On Wednesday I had decided I was back in the writing! I spent a couple of hours re-reading the last two chapters I’d written and editing/proof reading them and then I attacked the keyboard and off I went; carrying on with The Banjo. Well, three thousand two hundred and seventeen words later I saw that my iPad was very low on battery – less than 10% – which was strange because it was actually plugged into the mains at the time. I tried several things – like switching sockets – but to no avail. Something was wrong! Da- da- DAAAA!
I remembered once before when I was here in Antigua I needed a new cable. I think the 110v instead of 220v messes them up. Anyway! I rang my friend B for the number of the Apple people as they’re at the other end of the island and I wanted to check they were open rather than perhaps having a journey in vain. She gave me the number from their website – by now I had no battery at all! – and read out to me that opening hours are 9-5 Monday to Friday.
So, yesterday morning, I rang the shop. No answer. Well, it was only 9.10am and I thought #IslandLife and all that, that they might not open up on the dot of nine. But by 11.30 they still weren’t open. Then I thought to try Townhouse Megastore, a shop that’s about a ten minute drive from here that sells loads of different electrical items and so I set off. They do sell iPad cables but only for older models than mine 🙁 But, they sent me to a shop close by – Men’s World – which had ‘similar to Apple’ cables, but they wouldn’t charge the iPad battery. By now I was panicking thinking there was something wrong with the iPad itself. I was also cursing, because my lovely friend J had kindly given my little laptop the once over before I left England, to bring here with me to write on, but as I was carrying so much extra weight – oh you know what I mean! Stop it! – I had had to leave it behind.
So I rang B back to ask her if there was another number on the website. There wasn’t but she suddenly realised she had the mobile number of the guy who owns the shop. Mumbling gratitude to B, I rang him and got a recorded message from Digicel “This number is out of service.” So, I called her back to check I’d got the right number – which I had – and she told me to hang on, that she would ring someone she knows in English Harbour and find out if the shop is still open.
(Are you still with me? Is that a snore I hear?)
Well, she rang back five minutes later to say the reason there was no reply at the shop and that his mobile is out of service is because he’s doing a 3-year stretch under Her Majesty’s pleasure for reasons unknown. Oh dear! B then suggested I go to Radio Shack, an electrical shop at the Woods Centre, and if I had no joy she’d find out the number of someone one of her friends used – “He’s good but slow. No good it you want it back right away.”
So off I went to Radio Shack where the very pleasant, helpful lady had a cable which actually worked so the iPad is now fully charged!! Hooray! Hooray! I’ve since found out there are two more ‘good and reliable’ places here that look after Apple stuff so I’m breathing easier. And today I’ve managed three thousand, three hundred and thirty words so far. It’s 7.15pm here and I’m in writing mode so once I’ve finished this blog I’ll go back to the book. 🙂
It’s very pleasant, climate-wise, at the moment. It’s warm but not scorchio; we’ve had a few odd showers and there’s a cool breeze so it’s nice to sit on the veranda and write – iPad permitting! – or have a drink and a read as a little break from writing. And if I feel in the mood, I’ll even do a crossword! I’ve slowly slipped back into my Antiguan skin. And it feels nice.
