Casual and Chic

Hey all,

Slept in – had a success last night in making myself understood to the landlady at the B and B that the bread she makes is fantastic and I would like two loaves of it (this warm doughy pita-bread kind of stuff) and she could keep the toast in a packet stuff they serve as well. So loads of melted butter and Nutella this morning. Then another success with a cheap pair of pants – noticed that there was some one day only stock-take sale thing at a shop yesterday, so showed up and got a pair of pants for about 35 Australian – which I needed – I can finally wash my other remaining pair. Not too upset about throwing the others away in Corsica – they were getting pretty ripped and tatty and I needed to save weight and by now those ones would have fallen off me anyway. Lucky I got to the sale just after they opened at 10 – by the time I walked past again there was a queue on the street and a bouncer looking bloke in a suit making sure no one tried to sneak in before their turn – all the locals stocking up on cheap clothes.

Booked a ferry back to Livorno on the mainland – overnight trip – wanted a cabin, but that was going to be hundreds of dollars, so just booked a deck berth instead – so will be a grotty and sleepless night, but at least a cheap one. During the booking a man ran in with a coffee for the travel agent: "Just a moment. I drink a coffee!" she said with an expression of such urgency on her face that I started laughing. When I asked where the bus to Olbia went from she named a pub - "The post office?" I asked, which is where the stop is near the pub. "You are Irish, so I say a pub," she responded. "Australian. I have two passports," I said. "Ah," she said, then stopped, looked at me quizzically, like this should make any difference at all to using a pub to navigate by.

I drink a coffee! myself, speak to K, whose travel plans for December are getting pretty real and definite now – then, feeling sharp and spiffy in my new pants (as well I might – they are both casual and chic: the shop-girl informed of this fact with a very serious expression) I jumped on a bus to Cala Golone (again) hoping to get a boat ride to the cave that I couldn't get into on the walk – but was no go. There is one tomorrow at 11AM, so might give that a shot – should be able to get back to Dorgali, get another bus to Olbia and then get the ferry all in time. I hope.

Have had a pleasant enough day doing basically nothing by the sea here in a 3g hotspot – emails and so on. Got an issue with hard drive space because of all the photographs – the solid state drive I put in before I left is very fast, robust and draws little power, but it is also small.  Not quite sure how to solve that problem just yet.

Back to Dorgali shortly – hoping for the scowling young bloke with the loud music. Will see if I can get the dude who makes knives in Dorgali to sharpen mine if he is still open – 6 weeks of cutting salami onto rocks and being washed with sand takes its toll – the only way I could shave a patch on my arm with them at the moment would be to laboriously hack it off at the elbow – then dinner, pack (no food, no water, clean clothes: joy), bed.

Photo. Getting dusky now in the very difficult to live with hotspot.

Cheers, B.

PS - back at B and B - where I only get a slow and flaky connection if I stand near the window and tilt my head at a certain angle - so emailing this in, with only one photo.