Friday, November 30, 2018

Day 5 in Europe: London England - Adventures with heat/wall/phone

So I wasn't able to blog yesterday because of lack of time. I did get some pictures, so I may do it later. But I probably won't.

We had to leave the hotel at noon. We took a tram, then a train, then a plane to London. Then Douglas, a lovely man who drives for a living, picked us up at the airport and brought us to the hotel. We finally arrived around 9:00 PM.

That's when the fun began.

Before I begin, I have to say something. I do not want any comments from the peanut gallery about my adventures with my phone. Understood?

Okay so that's settled.

We checked into our room. It was very hot. Over 25 degrees. I then went to reception and asked for someone to tell me how to lower the heat. Well lo and below they are having problems with the boiler and the heat can't be lowered. Okay I said. So I'll open the window. Well the window is nailed shut. You can't open it. Are you kidding me? Not only that, but when you look out the window you see a wall.

Back out to reception. Can we please change rooms please? Okay we'll change you tomorrow. Okay fine, I said. We went and split a pizza and had a beer. It was very good. Especially the beer.

We slept pretty well, got up, had breakfast and I walked Johanna to the train station so she could go to her office in Welland.

So far so good. Then it began.

We needed phone cards. So I bought two of them, one for each of us. I went back to the hotel to put mine in my phone. Jo would do hers later.

I pop out the SIM card. And take the new SIM card and put it in my phone. Easy peasy right? Wrong. The phone doesn't work. I go back to where I bought the SIM cards and the woman there looks at my phone and says did you not put the SIM into the case for the SIM card? I said no I didn't. She looks at me sadly. She gets her guy to try and get the SIM card out. He can't. I start to sweat. Okay what do I do now? She says, well you can pray. I did that once, she says, when my fridge broke and it was fixed and is still working.

Okay. That's a good idea. So I said a prayer. Then I said, well where can I get it fixed? She suggested a store nearby. I went there. That guy couldn't fix it either. Well can you suggest somewhere else, I said? He suggested another place. Nope he couldn't fix it either. That guy said go to Tottenham court, they have a whole bunch of phone places there.

Now remember without a phone I don't have data. Which means I don't have Google maps. And I am directionally challenged. In Ottawa. Never mind London England. So I might get lost. Now I'm worried. You're probably getting bored right now, assuming you're still reading at all, so I'll try and speed this up. I went to three more shops. And the third one, THE GUY FIXED MY FREAKING PHONE. I think he had to heat the phone or something to get it to open. I don't know and I don't want to know. He was a genius. And I didn't even get his name.

Apparently they make phones now, so you can't get into them. There are no screws or ways to open a phone and remove the stupid SIM card when a person of questionable intelligence puts the SIM card into the phone without the thingy. So when you shove your SIM card into your phone without the thingy with it, your phone becomes useless. I guess the manufacturer wants you to throw out the phone now, and buy a new one.

I didn't get the guy's name but here's his shop. MJ is my hero.


So I now had data, praise be to Jesus and I headed back to the hotel. I came upon a Church (The Church of Christ the King). Not a Catholic church but a high Anglican church. I spoke to the priest there, a Fr. Peter, and as luck would have it there was a Mass at 12:30. It was now 12:15. I thought it only fitting that I stay and thank God for getting my phone fixed.



The Mass was very similar to a Catholic Mass. It was lovely, and very reverent. And the priest gave a beautiful homily on St. Andrew whose feast day it is today. 

So that was a four hour adventure. I walked over 8 KM. But my phone is fixed. We did get another room. And the window opens. The room is still hot.

Thank you St. Andrew. And Fr. Peter. And MJ. And God. Three out of four ain't bad. Amen.

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