Hello everyone,
Sorry I haven't been in touch, but I have a good excuse. My phone seems to have received some sort of virus that sent messages telling me to do things that practically disabled the phone. The same thing happened last month when I tried to update my phone. I finally got my phone fixed. I don't know what was wrong...
This month, I received messages saying I couldn't update because I had used up my storage space and that I should take out FB, Gmail and a bunch of other stuff, so I did, but it still said I didn't have enough storage space to update...and now I couldn't reapply FB, Gmail, etc. All I had was a telephone. I suspect Russian influence. Or maybe the RepubliCONs.
Thursday
A week ago last Thursday, after doing stable chores, I caught the only morning school bus going downtown at 7:30 a.m. then waiting in a cafe until 9:00 when the phone repair store opened, waiting there in line until my turn cane at 11:00. They said they had to wipe my phone clean and start all over, which they did. When I got home there was no internet connection and they forgot to put it back into English. I have given up trying to understand tech instructions in Portuguese.
I left the phone with another repair store at 11:00, went away to do some errands, returned at 12:30 to pick it up, but it wasn't ready, so went to lunch and then to a cafe to wait , where I had to watch Law and Order until the phone repair opened at 2:30. I went back on time, but it wasn't ready, and I sat in their only customer chair - I was so tired from walking all over town, I fell asleep in the chair. Finally at 4:30 the repair guy woke me up and gave me my phone. I paid €15 and tried to catch the 4:30 bus home, but just missed it, had to wait so went to an ice cream deli until the next bus at 6:30. This school bus dropped me off at the stop half a mile from home, and I walked up the steep hill to my house. After doing the stable chores, I made dinner; the rest I don't remember, but fell into bed sometime, woke up at 2:30, and 3:30, 5:30, up at 8:00 Friday a.m. to do stable chores.
I worked outside moving wood and fixing things during the day Saturday and Sunday, so I didn't need the phone. When I was frying a potatoe pancake for dinner, some oil splash up and sprayed my face: usually I have no accidents in the kitchen and usually I don't fry anything. I forgot about it until I looked in the mirror next day.
The Next Monday
Read bits of a couple of books at night, and took the 7:30 bus to town to get the phone fixed. I waited in a cafe for an hour for all the other businesses to open, and while washing my hands, noticed in the mirror several spots on my face and, oh, God, NO, not Monkeypox! Then recalled the hot oil hitting my face, so went to a pharmacy for a pomade. Then walked to the phone store. Fortunately it's a small town, so every thing is within walking distance. This time I took a book to read, being pretty certain I'd have to stand around waiting again, which hurts my back.
The phone company sent the repairman at the phone store a message saying I had zero in my bank account so he couldn't update my phone. So I walked down the hill to the bank to get a receipt with my balance, which was over $600. On the way back to the phone repair, I bumped into a couple of friends and we went to a cafe for a coffee , which should have helped, but didn’t, because I took the phone to the wrong phone agent, waited in line a long time before I realized I was in the wrong place. I've read that one of Covid’s effects on us is brain fog, and when I'm tired, I almost run on automatic pilot. I finally walked over to Vodaphone, waited in line again, was told they couldn't fix it and that they had to call a repairman in their main office, who spoke English, and who helped me in English just in time to get a quick lunch.
Fortunately school busses are running now that Covid has died down a little during the holidays and now, besides the early morning bus and the late evening bus, there is a 1:30 bus home. Otherwise I would have to wait until 6:30 for a bus or pay €8 for a taxi. I'm 74 now and living on social security. It would take two hours walking uphill to get home.
Fortunately it didn't rain. There has to be an upside to drought.
I'm so tired of the phone repair saga. I have fond memories of Ma Bell, telephone books with yellow pages so thick the barber used them for little kids to sit on in his chair, the peace and quiet of no notices in the middle of the night…..
I truly hate all the rigamarole necessary to keep it going. This has to be the most boring thing I've ever written, and I hope you will accept my most sincere apology
for dumping this on you. Now it's all better….until the next time.