean and tidy for authenticity. Ricciardo is a bit psychic, but this doesn't dominate the narrative. An enjoyable watch. And now to bed.