busker

^5 Bainbridge

I'm beaming and brimming with the milk of human kindness, not just because of the gorgeous weather but from a thoroughly productive morning thanks to the courtesy and competence of our local traders.

New glasses: As I posted elsewhere, no thanks to exquisite songbird Emily Gross singing so sweetly at Bagels and Beans, I Ieft Lisa 'n' John's in a haze and somewhere between there, Rite-Aid and château busker, managed to misplace my lunettes.

Thanks to Island Family Eyecare, I was given a prompt appointment for eye-check and choice of new frames and am now the proud owner of even cooler and better-fitting specs.

New monitor: Next misfortune was my ancient monitor suddenly deciding to ration the old hexadecimals. I tell you, there's nothing like the colors going wonky to make one appreciate working with the full color palate.

Got on the blower to Bainbridge Computer Center and found myself speaking to none other than le patron lui-même - or should that be "il proprietario egli stesso" - Salvatore DeRosalia, who gave me an expert diagnosis down the phone which had me lugging in my PC in case it was the card and *not* the monitor.

Weren't the card so SDR fixed me up pronto with a second-hand flat screen and within hours I was back in the saddle and blogging away with narry a trace of cold turkey.

I'm a great believer in making friends in high places so today was a good day for a crash: not only was it my first visit to BBC but it was also the first day for Mr Josh Phillips - scion of THE Phillips technocracy - as Signor DeRosalia's right-hand geek. And get this, he actually *knows* the TBBH hirsutely goateed Adrian Simpson. In what safer hands could I have been?

Fortunately for my current financial circumstances (and I'll be whingeing in detail later), the bill came to almost nothing, but I'm not going to let *you* know that because you'll flood them with business and the next time I go in there'll be a drat waiting list and I won't get such prompt and expert service.

Finally, while waiting for BCC's lightning fix I had a perfect latte in next-door Bainbridge Icecream, served at exactly the right temp by madame manageress herself with whom I also had a really nice chat about movies, in particular those we'd disliked and those I'd actually walked out of from the Pav. I told her I'd draw up a list of my top 10 hates so I have an excuse to go back and sup more of their inestimable brew.

Totally successful day so far - bravo Bainbridge.