Tue 1521 Going to bash today's entry out without worrying about not finishing previous catch-up entry; seems best to keep writing new stuff up. Am back at flat and just cooked some spaghetti (inevitably making me think of Mitch Hedberg and M J Hibbett) as I had done a kind of circuit which naturally brought me back here. Had four bananas on street from one of many grocers on Viamonte earlier.
Hot water is fixed and there's a note asking me to be careful with it and turn it off before I go to bed. No way am I going to reliably remember to do that so I've just turned it off now and will turn it back on when I want it; mildly annoying as the pilot light has to be lit with a match but it isn't too scary. As discussed briefly (no figures) with male owner last night when he came over to wait (unsuccessfully) for internet company, I got a text from his wife this morning offering me 20% discount for inconvenience (of no hot water; as I did say last night, while a bit crappy the lack of cold water all weekend can't really be blamed on them because for reasons which were my fault/bad luck I couldn't tell them about it so they had no chance to fix it). I think they are going to give me cash which may be sub-optimal given I fly home in less than a week and (due to using ccard whenever possible) have a fair chunk of cash left, but it is not necessarily a huge deal and I will have some one-off expenses like some fernet or similar and probably some alfajores to take back as duty free/gifts. Hope I am still going to get this discount now they've fixed water but we'll see. I worked out that even if they never fixed the hot water that worked out at about four quid in my pocket for every cold shower I'd take, which seemed a fair deal, esp given it is not that cold here. Weather is in general sunny and a bit too warm in full sun but generally very pleasant during day and cool-but-comfortable-with-fleece-on at night.
Phone seemed to stick at about 52% overnight charge with cheap cable bought in Corrientes, but I experimentally switched it to the slightly ropy short yellow one and it seemed to charge really well; I did in fact get it up to 100% between getting up a bit before 11 and leaving flat maybe 1ish. So my charger is probably OK after all, I speculate the cheap white Corrientes cable is crap and allows very little current (or drops enough voltage the phone won't allow much current to flow) and the decent-ish long braided cable I brought which has now got a super-dodgy end connector has been degrading over time. I also suspect having a reliable connector on phone is key as the charge process may gradually ramp up the current and every time it gets disconnected due to a charging port glitch the ramp up process has to start all over again.
I looked on GM at random-ish before going out, thought I'd check out some museum to north and a couple of parks just south of flat and maybe go have a look at Once train station. Tried to minimise GM use on street to "learn the lesson" from my enforced no-phone weekend. The museum to north turned out to be Palacio de Aguas Corrientes (I couldn't see full name on GM) and was chuffed I thought "that looks like PdAC but I must be imagining it" as I approached and then found out it was. I didn't go in as already been in and IIRC the outside is actually the real attraction anyway.
Then headed over to Museo Casa Carlos Gardel which saw randomly on GM in street as looked for somewhere to go outside PdAC. Got there OK and couldn't see it; I didn't have net access but looking just now GM says it is closed and opens 11am tomorrow. May go back at some point, may not, it was a totally random choice. My strategy/attitude here is that it's really about getting out and about and seeing a bit of the city in a low-pressure way and "being here" , not ticking off tourist attractions.
So then down to Once - not really anything special to see, but there's sometimes a certain charm to railway stations even though I'm not "into" trains as such - which reminded me of a much smaller Liverpool Street with its concourse and shops, though the trains seemed the same modern style had taken down to Tigre a few months back not some excitingly chunky "old school" engines with carriages. Then back along Rivadavia and the street to its south, shoving my head into Plaza Primero de Mayo (entrance blocked by a sprinkler, and it looked nice enough but small so didn't make any effort to get in) and walking round Plaza del Congreso, checking out the bus stop for 8a to airport I had identified back at flat that morning then home. Was pleased to say I thought "isn't that the Windmill on the corner?" when I got to PdC and indeed it was; I remember trogging over there (it seemed a long way from wherever I was staying at the time) on a previous visit.
OK, I think that's mostly it. Not quite sure what I'm going to do this afternoon, maybe just go out for another walk.
1638 About to head out. Quick notes:
- just checked on GM and that restaurant in San Telmo seems to show as Parilla Bar Polo, so that probably is its name
- not seen it today, but did notice on Fri when went onto Corrientes just one block north of flat that there is a nice view of the obelisk from there, which is sort of cool to have nearby (though not a huge deal)
2020 At Bar Yrigoyen on south side of Plaza del Congreso; spotted this as poss place for few quietish beers tonight on walk this afternoon (which was just a 'loop' down south from flat and back up adjacent street).
Getting litre of Quilmes Stout for ARS170.
Forgot to say earlier saw couple of places selling a dozen medialunas for ARS80. Super cheap. I resisted temptation.
Few other tables occupied. GM says this place is open 24h a day FWIW.
Been back at flat between the second walk today and coming here; watched bit of YT, cooked some small hotdogs and did some laundry.
Had look earlier re lang exchange and there is one Thu night and Sat afternoon so prob steel myself to go to the one on Thu night and see how it goes. Said it went on from 9 til midnight!
Going to switch over (Dropbox permitting) to the in-progress draft for the phoneless period. Not going nuts, do want to stare meditatively at traffic a bit etc but a bit of writing will be good.
2149 Should say a fair bit of pure-tonight musing has ended up (timestamped appropriately) in the draft post for the phoneless period. So bear that in mind if you get an urge to piece together a strict chronological ordering of these valuable musings on LUE.
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