Plastic Forex

After studying the fluctuating R/€ exchange rate for a while I decided this morning that it was not going to do what I wanted it to, so I took the plunge and bought my Euros. I am using the FNB Cash Passport which is essentially a debit card loaded with Euros. It can be used at ATMs and at VISA accredited retailers.  Much better, I think than carrying travellers cheques or cash - now I will have one card to lose instead of a pack of cheques. Not that I plan to lose anything!

The process was simple and not very time consuming.

This is roughly how it went: 1. Wait in the queue 2. Wait while the sales guy fetched the card and paperwork 3. Watch him entering all my details into the computer and then, 4. Voila - the card is mine.

If I had a checklist I could check off another item on that list, but I don't. However, I think I am all set now and just have packing to do.

One week to go.

Pisarei e Faso

I received my first food suggestion today from Donna. Although she lives in Hartbeespoort, her roots are in Melegnano near Milan so I take her suggestion seriously. I found the recipe and a picture on the web and agree, this looks scrumptious.



Recipe here.

She also suggests I try the Basil Pesto in Genoa - apparently the greenest and tastiest there is.

I will be searching for these and other dishes and promise to report back to you in due course.

If anyone else has any tasty food suggestions, please let me know.


- Posted by Neil

Location:Home

Currency Crisis

I have been following the R/€ exchange rate with the perverse hope that the Rand should strengthen as much as it wants to. After all, the stability of SA is not going to be affected very much if the rate were to fall below, say R10 for a few weeks while I need to use Euros on my trip.
You can imagine my delight when I noticed the Rand moving down last week and almost breaking through below R10 - it was 10.02 in fact. But when I checked last evening it was back at R10.25. I can hear the exporters booing and I can sympathize with them - who wants a weak Rand at this delicate time in our history?
However, I am realistic enough to realize that the markets are not going to bear my needs in mind and will do just as they bloody well please. All I can do now is watch and wait.
Watch this space,

Location:Hartbeespoort

Its all about the food

I was asked this weekend why I decided to travel to Italy and I answered that it was a lot of things, but that the food was the deal maker. I am pretty adventurous when it comes to food and will try almost anything. I am sure you will agree with me after looking at this list of sumptuous delights that are suggested as essential fare while in Rome.
I intend to try as many of them, yes even the Trippa, as possible. If my blog starts to read like a Famous Five story, I apologise and I will try my best to introduce some variety in the form of coffee, gellato and the occasional work of art in order to avoid losing my readers.

Three weeks to go......

The preparation is complete, or as complete as I can imagine and the next three weeks will most probably seem like months. I suppose I will start having "oh shit" moments as the time draws closer, but the basics have been completed.
I would also like to mention that I have done a fair bit of research regarding what Blog to use. There are quite a few available, but I concentrated on the free ones. I started out with Blogger and have returned to Blogger after a short test with Wordpress.
Blogger is easy to use, has an iPad app and does almost everything I want it to. While practicing last week I tried posting a piece of video and that is where I thought there has to be an easier way. I thought I could post the video directly into the page and I suppose that was my stupidity showing through. Blogger wanted me to post to YouTube first and link to the video, which I later learned is the way all blogs work. I assumed that Wordpress would allow me to post a video directly but soon learned it doesn't. I also learned that Blogger is much simpler to use that Wordpress, so that is how I became a Blogger evangelist.
I still need to hone my video skills even though I don't expect to be posting many. Posting pictures is dead easy and I expect the videos will make sense after some effort. I'd hate to deprive ALL my followers by not giving you true to life videos of the many action scenes I intend to confront in Italy.
Any YouTube experts out there who happen to read this might want to teach an old fart how to post videos in a simple way.
More from Neil Spielberg later.
- Posted by Neil

Location:Home, Jacana Bay, Meerhof