Incidente!

(originalmente postado no blog 360 Graus)

O bronco do meu autor bateu o carro hoje.
Tonto, agora vai ter que morrer com uma grana pra arrumar o carro, trocar farol, para-choques, capo...
Tudo por causa da mania estùpida dele de acelerar em demasia antes de subir rampas.

Ele atualmente està trabalhando num hipermercado. Aqui na regiao hà 3 hipermercados da mesma rede. No que ele trabalha tem uma rampa que começa reta e quase là em cima aparece uma curva. Por ele ter que subir a tal rampa todo dia, ele acabou se acostumando...

Hoje ele foi com sua garota e seu filho num dos outros dois hipermercados da mesma rede, para fazer compras.
Como estava chovendo pra burro, ele preferiu deixar o carro no estacionamento subterraneo. Feitas as compras, la-la-la, hora de ir embora. Ja estava de noite, faltava uma hora para o inìcio do seu turno de trabalho (no outro).

Deu a partida e foi saindo. Ao visualizar a rampa de saìda do estacionamento subterraneo, nao deu outra, acelerou. Mais do que deveria.
A rampa desse hipermercado era diferente daquela que ele subia e descia todo dia.
Como a visibilidade estava reduzida, e como o chao estava liso por causa da chuva, e, principalmente, como o abobado acelerou demais, ele nao teve tempo de perceber que aquela rampa nao era feita em linha reta. Logo no inìcio dela tinha uma curva nervosa.
Quando ele percebeu, jà estava em cima, o carro ja entrou na rampa arregaçando o para-choque dianteiro (aliàs, os amortecedores..., tadinhos), ele pisou no freio, virou o volante e tudo, mas o muro foi mais ele. Hehe.

A viagem que ele estava planejando?
Haha, o funileiro é que vai poder fazer, com o que vai ganhar para arrumar o estrago.

Primeira batida, que beleza.
E sozinho, na garagem do mercado.
Pfff.

Keyboard, in fourteen acts

Act 1:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130284615499
I am the buyer, waldenbarin, and the seller is 888bart.

Act 2:
I won the bidding. Just £ 10.50, a bargain! I paid straightway. The thing is I just forgot to see it was a pick up only item, that is no postage was fixed, I should go to Malvern, Worcestershire, to collect the keyboard. I live in Hove.
I wrote to 888bart asking if he could post the keyboard to me anyhow, explaining that I live in Hove and that I forgot to see it was a pick up only item, I made clear that I knew it was my fault. And I wrote that if he couldn't, ok, no problem at all, I just would ask some directions and his address.

Act 3:
He wrote "hi, to long for standard parcel force. delivery by business post (fed-ex) £37.76. i'm sure this would be cheaper than travelling to me to get it, but it's up to you. let me know asap regards 888bart"
-
Humn, if I could catch funfares with National Express I could spend less than £37 to go there and pick up the keyboard...
And I had just received another keyboard I bought through ebay, paying £15 for the postage (with, imagine, standard parcel force, and this other keyboard was coming from Denbighshire, North Wales!).

Act 4:
Ok, I think I can take something good out of it.
It will be good to have a day out, I saw Malven is not so far from Tanworth-in-Arden, and I always wanted to go to Nick Drake's home town. When I told about this Nick Drake thing, my son got excited to go with me and this only made me sure and decided to go.
So I wrote to 888bart that I would go there and pick up the keyboard.

Act 5:
He was almost unfriendly, but no worries. He gave us the keyboard without any packing. The keyboard was dirty. And there was no power supply.
On ebay the Description was clear:
"Seller assumes all responsibility for listing this item. Casio CTK 511 keyboard, includes folding adjustable height stand and power supply, 94cm x 37cm approx, buyer to collect."
I asked about the power supply then and he told me he forgot it elsewhere and that he would be sending it to me.
I said ok.

Act 6:
After two weeks I was still waiting for the power supply.
So I wrote to him again:
"Hi, I am still waiting for the power supply. Regards"

Act 7:
There's no act 7, just silence.
Two more weeks waiting...

Act 8:
From waldenbarin to 888bart:
"Ok, if you don't post the power supply until next Friday I will report this item as "not as described". This is your last chance to get a positive feedback from me about this transaction and this is your last chance to conclude this transaction in a honest way. Regards."

Act 9:
From 888bart to waldenbarin:
"i posted the power supply a few days after you picked up the keyboard. i can only conclude that it is lost in the post. i will buy another and post it on to you. please mail your address again as i thought this sale was concluded. regards bart"

Act 10:
From waldenbarin to 888bart:
"I am sorry the power supply you say you posted may be lost in the post, I think you really should complain about this to the post. But I wrote to you saying that I was still waiting for the power supply. I didn't get any response from you. My address is .... And believe me, I wish this transaction could be concluded weeks ago, and in a much more positive way, after all I paid you very quickly and I was there to collect the item with all its accessories as scheduled. Regards."

Act 11:
888bart didn't respond again, waldenbarin reported it to PayPal.

Act 12:
from 888bart to waldenbarin:
"i purchased a brand new power supply on saturday. i am posting today so you will recieve it in the next few days. first one has obviously been lost in the postal system. the new supply cost me £12.99 so i have lost money on the whole deal. At the end of the day you have a working keyboard and stand for £10. dispute with paypal needs to be removed as you will recieve power supply soon. i suggest when you have got all the kit you go back to the revolting 3rd world country you have come from and play it.
ungratefull fool"

Act 13:
from waldenbarin to 888bart:
"Thank you for posting the power supply, I will certainly remove the dispute with PayPal when I will receive it. I wish I could have had it before so I could have at least turned on the keyboard but that's ok, no worries anymore. So you've got almost 100 stars on Ebay and you don't know how it works yet... Humn, let me tell you, sometimes you earn good money, sometimes you don't, that's it. And you should be "ungrateful" to the British post system, not (to) me, after all you've just needed to buy a new power supply because the one you sent to me was lost (by them), is that right? The taxi driver who took me to your house told me that Malvern was a place full of racist people, I didn't want to believe... I could say to you I lost lots of money "on the whole deal", because I spent £ 10.50 for the keyboard and I paid to go there and collect it, but as I had told you, I used this as an opportunity to travel, to know a little of the Midlands... And it was good, as I had a day out with my son. But I must say, even if you tried to smile to me, I saw something hostile/threatening in your eyes. Well, I was born in Brazil, a 3rd world country (by the way, what an old definition... so cold war...) but not revolting (at least not yet), but I was born from an Italian family and that means I am an Italian citizen too. So I am sorry for you but I think I am going to play here in the UK for a while. Ah, I've came from Italy, which is not a 3rd world country I suppose, where I lived for many years. And please, keep your xenophobic suggestions for yourself or at least for you and NF-minded people. There's always time to reflect and reconsider about things in life, everyone of us has made a mistake or two in life, no one is perfect, I hope you reflect about this power supply story, and maybe one day you will be able to realize we're all the same old homo sapiens... Have a good day."

Act 14:
888bart didn't respond, of course.
But waldenbarin finally received the power supply (which looked whatever you could think of except 'brand new').
So the dispute on PayPal was closed...

La tastiera di Drake

Oh Inghilterra! Terra del rock, del multiculturalismo, della guida a sinistra, delle unità di misura particolari, e appunto dei social benefits.

Io, immigrante, venuto dall’Italia, ero alquanto sbalordito.

Il gruppo aveva bisogno di una tastiera.

A dire il vero, pure di qualcuno per suonarla, ma andava bene anche la sola tastiera, poiché le nostre ambizioni per il suo uso erano molto ristrette – noi volevamo un suono molto semplice, lo-fi; cioè, perfino mia moglie – che tastierista non è – potrebbe suonarla, eventualmente.

Dunque mi sono messo a cercarla (la tastiera) un po’ dappertutto.

Belli furono i pomeriggi passati con Una e Beacon, violinista e bassista del gruppo, camminando per St James Street, di negozio in negozio, in cerca di una tastiera decente – cioè, non un giocatolo né una power-station di quelle da astronauti, a buon prezzo. Volevo una tastiera vintage, ma non volevo spendere molto, quindi l’idea era prendere una Casiotone degli anni 80.

Dopo un po’ di ricerche improduttive ho dovuto cambiare strategia, puntando su ebay.

Tra le altre c’era un’asta per una tastiera normale, di quelle degli anni 90, con tanto di demo songs ecc.

L’ho vinta, l’asta.

Per 10 carte.

Ecco, facile così.

Beh, ma lo sbronzanato qui non aveva visto che la spedizione non era prevista, quindi dovevo ritirare la merce a Malvern, paese vicino Birmingham, lontano quasi 400 km da Hove, dove abito io.

Mi era già successo in precedenza, quando mi serviva un monitor, di distribuire offerte in diverse aste e alla fine vincerne qualche in più del necessario… Ma delle altre tastiere che ho comprato in quest’occasione non ne parlo ora.

Già, pensa te, pagare 10 carte per una tastiera e tipo 70 per andare a prenderla…

Ovvio a dirsi, mi è venuto in mente che con 80 carte avrei potuto comprare qualcosa di meglio.

Dunque ho cominciato a pianificare il viaggio, cercando una data e un tragitto; e con gli occhi su Google Maps e National….co.uk ho notato due cose:

1 – Le opzioni di collegamento (trasporto pubblico) tra Hove e Malvern sono scarse e irregolari;

2 – Malvern si trova non tanto lontano da Tanworth-in Arden, paesino delle Midlands che ha dato al mondo il cantautore Nick Drake (e che oggi custodisce le sue spoglie).

Beh, nessuno mi pare contesti la nazionalità inglese di Drake, anche se lui, infatti, è nato in Asia, più precisamente in Birmania. Così come mi pare poco probabile che Italo Calvino sia considerato Cubano e non italiano. O possiamo andare anche oltre, parlando di John Fante, di cui l’italianità viene oggi conclamata da non pochi.

Invece non proprio tutti considerano italiani i tanti discendenti dei non pochissimi poveri emigranti che lasciarono l’Italia in cerca di una vita migliore in altri (e lontani) posti (Sudamerica nel caso dei miei nonni); discendenti questi che oggi fanno la chiamata emigrazione di ritorno, cioè lasciando il luogo di nascita per provare a vivere nel luogo di origine della famiglia.

Va bene, succede che ho deciso di concretizzare il sogno di conoscere il paese di Drake, di vedere la sua casa e la sua tomba, lì dietro la chiesa.

L’acquisto di uno strumento per il gruppo è diventato un viaggio all’insegna della contemplazione.

ID, baby

Just a quick note here, talking about Intelligent Design. 
What a superb excerpt, concise, so simple and reasonable yet reputedly polemical: 

"Proponents of ID frequently lament the scientific claim that humans are the product of purely material forces. At the same time, they never define how non-material forces might work. I have yet to find a definition that characterises non-materialism by what it is, rather than by what it is not."

(by Amanda Gefter, from http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126975.800-how-to-spot-a-hidden-religious-agenda.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news )

New Scientist is my favorite magazine around here, along with Mojo.