This morning my plan was to go to the bank as I had received a slightly worrying message that my debit card would stop working in a few days. As it shouldn’t expire until 2023 this was a bit puzzling.

There was an orange rain warning for today.

However I prepared to face the rain with my enormous desert boots partly disguised by my wide legged jeans. I also put on my long grey quilted rain coat which I haven’t worn since 2017 (found a bus ticket in the pocket.) And which my son in law said made me look like a sofa. I also had a big golf type umbrella.

It was quite like being on an adventure. ( doesn’t take much!!)

I had never been in this bank before as my previous bank closed and moved in with this one about a week after the money for my house was paid in. I won’t  forget the feeling when I arrived to take some money out and the bank was no longer there.

So this was my first time in the other one with all that entails….would I be allowed in with my bag, where was the queue , what was the problem etc etc.

I’d decided to tell myself that when James was in hospital I did hundreds of scary things so going to the bank was not a big deal. 

I got in with my bag and was faced with a camera ….I think it was to check if you were wearing a mask as I heard it telling someone to put your mask on.

I  found the queue and asked the question. ” who is the last?” It was a man in the middle of the people waiting.

I waited about 40 minutes and then approached the counter where I briefly explained my problem and was told to go to another desk. There was no queue for the other desk which was for private appointments. But the staff sitting there were busy on the phone.

Eventually I attracted the attention of one of them and explained the problem. He was a bit abrupt and wrote a call centre phone number on a piece of paper and told me I should phone .

Disaster!!

Or it felt like one. How on earth was I going  to be able to understand  someone from a call centre.  I would need to get someone to do it for me. I was nearly in tears .

I did look in to the art shop ,but my friend wasn’t  there.

I was making plans to immediately  transfer all my money to Scotland and never darken the door of the bank again ….well after I had done the transfer.

Deciding that maybe I should go home first and think about things instead  of panicking  I popped into the tabbachi and paid part of my Tari bill. Not all of it as I had planned  incase I couldn’t  get any money out of the bank for months.

I am prone to exaggeration. 

I got to the steps after the piazza when I realised I had left my umbrella  in the tabacchi.  Back up the hill again!!

Finally getting home in a fairly bad mood mixed with largish dose of self pity I

decided that plan A would be to try phoning the call centre by myself. I had no expectation  of getting anywhere. But I had better try.

None of the options seemed to fit me so I just pressed one and hoped for the best . After the second rough guess I was put through to an operator and to my amazement we managed to communicate well enough for me to understand that the type of card I had now was being discontinued  and I should go back to the bank and ask for another one.

I felt like such a success. Had one of my homemade cakes to celebrate  and then set off for the bank again.

This time I managed to make myself understood eventually. ( my mask is a definite problem…and maybe I should practice speaking clearly and loudly as speaking normally doesn’t work.) However my new card should arrive in 15 days.

I strode home full of confidence….. more or less.

That had been one scary morning. It’s hard to describe how frightening it is when my circumstances  are so insecure and I don’t  understand  what is happening.

Now it’s wine time. My stove is lit. There’s a street market tomorrow and maybe I know more Italian than I think.

Cheers🍷🍷