Saturday, November 1, 2008

My bikes are in the City 1/11/08 Days 107-113


Day 107-113 (slide show)

It is hard to sleep now that I know my bikes are near. I’m going to a Couchsurfing get together this afternoon and I hope it takes mind off the matter. My roommate is starting to push me and I’m going to have to set him straight soon. It’s not what I need now and my patience is very thin with him right know.

The weather is foggy and cool today even though the weathermen called for sun. There was about ten of us who showed for this gathering and we headed for a “Retro Party” I call it a Swap Meet. It was smaller then the Czech’s in our group thought it should be. If you brought something to donate then you got in for free. I didn’t know what to expect so I paid the 35kz. That comes to about $0.65 not bad. There was a nice little bar set up there and they did a good job of organizing it but they lacked enough venders. It was fun to meet new folks though. Later we moved to a park up on the north side of the city for a Mexican Halloween party with free food. Once you advertise “Free Food” you know it’s going to be lame. There were way too many people for the amount of food there. I didn’t even try to eat anything. Most of the folks just wandered around so I left a little early. It was interesting going home because I had not been in this part of the city before and I had to find different trams but I made it.

On Day 108 I got a few things done but I can’t get my mind off all the things that can go wrong. I was getting so anxious last night that I couldn’t sleep so I decided that whatever happens will happen the thing for me to do is have a backup plan and make sure I’m prepared. I give myself about a 50% chance of success. If I get the gear fine and if I don’t I’ll move on. That was the plan anyway.

After calculating it out the cost of transporting the crate to my flat is about $70 and the fees to get it out of the warehouse are about the same. That’s not bad when you consider I paid double that in LA for the same service. The problem is the fees at customs are unknown and that’s if they even give my stuff to me at all. If I have trouble I will ship it back to the States somewhere. I bought almost everything at half price so it won’t hurt to bad.

On Day 109 I had a scary moment with the warehouse because they wanted me to fax over some doc’s and then I asked if there were any problems. Pavel told me they wanted to call the name I had on the BL. If you remember I couldn’t find anyone to help me with this until I got to Greece and finally I had to us a name I didn’t know. This started to scare me. If they call the number then the whole thing will fall through. It’s alright just another thing to think about. Let’s pile that on top of all the other possible things that might kill this deal.

I have a trucker who speaks English who will help with the translation problem. I figure this is like an ace in my hand. So I called him to review the situation. He told me lots of people do this with furniture when moving here and be patient. Then he said “You might have trouble with a few other things though, let’s just wait.” (Some of these thing’s I can’t mention now but will add later)

On Day 110 I left early for the bagel shop because I couldn’t sleep and was waiting in front when they opened. As I sat there looking at a Czech newspaper I was approached by this woman. She asked if I would tell her about what was going on in Prague. I laughed and said “I can’t read a bit of it” she laughed too. We talked for a while and then walked around the city for a few hours looking at the few interesting things I knew about. Her name was Jessica and she had been in the city for a few days but hadn’t been able to get out and see much of anything. It was a nice break for me because I stopped thinking of all the “what if’s” I have going on. I left her around 3pm and she might email me but who knows.

On Day 111 the anxiety is killing me. I haven’t heard a word from the warehouse and the weather today is great. I even saw some bike riders in t-shirts and shorts. O’ how I would love to have my bikes right now, this is great weather to ride in. I spent the day as usual starting at the bagel shop then another cybercafé at 11am then walking around till 3pm to another cybercafé. I’m always checking my email to see if there is any news. I didn’t receive anything all day. By the way I have had my camera with me everyday but can’t find anything that looks like a good picture. At the end of the day I realize that I haven’t taken a single picture. The cybercafés are getting to know me quite well. I walk into there place everyday it seems.

On Day 112 I did my usual thing at the bagel shop then decided to go see a movie at 1pm so I could do something different. It was nice to see a movie because I hadn’t seen on since June. But there was no news again today. I’m getting very depressed over this. If I don’t here today then I know it will be Monday before something happens. Today is Thursday and Fridays are "give away" days around here. I need to prepare myself that this isn’t going to work.

On Day 113 I had to make a stand with my bully roommate Charlie. He has pushed me as far as I want to go so I as expected I stood my ground on an issue and he shrunk up like a turtle. It was quite funny actually. I’m glad that it happened so I can forget about that problem.

I did hear from the warehouse today and Pavel apologized for not getting to me sooner but they have been very busy. He had some numbers for me and said things were fine and the crate is there. That was the first time that I actually heard that. What a relief it was. So now I have to wait some more. Pavel was very kind and said to be patient. “I will get in touch with you” he said. What does that mean? At least the crate is there and that’s good news. I can’t wait to get a picture of it.

Tomorrow is Saturday and I signed up for a hiking trip to some caves and some kind of castle place. It’s something new and should be fun.

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