The Payback

So I've been sleeping really irregularly again, and it's starting to show. I'm tired all the time, my muscles hurt and I can't sleep at night.

Today, I rolled out of bed late. Afternoon late. With 'work' tomorrow. Jolly. I'd asked Boyfriend to wake me half an hour before I woke up enough to look at my watch and see the time, but he'd forgotten. He's not perfect.

He made up for it by calling the post people once again. They'd looked into my problem and forgotten to call back. They say my package should be delivered tomorrow, and if something goes wrong a third time, it should be available at the main post office next week. I'll believe it when I see it, but we've told everyone who sees postmen delivering stuff on the two addresses that get stuff for my address (yes, it's a mess) that I exist, live there and to please, please, please accept any and all mail for me.

Then we played around with the cow handpuppet. It's adorable, even if it's still nameless. And before you get any ideas, we were both dressed. Sure, we made it give birth to a smaller cow toy we had lying around, but that's the extent of our depravity. One of my friends did that for a pre-twelve-year-old birthday once, so no judging.

We were looking for a battery for my new bike computer.  Oh, and I'd gotten an e-mail from a store where I'd ordered a cheap new pair of sunglasses. Well, I say cheap. Cheap for sunglasses that require actual eye-adjusting to happen. Below 50 euros.

So far, the bicycle has about half its value in add-ons hanging on, I know, but still. My bike. I loveums it. The problem with the bike computer is that it runs on a 1.5 V L43 battery. They have lots and lots of batteries, but L43 seems to be an unloved cousin in the battery family, and it's never invited to any store parties.

None in the supermarket. We looked in the electronics store, but it didn't have any, either. While we were there, we asked if it was true they needed more employees. They do. Employees with specialisation in a certain kind of electronics. Boo.

Onwards and upwards, we went to the optician. Hello, here's my order slip. Just a moment, here it is, please try it on. It's a bit loose. Let me adjust that, here try again. Perfect. Hmm, not quite right here, let me take it one last time. Even better. Okay. I paid with my bank card. There was no issue. Wonderful.

The pharmancy was next. I'd gotten one of my famous lower belly episodes the night before, Boyfriend has been complaining about belly ache, we think it's the Mentos we both had. And, of course, we have nothing whatsoever to combat either stomach or gastro-intestinal upsets. So I asked for some Immodium and Motilium instant. In any Belgian pharmancy, I'd have gotten both without anything more than a 'preparing a travel first aid kit?'. Not so in Germany. The Immodium was fine, if a lot smaller than the Belgian packaging. Motilium, I needed a prescription for, but I could get stomach drops. Fine, whatever, I just didn't want to get up at four again because I wasn't sure whether to heave or squat, so I took it. I tried paying with my card again, and of course, it decided not to work. I didn't have any cash on me.

The pharmancist was nice enough to let me go withdraw some money at the bank at the marketplace. It was about three hundred meters. I was not wearing any shock-absorbing inlays, so it hurt. Mostly in the leg that hadn't been operated on ever. I smiled as I paid the lady, got out and went 'ow ow ow' at Boyfriend, who'd been getting himself a snack as I went to the pharmancy.

I got myself a freshly grilled sausage in a bun with ketchup as we discussed what to do next. I was thirsty and my blood sugar wasn't rising any, making me feel dizzy and weak. We got some sparkling apple juice and a chocolatey snack, checking quickly for batteries. They had an impressive array of power sources, but no 43s. I was beginning to think I'd never find one.

We went to Kaufhof, mostly because we were bored and it's fun to explore the toys section. On our way out, dead tired and hungry, I asked a lady at the jewelry display if they, by any chance, happened to have the battery I was looking for. L43? Why yes, how many did I want? I resisted the urge to say seven and bought one.

We pedaled home and attached my bike computer. This was not as easy as the handy-dandy instruction leaflet made it out to be. We put the sensor too low, had to remove it  again and put it higher so the wheel could turn without the magnet destroying the sensor... And then program the computer. We opened the battery compartment and out rolled a battery.

There was a moment of inward cursing on my part.

We tried turning on the computer. It didn't work. We removed, cleaned and replaced the battery. It still didn't work. We put in the new battery. We had power. Wonderful.

Now, what was the circumference of my wheel? In millimeters, please. How am I supposed to know that? The diameter in inches, perhaps? Not a clue. We nabbed a measuring implement that was lying around the casino, did some creative math on my cell phone and came up with a number that was in the list. It took about five tries to enter it. 'Only two buttons' leaves an incredible amount of potential screwing up to do. Setting the time was the only other thing to do. It went similarly to the wheel setting, but luckily, we didn't have to re-enter the wheel diameter each time we wanted to adjust the clock.

Anyway, we got it set, so I chucked in my purse and we went upstairs.

I'm still tired.