Housekeeping
The day didn't start well - even though I had a good street map, I kept taking wrong turns, or the road I needed was blocked or I just got confused and missed the turnoff.
I eventually found my way to where Google Maps had told me the Aprilia service centre was, only to discover that it was the wrong Vialle Innocenzi - the one I wanted was in the middle of the city. Oh goodie.
I got totally lost even more, but eventually found it an hour later. The service guy said "5 o'clock".
Ok, I thought - I'll leave it there and pick it up at 5. No, he meant bring it back at 5 and then he would start work on it.
Sigh - what am I going to do all day? I had three tasks to complete, one was Henry, one was the bank and the third was an optometrist. I broke my reading glasses and a bodgy superglue fix lasted about 5 minutes. I think I need whole new frames. I wonder how that's going to go in Italian charades.
I parked in the main square and instantly picked up free wifi. I skyped with the BOSS until the laptop battery ran out then found a café to plug in.
The bank I needed was just 50m from the square and then I stumbled across an optometrist next door. The lovely girl spoke very good English so I didn't even need to play charades. She sold me new frames for 20€ and fitted my existing lenses.
I then dawdled over lunch as long as I possibly could and by 3 o'clock I had exhausted my internet tasks, drunk as much (really really good Italian) coffee as my bladder could hold and so headed back to the Aprilia centre figuring if I waited in the garage, the guy might squeeze me in earlier.
As predicted, having someone hanging around watching your every move does in fact get you promoted. Henry got straight in, striped down, spruced up and bits replaced. New back brakes, new belt, new sparkplugs, new indicator switch, change of oil and filters and he was feeling like new again. He certainly sounded better as I rode him back through Como streets, getting completely lost yet again.
Previous Entry
Next Entry