I am not superstitious in any way whatsoever... I think... but the last thing I saw on our day of departure, when I was about to drive off, was this dead sparrow, laying on the asphalt outside our home on the Costa Blanca.
A shitty image to start a vacation with, but I did step out of our mobile home and shot this picture.
For years I thought that bloody cats were the biggest bird killers around these days, but in fact, it is our windows!
Hence, if you could come up with a way to prevent birds killing themselves by flying into our millions of windows, you would earn yourself a name in history... and become an extremely wealthy person at the same time... if securing yourself the patent for the invention.
A shitty image to start a vacation with, but I did step out of our mobile home and shot this picture.
For years I thought that bloody cats were the biggest bird killers around these days, but in fact, it is our windows!
Hence, if you could come up with a way to prevent birds killing themselves by flying into our millions of windows, you would earn yourself a name in history... and become an extremely wealthy person at the same time... if securing yourself the patent for the invention.
It had been bloody hot the last few days before our departure from our home on the Costa Blanca. Something that had slowed our already late take-off this year.
Then, on the 25th of June, when whe finally got on our way, it was really sweaty, and to ease our way, we allowed the onboard satnav to lead our way towards Peniche, Portugal, with no intervention from our side at all. Jezzzes was it hot... we were heading for Madrid on the N3, and westwards from there on route "521". It was very hot.
In the vicinity of Cáceres, the German female voice, inside the navigator, stopped talking to us, but the map on the screen said drive on, and it took us into a small village from the time of donkeys and hand drawn wheelbarrows. The streets soon turned into narrow alleys, and I started feeling like a cork in a bottle.
-"This can not be bloody right!" I said to myself, to the female inside the navigator and to my partner, Gisela. But the map said "drive on", and I was inching us between geranium pots and under balconies, from where people started shouting at us.
And... when a dog who was about to freshen up the marking of his domain, stopped doing that, and just sat down watching us in awe, I knew for sure that the treacherous German navigation lady had lured us into a virtual mobile home trap.
Then, on the 25th of June, when whe finally got on our way, it was really sweaty, and to ease our way, we allowed the onboard satnav to lead our way towards Peniche, Portugal, with no intervention from our side at all. Jezzzes was it hot... we were heading for Madrid on the N3, and westwards from there on route "521". It was very hot.
In the vicinity of Cáceres, the German female voice, inside the navigator, stopped talking to us, but the map on the screen said drive on, and it took us into a small village from the time of donkeys and hand drawn wheelbarrows. The streets soon turned into narrow alleys, and I started feeling like a cork in a bottle.
-"This can not be bloody right!" I said to myself, to the female inside the navigator and to my partner, Gisela. But the map said "drive on", and I was inching us between geranium pots and under balconies, from where people started shouting at us.
And... when a dog who was about to freshen up the marking of his domain, stopped doing that, and just sat down watching us in awe, I knew for sure that the treacherous German navigation lady had lured us into a virtual mobile home trap.
At this very moment she did speak up again. -"Bitte wenden."... " Wenden Sie bitte sofort!" I looked at the little black box from where the voice came, an shouted, -"You silly turd!... turn?... how the f--k am I to turn here, you damned stupid German voice!" I was not perspiring any longer, I was virtually showering myself and my surroundings, and I could feel my ass quivering like a pack of hungry wolves. -"You!" I shouted, "You got us into this bloody mess, and you get us out of this shit!"
Then she spoke to me again, -"Bitte wenden Sie jetzt!" This was total insanity, and I shouted back at her, -"Turn around? How the heck am I to turn around here?... you bloody imbecille!...you moron! " -"Bitte wenden!"... -"Wenden Sie jetzt!"
I then managed to do that famous counting... to ten... three times... and somehow I managed to back us out of the alley without a scratcher... with the help of friendly village inhabitants, who also finally offered us "buen viaje" with waving hands, as the dog pissed on my left front tire for good measure. Should you be an elderly traveller, you have most probably been given the advice, "Never trust a fart" Well, I'll give you a new one: "Never trust a GPS navigator" Never! :-)
Then she spoke to me again, -"Bitte wenden Sie jetzt!" This was total insanity, and I shouted back at her, -"Turn around? How the heck am I to turn around here?... you bloody imbecille!...you moron! " -"Bitte wenden!"... -"Wenden Sie jetzt!"
I then managed to do that famous counting... to ten... three times... and somehow I managed to back us out of the alley without a scratcher... with the help of friendly village inhabitants, who also finally offered us "buen viaje" with waving hands, as the dog pissed on my left front tire for good measure. Should you be an elderly traveller, you have most probably been given the advice, "Never trust a fart" Well, I'll give you a new one: "Never trust a GPS navigator" Never! :-)
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