It all sounds like Baloney

Tuesday, 18 August

The days have been filled with visiting Dee twice a day, getting various bits of Springy seen to and trying to rest. It hasn’t been bad, just not static.

The good news is that Dee is being released tomorrow but we don’t know when. We’re hoping it’s before lunch but you can never tell.

I love making connection to English words from the local words. Whilst Dee is in hospital, I found out that 'Floor' in Italian is 'Piano' and 'Room' is 'Camera'.

One of our friends, who has been taking care of our place whilst we’re gone was a Godsend today. To ensure we didn’t have to pay any of the hospital costs and allow the reciprocal arrangement between Italy and Australia national health services occur, we had to provide Dee’s Medicare card. First I thought it was in Dee’s purse that was stolen in Hungary but Dee had left it back in Australia with all the other bits and pieces she normally carries. Our friend was able to get to our place at night and find it (the latter bit the major concern, trying to remember where we put it 4 months ago), take a photo of the card and email the hospital. It was a massive relief.

The current plan is pick up Dee and start driving to Austria. We’re hoping its cooler up in the Italian Alps.

With Gene and I driving the length and longth of Bologna visiting Dee ad doing various odd jobs, 2 things have gained our notice.

1. Roadside prostitution is quite common in the city. Not only are they at various roundabout and such but they have campervans.  I think it’s quite inventive but they all look like the same style and age as Springy. I would hate for anyone to think of me as fat, furry man whore judging me by the vehicle I drive. It was also a good opportunity to talk to Gene about prostitution in today’s society.

2. Traffic light windscreen wipers. These guys come out when you’ve stopped at the red light and ask if you want your windscreen wiped. Even if you say, ‘No’, they still do it and then ask for money. Canberra has them but if you say no, they don’t wash your windscreen or do it and not ask for money. These Buggers do and it drives me insane. I picked up the local technique of stopping about 5m from before where I’m supposed to stop and when they come up to my window, I drive forward, leaving them behind me. The fact that I still had suds on my window from the previous window washer should indicate that I don’t need his services. I don’t mind beggars though, they are a bit different. They don’t provide a service you don’t want and then expect payment.

I’d rather see more prostitutes on the road than window wipers.

Today, we also found a locksmith to try to open the safety box we found underneath our cupboards drawers. We have no idea what’s in it as we never received a key. Unfortunately, he couldn’t open it, so the mystery continues.

I love the idea of businesses closing for the summer break but I do hate the fact that all the businesses that provide items for camper vans and caravans are closed during the high season  when caravans and campervans are visiting and require a bit of TLC.

Now for some stupidity from me.

About a fortnight ago I wrote above our water tank port ‘Lock’ and ‘Unlock’ with arrows pointing in the relevant directions as the girls could never figure out how to open. Then they got miffed that I wrote it as it indicated that they couldn’t open a locked nozzle which they couldn’t. I also did the same with the little back hatch that holds our water hose and fold up chairs). The next time I tried to open the port, I thought I opened it the wrong way and I had written the lock and unlock directions the opposite way. Today, I tried to open the port doing the opposite of the incorrect markings for quite a while but to no avail. I thought the lock was busted somehow and I had even prepared to visit a professional the following morning to sort it out. Then I tried following the actual arrow directions I had originally drawn and it opened easily. So I was smart to draw it in the first place but an idiot (twice over) to think I had drawn it wrong then follow my incorrect assumption. The good thing is I know now which way is correct…….

Ever since we bought Springy, we had been using gas to run the fridge when we were stationary and the leisure battery when we were on the road. Most of our overnight stops didn’t supply external power, so we didn’t worry about that third option. Coming into countries that didn’t condone free parking, we tried the external power but it didn’t seem to work. We just figured that the fridge just didn’t work that way and we just accepted it (figuring the cost of getting the electrical system was a bit too much). When we replaced the fridge, we realised it didn’t run on external electrical as well, reinforcing our original thoughts. About a week or so later, Dee is sorting out her clothes cupboard which is situated next to the fridge and notices a power point at the back with a cable half plugged in and the switch turned off. When she pointed it out it finally clicked that the fridge wasn’t hardwired into the electrical system but just plugged in. Plugging the plug in and throwing the switch gave us a cold fridge in a couple of hours.

Gene now has a Hello Kitty Wonder Woman watch thanks to a McDonalds Happy Meal.