Gah! I went to the cash machine for a top up but the magnetic strip on my card has stopped working. The most probable theory is that the magnetic panel on the case of my blackberry wiped the card.
This is a well-known design flaw from the people at Research In Motion.
Product designer 1: "Hey, what aboot [RIM is Canadian] if we put a magnetic strip in the case so you can have one ring tone when the phone's in the case and ANOTHER ring tone for out of the case!"
Product designer 2: "Ossome!""
Product designer 3: "Rad"
Chief of design: "Any downsides?"
Sceptic: "I guess it will render useless our customers' bank cards, leaving people stranded without cash, forced to wash dishes, beg for food and sleep rough."
PD 1: "Hey, what's with the negative vibes dude? TWO RING TONES! Hellooo!"
Chief: "You're right PD1. Make it so."
Well-known design flaw or not, the magnetic-blackberry-case theory would in any case leave two simultaneous electrical disturbances unexplained: my bike computer conked out and I got a weird error on my phone which I could only solve by taking the battery out and putting it back in again (have you tried rebooting yet?).
So my money's on some form of electromagnetic force-field created by the high-velocity whirring of my thighs as I zipped across La Mancha this afternoon. Occam's razor and all that.
Arrow-straight road across La Mancha
The money thing ought to be easy enough to resolve. My credit card is still working and I've ordered some money to be wired to a cash machine which I can pick up without a card.
Of course, when I got to the cash machine to pick up the money, the service was "temporarily unavailable" - electromagnetic thighs again - but there's a network of cash points where I can pick the money up.
This points to a probable detour to Soria tomorrow. My bank has a branch there so I can make sure I'm covered for the rest of the trip. Plus, it's supposed to be a very pleasant town.
I'm spending the evening in Almazan - town of furniture! it proudly declares - which is a nice little place on the Rio Duero.
BC
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Hey Dan,
ReplyDeleteGreat updates & sorry to hear about the tech gadgets failing :s
Just a quick tip - facebook can automatically import your blog so that new entries synch up and updates are sent to all - maybe an idea ;) Profile >> wall settings >> Blog/RSS
Good luck with the roadtrip & talk to you soon,
viv.
Hey Viv! thanks for the tip. I´ll check it out now.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the same thing happened to me last week upon arrival. Came out of the plane with 0 EURs or USDs and ALL of my bank cards failed me. Have never felt so alone in a full terminal :p Thank god for running into friends coincidentally! Hope you got your cards sorted now ;)
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