Wireless

Despite being a guest on the East Coast for a couple of weeks DIH has continued her valiant efforts to finish her blasted Italy book. But things are not going so well.

I tried writing at home but gave that up after a couple of attempts. A five-year-old, three teenagers and two dogs (plus four adults, usually)) make for a lively amount of activity, especially with the World Cup on and all. Someone's always telling you to move away from the diningroom table or the kitchen counter because they want to do something like eat, or cook (thoughtless brutes). Or more kids come over and someone says Hey, let's go swimming and the next thing you know the whole backyard is screaming "Marco Polo" and there's the need to act responsible and make sure nobody drowns. How adult responsibilty does cut into one's day....

So I decided to take my trusty laptop up to the Barnes and Noble on Route 110 in Huntington and work there.

Another bust.

I prowled around the store searching for a suitable electrical outlet- trusty old laptop battery not being quite what it used to be- but in the whole store there were only two. There were lots of former electrical outlets, all covered with shiny new brass plates as if to say "we used to let people like you in here but not any more, nyah nyah."

So I waited until one of the two outlets was free. Then I plugged in, settled down and prepared to sweat out another writing session.

"I'm sorry ma'am but you can't do that in the store."
"What?"
"You can't use that outlet. Store policy."

"Then tell me," DIH asked as patiently as possible, "why do you have a wi-fi cafe? How the hell is anyone supposed to use it?"

The clerk sighed. "That would be my question as well, ma'am , but it's store policy."

So now I either need a new battery, or another place to write. Or probably both. And I think I need a new bookstore, too.