… my money again. And I won’t have any left at this rate, will I?
And it wasn’t on the usual Saturday shopping either. A visit to LIDL, LeClerc, Noz and the Foirfouille ran out at just about €33:00 which is reasonably normal – especially when you consider that I spent about €12:00 in the NOZ.
Where the money went was in the electrical section of LeClerc.
You know all about the smartphone issues that I’ve been having just recently, and the little old Samsung that has been helping me out isn’t really doing the job in the long-term. I’ve looked at second-hand ones and there’s nothing that seems reasonable, and as you know, I’ve been quoted some ludicrous prices for some new ones.
There were some cheap ones on eBay and Amazon but the reviews weren’t all that good, and when you buy from places like that, there’s no comeback.
But in LeClerc they had some cheap Chinese ones on offer – with Android operating system. Only 3G, but I’m not too bothered about that, but 16GB of memory and upgradeable with a 32GB micro SD card (and I just happen to have one) and Dual-SIM. They were going for €89:99 but today there was a €15:00 cash-back offer available.
The advantages of buying from LeClerc are that
- LeClerc wouldn’t deliberately set out to sell rubbish
- They have a cash-back offer if the article isn’t satisfactory
- There’s a two-year guarantee on parts and labour
I’m not entitled to a new phone for another year so if this keeps going until then I’ll be happy.
And it’s actually much better than I thought it might be, which is a surprise. The hardest part of configuring it was to fit the SIM card, because that is a complicated procedure. Everything works, and the internet access is quite rapid. So we’ll see how it goes.
There was also an exciting time with the new dash-cam. Configuring that wasn’t straightforward either, and the videos that it produced were rubbish. I must have spent an hour trying to make it record in a better quality, all to no avail.
But it did make a dramatic improvement later in the afternoon when I took the plastic protective coating off the camera lens.
D’ohhhh!
It was another miserable night where I didn’t have much sleep. I’d been on my travels too but I can’t remember too much about it except that we were in a café and there was this strange bar accessory. Some people might know of the machine that looks like a shower fitting with hose, with different buttons on the head that you select to dispense different soft drinks. There was one of those last night but it was dispensing different milks, such as soya milk and the like.
It was an effort to crawl out of bed and after having medicined and breakfasted, I had a shower and then set a load of clothes to wash while I was out.
And then we had the shops.
After lunch I had a play around with the new phone but ended up crashing well and truly out for a good half an hour. And then had the first of my two walks (all the local football tonight is postponed).
There was football on the internet which I watched on the TV – Llandudno v Rhuthun in the Welsh Cup. An exciting match that went into extra time before Llandudno ran out as winners. And while it was on, I carried on configuring the phone and now it seems to do what I want it to do.
Tinned curry for tea – only two of these tins left now which is a tragedy because there won’t be any more. I haven’t been to the UK for almost 5 years now and I’ve no intention of going again. So unless someone else brings me back a supply that will be my lot.
Tomorrow it’s a lie-in of course, and I do have to say that I need one too. So either I’ll still be flat out on my back at midday or I’ll be wide awake at 05:00.
It’s either one thing or the other right now.
