The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
September 29 - Still Hangin' Around the House

What can I say? Margene is still down with the bug so while the rest of the gang headed off to Florence, I played babysitter. One of the nice things about being a frequent visitor to Europe is that I don't feel a compulsion to always be on the go. Sometimes it is just a treat to kick back and do nothing.

Granted, it is theoretically possible to kick back and do nothing in the US ... but how often does it really happen? There is something about being removed from any sort of daily duties, telephones (and yes, even the Internet!) that definitely slows down the pace.

In my big project of the day, I finally got my cell phone working on the Italian system. I had purchased an Italian SIM chip before I left the US but the guy I bought it from never sent in the necessary authorizations (or if he did, they got lost in the system). In any event, without the documentation in the Italian system, I couldn't get the stupid thing to activate, so I had to buy another. It was all of ten euros (about $15.00) and came with five euros prepaid credit. Next time I will just do everything when I get here.

The first call I made was to Bob Monroe, half of the famous team of Bob and Alison, the owners of Summers Leases the agency we have rented with for the past eight years. When I told him what was going on with Margene he recognized it immediately. Apparently there is some sort of bug going around Italy right now. Both he and Ali had it. He said that it seems to last about two days and then disappears. Good news, I suppose, since this is her second day.

I picked up half a pizza at the IperCoop for my dinner and got some soup for Margene -- but for some unsalted crackers, she has barely eaten since we arrived. The soup seemed to agree with her, so perhaps she will rejoin the living tomorrow.

So no photos today, but with luck we will get mobile tomorrow and give you something to look at.


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