Those of you who know me also know that I love to organise, and to feel organised, but every now and then a whole whack of things suddenly need DOING that I hadn’t planned on doing. It all started yesterday when my new MOVISTAR television service went kaput and only basic service was available (not a hardship, but hey, I’m paying extra for the extra stuff), and then I discovered that my big beast of a laptop Sterling was operating on half-battery even while plugged in. Dammit. So I had to shut him down and start using tiny Anchoa until I could find out what the problem was. On top of that I still had tons of tax shit to sort out before meeting with my accountant Sandra today, so when I got up this morning I decided that the Sandra stuff had priority, and somehow got it all done by midday, then I hopped into a taxi to catch her before lunchtime.

Yes, the rest of this post will be just as boring, so read on at your own peril.

After leaving Sandra’s it was time to stop in at La Doma in Nervión, a place I adore but don’t get to often because, well, it’s in Nervión. Thanks to Sandra I now get to La Doma at least four times a year at the end of each quarter (notice last update was end of April) because it’s about a five minute walk from her office. So after possibly a bit too much lunch, my friend/flatmate/cohort Peter and I walked half an hour back to the centre in 44º heat (and hardly any shade). At which point we stopped in at my home away from home Vineria San Telmo for a cold drink and a rest.

It would have been sensible to just go home from there, but I also knew I needed to get Sterling back in action, so we wandered over to FNAC to see if they could help, and 35€ later I had a new multi-jack transformer-charger-thingy. From there it seemed a good idea to stop in at Telefónica, especially when I saw Super Paco was at his desk. And although it took an hour of my life that I’ll never get back, Paco sorted out my billing problems, showed me how to access my account online, helped me choose a new “package” for when my promo one runs out this month, and told me who to contact if I was still having problems with the TV service. Oh, and for 32€ I can get a booster thingy so that the WIFI is stronger upstairs. I love this guy.

Well, by now it was going on 7.00 pm (we’d left the house at 1.30) and we were desperately in need of more cold drinks. But first I had to get a new black fan, which proved impossible, so I got a nice dark green one instead. Okay, it wasn’t impossible to get a black one, but I was being given the tourist treatment (gaaahh!) and took the green one because it was the price I wanted to pay. And it’s lovely, actually. But why quote elevated prices just because I’m not Spanish?

Pit stop on the way home for a frosty cold beer at Bar Alfalfa, which we went to because not much else was open at that hour in the barrio. It was okay for a beer, but I always feel like it’s not very clean (there’s a nasty musty smell when you walk in) and the food is clearly “for tourists”, an odd mix of bruschetta and paella.

Then finally HOME to cranky cats wanting their dinner, AIRCON slapped on, laundry put up on the line, new power cord successfully installed, a refreshing shower and… a look at tomorrow’s To Do list. Don’t worry, I won’t be doing To Do’s every day, it was just kind of nice how it all worked out today, felt quite satisfying. And that I was able to get all this stuff done at a leisurely pace because … I’M ON HOLIDAY. More on that mañana. 😉